Post-Jam Post-Mortem
Alrighty folks, we made it! I present to you Project Ember Adventure #1!
Each Hardmode that I've participated in, I've struggled to make something on time for the deadline. This jam is hard! This is the first time that I've completed a Hardmode entry!
Focusing on doing a tabletop entry was to try something new, and I wanted to focus on doing art while designing a physical game. What's funny is that I did very little art, and a lot more systems and game design! The character art on the sheet above was old art from Project Ember when I was doing something in Unity, I just thought I'd make some tweaks to it and throw it in for style and character. So that art doesn't really count in the art I was wanting to do! In any case, focusing on doing a physical game this time around was a good decision!
Jams are supposed to stretch you, and a lot of my growth as a game developer has been through jams. I leveled up like crazy in 2014 when I did my first game jam entry ever, and a Speedgame Challenge jam at that! All my games I had done before that were small things, simple things, with simple art. When I developed Warrior, I pushed myself technically and artistically. Then again in 2019 when I developed the first prototype of my JRPG Project Starsoul, and then Mercenary Knight Rose in 2020. I like adventurous, fantasy-sci-fi RPGs and Action-RPGs and always go for games that are more about some story and world-building and character than deep technical and systems design. Because of the big amount of worldbuilding I like to do, I end up over scoping on game jams and often don't complete an entry on time.
The past few years I've been growing my technical and systems design skill, while also trying to make shorter games that are completable during a jam phase. It's still been hit or miss, but I've been getting better at it. This time however, this was a departure from the norm in that I explored a physical game and focused on the abstract rules of a game first and foremost, then thought about how to dress the game with an aesthetic and world. Project Ember is a small part of a much larger world and project called Flames of Abathos, and that project has been cooking for about 21 years now or so, maybe more. It's my long gestating project that I liken to Lord of The Rings or Chronicles of Narnia in terms of scope and worldbuilding. In terms of gameplay, it is heavily inspired by the Strategy RPG Shining Force. Thing is, I've not done much with it in game jams or game development at all.
Project Ember was supposed to be the start of making a game based on that world a few years ago but it also languished, mainly because I had to figure out algorithms for pathfinding, enemy AI decision making, and state machines for all the different states a Strategy RPG requires. it was a tall order. Now in days I could use AI to help with learning, understanding, and building that, but I've been focused on trying to finish up two other games before that happens, Altered Temples (Action-RPG Roguelike) and Bio Nemesis (Survival-Horror). Now however, the tide has changed.
I felt inspired and compelled (God's little whispers) to do something different this time around, and I followed that intuition. It came down to doing something for Project Ember or Project Starsoul, and I went with Ember because I thought it would be nice to do a small game with that idea. I researched what it takes to make a short tabletop RPG or one-shot, looked up some games I had seen before in the style, spoke with some friends who were more knowledgeable than me in that regard (Thanks Donnie and Brennan!), they gave me some good food for thought, and I went to work.
It was a breath of fresh air focusing on interactions and systems in a physical setting and engaging a different part of my brain. I love boardgames and tabletop games but never designed one, even though I've had little ideas and sketches of stuff in the past. Being able to dig in to a project like this over the weekend, and complete it, rough edges and all, was deeply satisfying. I plan on playing the game more and improving different aspects of it, including adding in more player agency to help balance out all the system's randomness and die-rolls. There were a few pieces that had to get cut mainly because I could not iterate or test them enough to satisfyingly include them. Next version they'll be there though! These include discoveries, such as special encounters, treasures, surprises, and characters to add to your party. And it also includes abilities, known as Flames that the characters can wield with both passive and active effects.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with this year's Hardmode entry and the successes I had during its development. It also helped kick in a different sort of design and playtesting sense that I believe helped me improve the game, and that I don't always see so clearly when I'm doing videogames. I'm super looking forward to bringing over what I've learned here into my other game development projects. And I'm also really psyched at now beginning to make tabletop playable games too!
Stay tuned for more Burnerknight Studios work!
All the best,
Raul