itch.io

I loved working on it, but at the same time, I was so relived for it to be over cos I was beginning to feel a bit ill from lack of sleep xD (I'm kind of an idiot, I know, haha.)

Can't remember the exact process, but the 10 days went something like this:

Day 01

Discovered the jam while taking a break from writing for my main project. It was late evening and submissions were due to open in about 30 mins. Had a big debate with myself as to whether or not to attempt entry. 

Got up the next morning and continued working on my main project while trying to come up with an idea for the jam. Started writing a script in the evening. 

Day 02

Continued working on my main project, thinking that I would easily be able split work between that and the jam entry (huge mistake xD) Contacted Anthony to explain the situation + ask if he or anyone he knew would be interested in helping me out with voice acting. Used the evening/night to work on finishing the jam script. Anthony said if I could put together a document explaining the project + send the script, he would get people to have lines recorded for me ASAP. 

Day 03

STILL continued half-working on my main project during the day like an idiot! 

Got the documents sent to Anthony. Agonised over which art assets to use since I can't draw well myself + figured it was too late to find an artist. Edited the male sprite I chose. Built the female sprite in a generator I purchased years ago but never used + edited it afterwards. Selected BGM to use. 

Realised by the evening that I would have to put all work on my main project on hold to finish the jam project on time. 

Got some feedback from my friend which gave me a brainwave. Unfortunately, the idea would require some additional lines recording. It was Friday night and I'd already sent Anthony the stuff >.< he said VAs were planning to record over the weekend. I knew I wasn't going to be able to work on the entry over the weekend, so I wound up staying up until 7am to get the brainwave idea fully jotted down + write additional script lines to send before getting approximately 3 hours sleep. (I usually only get around 6 anyways, but still, I felt like crap xD) 

Day 04

My dad was coming to stay the weekend + take me back home with him, so I decided it would be kinda rude to continue working on the jam. Had a nice relaxing day, but was very anxious about the clock ticking! 

Day 05

Much like the day before, only when we finally got home after a long drive, I ate pizza, watched a film which I fell asleep halfway through, woke up and ate cheesecake xD Began working on the entry again until about 5am. Cut some voice lines. Thankfully, Antony helped with some of the editing so that I didn't have to change much and could just cut the lines from the files sent. 

Day 06

Panic began setting in x3 Still only working on building the first version with Anthony's voice in, hoping that having that template completed would save me a lot of time making the other versions. 

Day 07

Ran into problems implementing the puzzle element like I wanted to due to engine limitations >.< spent ages trying to come up with a different way to do it. Having solved my dilemma, went on to copy the puzzle scenes to make it easier to build, they all bricked and became useless so had to start the puzzle stuff again and replicate each tiny change manually for fear of more bricking if I tried to copy/paste the scene files again. 

Day 08

Having solved the puzzle issue, ran into more issues trying to implement timed choices towards the end of the game which took up much of the day. Managed to finish building version 1. Started testing version 1. 

Afterwards, copied entire project to a new project + begin replacing all male sprites with female ones while adding female voice lines for voice 1.

Day 09

Completed female version 1. Copied all scenes within both versions so that I could just swap the voice lines over for voice 2 in each version. Spent the rest of the day switching voice lines. 

Day 10

Got moaned at in the morning by my mum for not coming to visit while she's on holiday because I've been working on the jam all week xD

Finished adding voice 2 to both versions and began final tests. Ran into some bugs, got mad, fixed bugs. Exported all versions, built the game page, uploaded, told VAs it was playable, noticed an annoying typo in the puzzle, fixed it, re-tested everything, re-uploaded everything >.< Done. Remained paranoid that there was something severely wrong for the remainder of the night x3

So yeah, I didn't get much sleep, haha. Also, I don't have a normal day job cos of mental health issues, so I was able to spend all day long working on it + into the early hours of the morning. It was much faster in the beginning, as I was using my friend's PC with 2 monitors, which is why I thought I'd have plenty of time! When I got to my dad's though, I had no choice but to continue on my crap laptop, which struggled with the project load and constantly lagged with every action I tried to take... it was incredibly painful >.< haha. 

So sorry for rambling! I'm terrible for it T_T I just can't bloomin stop myself when it comes to stuff I'm passionate about (I'll just blame it on my Aspergers x3) 

Thank you so much for the feedback! <3

Regarding the wait times as other people have commented on, I'll make em shorter once we can upload new builds, haha. I should have realised that sorta thing would frustrate players. It didn't really register at the time cos I was still thinking about it like an audio drama more than a VN, and I'm used to hearing long sections with just SFX in those so didn't really think about the fact that it could become tedious in a game >.<

Hoping to get a chance to play some of you guy's submissions later today! :3

EDIT: Forgot to mention the fact that I left making the game page until the last few hours of the jam, despite being on the Discord and seeing the announcements advising to get it done in advance xD Sat there thinking, it'll be fiiiiine! I'll just keep working on the game. It got to 8pm and I was making the page while thinking, I'm so darn hungry, but this stupid page needs finishing or I can't upload my stuff T_T