Postmortem:
I'm told that post-mortems usually include a list of five things that went right and wrong each. Let's try that.
Five Positives:
1. Cell Phone Mechanics
This was the number one thing I wanted in the game but kinda thought wouldn't be possible at my level of programming knowledge (basically zero). I'm super psyched to have this working now.
2. Free Time Mechanics
This one was a little more vital but not quite as programming intensive. The Free Time mechanic allows the player to spend one-on-one time with NPCs at set intervals in the story, and to choose which character they spend it with. I go into this more in the devlog.
3. First Exploration Scenes Added
Rather than just a normal linear story segment, this scenes allow the player to explore an area at their own pace, and discover the narrative in a non-linear fashion.
4. First Puzzle Scenes Added
In addition to the exploration scenes are Puzzle Scenes, where players have to figure out a puzzle before continuing with the story.
5. New Character Added
Vanelle Marin finally makes her debut in one of the new chapters, which I've been waiting to do for quite some time now.
Five Negatives:
1. Writing Creep
While I had the rough strokes of each scene planned out long before writing them, the scenes themselves expanded and became much larger than originally anticipated. This led to scenes needing much longer time than initially anticipated to both write and bug-test.
2. Wasn't able to finish Chapter 3A
Due to issue one, I wasn't able to reach the planned end-point of this chapter.
3. Wasn't able to finish Chapter 3B
Same as the point above, I wasn't able to reach the planned end-point of this chapter.
4. The opening scene is dated
This is a game jam, so I limited most of my efforts towards the creation of new content rather than the revising of old content. The opening scene is one I am no longer happy with, and will revise after the game jam is over.
5. Graphic needs updating
As always, these backgrounds and character portraits are scratch graphics to be replaced later.
In Closing
I joined this game jam without much forethought, but now this is the furthest I've ever gotten on a video game. I'm pretty psyched about the work I've done so far, and plan on continuing this until the story is finished.