1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?
Hey, I'm Olly. I'm 27 and I live in California. I'm an aspiring game dev and a writer. While I mostly write prose, for a long time now I've been wanting to make a game, specifically an epic RPG. I'm very much an amateur as unfortunately I never got into coding or art until recently.
2. Did you participate in the last jam we held? If so, what do you plan on doing better this time? If not, what's your reason for joining?
Nope! I'm brand new. I'm joining the game jam for a few reasons: 1) I've been trying to get back into RPG Maker and relearn what I used to know, it's just hard to sit down and keep at it for a variety of reasons (ADHD, school, job hunting, etc.). 2) I wanna finish a project. Too often do I start projects and either get carried away or get distracted by a new shiny idea and never finish. The two-week time limit will give me incentive to actually finish something, even if the something isn't very good. (Damn perfectionism!) 3) I wanna get better at coding. And art, but I don't see myself getting good enough to use custom art in 2 weeks. I figure I can worry about custom art later, if I decide to expand on my game after the game jam.
3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?
Shadow of the Colossus, Golden Sun, Final Fantasy 6 12 and Tactics, Kingdom Hearts, Dark Souls, Persona 3 and 5, SMT: Nocturne, Hyper Light Drifter, A Link to the Past and The Wind Waker, and oh god I could go on tbh. I primarily love RPGs and action adventure games lol. They definitely inspired me! As a kid I made a high-key Golden Sun ripoff in RM2k3 lol.
4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?
I have very minimal experience with game dev. I got into RPG Maker as a kid with RM2k3, and it was a lot of fun figuring out how to utilize the program to make my game. I would just sit down and tinker with all the event commands and write everything down. The game sucked but I was having too much fun making it to care lol. Unfortunately I slacked on practicing game dev real hard in high school and didn't get back into until later in the VX Ace days. Because of this I forgot a lot of what I already learned, and relied too heavily on community scripts and, now with MV, plugins. So I'm trying to get back into RPG Maker and relearn everything, and make a few practice games with no plugins. I'm hoping this jam session can get me started on that!
5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!
Writing stories. Writing is the one thing I've always been into, even before I could actually write lol. I love to tell stories. Particularly epic fantasy stories with a focus on the characters, how they interact, how they react to the things going on around them. I'm kind of notorious among my friends for writing dark or depressing stories, and yeah, I have a thing for angsty stories I guess lol. But I do like happy stories. I guess the best way to put it is I like stories where characters earn their happy endings. This is why I've always been drawn to RPGs and action adventure games... they lend themselves to epic and emotional fantasy stories very well!!
6. What are your goals for this game jam?
I feel like I kinda already went over this a few times in this post lol so at the risk of sounding like a broken record: Finish a game. Relearn RPG Maker. Learn better time management especially. And if I can, learn some JavaScript and even pixel art, even if it's super basic and I can't do anything with it just yet. A first step is better than no step, right?