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Thank you! 

For this project we went with moonshot 'thinking' as a noun. We think the scope of the project is ambitious with a lot of narrative variation and mechanics, and the story-line is about two friends trying to take on a quest well above their abilities.  :)

A Trip to the Moon is absolutely stunning though, and lots of fun!

Thank  you!

We created ACT 1 for the game jams. 

The story has a three act structure and the next two should be uploaded at the end of the year. It's written already and we have assets prepped, but there are some things we'd like to polish and iron out for a better experience. :) 

The first act will probably see small updates too, with minor polish after the game jam voting period. 

Hopefully that's not too long of a wait!

Thank you!

We had an idea for something bigger and it's shaped up to be something we're proud of. Hopefully we can put out a more complete/polished version after the jam. :) Lots of things didn't make it off the 'would be nice to have' list. 

How long is the voting period usually?

Aha, I'm glad to hear I may have eased your suffering in some way.

Not an update, but for one of the characters (called Feral for now), I'm trying to pick a name.

If anyone comes across this and wants to vote, let me know! Link is below!

https://linkto.run/p/E1V6KOXJ

I think closer to VN Styled. I really like the way games like Crown of Leaves and Missed Messages are laid out, very VN-like with some more interactive and atmospheric elements. ^^

Ah, this is a really interesting concept. Don't worry too much about describing ^^, I'll be excited to see what you end up with anywya.

I believe you can use assets that are copyright free to complete this jam, just don't claim them as yours ^^ and give credit where due.

I actually think you could find some soft, otome-like/ghibli inspired tracks off soundcloud!! Just search for copyright free. There's a couple of playlists on youtube too for this stuff.

This is a really cute idea.

Super adorable, I feel you on that non-stop googling. And you're making such fast progress too.

This is hella adorable.

Comics! My old nemesis aha. I still love comics so much, but they really drained me. You have to draw so much and I don't know if I'm there yet. ;A;  Kind of way games appeal to me right now, so i dont have to draw every frame.

I guess if you're devving all day it makes sense. Although, I still feel like I have no hours left in me. ;o; 

Day 2 

26/01/2020 

The day's not over, but I'll edit this if I must. I did a lot of research today. It's exciting, but I also expanded quite a bit on my brainstorming. Organised my pinterest boards a bit more and moved into getting a stronger feeling for what I want. I must say it's fun, but I'm not wasting time I swear. Nailing this part is important to me. 

I'm not quite done with the story, I ran into some commitments, but I expanded on the ideas a bit. Moving away from my bullet pointed list, and breaking it down into script format. (Once that's done I'll skip happily into laying out the scenes in Unity, with my best friend Discourse.) 

Because this is a short story/game that's heavily narrative based, I'm adopting Todorov's theory. The man might be crazy, but his breakup of equilibrium and disequilibrium is quite straightforward, and a good way for me to avoid creating something that's ambitious and all over the place in terms of narrative structure. You have peaceful life -> You find problem -> Decide to fix problem -> You reach end. How nice!

Unfortunately, because other people in my life exist, I can't stick around to finish the script, so I've dedicated the rest of my time to watching and making notes on Unity tutorials while I'm away from my precious sanctuary. 

The most important thing here is that the project is looking clearer, and watching over tutorials and researching concepts is helping me figure out what scope is more than I can chew.

Day 1 

25/01/2020 

I went out for a birthday celebration today, but before that I grabbed a notebook and opened up all the resources an idiot could find. Made a nice little list for myself, too. Wrote a ToDo List of what I think I might need. Started, bullet-pointing some ideas... for an idea. I only found out about this jam on Friday.

Figured out some endings I might want for the game and installed Unity. I had it before, but let's start fresh, ey?

The pinteresting was the most important part. I'm a very visual person, so collecting a group of things that inspire me for this project, and using it to shape what this idea could be is the first stage. 

I also collected and read some things I thought might inspire me. 

If you're curious, you can see the board here. (opens in new tab) 

Hey, so I guess this is a devlog?

I'll update this when I have something more concrete. 

Goal: Make a game, I haven't done one of those before.

Current Status: Pre-Production && Research 

Inspirations:  Kelsey Beckett,  Finding Chika by Mitch Albom, Angela He & Angela Carter are my visual and narrative inspirations for this project. 

Idea: 

You step into the shoes of an old veteran. 

You live alone, in a small cabin the woods. You have lived there for a long time. It's been like this, for far longer than you can remember. When did you stop remembering things?

When did time stop?

Gameplay: 

Untitled Winter Game by .elm is an interactive narrative story about two strangers who cross paths one winter morning.

Tools: 

Unity 2019, Maya 2019, Adobe Photoshop CC 2020, Discourse, Sheer Naivety 

About me: 

My name is Elm. Or atleast, that's what I go by online these days. I'm a 3D Real-time/VR artist for an Architectural Visualisation company, however I primarily do boring things and only use Unreal Engine. 

Before that, I was a freelance 2D asset artist and self-employed illustrator doing commissions for browser based games and personal portraiture. 

The whole purpose of this jam for me is to dip into Unity a little and widen my skills. How far I'll get, I have no idea, but I'm definitely going to learn a lot. 

;A; I used to play games aha, but granted I'm very big on simulation, tycoon and strategy games so I suppose ending up in architecture makes sense for now. 

Before this though, I was big on watching lets plays of narrative heavy games and did a lot of illustration so I've always loved narrative too. I'm not sure if I can make anything that's not  boring, but I'll give it a go!

I'm excited to see what you'll come up with too!

1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?

Hello! I'm Elm.  I work as a 3D/VR Real-time artist for an Architectural Visualisation but don't have much non art focused/dev based experience and would like to change that. 

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 think like many people, I just want to take on a project and try to finish it. 

3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?

Do I have times to play games?

4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?

I work full-time with unreal engine, but I want to use game jams as a way to learn Unity.

5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!

Making people happy and stories about strong characters.

6. What are your goals for this game jam?

To make an interactive narrative game, with a little bit of depth to it.