itch.io

11:59 pm :)

Knowing that I now have around 6 to 8 hours to make and post a video game due to my current schedule, I've thought about using a new theme that will help me make things as quickly as possible, and I think I've found it...

With the exception of coding errors that make the game not function, I cannot remove or modify something I create for my game. A function does something I wasn't expecting it to? That's what it will always do. I draw a sprite completely wrong? It's going in. Accidentally invert the controls when adding them? The down arrow will make you go up!

I see countless ways in which this can go wrong, but whatever it turns out to be, it will be right. Will probably try something along the lines of a 2d platformer, because one of the only things I've had time to learn is a KinematicBody2D :), but it almost certainly won't play, or look like one.

A fun side effect of this is, if I make a sudden game mechanic or design choice, I can't go back on it. I can only add to it. I have no idea what this will be or look or sound like, or if it will even work. Frankly, my main aim here is to create something that runs, and will hopefully make you chuckle. Constant addition means that things will probably get hectic quickly, which is always good for humour...

I'm aware that this has almost nothing to do with the theme of healing, but maybe I'll try to incorporate it somehow. I am normally the perfectionist with these sorts of things, which is probably why I hardly ever finish things like this. But, I have a hard deadline. Whatever it is, by the end of tomorrow, that will be my submission :)

Thank you for reading, and I hope your more well-thought out projects are going great! :)

MJL

Well, it looks like 'The Wait' is going to have to wait :(

Not long after my first post, which might have something to do with the fact that I had to go to the hospital, I fell quite ill :(. I feel quite a bit better now, but I've done almost no work on my game at all.

I also have work for a couple of days, and then I won't be here from Friday. This means that I have one and a bit days to make a whole game...

Considering that I barely know how to use Godot, and all I've gotten working so far is some basic movement, it seems like 'The Wait' isn't going to be submitted for this jam, it's just not going to be possible. I will submit something though, I might have to take the traditional path and make some sort of 2d platformer, I'll see what comes out of my brain :)

Thank you Pika! I just hope I can make it work :)

I'm extremely excited to be making my first ever game in this 'First Game Jam'! :) Having decided to get out of my creative rut recently by making things on Itch.io, this jam presented the perfect opportunity to make my first game, which is something I've always wanted to do, but have always found a reason not to (mostly, 'I have no idea what I'm doing and it sounds hard'). However, with Godot, a Skillshare subscription and a community of people all in a similar position , I'm confident I'll be able to make a functional game by the deadline!

I had some idea of what I was going to do around the theme of 'Heal', but my plan changed on the day the Jam started, when I was advised to go to hospital (don't worry, it turned out to be nothing serious :). After an ECG, I had to wait in the waiting room for my results and a check-up. I wasn't sure how long it was going to be, or even if I was in the right waiting room for a time, but it turned into a long wait; more than 3 hours.

In that time, a lot of thoughts went through my head. Of course, what my results would be was the main thought at first, but that gradually faded as I realised that, if something serious had come up on an ECG, I probably would already have been called. I'm incredibly lucky to have a caring boyfriend who was texting me the whole time, and was likely more worried about me than I was.  I also had my dad waiting to take me home, and they were both anxious to know when I would get to come home. So, what do I tell them? When will I be called?

That's when the idea for 'The Wait' and it's gameplay occurred to me. Enter the waiting room, and try to figure out when you are going to be called. The player can observe the people around them, the rate at which people are being called, how many doctors they think are working etc. They will also need to balance this with dealing with distractions (like the loud vending machines, ambulances passing outside and more), as well as natural human needs. Mistime a bathroom break, and you could lose count; or worse, be called while you are gone. 

I want 'The Wait' to be relatively light-hearted, so I'll steer clear of any heavy elements of story (and may change the name when I see more of the game itself, it seems quite ominous). To capture the emotions that I experienced, I'd rather use the mechanics of the game itself rather than a story. It should be tense, but not that stressful. I'll try to get a scoring system, where the closer you are to the correct time, you will get more points, but it is possible to fail completely by missing being called.

I'm aware that I'm probably giving myself a lot to do here, but, I do want elements like the people in the waiting room and the time you will be called to be randomly generated. To save time, I'll do pixel art sprites for one waiting room (similar to the actual one I was in and took notes of) and some basic models for people, which the game can also combine and randomly generate each time.

Feel free to leave me feedback and let me know just how much I've given myself to do :) I'll try to post updates regularly as I progress.

Thanks for reading,

MJL

Picking a poker site to play on can be a tricky decision, and one that can be costly if you get it wrong! I've created this guide and questionnaire to help you find your reasons for playing, so you can find the right site for you and get the most out of your poker playing experience!

Find it here! The Poker Site Guide and Questionnaire by MJL (itch.io)

This is my first ever post on Itch.io, and I'm here to make anything that helps me to learn and take on new creative projects. This is a project I'd been working on before starting to make things here, but my next project will be something different. I hope you enjoy it! :)

MJL

I don't often write reviews, but I thought I'd give it a go here.

Over lockdown, I imagine thousands of   socially  starved creatives came up with some crazy ideas for games (or  'interactive thoughts' in this case) , and one in which you walk around interacting with hundreds of  thoughts and feelings  most certainly seems like it wouldn't have been made otherwise. Some are completely mundane, others are more thought -provoking, and some made me LOL ('THROW  THOSE SHAPES'). But they all form  the seemingly endless network of thoughts that make up 'Give Me Strength', allowing  the flow of James' thoughts to be relatable to all in some way, particularly people like me who like art and want to make it good, but have no idea how or why. 

In terms of technical side of the game, there are one or two minor  things that pulled me out of the experience. Firstly, I accidentally skipped the tutorial and opening monologue by going to the blue guy  straight away, which was fixed by a second playthrough. A more  not-me problem is how, in the first level, there are invisible boundaries that make quite a few of the 'red guys' inaccessible; something very frustrating for  100% perfectionists   like me in  such narrative experiences.   However,  I'm not sure whether this an over-sight or a deliberate stylistic choice, since we can't access all our thoughts at the same time (would love to hear James' thoughts on this!).

The soundtrack is a great background to the experience,  being  soft and flowing enough to not interrupt your own thoughts and the flow of the experience, but never in a dull moment when you do pull away to listen to it: like good   elevator music, but better     and mirroring the echoed style of some character models. The animation style has a similar flow, with excellent and yet so tragically under-used dance moves, which definitely took far more  development time  than most other things in the game.

I don't believe that such an open ended game is designed to tell a cohesive story. Instead, it allows  the player to think as deeply and take as many lessons from it as they can interpret. I, for one, was reminded that good work comes from throwing lots of bad work out there  and seeing what people like. While  'Give Me Strength' can allow you to have a good think about the nature of your own wandering thoughts, I believe it is a little too abstract, and requires too much internal analysis, to gain mass appeal. But I'm also fairly sure that making the next indie  darling wasn't James' intention, but just to put another game out there and see if anybody could make meaningful connections to it. In that regard, I think it's class.