Ive done my best to put aside my salt from the 20k Cool Math Game Jam Winners announcement although much of this may still come across as salty and ranty. I have already congratulated the winners but as someone who went and played the majority of the games in that game jam I would have chosen different winners as the ones chosen were on the surface fun games but when closely looking at the criteria proposed there were stronger entries with more original ideas and stronger financial education built in, which isnt to say my own game was among these even if the saltier side of me believes it was.
That being said it was a panel judged contest so the ultimate criteria was the taste of the judges. The key take away Ive learned is that I approached this game jam with the intent to make the best fin ed game I could make given the constraints with a unique art style as I hand drew 200 assets for the game which probably could have been better allocated to making 1 strongly fleshed out character with a focused set of things to interact with instead of the breadth first approach I took. If I'm being honest I was just making the game I wanted to make and didnt focus on making a game that had the highest probability to win as these are two very different things. From this realization I think making juice and the whimsy of a game as the final cherry on top is the wrong approach in making games in todays world for smaller projects. Perhaps there is a fine line between too much juice when it come to bigger projects with deep systems and compelling narratives where the juice needs to be dialed back as needed to not crowd out the more intricate world building however in smaller projects going forward I'd profer that Juice has become an essential part of game play and if the game isnt juicy in the first 5 seconds and sustained for at least 5 minutes before delving into any narrative hooks or complicated systems aside from epic dynamic camera shots and essential tutorials your game will be completely passed over.
As a lover of intricate worlds that give you alot of systems out the gates since theres alot to learn rapidly before the game feels fun, I feel personally in conflict with this take. However I cannot argue with what the market is currently holding up as good games. Alas this is the world we now live in.
In response to this I will likely not be making as many small game jam projects designed for browser experiences and will more or less be investing deeper time in crafting high value games since those are the games Im interested in making which are not well suited for what could be considered more casual gaming experiences. Instead I will be focusing on making games that both require much more time investment and risk on my side but also more sustained passion and dedication towards a clear vision of well crafted experience for players in a effort to make transcendent video games that have the potential to catch lighting in a bottle instead of making games that are focused on catching attention for a brief period of time before being forgotten in this vacuous world we have crafted for our cultural landscape to exist in. Ive truly enjoyed participating in game jams, playing other people games in jams, and interacting in the comments with other participants. Game jams has given me the drive to learn Godot and GDScript and has level up my art skills which Im the most happy with even if my next game will likely been a deeper crafted story in a 3d world based on a scifantasy novel series Im in the works on with a p2p mmo integrated as post story content with interoperability between the modes and clear reward systems for dedicated hosts for the mmo world but I digress as that is all still years in the making.
My love of games has not been assuaged by these losses and so I must listen to them and cave dive even deeper. o7
