Hell Yah!

Amen! I really think game jams have helped me learn the tools of game dev and now im gunna go the hard route of making a "Serious" game thatll take a bit but ill be focusing on keeping it tight as a well crafted experience that knows what it is and delivers on it!

I often wonder what is more destructive, success or failure?

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

Congrats to all the winners! Hope yall make another fun jam some time o7 

Super fun game! Excellent title! Adding some sound affects for when enemies are hit and when you gain gold, and some health bars would go a long way! Really love the bankrupcy piggy spinnning action, and if you have to time to drop these in blender adding some adorable little outfits or hats to each piggy would also go along way! The foundations are here and the path following for enemies is good but you may want to slow them down and give them more health to then maximize the new juice additions, Also i was a tad confused on how many levels for each and if i would eventually beat the level then go to the next difficulty or it if each location/difficulty is infinite. Nice work all n all! <3

will do!

Really trying! Im kinda getting worried tho as im now being asked to Verify im not a bot after every reply . So Ive had to slow it down so i dont get banned or something and idk if ill be through them all before announcement

Really fun flow for a game, Reminds me of my days working at starbucks. Theres a small bug (maybe feature) where you can place the coffee right on the edge of the counter and it falls off and isnt pick up able. Also just stacking people at the cashregister should have some negative consequence but all n all those are nit picks and these is a solid game!

In love with the Adorable OC youve got here! The Font could be a bit bigger tho. This has the beginnings of a strong visual novel maybe just add some waifus?

I can see the vision but the sound is kinda noise and it appears that this game was still in need of work.

This game seems to have been left incomplete womp womp

Super awesome artwork! Could use faster time intervals for things falling as it seems real hard to out pace the rate of coin entropy!

Love the music but the hyper squiggles gave me a headache after a bit.

Fun concept! Would be really cool if you tuned this into a Tactics mini Rpg or something! Also some more visual clarity about when im about to lose via the over refining would be good!

Love the music and its a very cozy game. Only thing that would really make it stand out is adding that shader or some art to all the blocks and a descrition of what the represent. Nice Work <3

That piggy sure is spooky! Good initial game would love to see it expanded upon!

Does remind me of one of the Roblox dev interview games. Cool idea, could use alot more clarity on what to do and how to do it though.

Well it sounds like theyre busy people but ive got time this weekend and ive been meaning to go through and try them all myself  and ive only gone through 50 or so so far so here we go! One positive and one critique for all games. o7

Absolutely love the use of shaders here! Also  One of the better pure simulators ive seen nice use of pacing with the loading screens, My only complain was I clicked through and couldnt figure out how to advance month for a little bit, Maybe include a clarity note on button or that once all is allocated it would auto prompt an advance month dialogue! <3

Very cozy! Nice work <3 My only critique is the controls seem to be velocity ramping based which feels real slippery.

Um maybe this is a good time to try to learn Unreal to some level could be fun. Anyone got any useful tips and tricks? (I mostly use Godot and have used Unity, pixlepad, and scratch)

Just to Show that with commitment to paying off your minimums, maximizing each launch( as you already have everything you need to succeed), and holding gold, and a bit of luck, you too can become a home owner! (in retrospect it should be +1000gold if missed not +50% if missed as ive had a few runs where i was at 5k gold on hand but 100k in debt. Theres a few other balance changes Id love to make now that ive got some more feedback but those will have to wait! Good Luck till then <3

Super cool! Would love if there were sounds when you found a clue tho! Super nice 3d modeling going on tho! Keep up the good work <3

Lol love the concept although it probably needs a little more polish and clarity. Like perhaps there a meter for when the pupper is near good food his meter runs down faster but you have to be there to buy things, and also more clarity on button presses. Fun game with potential tho!

Washin Dishes and robbing banks! Lol very funny stuff. Probably shouldnt be able to go negative on money stolen in the platformer seems a little strange. All n all nice work def lots of effort shown here!

Pretty fun little deck builder youve got here! ALthough when i got to the second boss even though it worked before and i clearly had the $ it wouldnt let me add any more cards with the play button, perhaps simplifying it to not have to rebuilding the deck each time would be good. Anyways nice work! Keep at it!

Super Awesome artstyle! Although the controls for when the stuff get added to the cup can be a bit annoying, all n all nice work!

Theres always something special about the writing process! ~Pure magic

Seems to be like this nullifies that since this is basically extending the deadline by 4 days for some but not for everyone otherwise it wouldnt be fair. Also if its not stated on the home page rules but is a reply  to someone else ? Welp I guess ill leave it as is then. Kinda not your usual game jam but i had fun regardless. 

Oh that makes sense ill give it another go! Really trying to try them all out but Im so busy this week!

Your other games look really great tbh and even stick figure animations of a guy walking to and from his fish market and making deals to sitting on a dock with a line in a blue drawn square would do the trick on making this game super enjoyable! Keep up the good work!

Personally I think a good difficult game is a plus and is best as escalating difficulty like if the game starts with a good garden of supplies to get going and then as you get closer to the goal theres "bad" events that make it harder to garden. Love your art tho fr <3

1. What did you learn about financial literacy?

The importance of understanding why we dont use a barter system as well as why we use a fiat system that was originally set up to be backed by gold! And the importance of intrest rates, as well as properly balancing home economics with necessity. And the importance of Investments and Compound Interest (both compound working for you and against you)!

1. How did you apply what you learned to your game? 

 I tried to express the barter system being the downgrade to a Gold backed Currency system with Mr. Mint and his Double Coincidence of wants quest! I also went ahead and added a pretty insane no regulation variable intrest rate on the piggys loan since thats just how Mr. Snaps rolls(at least until the Central Bank announces rate cuts), as well as minimum weekly payments to encourage players to invest their money as they can, and know when they have to miss a payment to compound their own wealth via the Stocks Investments offered in the Mines by Felix Ergo. I also included the value, importance, and necessity of balance for Home Economics by including Miss Mara Bell Bunny and her Peculiar Records 'N Such shop that sells cool Posters, Records, and Couches that can be used to customize the home and the players experience! And Lastly the importance of work but that eventually once youve got all your finances under control you can sleep all day and play when you want to! But first lots of hard work(even if its fun)! And a Bit of luck! Oh and Currency Swaps as exchange rate markets are generally under taught from my experience so I added that in.

1. What challenges did you face in making it work? 

I really wanted to add a true inflation rate to modify the value of purchasable items but since the only things you can technically sell are stocks it felt more like a net negative on the game experience so it was left out. I was also having trouble with in air angle to change velocity but went with Airball mechanic instead since it felt better to have more shop items and is generally a more enjoyable experience with the ball bouncing off the ground which is probably a safer way for pigs to fly anywyas. I also wanted to add more animations however i ran out of time since i hand drew nearly everything aside from a few buttons(that i still stylized but still), and my sound guy went awol on me mid development so i had to do all the sound design as well as the code so i just didnt have time to do more than engine facilitated animations but if i make a second edition of this game I would def increase that as well as more shadders which I see alot of other people using and they look fantastic but so far ive just been trying to nail the fundamentals of game design. But hey its all a learning process! Hope you all enjoy if you give it a go and ill be playing every single game and try to point out 1 positive and 1 improvement for all of them! <3

Super Adorable rolling animations! Kinda like horse racing but with Knowledge! Nice work <3

Couldnt figure out how to get the beans in the box but love the sky box and the models!

Absolutely Incredible Art Should Be hanging in a museum!

Super Awesome that you can shoot the walls as well as the enemies! Although forced full screen feels a bit intrusive. All n all nice work! Cant wait to see what comes next!

Super Adorbs! Ngl Kinda a hard game even on easy tho! Nice work!