2020 has been a tough year, but looking back I'm very proud of the progress I've made in my indie dev journey.
I've been doing game jams extensively for 4 years now, my first one was the Global Game Jam of 2017. Also, I study Visual Communications at university, specializing in gaming.
The games in the video above were created between July and literally two days ago. Most of these were created in the context of a game jam, anywhere between 48 hours and two weeks' efforts.
Here are my two cents on limitations and scope: Limitations are super important if you want to deliver a game and enjoy the process. these are the three things I'm usually trying to not over-scope, whether I work alone or in a team:
- Tech. I usually keep my designs to a maximum of one major technical challenge that fits my abilities. This is important because it keeps me interested but not overwhelmed by stuff I don't know a whole lot about.
- Design. I usually choose one main mechanic I want to experiment with for my games. I'm very interested in input systems so more often than not find myself leaning into that.
- Art. I'm the most comfortable with pixel art, it is a limitation on its own but it allows me to create assets fast. I do like to experiment within the medium.
Looking at each game as a tiny step of a much larger process helps to keep me sane most of the time. All of these designs were pretty spontaneous, I still haven't tackled my so-called "Magnum Opus". Not being too emotionally attached to the project you're working on is super liberating.
Hope that helps. Happy new year!
🕹️My games are available on https://idanro.itch.io