Please do check it out! Use limited directional light beams to light up the board. There's about 15 levels of varying difficulty to try, I view it as quite a relaxing puzzle game just tricky enough to be engaging but not enough to leave you permanently stumped. There's also a level editor so that you can try making some levels of your own to share.
So, this was my first ever game to get completed. At the beginning of last year I took part in the global game jam and made a fairly terrible thing in unity that didn't actually function as a game because it frequently broke. For the next half of that year I spent time remaking that idea in GameMaker Studio 2 and the process was much much quicker but because of university and procrastination it still was taking far too long. In July 2019 I had a dream about a sending out highways to cover a bunch of land and then a few months later I talked with my partner and during the process of explaining the dream, I realized exactly what the game should be. Hence this game was born. It took until the end of November to make a proper start on it, again because of University, but then from November to march I got something actually finished.
Here are just some of the things that I learned from the experience:
- While I did end up having a level editor for my game, you do not need one to start making levels. From the very beginning of your game you should be thinking about what fun challenges can actually be created from these mechanics. I essentially left all level design until the very end of the project and that left me with all the work done with still so much more to do. A game isn't a game without levels.
- When creating UI's, try to make them as dynamic as possible. Each button sprite is drawn individually in my game. I am an idiot. Do not do what I do. Instead try to have menu button components. Like a large button, a button to put text in, etc.
- Everything should be in support of a particular feeling. There are so many things I would prefer to do for my game to make it fit better with the vibe I wanted to go for but I only realized this after spending too much time doing the wrong things. Which brings me on to the final point,
- MAKE SMALL GAMEPLAY PROTOTYPES! This is the most important step to the entire process. Continually share everything you've worked on with everyone you can, no matter how early it is. The second the game can be played even slightly, share it. Share it with your friends, share it with the internet, share it with the world. Feedback is your friend and an invaluable tool.
Anyways, that's everything I wanted to say. Please check out my game or follow my twitter @bendolyne for my other upcoming games/prototypes. Best of luck with all your own personal projects