AdventureJam Journal

[yhsper]

Get well soon, my friend! As an adventure game fan, I'm rooting for you!

Maybe you're overthinking it? Usually when I feel afraid is because I'm listening too much to my own worries. If you're fast with game development, don't worry: you'll make it!

[purplehuman]

Get well soon, my friend! As an adventure game fan, I'm rooting for you!

Maybe you're overthinking it? Usually when I feel afraid is because I'm listening too much to my own worries. If you're fast with game development, don't worry: you'll make it!

Thank you very much!

Yeah, I may be overthinking it. The root of my worries is that I'll develop the engine too, and time might not be enough. But when I thnk about it, in two game jams I participated, I was the first one to finish the game. So, I shouldn't worry I guess.

[purplehuman]

Day 6: 03/25/2015

It's the beginning of Day 6 here. It's past midnight, but some of you might be still on 24th.

The title of the game is "Uncle". Right now, I'm thinking about a really short game featuring two connected puzzles, that's all. There will be a lot of dialog going on, that may give a sense of a longer game, but it won't be that long actually. Puzzles are easy. They're only there to tell the story.

There'll be a very short introduction, no cutscenes, and a short non-interactive scene in the finale. The script of the game is written as a plan only. I think I won't write a detailed screenplay, because I don't need to.

The look of the game will be pure 2D from a side camera. You can see the angle and proportions I plan to use in this image (It won't be silhouettes like this):

uncle-scene-size.png (3.23 KiB) Viewed 3935 times

Controls might be point-and-click, or just keyboard. Both can be used in this kind of game. I'm leaning towards mouse, but this might change.

Update: I changed my mind. Since the game is really short, I decided to try a pathfinding algorithm and make it look like "real" point-and-click adventure. The above plan will be Plan B, in case it takes too long to write the algorithm and draw all the images. You know, I'll need more animations in this route. I think five animations, and mirrored images of some of them would do it.

I'm thinking about drawing on paper, and scanning in. Then animating on the computer. This should be faster, and I can use textured or colored paper. It's worth thinking about.

If I can manage to write this engine, I'm thinking about developing it further for longer games.

Update: I might not write for a few days, because currently I don't have much to do. I can't start drawing the images or making the music right now. The only thing I can do is, writing the story, which is quite unnecessary at this point. But it may get longer of course. I'll try to update when I think something important happens.

[purplehuman]

Day 7: 03/26/2015

I changed my mind, again. I'll make it pure 2D with a side camera. That's because yesterday I experimented with pathfinding and walkable areas a little, and realized that, while possible, it would take a lot of time for me to develop. If only I had done this before. I can't risk losing a lot of time, because I already need to do a lot of things, especially graphics wise.

With this decision, the game seems totally feasible. Now, there's one week before the jam, and I don't have anything to do. I'll try to work on the story a little bit more.

Update: I'm thinking about the style of the drawings. I'm planning to draw on yellowish recycled paper with pen and colored pencils and then scan them into computer. I've once made a small walk cycle animation with this technique, and I liked it. I'm planning to draw the backgrounds the same way.

I will try to put some shadows behind characters, so they will look like they're paper dolls in a 3D space. At least I hope it'll look like that. To make the 3D effect more realistic, I may give shadows to some background elements too. If I can find a way to make the shadows look 3D (like when in front of a second layer of background, the character's shadow falls on the layer more shallow, if it makes sense), it'd be cool. I can make it, but it may take a lot of time I'm afraid.

I made an ugly mockup to show you what I mean:

shadows.png (20.03 KiB) Viewed 3904 times

This might work, or not. We'll see.

[purplehuman]

Day 8: 03/27/2015

There goes my paper drawing plan. I will be out of town during the jam. I can work on the game, but I can't carry the scanner and other materials for drawing the images on paper. So I'll carry a graphic tablet with me and draw digitally. This won't give the look I want, but I hope I can still come up with something beautiful.

I can't be sure of the final look until I start drawing of course, so I may use the shadows I mentioned earlier, or not, depending on the style of the drawings. I wish I had come up with an idea requiring only simple boxes. It'd be another challenge though: Can you make a good adventure game with only boxes? I'm sure it's possible, but I'm not that good a storyteller. I already have worries about my story now.

[purplehuman]

Day 10: 03/29/2015

There are still a few days before the jam. I can't do anything right now. So I want to develop another small game if I can. I like developing small puzzle games with a little different mechanics. I don't have an idea yet, but I'll try to find an idea. I don't like waiting like this without doing anything.

I'm sure if I could put some stuff in the engine, I would've probably done with the game now. It's not a big game. I should try to resist the urge to try being a perfectionist. It won't be perfect. It won't even be good maybe. I need to accept that. There are a lot of little things I want to do to make it more appealing, but I'm sure I won't be able to. So instead of trying to make a very good game, I'll just try to finish it in time. No matter how bad it turns out to be.

Waiting sucks.

[purplehuman]

Day 14: 04/02/2015

One day before the jam, and I'm out of town. I only have my netbook and my graphic tablet with me. I will try to finish the game, even if it doesn't turn out how I want.

I couldn't work on the story, but it's kinda already done. I haven't written the story down, but since it's very short, it's all in my head. I can't wait to start working on it. It will be harder out of my home office, but I can make it work.

The real journal starts tomorrow. Till then, goodbye people.