Indies vs Pewdiepie Game Jam Timelapse!

Here it is, as promised.

19 hours of game development condensed into 7 minutes.

(I actually spent more like 22 hours on the game, but a lot of that either didn’t get recorded or was spent sketching on post-it notes in the real world. And then I spent another 4 to 6 hours configuring twitch, editing this blog, and editing/uploading YouTube videos.)

You can play Super ‘Splosion Fun Time Go!!! on GameJolt.

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Indies vs Pewdiepie Game Jam Update #2!

Few! It’s over. Those were three really intense days – especially Sunday (non-stop development from 8 AM to 12 AM, except for a brief running break).

Unfortunately, I didn’t actually finish a game.

I finished a very promising prototype of a game that implemented a whole bunch of new tools and ideas I’ve never been able to use before. But I didn’t actually finish a game.

Here it is on GameJolt: Super ‘Splosion Fun Time Go!!!

The game’s a half-baked mess, but it’s got good parts:

• The under-the-hood AI and character control system are really solid and flexible
• A complex implementation of Esoteric Software’s Spine runtime let me make some really cool procedural animations
• The art I was able to finish is (for the most part) high-quality and stylistically unified

I also recorded 19 hours of twitch footage which I’m using to make a timelapse of the entire development process. (It’s really cool to watch an empty source file explode into a 2D-shooter over the course of 7 minutes. The video is sped up by something like 120 times.)

Would I do this again? Maybe. But I’d do a few things very differently:

• Keep the features list to a minimum, and take a very rational, this-is-cool-but-we-probably-won’t-have-time-for-this approach to cutting from the final design document.
• Solidify game mechanics before art. It doesn’t matter if your game looks pretty if it doesn’t play well.
• If possible, I’d work in a team. I might have finished this project if I had had twice as much time to split between art and code – or if I had had another person sharing part of the workload. (Double productivity = more possibilities.)

Have I learned anything? Not really, or at least not anything life-changing. But I do have a cool base project to work from and the beginnings of some very high-quality art assets I could potentially sell on the GameMaker Marketplace. And I’ve also gained a few YouTube subscribers from my Update videos. (I think the timelapse will really bring in views once it’s uploaded.)

It’s been a crazy weekend – thanks for coming for the ride.

Indies vs Pewdiepie Game Jam Update #1!

It’s Day 2 of the Indies vs Pewdiepie Game Jam!

I’ve made progress, but I’m behind schedule. The basic mechanics are (sort of) in place, so now I’ve gotta start working on art assets.

I’ll be streaming on and off again on my twitch channel.

Stuff’s happening!!!

Update and Announcement – I’m Competing in a Game Jam!

It’s been WAY too long! I’m really sorry there’s so much time between updates. I’m still here!

The situation’s the same as last time: school is my life, and it takes priority over game development. (Darn.)

But as of today, it’s Thanksgiving vacation! Or as I’m going to call it, Turkey Week!

I’ve actually got time to do stuff and develop things.

It turns out, by super crazy coincidence, that my break coincides perfectly with GameJolt’s Indies vs. PewDiePie game jam. So I’m going to enter it! (It’s my first game jam ever!)

I’m starting a little bit late, but I think I can still finish something.

I’ll be posting update videos to YouTube on my progress throughout the weekend, and I’ll also be livestreaming parts of the development process over on my new twitch channel.

Wish me luck! Peace.