It all started out of nowhere: I saw a jam announcement, I don't even remember where I saw it. I dropped the idea into a few chats, went for a walk and a few beers (Ballmer peak is real). I didn't expect anyone to answer, and was thinking about dropping a few ideas, making basic prototypes and calling it a day. But someone answered, and things started going wild...
Day 0: Idea
Jam theme was "loop". We made a call with Chiptune and started brainstorming. There were a lot of ideas, but we settled on the "reincarnation" concept. The player would make a loop, and there should be some consequences that would resurface on the next cycle. Main references were: Loop Hero, Reigns and Kingdom. A bit later, I added Frieren to this list.
initial storming
The final idea was that the player would journey through the kingdom, collect resources, fight monsters, and rebuild the portal to travel somewhere else.
Some of the other ideas:
mana doesn't come out of nowhere. To get some mana, the player should corrupt ground and get the mana out of the environment. Corrupted ground would spawn more monsters. It was a main mechanic from another game, maybe someday I will return to that.
I wanted to use Dual Purpose Design, so everything should have a second reason, or be removed from the game.
random events. The player could meet someone who would give the player upgrades. It was inspired by Frieren, and I was thinking about swapping out the "souls" resource with "memories".
season changes. Every season would have buffs and debuffs, and spawn unique monsters
that's closer to the end result
That call lasted for 2 hours, after that we went to sleep.
Day 1: Basic
I wasn't able to sleep for long, wanting to already do something great. After 4 hours of sleep, I started writing the game design document. You can see it in the top part of this post.
Even that basic design document helped to structure my thoughts about the game and make a plan. Then Alex joined in. I sent him a list of assets and a palette and started coding afterwards.
First things first, I created the movement system:
but player always stays on the same spot, and everything else moves backwards
After a few hours, Alex sent me the first assets, and I almost immediately placed them into the game and started sending progress gifs:
And there was the first feedback. It motivated me a lot:
first character designs
decorations
But the lack of sleep got to me, so I went to sleep for a few hours after lunch (yeah, I know, my sleep schedule is wild).
Later that day, I created the game map, resource gathering and the aforementioned movement system and went to sleep for 12 hours.
Day 2: Buildings, enemies and lose condition
The second day was filled with lots of things: I created mechanics for buildings, basic fights, we created a first draft for balance, figured out the segment count for desired play length, the game could be finished (but only the lose condition was implemented).
There was a lot of coding, but there was a moment when I described the desired vfx:
In total, I worked for 14 hours straight that day, with breaks for lunch and smoke. And then I crashed for 4 hours of sleep xdd
Day 3: text events, music, sfx, repel and basic tutorial
At the end of the 3rd day, all the basic elements were ready. So I switched to some polish work, some fun things, and was waiting for assets from Alex. Chiptune delivered the first balance version for the resources and enemies at lunch.
From the interesting parts - there was a fight skip mechanic. The player could move through fight segments in 3 ways: fight enemy with fire magic, blow away enemy with wind magic, and endure enemy damage. The last two options would leave the enemy on this segment for the next cycle and the enemy could be upgraded. Back to repel: I always liked SMT IV wind attack and wanted to do something similar. The end result looks pretty (but we're rotating pixels 😠):
Oh, and I slept for 13 hours that day :devil:
Last day
The day started with a message containing ALL assets from Alex. That's a good start.
programmer art vs artist art
The first half of the day I was adding new assets, new enemies, new buildings. Then came the balance pass, checking that the game could be completed. Later - sfx. In the last hours I added segment randomization and building deterioration.
And then we found out that some of the new mechanics broke the html export. And itch was down. And the music wasn't working in the html build. Not a pleasant release, I'd say, but somehow I expected this. The deadline was moved one hour away, and that helped us fix those bugs, add the main menu and prepare a good build. A few bugs got shipped, but that's the nature of jams.
We even have good reviews so far, and I'm glad we have that:
font was not so good, but I wanted something gothic
What was good
Focus on gameplay and content. Usually, I focus on gameplay mechanics, but this time I limited myself with mechanics and wanted to add new events quickly. So I implemented mechanics very quickly and tried to generalize code as much as possible on the second pass. And this worked out great.
Team. I usually go solo. But with help from others, everything goes much easier. And the last hours call was super helpful and kept stress away.
Chill time. Even when I worked some days for 14 hours, I always listened to my body. If I wasn't feeling well, I wouldn't push myself.
ABZ. Productivity technique. First, we start with A and Z, where we are now, and where we want to be. And then, we write down B - the next immediate task that will move us closer to Z.
I've spot this book at local book store and immediately think, that I want to read that.
And that is a really good read. Very sad, but good.
On this book, I've started commonplace book. Write few quotes, draw some ugly sketches. And decided to study, how other peoples make commonplace books. Found this one, flipper through few pages, and set aside for now.
But started another one, Pollyanna. Feels a bit weird for now, but we'll see.
Games
Tried continue my Dark Souls playtrough. And sensed anger almost at the start. I like the game, lore, mechanics, I just don't like that this games want you to play them as work. If you miss a day (or week), you will be penalized, just because you forget how to parry, or some shit.
At gamedev team we discussed old XComs, and I remembered having fun playing Phoenix Point few years ago. And now decided to try Xenonauts. And just feeling frustrated at the first ground battle. Aliens, that can one shot half of your squad across the map, and your squad what can't do shit, because there is a bush... It's a drop for now.
On this note, I've tried some more strategies from my library. I've really like Spear Song and Republic of Pirates. Oh, and Mudboorne. Man, I love frogs. Nevertheless, none of this games can take my attention for long. I will play them, later, I guess.
Oh, and I've tried to make jam entry to Decker jam. Got my old cozy game idea, created pretty barebones prototype, and dropped it. It's just too much of a hussle, to work comfortable in Decker. So, I filled my game design document with details and mechanics, and postponed this game for now.
Video
Gachiakuta is out! That's a blast. After watching first ep, I've decided to write this post, just to recommend this to some stranger on the internet. Drop anything and go watch Gachiakuta!
Finnaly, watched Gunnm. Very strange pacing, but overall I like it. OST from Gunnm was in inspiration list for Mahou Mayhem, game, that I develop now. Will definitely read manga.
This is how standards are actually achieved… through process, not proclamation.
Found Analog Kitchen, youtube channel about making music on hardware. Cool grooves, interesting materials, watched a lot of it.
Also, I'm designing and 3d printing drip irrigation system for my plants. It is a cool little side project. It is a nice change of pace, from digital to physical world. I always found this fascinating, when you start questioning yourself about how things are invented and how smart people really are. This time, I've learned how tap works and created a minimal version, that will help my plants stay hydrated. Will test it out and push out on Printables.
Last year I got totally burned out from work. At the time, I just didn't have any power to even talk to people and do home chores. And then, I left my work. For two months, I just didn't do anything. Not even watching movies or playing games, just feeling miserable all day long. Thinking, how I ended up here. I've started some psychiatry and psychology treatment. I analyzed every thought, began journaling. Thinking about everything, I was grateful. And it helps a bit.
A little bit earlier, a side project was formed, that later will be known as Crazy Cats vs Crazy Cyborgs (buy it on Xbox, I will get some cents from that xdd). It was another (like tenth) attempt to form game development team and start living off that. There was Alex, game designer and artist, and me, doing everything else. Eventually, we even found a small publisher, who agreed to buy out our game.
After some rest, I was thinking "I can make my dreams come true and start making games" and picked back up side project. Oh boy... It felt like I was learning to walk again. Everything was feeling out of place. I've forced myself to work every 5 minutes. I was thinking, that working on personal project sensing the same, as other guy job. I didn't feel any creative spark. But, little by little, five minutes of work turned into ten, then into thirty, eventually into a hour, and then, I found myself feeling less bad about myself. Even inspired a little bit. I began to catch up some good things. I started to see others peoples work, there was a lot of talented people outside our social circle. I've picked up old hobbies, I've tried to draw and make music again. I was creating new projects ideas. And it feels great. I was feeling, that I can make the impossible.
Cat and some flowers, I've planted as my new relaxing hobby
But, after some time, money runs out. I was feeling too good, to let it slide, and start making debts. My decisions started to be more money oriented. Instead of "we can make it better", I've said "we should drop that feature and release faster". We've rushed one game, and then started the other, that later will take title "Frame Cat". It started to feel just as before. But still, I was having fun. I've written some music, coded some cool mechanics, written some game ideas for later. I've posted some screenshots on reddit and chatting with people (I'm huge introvert btw).
And other cat
But eventually, my debt crosses $10k mark. We can make games, we can even publish them, but we can't get our earnings for now, due to some political issues. And even if we can, it is not sustainable. We need to market somehow. Hire some people, who won't work for free. We take way too much time, to create a game, because we love games, and want to make them better. But for average 3 months game, team of two spend just on life, eat, and basic needs around $1000 per member. And we have families, too. For last 6 months, I've got $1000 in advance payments. Other part will be payed out in October, due to the same political issues. Maybe we can finish another game, what will get us another $1000 per member, but it is just too low... We've working basically for free, and even then, I'm thinking, that we have better conditions, than like 50% of other indie developers, who going indie and publish themselves, market games themselves, or doesn't have the connections.
I'm still love games, and I will make more of them, but current situation is depressing. I'm looking for work, but there are troubles, too. The existential dread is back again. I found myself asking "why i'm living, and what should i do". But I'm grateful for that creative spark. It is pretty cool journey, and it is not ended yet. I willing to try again and again. I will change my reaction to events and critique, I will try to be a better partner, I will try to make games faster, and teach other people how to do it. I know, that some people will support me, regardless of my success. I just don't want to be a burden for anyone.
Well, last game released too. It is an action platformer, inspired by Comix Zone (and it is hard for me to formally describe my games).
Basically, you play as a cat-wizard-tomb rider, who can shoot fireballs and steals magical artifacts. We were planning to make this more comics centered, like, player will have different issues, and each issue will contains different world and different abilities, but it is what it is. We underestimated the scope hardly, and released what we can manage to quickly make playable.
We've developed this game in 3 months, I think? A small team of 2, with passion can make huge things. I've made code for this game, music and sounds. Alex made gamedesign and art.
This is my first time as composer, though. And I pretty much liked it. I was inspired by Soichi Terada at the time and tried to make ps one light drum and bass tracks. It was hard! I remembered importing Ape Escape tracks in reaper and trying to disassemble them, to get grasp on structure, used sounds and notes for literally hours, but still missed the essence. But end result sounds fine, but not that I initially wanted.
Also, making sounds was a journey too. I've started from recording some stuff dropping on the table, keys ringing, guiro frog, and then pithcing this sounds and heavy eq'ing them. But it was too tiresome, and for later levels I've just generated sounds with simple oscillators in odin. Also, almost all sounds in music made with odin too. It is a great free synth, give it a try!
We've made this game in 2021, as a side gig, and it turns to be pretty cool little game.
Also, it is feel good to watch people play you game and find all little details, that you put in your game. Link to youtube review.
Tools used: GameMaker, aseprite, sfxr (i don't remember, but i think it was sfxr) and a few scripts on python to make precise collision maps for environment.
Well, there is a new start. I hope to find some interesting peoples here, and maybe some friends...
Anyway, here is some info about me:
I've worked as software developer for 10+ year, constantly changing areas of interest and gaining new knowledge every year.
I'm passionate about games.
I love taking photos and writing music.
You can known me as Dino, UselessDinosaur, veloc1 or Pavel
And I don't know what to write here.
Last year I left a company, and started new journey as indie game developer. In small team of two, we released Crazy Cats VS Crazy Cyborgs, Frame Cat (coming soon to consoles), and currently working on new game. That's a tough journey, I'm almost broke and has a big debt, but this is still a fun adventure.
I will post there some news about my games, maybe some tutorials, music(?). Anyway, feel free to explore this site, write we at guestbook, look at frog memes in moodboard and follow me on neocities.
Looking forward to meet cool peoples here!
Latest release
I've released a game for free! 40 minutes of oldschool platforming within comics decoration waits for you.
Now
Currently I'm working on Mahou Mayhem game. It's a Vampire Survivors like game, setted in magical girls
dimension.
Also, I'm looking to make new friends and spread knowledge. If you want help with something code or gamedev
related, or just say "hi"
- feel free to reach me out via mail useless.dinosaur at gmail dot com.
