1. How was the jam overall? What were your biggest challenges, and how did you meet them?

It was fun but a tad bit stressful. I have never worked with any type of gaming engine or done coding so everything was quite new to me. However I am quite creative so I did enjoy actually making the game and seeing the final product. I worked really hard on my game so I was happy to see it complete and turned in. My biggest challenges were the glitches Bitsy had occasionally  when I was making exits for each room. Another thing was downloading my game to canvas and itch.io. It really stressed me out how I could not turn it in after hours of trying and watches the videos given to me.  However with all of them I persevered and just refreshed my game to stop the glitch. I also asked a friend who already downloaded the game to help  turn it in during class today.  

2. What are you most proud of about your prototype?

I am proud of how my game looks. I never expected it to turn out like that and for me who has no knowledge of gaming at all to be able to do my game really made me proud. I also enjoyed how I was able to make the characters kill the players and send them back to the beginning.  I think it made the game more hard and it was really one of my goals while creating my game. 

3. Based on your engine, what did you learn about balancing narrative (story) and mechanics (function)? How might you apply this in other areas of your life, not necessarily in terms of building a game?

I found out that I had to change up my story a little bit to fit it around Bitsy. So the main idea which was save mom was there but the way I executed it was a little different than I anticipated. This made me realize that I have to go with the flow and not think that just because it doesn't follow my plan exactly it will fail. Even though the game wasn't exactly what I had envisioned it still turned out nice and I am proud of the outcome. 

4. If you were going to make another level of your game, how might you implement the feedback?

I would add more characters and make the exits harder to find. Many people said that it was getting repetitive with the dialogue as well so I would switch it up more depending on where you pick up the item. I feel like if I add those things to my game it would make it more fun and difficult. I could also make it less receptive and more engaging to the players. 

5.  What did you use from your portfolio and what got left out? Why?

I left out the player starting in New York. I felt as though it was going to be a little confusing to the player and hard to demonstrate how that happened throughout Bitsy. I also wanted it to be only focused on saving the mom and  I did not think it was necessary to bring up the fact that they were poor and then the mom dated the Dark Angel for a couple months etc.  What I took from my portfolio were the objects, storyline and the room set up. I always wanted my game to feel like Mario World so I think I also accomplished that and stated it in my portfolio. 

6.  What did you notice about narrative while playing other students' games?

A lot of the other games had a. lot of dialogue and made you read more than mine. Mine was more of a game where you have to figure it out rather than explaining everything. If I would have explained everything I feel like it would have been too easy and part of my game is basically to learn as you go. However next time I would like to figure out how to add different dialogue for different pieces in Bitsy to make it less repetitive.

7. Which game was your favorite and why?

My favorite game was The Princess Escape. I really liked how they explained everything and even though it was only writing I was imagining everything that was happening. I also thoroughly enjoyed how there were many different ways of going through the game. The player was able to go on many different side quests and I felt very in control of the princess.  Overall very fun game and I recommend. 

8. Were there any patterns in the feedback you got? 

Some patterns I got was that the dialogue was a little repetitive and that they wished there were side-quests or more monsters. For the side quests I do not think that is part of my game. Leo is in a mansion so I do not know how far off he can get. I also like how to the point my game is so it is not confusing. As for the dialogue and more monsters I feel like I can do that. Next time I would like to change up the dialogue for the items so it wont be annoying. 

9.  Were there any surprises, either in the jam and building your game, or in your feedback?

I was surprised that Bitsy was glitchy. I was not aware that sometimes it acts up so when it first happened to me I got really scared. It also didn't save some of my pieces at first which also made me very frustrated. In all I still was able to face these obstacles and make my game fun.