Brackeys Game Jam 2020.1

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Oh no... I think i overscoper my project... What do i do?? [HELP!!!]

A topic by Marxy 37 created Feb 20, 2020 Views: 206 Replies: 7

Viewing posts 1 to 5

Marxy 37Submitted5 years ago

As the title says, yeah. I think i overscoped my project!!! And we are in the middle of the development process, so i can't just turn back!!! What do i do???

In a nutshell my idea is this: you have to run a pastry shop where you have to take orders from customers and, if they whear a hat with an holes, you have to pass their order (which consists of one of 5 drinks and one of 3 pastries) in a spacial machine, called "hole-o-matic" , which literally "holes" their order. Over time the bar becomes more and more crowded and the game more and more difficult and, if you disappoint too many customers, you lose. An infinite game, in short.

When I chose the idea all this seemed feasible to me, but I soon realized that it was anything but managble: The things to do were many more than I had imagined, the things I thought were simple turned out to be very complex and my inexperience, both of 3d and of making games in general (this is my second game, after all) does not help.

In the end I'm left with less than 1 and an half days to finish a game that is in a not-finite state, without the basic concepts yet, and barley playable (I mean, for now you can only walk in the bar). Despite this however, I still intend to upload for the jam and complete it later [Maybe I will put a screen to warn that the game is not finished and that I will finish it after the jam]

Soo... How do I proceed?? Please, help me... I really don't know what to do anymore ...

misterG-gamedev5 years ago

Hmm. What is to biggest chunk of work that you can cut Out or replace? What is the core element and what is just your Dream product? I.e what is the absolut Essential stuff you need? Maybe in the back of your head you are already thinking about the next 10 Levels which creates too much stress and anxiety?

Marxy 37Submitted5 years ago

Mmmhhh... I dont' know really what to cut, other than stuff that i have already cut out (that i haven't mentioned here because my dream product it's just too big to be writed down)... And that's really the problem!!! The stuff that i mentioned here seems pretty core to me, and altering those ideas will probably alter the game idea:

I can't cut out the ordering part because... whitout it the game won't be a bar managing game
I can't cut the Hole-O-Matic because that's the main pillar of the game (and the jam theme correlation, of course)
I can't cut the hats because whitout it i don't have an indicator to show people who have to get "holed" orders and who don't
I can probably cut the amount of food types, but i alredy done the modeling and implementing it, it's just a metter of copy-pasting the beheaviour to one object to another. It's just the food retriving part a pain, not the actual food.
The customer are already implemented, so cutting it would be madness

Yes, maybe it's just that!!! I'll try to developing the core stuff!! Thank you for your support!!!

xokoladeSubmitted5 years ago

If you haven't, be sure to write a list out of what your game needs to do, so you don't mentally overestimate your work and make yourself panic.

Have you considering simplifying how you implement graphics? For example, the order you're building is just a bunch of sprites on your UI as opposed to 3D models? That way you just have to put in places to interact with that swap in/out ui sprites. Or, simplify the scope of the game. Just focus on getting one customer in/out of the cafe and programming that, instead of trying to program managing multiple customers at once.

If you're going to work on this afterward, I'd recommend focusing the bare basics of what your game needs to function. To me that looks like:

1 - spawning in a customer that has information about their order. displaying that order in some easy way (like sprites that are attached to the customer model that change image depending on the generated order)

2 - create the spots on your cafe where you interact with to collect your food. display the WIP order as simply as possible

3 - create a way to interact with the hole-o-matic

4 - make the script that checks if you got the customer's order right or wrong, and gives/deducts HP, money, whatever

Marxy 37Submitted5 years ago

When it comes to write down a program to follow, i'm not very good!!! (And that's funny because i'm a developer, write programs it's supposed to be my job!!! XD) But you provided me a general program, so thank you, i'll use that as a reference!!!

I haven't really considered that before, but i think that modesing it's better than sprites in my case because i'm already confident with them, and if i have to do sprites i'll have to learn hot to do it and, of course, i have to draw it, which a'm no good at all!! But maybe code-wise it's much simple to implement, so i'll give it a quick think!!

Thank you for the support and especially for the chart!!!

Trevz!Submitted5 years ago

Just adding a little bit more on both replys above . After you identify what are your core game mecanics/aspects (the bones of your game) use only the minimun necessary to create a copy of the game, then ask someone to test it. Use the feedback to see if you are right about your assumptions, because sometimes what we think that are important don't actually deliver value to the player then focus on the feedback and build over it. This usually helps you to get back into rails.

Marxy 37Submitted5 years ago(+1)

What do you think is missing in the gif that i havent show yet???

Doing a prototype of the prototype it's really a good idea, but unfortunately i have trouble for finding people for playtesting my game, all my friends are distand and can't come on the fly!!! I alredy set a day with my friends (where I intended to give him the final prototype), but i don't know if i have the time to finish the game core mechanics if i do another prototype!!! Thanks for the support and your advice, tho!!!

Marxy 37Submitted5 years ago

Quick Update for the small group of people who helped and supported me and my project.

Even though the game isn't finished yet (don't worry, as said before, i think i'll finish it after the jam), it's uploaded and ready to be "played" (you still can't do much, tho)

For everyone who wants to try it: https://marxy-37.itch.io/the-hole-in-the-mug

And once again, Thank You for your support!!!