I haven’t posted on social media, but I thought I’d end the jam by summarizing a list of key points from my postmortem here which is based on GitHub issues I opened to improve my open source Godot game project, The Fat Hand.

Summary

1. An intuitive project organization for Godot is to package by type, then package by feature.
2. Always attribute all creators to the fullest in your README.md, even if they are CC0.
3. Don’t be afraid to override the game engine’s physics if it doesn’t work as intended.
4. Don’t be afraid to look at kids guides to programming even as an experienced programmer.
5. Write automated tests even for incomplete features so any future modifications will not cause regression.
6. Blender’s Shinkwrap modifier is a more efficient and easy to use than expected for retopologizing models.
7. Setting up continuous integration for Godot is easy.
8. Mathematical solutions are the most elegant. Think back to what you’ve learned in school.
9. Some problems only need a solution that looks right when the player is present, so revolve them around the player.
10. There is a significant enough difference in the operation between a mouse and an analog stick to warrant different calculations or even systems to make it feel natural.

Feel free to leave feedback and thoughts on my #devtober journey. The Fat Hand is a very short game that was made for Mini Jam 88, you can beat it in under a minute. I’d be happy if any of you could try it!

Full devlog post: https://railkill.itch.io/the-fat-hand/devlog/309642/devtober-2021-postmortem