Umm...! I kinda got caught by surprise that it started today! I was expecting it to be tmrw, but well...! Here goes!

This will be my first game jam, and my first time making a game from scratch... I hope I can make something nice!

Not too sure how I should start this, it'll be quite messy and unorganized, but please bear with me. I'll throw a rough idea of what I had in mind, and my goals, and I'll sort it out later...

I have officially published the game! Please check it out here: Bunny Girl Jump!

I will continually make updates to the game. Until then, please look forward to it!

Bunny Girl Mitsuki by Chingy

Main Idea

This will be a 2D side-scroller. Either a platformer or perhaps an endless runner.

Story will be about a bunny girl collecting carrots.

Umm, that's it! I hope it's not too simple.

Learning goals

I am concurrently trying to learn Unity as well as Aseprite while making this game.

I hope I will be able to complete making this game and grasp a basic concept and flow of game making, as well as making animations using Aseprite.

Hopefully, this will also help kickstart my "gamemaking career". (can't find the right words for it.)

Main Objectives

-Create and complete basic game.

-Bunny Girl character. Sprites and animation.

-Carrot collectibles. Sprites and animation.

-Music and Sound effects. Looping BGM, character movement sounds.

-2D platform world.

Additional Objectives

-Story and Lore.

-Character Dialogues.

-Artwork for Bunny Girl.

-Main menu w/ a few options.

-More 2D world related stuff. House for Bunny Girl, interactive objects.

-(don't think this is achievable within this period) Learn 2D Live and incorporate it into the game to interact with Bunny Girl. Headpats.

That's it! For now...! I am not too sure what to expect out of this, whether or not if the objectives I've set is too little or too much, but I hope I can at least complete all of the listed objectives and perhaps add more stuff into it. My personal deadline would be by the end of this week, July 17th, to get all of these done... I will try to update them daily, so stay tuned!

-get motivated  basic sketch and layout (done)

-game direction: 2D pixel platformer (done)

-started Unity project, layout and placeholders (done)

-to be done; lunch at least a first complete scene (incomplete, 50%?)*
-graphics elements, at least the background and foreground and/or the main character (incomplete, only placeholders)*
-character animations (incomplete, only placeholders)*

progress to be updated at the end of the day, let's go!

Day 1 - End

Thoughts; I was satisfied with my progress, but at the same time I felt that more could be done. So I would say I was also disappointed. Encountered a few problems along the way but managed to resolve some them. I also got distracted along the process which hindered my progress. Hopefully I can get Aseprite up and running tmrw.

I guess the good thing is that I was inspired along the way, and had a few great ideas which I think would be great if I was able to implement them into my game. Will definitely add them into the game later once the base is done.

* are mandatory for me to complete tomorrow, as well as some additional tasks which I will list out in Day 2.

I made a very rough sketch of a cover image, which somewhat helps to project the "energy" to help point me in a certain direction. Of course, it is not finalized, so it may change drastically or just improved upon.

Well, I would also like to say that making games is not as easy as it seems! I hope I can do better tmrw!

Day 2 - In progress

-learn how to use Aseprite (done)

-complete * objectives from Day 1 (somewhat done)
-bunny girl, idle and animation, moving, jumping (just basic sprite, incomplete) *
-background, still deciding what kind is best to achieve the effect I want; mountains, forest, vast night sky, clouds (somewhat done)
-foreground, basic grass (somewhat done)
-platform, basic dirt and grass (somewhat done)
-carrot, collectible (done)

feels like alot to do today, but let's try our best! 

Day 2 - End

Okay. Well then. Today... I learnt how to use Aseprite. Also learnt about 2D pixel art. It was actually quite fun! The thing is though, it was much harder than I expected it to be. Making pixel art seemed simple, but it is actually quite complex, due to the constraints it poses. It's kinda like solving a puzzle while trying to draw your characters. Well, I actually took more time than I expected, meaning I hadn't made much of a progress today. But, I am pretty proud of what I've done. Managed to draw a character sprite for my bunny girl, but it's not exactly what I expected it to be. Still, I am quite happy with it! I think it turned out kinda great, but there is much to be improved. Quite limited by my skills... One thing I am quite happy about is her design. It was kinda unexpected but she has a different coloured ear, which I think makes her pretty special! Who have ever seen a bunny girl with different coloured ears? Well, I haven't! I think she's pretty cute! I have decided to name her Mitsuki! I have also yet to complete animations for her as well though, so I'll continue that tmrw.

Day 3 - In progress

-setup proper tilemaps and stuff

-add new scenes and a platforming level, set up scene transitions
-level design

-try to complete * bunny girl animations

-story and objectives
-contemplate and think of stuff

-make house for bunny girl

progress to be updated at the end of the day, ganbatte!

update

.. something cropped up last minute. had to take a pause. will continue to work on my game but there will be no end of day update today. will most likely carry forward today's task onto tmrw. sorry. i also already had a planned task for day 4, but i think i will merge today's task and tmrw's and work on them, details most likely in an end of day update for tmrw (day 4).

tasks added:

-bgm and sfx elements

-"main menu"

-user interface (UI)

Day 3/4 - update

Hello guys, just a short update. I've been really struggling to find the right artstyle for my bunny girl, but after going through some sort of phase, I've managed to successfully pin down what I'm aiming for. It has been a constant struggle to also deal with other factors in life, but after discovering the right artstyle, it is a huge boost to my motivation and direction as to where I'm going.

Day 5/6/7 - update

Hey guys! Sorry for not updating for awhile. Had to cleanup the house due to some aircon leaks.

Today is the self-imposed deadline I had set for myself, but it seems like I wasn't able to stick to my plan... guess I'm a pretty slow worker... I guess I still have much to learn!

Anyway, while I was away, I managed to get a few things done.

One thing I was pretty happy about is getting the running animation right! I actually spent one whole day just to get it down...

I made 8 frames for her running animation, it's actually the drawing part that took me the whole day, while putting it together just took me a few minutes.
It felt really satisfying to see it all come together, as I had alot of trial and error regarding her postures like her arm positions, leg positions, etc. Had to do alot of minute adjustments to make it look right. Since it's pixel art, even one pixel matters alot, and having one pixel out of place will make it look real weird, so it really took alot of time for me to get it correct. It was difficult, but I had alot of fun doing it, and I also felt that I had learnt alot. 

Next are the collectibles. I managed to get it work, and to track the amount of carrots collected. All that is needed is for me to have a UI to track it down, and set up some sort of currency which I plan to implement, where you can exchange for house upgrades and such. (The house is still a work in progress.)

I still have to refine her jumping animation abit more though, now it looks really weird, but I'll leave it for now, and start working on the other things that I had planned.

Well, with another week to go, I hope I can really finish this on time! Time to pick up the pace! (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و

Day 8/9/10 - update

I think today is day 10... (I kinda lost track of time.) I took a day off as I was getting fatigued. Took the time to watch some youtube tutorials and talks about pixel art, it is really interesting. Anyway, after feeling refreshed, it was back onto the tasks. I worked on trying to setup the transition points, but it gave me quite a few problems. Had to fix a lines in a few scripts but basically it was resolved by changing the reference object. I spent quite alot of time working on the bunny's house, and there's still alot of work left to do. But I managed to came up with a rough idea for it.

It's not exactly what I had in mind, but it turned out okay. You may have also noticed, but I tried experimenting with dithering. I think it looks nice, better than a single splotch of colour that grabs too much attention. I'm pretty sure I did alot of things wrong with it, but at the same time it looks correct, and I think it's nice, so everything worked out in the end. I still plan to refine it further, but I'll leave it as it is for now and move on to other tasks.

I also planned to implement quite a few things in the carrot house, but I am not sure if I have the time to do it. It is still a very rough idea, but I will definitely flesh it out even when the jam is over. But for now (today), I would like to shift my focus to finishing up the UI and the sound for the game. Hopefully I can finish everything by today so that I can start refining my game in various ways. 

Thanks for reading! 

Referencing to objectives set at Day 1 (for personal reference):

Main Objectives

-Create and complete basic game. (soon!)

-Bunny Girl character. Sprites and animation. (complete, refine jumping animation)

-Carrot collectibles. Sprites and animation. (complete, refine sprite to make it cuter)

-Music and Sound effects. Looping BGM, character movement sounds. (to be done)

-2D platform world. (complete, add more scenes)

Additional Objectives

-Story and Lore. (currently none to be implemented, but i already had plans for a huge story and world and this is just one of it, so most likely added after jam)

-Character Dialogues. (to be done, just something simple)

-Artwork for Bunny Girl. (after jam)

-Main menu w/ a few options. (to be done, idea to be slightly changed)

-More 2D world related stuff. House for Bunny Girl, interactive objects. (just the house for now)

-(don't think this is achievable within this period) Learn 2D Live and incorporate it into the game to interact with Bunny Girl. Headpats. (after jam)

Day XX - ??? end (day 11-14?) 

20XX A.D. XX XX, sunny day, strong winds, ... ? ohh... hey guys! Sorry for being away again. This is it. I've finally submitted my game, and you can check it out here!

https://chingy.itch.io/bunny-girl-jump

thoughts/summary

Honestly, I hadn't made much of an progress since the last update. There was progress, albeit a slow one. I constantly struggled to manage my time properly, facing constant distractions, fixing errors, and lots of procrastinating. One thing I am glad about is that I was able to complete my main objectives, but there is much left to be polished and improved upon which I failed to do. I am not sure if you could call it a proper game yet, but there is something. I am really happy to have created something from scratch, and even publish it for the first time... it felt like I've achieved something. But, there is still this nagging feeling. I feel relief, and yet some form of frustration.
I was hoping I could complete the additional objectives as well, but sadly, I wasn't able to. There is much left to be done, and I am not too sure how to go on from here. I mean I know what I want to do... but then, what happens next? Well, I will continue to polish it until I am satisfied in the times to come, but for now, I think I will take a short break...
Since the last update, all I've managed to do was add a few scenes, and also add sound and music into the game. And also some form of a "main menu" as well I guess. The idea is there, but I think I need to improve upon the execution of it abit more. 

I encountered some issues with scene transitions, but that was eventually resolved. But I am still pretty much confused about it a little.
The same goes for the sound. Huge problem, but eventually resolved when searching up on google and experimenting around... sometimes the sound doesn't play, or it loops like crazy, or sometimes it even just plays once, or it generated some sort of error to cause my game to not start. Basically coding part I guess. But once that was resolved, everything went smoothly, and I learnt what to avoid and what to do which can be pretty useful in the future.

Hmm, what else can I say? I guess the journey was enjoyable, it is fun. But sometimes it can be a... frustrating(?) with the things happening around me. It's like you want to get the things done when you have had a great idea, but sometimes you can't afford to spend the time to do it. In addition with the lack of knowledge and skill, all I can do was to write it down on paper, and... look for how to do the things that I want to do in Unity.

Anyway, it is a joy to be here, and having you guys to encourage me as a form of motivation really helps me out alot. I struggle to find the right answer as to what I am really trying to achieve. I want to make games, but I am also afraid of not getting recognized, like people not playing the games that I've made. It would really feel like it is a waste of effort, but at the same time, I am happy to bring my imagination/creation to life, into some tangible form where others can see and appreciate. 

I guess making games is really hard work, having to do everything by yourself. The coding, the assets, sound, graphics, etc. But it is really fun to piece everything together like a puzzle and to see it all coming together! Anyway, in the process of making this game... I realized I have a great interest in pixel art, and there is a chance that I might develop further into that as well. It is simple, yet complicated. Technology has allowed us to do such amazing graphic artworks in this day and age, and yet pixel art is still going around. It does have that certain charm, and that charm has captivated me. I guess this jam gave me the opportunity to acquire a new form of medium for me to express myself. I think I will try to develop something slightly different next, but still pixel art oriented. I would really love to work on animations and the musical aspect of it, so I might consider toning down the coding in the next project, and try to make something far simpler and see how well I can execute it.

Well, it has been a long journey. I am glad to have had the chance to express myself, and I thank you guys for having me here. It was a pleasure.
Thank you so much for reading my dev posts, I truly appreciate it!

Thank you!

Played it and liked it, with a caveat.  I commented on the main page!