What went well? What didn't go well? What have you liked about other entries? All thoughts welcome here!

For my first game jam, I really enjoyed the experience! I had absolutely no expectations going into this, so everything has been a pleasant surprise. I’ve been struggling a lot creatively for what feels like the past year, so this jam was a nice reminder that I can push out a quick low stakes project and still manage to find artistic fulfillment within it. Not everything has to be a huge project!

With that said, I feel like everyone else had something to say with their games while I…didn’t. My game is silly and lowkey and doesn’t do anything daring. I think the jam has opened my eyes to how lost I feel as an artist, which is a feeling I’m not used to. Before I can be the artist I want to be—and even used to be, at one point—I’ll have to confront myself. I guess it’s nice to know I am constantly changing and constantly finding areas where I can grow ^-^

Still, I really enjoy my silly little game! Writing it was fun and super easy. I had a plan, and then I did it. I got to talk a lot with my friends about the creative process and learned way more about the zootopia abortion comic than I could ever hope to know LMAO. This jam reminded me of how communal art can be, and I love it!

Playing other people’s games and commenting on their work has been so incredibly fun and fulfilling. Game devs used to intimidate me, and I’m learning that really we all just want people to play our games and share their thoughts. I’m also trying to learn how to be more intentional with my comments. My thoughts are usually just “ahh that was fun!” but because of all the other commenters, I’m trying to learn how to say why it’s fun. Because the jam is ranked, I’m also learning how to be more aware when I’m playing games. I’m noticing and appreciating things I would have usually glanced over.

If there’s anything I would do differently, maybe try to find a team? I really hate figuring out gui and audio stuff and did the absolute bare minimum for this game. If I’m on a team with someone really passionate about that kind of stuff, however, I could learn from them and try to cultivate even a fraction of that passion in myself. The other games were so creative in that aspect, and I really admire the work that was put out! In general, I’d like to be more communicative with others and see what everyone else is doing during the creative process. I truly am a locked-away-in-her-room writer, but game jams are built to be a communal thing, you know? So, even if I feel like a massive dork talking to others, I going to do my best to reach out to other people and try to cultivate that creative, communal space that I want to be a part of :)

this was my first time participating and it was really fun but hectic. four days is so little time! i usually do longer jams for visual novels and there were a lot of things i wanted to implement but cut to finish for the deadline. i didn't have time to get music done this time so i used free assets but if i join again i'd like to try to get music done as well.

playing everyone else's game also was nice to see how people work differently under the same time limitations - what people will decide to cut/keep, &c. it's made me more excited to do more tiny vn jams & trying to play with the format in other ways (:

edit: also here's a link to my postmortem! https://tnywndr.cafe/office/2024-12-20-days-of-saturn-postmortem/

I didn't submit but I did help with character art and coding for the Backrooms! I've never worked in a team before, and it was honestly less nerve wracking then I thought it would be!

I didn't think I'd be able to do the jam at all this time around because in true Em Fashion, I was sick again 😂 (and I'm...still sick ajshshsj) but I had the energy to at least help out! Programming was probably the part that made me the most uncertain since I was asked part way into the jam if I'd be able to do it on top of art, and I'm not the best at programming. I also broke the in game meter and struggled with it for like an hour lmaO I'm glad everything worked out though!

My biggest regret is less a regret and more just me breaking tradition of commenting on every entry this go around. I just didn't have the mental bandwidth with my health. But to all the Velox Submitters know I played your entries and enjoyed them a lot!! It was nice to see new and familiar faces :>

This is not my first short jam but I didn't expect my PC to encounter many technical problems when I was making the game. I panicked when I noticed my pentab didn't work after I finished writing and my audio was being weird afterwards. To be honest, I almost gave up when I decided to submit with one image only. Thankfully, I managed to fix everything in time.

I played and rated everything on day 1 and 2 of the rating period and noticed that people are so creative with the theme. Maybe I should've study English more because I don't quite understand the theme. I found everyone's games to be great but I'm always at loss of what to say in the comment section. That's why maybe I don't comment often. I really should learn how to give comments and feedbacks.

This was a fun and very hectic 4 days of game making! I tried my hand at releasing a 3D game but I’m a bit saddened I didn’t get to make all the assets I was hoping to get done but glad I didn’t give up as I have a tendency to do so when the jame allows for more time. I didn’t have time o find any sfx or music as the game was throwing too many bugs my way😭.  And the amount of typos… I’m honestly just glad I pushed through and participated! Also seeing everyone’s perspective on the theme and play through them was really really nice! I tried my best to leave as many comments as possible but I tend to get really anxious, and overthink every word, so that is something I hope to improve in the future on.

This was my first game jam and first time developing a game! I'm impressed with myself that I even got it done, since I wasn't able to start within the first 36 hours due to real life events. As a result, I pulled an all-nighter and got to experience the infamous game dev crunch time, haha.

The most challenging aspect of game development for me was the concept and the writing. I originally came up with another idea, but it was too long and linear. It took me quite a few hours to reformulate some of the more interesting aspects of the initial concept (infection/possession, multiple protagonist perspective) into the backbone of the final submission. As I started writing the game (directly into the Ren'py script files, since I had no time to transfer between word processors), I struggled with wanting to lean into tropes or break away from tropes. I recognized this partway through writing the 2nd and 3rd routes, but I had no time to revise the concept. I think this waffling of ideas is reflected in the final submission, where some characters' routes were thematically weaker and vague. The lesson I learned here is that it's preferable to lean into tropes; they are tried and true. If I had more time, I could better explore bending or breaking those tropes, but I'm satisfied that I wrote about 14k words in about a 24 hour period.

Art fell into place easily. After an hour of playing around with drawing style, I settled on what I knew I could execute: grayscale sprites and edited photos. I intended to add more CGs, but unfortunately only really made one. It was sort of fun creating sprites on the go as I worked on programming. I took some inspiration from Christine Love's advice on being liberal with how often character sprite expressions change or move. I don't remember the exact way it was worded, but I had noticed the effect in one of her games, and thought it would be an excellent way to bring more life to my characters.  I created lots of expressions to that effect, but a downside was that it became difficult to keep the timing of expressions consistent between each characters' routes (since the same story is told through three different perspectives). I think there are some discrepancies, but it also plays a bit into how each character perceives other characters' emotions.

Lastly, I just had no time for sound design, so it was omitted entirely. I also think it would have been fun (and maybe less stressful?) to collaborate with someone on, but maybe that can be a future goal.

I'm still playing through other participants' entries, but so far, I'm impressed with the level of interpretation and the quality of writing of each submission! Seeing everyone's creativity is always a treat, and I'm super happy to see how supportive and thoughtful each person's comments are.

This was my second solo game jam right after VF2 and man, I really hope certain aspects of my improvement have been evident!

But I have to be honest and a bit of a downer for a sec--I HATED my game when I submitted it, capital H, private jet mileage shake it off hated. Idk what's come over me but there's a sense of purpose and flavor that's left the writing department of my brain and I was struggling hard to fulfill what I had listed down. Things were just written in a flow of consciousness "i really dont wanna do this" mentality and I was so embarrassed at the thought of anyone playing my game. I was so worried that it would come across as some sappy "what if ai became human" mush because man I really do actually have a lot to say on the psychology of ai and how our treatment of it is just as if not more important than the ai itself but I should've known to have better faith in readers because gyattdamn did people catch on to the yucky implications of Elliot's relationship with Galatea (honey she's made to please you) and her inception (Sorry Iris). But I I shall save the rest of the rambling for my post mortem. To this day I think if I had a bit more spark, I could have made a way more reactive and complex game within the time scope but womp womp, wah wah, coulda/shoulda/woulda, yyyyyyetcetera... I went in to make a game and game was made!!!

Okay now it's time to take the hater hat off. This (as usual) was so much fun, yippie!!!! I was really excited to make a spinoff of an idea I've had stewing for a while and finally seeing my girlie Galatea hit the big screen! Also I just desperately wanted to make a game, especially for velox heehee. I'm still a pretty ignorant beginner to figma but if you couldn't tell, I had a blast with the GUI and aesthetics this time around! Coding was also super fun, even if it was simple, and doing animations made me so happy! Not to mention how incredibly kind everyone was in the comments, and how they once again proved that you'll always be your worst hater, now turned harshest critic.

And of course, all the entries were absolutely lovely, I'm at a loss for words really. I hope all my comments were able to get across just how much I admire everyone who had a hand in this because WOW. [clenches fist like an anime rival] I'm so incredibly anxious so I'm happy I managed to comment and know if I haven't replied yet, it's because I'm crying happy, fearful tears of joy at your words whilst my heartrate ricochets.

(Oh yeah can I admit now that 2 of the themes I submitted were based on a roblox game that has a sexy, vengeful fish man? Thank you Michael Smith for the support of "You are expendable" LMAO)

Now, what I've really waited for and what I've had the pleasure of learning WHILST writing this:

Katherine my little kohai goat!!! I told you you'd be amazing and sweep, have some more faith in your vast range of capabilities girl!!! Your entry was a delight and everyday I'm thankful that I get to work on so many projects and hang out with you, you genius, pervy artist, you! I'll always fondly look back on working out those programming kinks in the dining hall and eating your lasagna, and I hope it won't be the last time something like that happens. Anyways, you did it!! Enjoy the rest of that vacation to the fullest and know once again that AI never could have replicated what you just laid down. Coalition of Losers let's GO!!!

first things first, i’m really grateful to my friend lemonink for introducing this jam to me and introducing me to all the lovely entries from previous jams – so many people that were once mythical figures i had only heard of i got to “meet” this jam and even have them play my game, what an honor! a keen eye will notice we elected to work on our own, and i will say i for sure learned a lot. it was my first time having to use ren’py, my first time solo deving a project (i’m a writer. i write. i do NOT code), and my first time having to puzzle everything mostly on my own like a big girl. i learned a lot, but i think i’m never doing this again LOL. the first thing i’m doing is crawling to the nearest person i can find on hands and knees and begging to collaborate on the next project. lemonink, i want you back….!

and not to drag on my thank you speech too long but i really am so grateful to lemonink for helping me get into game dev in the first place. i envision many more nights huddled together in the dorm lounge until you inevitably leave me in spring 2026, but until then we’ll keep on working hard together!

okay, onto the actual post mortem. first, let’s get all my excuses out of the way. it’s really not so bad tbh but the day of the jam i had to pack to fly back to my hometown & hobble through the mess that is LAX and the commute to it. luckily the jam coincided with my winter break, and unluckily my mom did not like to see my very serious game dev all-nighters. and yes, i did indeed have jury duty – i submitted the game while waiting to get my name called for the juror room HAHA. i’m also currently typing this from my vacay in hawaii – aloha everyone! forgive my tardiness & lack of service 🙈

but in that regard, i feel like my weaknesses are clear to see even with these minuscule excuses. michael smith had a very detailed post mortem i delightfully and joyously read through & i definitely can agree the theme wasn’t the easiest for me to navigate. that alongside having to now figure out the gui, the code, and ren’py meant i spent literal hours complaining to my friends about how i should just quit and not submit and never join a game jam again. i think my gui is a bit, well, unserviceable compared to everyone else’s polished games. i think i couldn’t really encapsulate the theme well enough just because it was, as my friend said, more of an aesop life lesson than a theme (second chances and you are expendable, in another life we’ll meet again!). and honestly, i just thought my game was boring … >_< well, i’m glad i stuck through! i got to play so many lovely entries, made a whole bluesky account, and ended up getting so many kind comments when a week ago i was determined to delete ren’py and withdraw from the jam. and i sound like a broken record, but i really am so stunned and shocked to have placed so high, especially in areas i was worried about and found weak. it means so much to me that the people who played my game rated it the way they did, and i will eternally be grateful that i ended up having such a wonderful experience for my first solo jam!

velox turbo 2 was a good chance for me to branch out, as a coddled princess who often has someone else at hand to do all the parts i don’t like doing :P i hope to be back in the future for a new jam, and i hope to find ways to mitigate the things i’m weaker at, like with visuals and sound. imagine us, you and me (katherine) together during sunset and we’re at the beach in waikiki, and i’m aglow in the light with my arms clasped behind my back like an anime girl, and i say, “it was fun, wasn’t it?” and you say, “it was.” that’s my velox experience! it was a pleasure to have it alongside everyone else, and i hope to see you all again in the future! 😊