Oh wow. The level of polish is amazing. I know you used assets to help you save time, but still you combined all of this in one week (how?). Great job!
Viewing post in Last Fuse jam comments
Hey! Thanks for the kind words haha. Not sure if you were asking a serious question at the end, but I wrote a longer response to another developer below. Generally on the technical side, what I found useful was I enabled Unity's Fast Enter Play Mode feature and Hot Reload to allow me to have rapid iteration and instant compilation speeds, allowing me to very quickly make decisions, debug and test the game. I constantly iterate and base my execution on player feedback I receive from incremental versions.
I also have experience in rapid prototyping before, a skill which coincidentally is very applicable and useful in game jams, as you similarly have to create a high quality vertical slide in a short time (so skills like task prioritization are relevant and transferrable to jams). I also have what I think is somewhat extensive background in art (specialized in Digital Animation and I have created cinematics and trailers for companies before), as well as programming (was a Lead Developer at my previous company, before I set up my own game studio), and being able to speak in both art and code lingo allows me to "sync with myself" and envision exactly what is needed for the game, evaluate how much time or more accurately estimate the difficulty of each feature implementation.
Overall that high-level clarity as well as the strong vision I had of the idea I wanted to execute allowed me to prioritize very carefully what should be cut, as well as have greater intentionality over what exactly I wanted to have in this jam, and work accordingly. That said, I'm not perfect and as always, execution can always be improved when you look back at your own product. I received some valuable feedback from people here and I will work to fix those once the jam rating period concludes!
Lastly, I kinda make games professionally so I think that helps. Participating in this jam was not my initial intention (I was very busy irl). But I think I enjoy having fun and coming down here to occasionally unleash creativity and exercise some creative juice!
It wasn't a serious question, but I am glad you still answered. Your answer helps me (and probably others who will read it). =D
It was clear you already have done these types of games before (you can see that you have experience). I teach Game Programming at a University and I organise a Game Jam at the start of every semester. I will tell my students that it isn't about succeeding the first time (getting a character moving from A to B is already succeeding at that point), but knowing how to succeed the next time and even improve after that.
Very cool! =D
And I have full respect for teachers! You remind me of my mobile games programming lecturer, who inspired me to make games. I did not go the mobile route, but I think I at least went somewhere HAHA.
Big respect to what you do and your teaching style, I think your students would appreciate it!