1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?
Hi, I'm anomaly. I'm a programmer though my current job is not related to video games.
2. Did you participate in the last jam we held? If so, what do you plan on doing better this time? If not, what's your reason for joining?
I didn't participate in any of previous jams, though I participated in one Global Game Jam event as a part of a team (that was made up at the event). This time, after getting better in Unity, I feel that I can enter jam not as a part of a larger team, but to make my own game.
3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?
It's really hard to choose my absolutely favorite games, but if I have to I would say:
- Ori And The Blind Forest - Cute protagonist with story that's both beautiful and sad. I love both the gameplay, the graphics and how they seem to blend into each other.
- Crypt Of The Necrodancer - Awesome combination of rhythm game and rougelike. It doesn't suffer from early level dullness like Binding Of Isaac or Spelunky, and the feeling of quickly making decision to the rhythm of great music is just fantastic.
- Undertale - Great story with both funny and sad moments. IMO this game is showing the direction where future games should go. It's one of few games that really utilized games as a different medium than movies or books.
- Night In The Woods - 2D exploration adventure game with great soundtrack, many hidden stuff to explore and a great story with many themes that I haven't seen explored in video games before.
- Heroes Of Might And Magic 3 - Great old time classic, one of the games that probably would never get old. When I'm stressed and want to relax I start map on knight difficulty, turn on music or podcast, and enjoy the slaughter of computer's armies.
I general I think that my ideal game is 2D games with non-human protagonists/NPCs and story set in crapsaccharine world.
Though I think that the most inspiring for me were countless of freeware games on rpgmaker.net. I played a lot of them as a teen. Their quality varied from masterpieces from Lysander to first projects of 12 yo. kids that were quickly forgotten by the them. These games introduced me to the idea that everyone can make a game. Even if sometimes they probably shouldn't.
4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?
I experimented a little with RPG Maker 2k3, but it was a long time ago. I still have the project backed up, even if only for the nostalgia.
I made some simple games with XNA and Unity in the past. Currently I'm making simple arkanoid clone in Unity.
Also I've made Unity Certification on last Unite Europe.
5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!
Games. Both playing and making. Duh.
Science. I love reading popular-science books, when I'm more experienced in writing games I would mind to try use games as edutainment like Colobot, etc.
I'm also interested in AI, especially in games. I've made poker bot as a master thesis.
6. What are your goals for this game jam?
I want to:
- Make something that is in working state. That would be my first game published to the whole world (Unless I finish my arkanoid clone before jam).
- Learn how to make 2D platformers in Unity. I experimented a little in unity with them, but effects were sloppy.
- Have fun. ^_^
7. Any advice to new jammers (if you're a veteran)?
I only was one one game jam before, and it was 48 hours jam, so I don't know how much applicable this advice is to itch.io jam but...
If you're working in a team make sure that everyone has the same version of the engine before the jam starts. Also make sure that everyone knows how to integrate source control with the engine. Synchronizing with pendrives when the clock is ticking is not fun.