1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?
Hello pumpkins! My name is Noel, and I Make Art to survive. Not games though. But maybe that'll change someday, who knows!
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 did participate in A jam - I dont know if it was the last one or the one before. I didn't end up finishing my game because I was hitting a wall of what the program I was learning was able to do. I did learn a lot about the program, but mostly what I learned was that it wasn't for me, which is a-okay. So we're trying a new one this time! Maybe this time I'll make something that someone else gets to play!
I don't think I'll ever really fully be happy until I learn a coding language for myself, so if my program cant do something for me, maybe I can make a plugin, but that's a bit further off of a goal.
I specifically joined this jam because a friend of mine went "Hey Noel, are you gonna join the game jam this year" and I went "what yeah when is it happening" and she goes "in like ten days." WELL. Guess I better get ready!!! I also, in general, just really would love to make games. I've got a lot of stories in my heart that I'd like to share!
3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?
My favorite games are Threads of Fate, Legend of Mana, also pretty much every Harvest Moon type game ever. An eventual goal is to learn how to make that sort of living your life sim. I really love games where you interact with the world, and it interacts back. Peacefully, quietly growing your own home, changing the world around you, shaping it on what you do. Not like minecraft or the other voxel games - very specifically I love the peacefulness of the more story driven type sim games where you can do whatever you do or don't want. It's okay. Build a town, build a world. I love it.
I'm also a big fan of silent hill ( one and two. Get me started on one at your own peril - I know it's the lesser loved of the games, but I can talk for a solid hour about how I think removing its lore from the franchise - specifically removing Alessa from the franchise - makes the entire thing weaker. Be still, my heart, storytelling.), and I've been playing the zelda games for. Uh. Ever. The first game I ever played was The Legend Of Zelda as a wee bab. Granted, it was my dad's save, and he didn't want me to mess anything up, so all I did was run around in the fairy fountains but wow, did I love it. The last of us, disgaea 2, final fantasy (nine and five, in particular.) I just really Like Games, haha. I can list things for as long as you keep reading them, I think. (Up to and including less story heavy things like tetris - fight me in Tetris, I'm a beast. I'm not even kidding.)
4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?
I have a lot of experience with a whole lot of different programs! Just enough experience to learn "this isn't what I want either." I'm not quite goldilocks here, expecting perfection, but I do enjoy sticking my hands in different methods and finding out what I do and don't enjoy. Some have been "maybe later" or "maybe for another type of game, but I'm not feeling it right now."
5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!
Oh gosh I think I maybe answered this one above without realizing it. If you didn't read those - I'm passionate about stories. I'm passionate about games where you can relax and be yourself and be in the world and not have to worry about anything else. I'm passionate about stories with families of choice, finding your own home, finding where you belong in the world. I'm also Super Into fairy tales, laughs.
6. What are your goals for this game jam?
I want to make a game (a "game") that at least one person enjoys. I don't expect it to be much of a game. I don't expect it to have a lot of things in it, or to be very long. If I can get just one mechanic in it, that's probably a win. I don't expect to even make a GOOD game, laughs. I'm not here to make a masterpiece - I'm here to make SOMETHING, and then learn something from it. But I do hope that, however clumsy or awkward it might be, I hope that I finish something that lets someone else enjoy their trip into my space of the world and creativity. I hope to finish something at all - even if its just two maps and one encounter.