What did you most like/dislike about the jam?
Liked: The excuse to make as many silly Harold-centric games my heart desired. The lack of submission limitations meant I felt the freedom to venture beyond the familiar bounds of MV & MZ. I may have only had time to create a VX Ace project, but I had started on a Pixel Game Maker project and had plans for at least a Gdevelop game too. Perhaps I will have better luck/skill next year.
Disliked: The themes, oddly enough. I found them rather limiting. Like, I would have a crazy thing for Harold to do, but then I went back to the themes and struggled to shoehorn them in. I know you said they aren't a big deal, but experience tells me that the general public is not nearly as forgiving and understanding.
Where did you hear about the jam?
The Beta Testers Discord server, of course! I was looking forward to this ever since the first one - I felt I could do better than Hrld Qst, especially now that I have another full year's worth of jamming and devving experience under my belt! I followed the development of the jam and did my best to promote it in the weeks leading up to the event.
What inspired you to join/submit?
You know me: it's a game jam, need I say more? 😉 In case you do, Harold has become a lovable doofus ripe for comedic antics. That, combined with no limit to the number of entries, allowed my imagination run wild and try some things out that I had been wanting to explore along with participating in what could be considered the most successful group project I've ever been a part of.
If you didn't join/didn't submit, what was the barrier?
I'm going to use this section to speak to the games that didn't see the light of day. It largely had to do with time: Although I had more free time than originally anticipated, I still didn't have as much time as I would have liked. This was also a 3-week jam as opposed to the 4-week and month-long jams I have been participating in, so having one less week to develop meant I had one less week to explore, experiment, and adjust. This ultimately meant I had to make a choice: make 1 game in an unfamiliar engine, or make several in more familiar engines.
Another factor was, well, time, but in a different way: I didn't realize how long some of my ideas would take to fully develop (particularly Sand Trap) and how much of a time commitment Harold: Origins would be, so even some short silly games planned for MV & MZ didn't even get off the ground due to running out of time. In this case, the world is no worse off for it; they were supposed to just be short silly things that poked fun at low-effort games much like BG's entry.
Future theme suggestions?
Themes that emphasize Harold silliness. Perhaps encouraging people to put their own spins on now-classic Harold games, such as making your own "Harold In The" game (be it in title or in presentation)? Now ideas are flooding in in an unordered mess, so I'm going to list them in bullets as they come to mind:
- Boulder
- Boulder Puzzle (must have 1 puzzle may or may not featuring boulders)
- Spinning in place
- MV (as main theme instead of sub-theme)
- Reid (make what you will of that)
- Riff off Studio Blue's last jam theme by making a name, a place, and a dialog line required
- Poorly-drawn art (make your own version of Hrld)
- Asset flip
- Box map
- Only Sane Man (Harold or some other character is this)
- Oldhar or Face-Heel Turn (making a normally heroic character a villain)
- Worst idea ever
Or no theme at all besides including Harold somewhere in the game. As I've said earlier, I found the themes rather limiting in this jam and would like to have even more flexibility and freedom to explore all kinds of random and silly ideas featuring our favorite red-haired himbo.
Do you have any assets you'd like to make available to the community for next year?
I actually tried to make some more Harold-themed art before the jam began but nothing came together. If I manage to find some spare time to whip something up, I'll let you know.
Any other thoughts or suggestions?
Reid Jam? 😛As if I need yet another jam to participate in...
Keep the unlimited entry aspect for future jams (especially since there will be less of an emphasis on prizes).
Making this an annual jam is a good idea; I'm seeing a bunch of burnout (myself included) with the Magical Girl Game Jam, and that's just been a twice-a-year thing. Annual means it's still predictable while not demanding too much from participants.
Maybe get rid of the XP gate for the Submissions queue in the Discord server? Something to further facilitate people testing their entries before submission.
Have some volunteers who are "designated testers" (and maybe also judges?) who will test any entries before submission. 🤔 I know that's a half-thought-out idea, but what if we tweaked it into something workable?
I really enjoy this jam and plan on returning next year if it happens.