Hey everyone! Thanks for creating this thread. It's wonderful to see so many stories and get to know the people behind the game.
My name is Josh and I've been working in software/digital art for around 10 years now (so old!). I've been a Unity user since 2.x and as a solo developer (programmer, artist, sound design, etc) I find it the engine best suited for my needs.
As of late, my son who's 5 has been my beta tester. Seeing how he approaches the game play has been a huge eye opener and has made me change how I approach game development. He can only read a minimal amount, so he has to intuit how the game is played through its graphics, color, etc. This really forces you to think of games in the least "text heavy" way. If you game couldn't have any text would your users be able to understand its systems? It seems like a simple concept but seeing through his eyes has forced me to change how I approach game development.
My submission for the 2019 GMTKJam was C'thulhu Rises. My design goal was that if my 5yo could enjoy/beat it then it should be playable by others. I did the music in a single take on my electric guitar (hence so many mistakers), recorded myself speaking low, guttural grunts and phrases in the Eldridge language, and used an "ink heavy" art style, all in hopes to assert that feeling of madness and power. I got a good review from my 5yo but he did say it intimidated him a little bit as the C'thulhu character is a bit scary. This was great to hear because I really tried to focus my game on the feeling of being powerful and the only one to take on the world. You could say my attempt at the theme was more thematic than design based.
I had a great jam and got to stretch out and make something I otherwise would never have created. Thanks for reading!
