#+title: Results of game development
* You need to significantly lower your expectations for your own desires
Ten days to develop a game, most of which will be spent on:
1. The main job,
2. Sports activities,
3. Rest,
4. Important meetings,
5. Bug fixes
6. Rewrite the plot
7. ...
This simply does not allow you to write a serious plot in time. It is better to limit yourself to only one location, one controversial topic and a couple of characters. It is better to choose a topic that is not too complex so that it can be easily explained without losing quality.
The rest of the strength should be spent on polishing the text, adding effects, references, and translating it into English.
* Writing a plot is exhausting
It only seems like there are 100 lines of text. In fact, there are non-linear narrative lines that create the impression of real interaction between characters, rather than playing by script.
On average, I can work on it for an hour at a time, after which my brain begins to respond more slowly to requests, and processing connections slows down.
* You need to finish developing within 1-2 days to get feedback
And fix problems that other people may find during their actions / due to the peculiarities of their systems.
Some interface elements and architectural moments may seem obvious to me but not to the player. It's better to finish the game earlier so you can beautifully design the starting page: add screenshots, CSS styles, and arrange everything nicely. Maybe even write a User Manual.
Another thing I discovered is that the font I initially wanted to use looks bad on Windows machines, and I had to change it late at night.
Also, ideally, you should add notes from the author for foreigners regarding moments that may not be obvious to non-local residents. This is especially important to me because I don't want my games to delve into fantasy escapism. I believe that art should help people understand and transform the world.
* Regarding this particular game
I combined all three of these problems. The original game was supposed to be much bigger and more interesting - I will still release it. I wrote the plot for this jam in a couple of hours on Sunday.