So no epic paint-offs? Very well, I guess I'll save that idea for another time. This isn't a genre I've explored much so I'll have a lot of experimenting to do. Thank you for clearing that up!
This sounds like one question but really it's three:
Does it have to be about physical fighting or can it be any type of skill-based competition?
Does it have to be set in a fantasy world or can it be grounded in reality?
Do the characters need to have superpowers or can they be ordinary people?
Basically I've been thinking more in terms of Bakuman (a Shonen which some would argue is "battle manga"), but I'm willing to go into a more Dragon Ball/Naruto route if it would fit the theme of the jam better.
If memory serves me correctly, I made this for a game jam with a really short time limit, so the fight with the vampire is the end. Even if you do somehow beat him, I'm pretty sure it will still play the same cutscene. Or it will softlock. I don't remember anymore to be honest.
Aw heck yeah I just played 4.1 and it finally gave me some of those "Aha!" moments everyone talks about :)
While I'm still not a fan of being able to get stuck and having to restart the whole level, this time around it felt a lot more like it was my fault for getting stuck, which made the whole experience a lot less frustrating. It will be interesting to see how that keeps up when the puzzles get more complicated.
It was fun to have two magnets to work with, but I'm a little surprised that they aren't attracted to each other (although if they're supposed to be siblings I guess it's better that they aren't)
One final thing I noticed, the music, sound effects, improved graphics, and even the little conversation at the beginning really made it feel 1000x more professional. I guess it's true what they say about presentation.
This has been really inspirational to watch the development of. As a fellow game designer, I'll be sure to take notes.
Just to be sure, we're not allowed to combine music and ambient sound into one file, right?
Also, if I have text that the player sees multiple times, does each time add to the word count if it's only written once in the code? For example, if there are 14 days and each one starts with "Another beautiful morning," does that count as three words or 42 words?
As someone who cannot draw to save my life, this jam is like a blessing to me, but unfortunately I've been too busy to partake. Are you planning on making more Ms Paint jams? If so, I'd really appreciate it.
At this point there isn't much I can say that hasn't been said already, so instead I'd like to point you and anyone who might be interested in making a puzzle game to a very helpful guide to creating these kind of physics-based puzzles (It's for Portal 2 but a lot of the same principles still apply) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1609136246
For anyone who doesn't have time to read through it all, I'll give the basics here:
Puzzles should be solved non-linearly with the player reusing elements in multiple different ways to solve the puzzle
All of the elements of a puzzle should be made clear to the player from the start
The player should never be put in a situation where they are forced to manually restart the puzzle
Each element presented to the player must be used at least once in order to solve the puzzle
Players should not be rewarded for deviating from the puzzle's intended solution by exploiting design flaws
When possible, design flaws should be fixed seamlessly without the addition of extraneous puzzle elements
I feel like I should speak on point 2 because I don't necessarily agree with it, in that I feel more complex puzzles can give the player short term goals and long term goals, and the elements required to accomplish the long term goals can be obscured as long as the elements of the short term goals are made clear. Metroidvanias are an excellent example of this because they scatter their puzzle elements across the map, so when the player finds a water gun they'll think "hey, maybe I can use this to put out that fire that was blocking my way before."
Oddly enough, the guide ends with a link to the GMTK video on puzzles. It's a small world.
Ok, sorry I think I was having trouble because both files had the same name, hopefully it didn't mess up the game too much but I think everything is working now.
Hey, I've noticed playing in a browser can sometimes cause glitches. Is there a way to have both an in-browser version and a downloadable version on the same page?
yeah sure, I'm bringing back the two main characters Geoffrey and Michael from my previous game, but the stories themselves don't have much in common so people don't have to play the previous game in order to play this one. I'm still relying mostly on rtp graphics but due to the complexity of some of the puzzles I've also had to make a few of my own, and even though it doesn't really look like the rtp stuff it's still given me more confidence in my artistic skill. Hopefully some day I can make a game with 100% original graphics.
Also! I'm incorporating live action video into this one again, but since I didn't want to confuse people who played the first game I instead got one of my friends to record videos and send them to me. That's been really fun for both of us, and I can't wait to show them the final product!
One of my biggest regrets about the previous game jam was that I ended up turning in my game last minute and ended up with barely any time to play other people's submissions. My hope is that if I keep progressing at this current pace I'll have time to go back and play more of the previous jam's submissions and some of the ones for this jam before I decide whether or not I want to enter the next one.
My game has gotten so big that it's starting to hurt my head, thank god it's almost done and definitely has more variety than the one I made for the last jam. I just hope it's scary enough to be considered "horror".
Wow, this game was awesome! I really like the art style and the way you were able to tell the story through visuals. My only complaint is that the sound effect that plays when I close a menu sounds like it's ripping through my eardrums, but even that is only a minor thing when compared to the sheer amount of awesomeness on display! Thank you for making this!
Yeah, that's okay. I noticed that myself while I was making it but sadly I was too far in to turn around and make something else. I can promise you my next game will have more variety in the puzzles.
I haven't played it, but I looked up the plot on Wikipedia so I have a general idea. What would you say about games like Space Funeral or Lisa? Since I'm more familiar with those I think they would work better as a reference point for where I should be aiming.
Hi! Sorry, I'm a bit late to this jam but I'm going to try to make a game in what time is left anyway. Just to be clear, what specific NSFW content is not allowed? Obviously nudity, but are things like excessive violence or dark subject matter also included? Since those are big elements of a lot of horror related media. And what about descriptions of things that could be considered NSFW?
That's cool, I've already started a new project anyway. The only real difference is it will take longer to finish, but overall I'd say it was a better idea starting fresh than retreading old territory anyway.
