itch.io

what is minimart?

Minimart (name not final) is a tile-matching puzzle game set inside a convenience store of the future.

gameplay

Minimart is a fun spin on a tile-matching puzzle. On the Shelf (game board), match three or more tiles of the same type to create a Stack. Then drag your Stacks from the Shelf to a Basket where you'll try your item organizing skills to neatly fill the Basket with four or more items (One Stack = One Item). Once your Basket is sorted, it's time for check out ⎯ rack up as many credits as you can my sorting each Basket with the highest priced Stacks!

For the purposes of this jam, I will be focusing on the tile-matching part of the game. Instead of the sorting, there is a random combo of Stacks determined and displayed at the beginning of a round that will serve as a bonus when checking out. Checking out in this game will remove all Stacks from the Shelf and total points as usual. After the end of the round, the items you've collected will display, and you'll be able to browse a gallery of what you've sold.

assets

I'll be using Illustrator this year to make some sleek vector graphics. I'm still inspired by early 2000s graphics, so I'll be taking some inspiration from that era's view of the future. I want there to be a lot of items to browse in a gallery of what you've sold, so I'll be illustrating a lot of fun things for this game. I took some inspiration from Katamari on this feature of the game. Below is a mood board I've put together for the colorful future  ⇣⇣⇣

about the minimart team

Hello ! My name is Emmer and I'm still extremely new to game dev. I work full-time as a graphic designer for a start-up, and like to make fun stuff in my spare time. My background in design focuses heavily on illustration. I'll be typing up this devlog, because this time I'll be doing things mostly myself ⎯ concept, art direction, game assets, and programming. I also have a lot of help from friends on feedback, idea generation, and music (!!) which I hope to touch on in later updates.

devlog updates

None yet!

1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?

A little late for my intro but here I am ☆ My name is Emily, but all my friends call me Emmer. I work as a graphic designer full time for a start-up. I really needed a change of pace and a goal to work towards in my personal work, so I joined this jam! I'm interested in all kinds of design, but my strengths are in illustration and print design.

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 didn't participate in the last jam, but I did participate in the Winter 2018 jam (my first ever)! This is still my second jam ever, and I excited to get back into game dev. This time I hope to stay on pace with my DevLog, but otherwise I think last time went rather smoothly. I just want to keep improving my design thinking and growing as a designer!!

3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?

My first ever game was Pokemon Yellow (which I played on a yellow Gameboy Color), so I have a strong fondness for Nintendo in general. On their consoles I've played tons of different types of games from action to puzzle to fighters all of which I loved playing. I think Nintendo's dedication to fun has always inspired me in my personal work. I want to be able to create things that make people smile ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧ Right now I'm really into puzzle games and weird y2k-era games, so I'm combining those for this jam!

4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?

So this jam will be my first time programming, and I'll be using Unity. Last jam I focused on art direction and asset creation while my boyfriend did all of the programming for me. This time I'm doing all of that myself so I'm looking forward to trying my hand at something completely new.

5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!

I'm still very passionate about all things cute!! I like to incorporate cuteness into as many of my hobbies as I can; for about a year I ran a blog called PlamoPrincess exclusively to feature cute plastic model kits and gunpla.

6. What are your goals for this game jam?

 ☆ Get some sort of functioning game out of Unity
 ☆ Keep my scope small for the jam and build out the full idea later
 ☆ Get inspired to do more personal work
 ☆ Have fun !!

currently listening: ddrmax2 soundtrack

today's to do list

• outline the rest of the game details
• more pal assets
  • back sprites
  • reactions

today's notes

For the sake of your eyes and mine, I've made a digital replica of my notes from my sketchbook. The originals are in neon green and orange JellyRoll pens. (ﾟｰﾟ; Anyways, first up is the intro notes, I'm going to animate a short sequence where the seed plummets from the sky into the game's main screen. From the title screen, you can load your last save or begin a new game. When starting a new game, dirt will pour in to cover the seed, and the buttons/menu options will appear on screen. 

Next up is notes for the Sprout phase. Most of the notes for this phase are technical, and will have to be re-adjusted after testing. I want the Sprout phase to require more attention from the player, finding a length that feels like you're working towards a goal without dragging it on too long. The base actions required for growing your pal is the same for both Berry and Chard. The player's decision to give sunlight or shade the most will control which pal grows. I forgot to write about animations in my notes here, but basically the seedling will wiggle when you click on it or water/feed it!

Finally the notes for the Blossom page are the most technically complex. It's mostly going to be a lot of randomized actions that need to be tweaked to see if they're too frequent or not frequent enough. I'm pretty sure at this point the Music/Dance option is getting cut from the jam for the sake of time; I'll keep working hard to se if I can fit it in there!! As for the sunlight/shade option on this phase, I think you'll only need to adjust it infrequently to make sure your pet gets some of the correct one (sun for Berry, shade for Chard). Berry and Chard will hop around or move back and forth during their idle animations and will react with a heart or facial expression when you give them attention!

The "wilt" mechanic essentially will be your game over. You'll get the equivalent of a game over screen and be sent back to the main title after you click through. In order to trigger the wilt, your pal will need to be very ill cared for, having had no food, water, love, or pruning within the total time limit.

All of this outlining has made me realize....I have no idea if this will work properly until it's running and tested. Ah, this must be what it feels like to make a game. ┐(￣ヮ￣)┌ My dev tells me its possible, but how will we really know if the timing is right until we try it out! I'm sure the kinks will get ironed out as we go.

Ah well, I'm off to work on some more art assets!! That's all for today, thanks for tuning in.  ♡

currently listening: ribbit king soundtrack

today's to do list

• update word mark for title screen
• outline second half of the game
• wire frames for screens involving menus/buttons
  • title screen
  • main game screen
• select and finalize two patch pals

today's notes

I figured out how to make things look 3d in Photoshop. No one should have given me this weapon... I'm currently trying to keep myself from over-usage, but it does look perfectly in line with the look I was going for. I updated the word mark in my first post to reflect the title screen and sent the mock up for both the title and the main screen menus over to Liam.

Animating in Photoshop has been super fun. I'm doing very simple animations, so I've been using the "Frame Animation Timeline" rather than the "Video Timeline." I guess I'll describe the menu options here from left to right:

• Food: Feed your seedling or pal a variety of fertilizer or mulch
• Water: Keep your seedling or pal moist
• Sun/Shade: Give your seedling or pal sunlight or shade
• Help: Save your game, mute any sounds
• Prune: Snip stray leaves from your pal to keep them tidy
• Love: Praise your pal for being the best
• Music: Let your pal sing along to a song (Still working out the kinks on this one)
• Attention: View your seedling or pal's status, nickname, and age
  • This icon will flash when your seedling or pal needs something

The final part of today's update might be the most exciting...the Patch Pals for the game ❀ I've narrowed it down to two for this jam. On the left is Berry, a Patch pal who loves sunlight but requires lots of pruning. On the right is Chard, they like to lay low in the shade, but require a lot of love. The amount of sunlight you give your seedling will determine whether you get Berry or Chard! I haven't decided if they should be one set color, or if it should be randomized with a few color selections, but you will be able to give them a nickname as soon as they're blooming!

Thanks so much for reading!! I'm having so much fun and I hope you are too. I'm going to work on the outline for the rest of the game tonight and tomorrow morning, so hopefully my next update will have some cool thumbnails and lots of game mechanic details. 

see you tomorrow ✧ ─=≡Σ((( つ•̀ω•́)つ

This sounds like so much fun! I love your idea of gathering information in a "combat" style match up. Can't wait to see more updates  ☆

aa thank you so much  ヽ(；▽；)ノ i'm really putting my heart into it! i hope you'll enjoy it.

what is patch?

Patch is a hybrid gardening/virtual pet game! The type of care you give your seed will influence the kind of pet it becomes after it blooms.

gameplay

Patch has two stages of care: Sprout and Blossom. Begin in the Sprout stage where you will plant your magical seed and care for it until it blooms. You will need to give it the proper amount of water, fertilizer, and sunlight/shade to survive. Once your seedling blooms, you can pick it--revealing the lovely pet you've grown! Once your pet has been given a nickname, you'll enter the Blossom stage caring for your pet with added controls such as pruning and praising. Give your pet lots of love and attention to keep it blooming.

assets

I'll be using Photoshop and Paintbrush mostly. I want to go for a simplistic art and animation style. (It's my first time animating!) My goal is to give Patch an early-2000s feeling inspired by my own experience with Tamagotchis and other virtual pets during that time. Good vibes all around ❀ 

about the patch team

Hello~ My name is Emmer, and I'm extremely new to game dev. I work at a university library full-time and work creatively in my spare time! My background is in graphic design with a focus in illustration. I'll be speaking for most of the devlog entries here for the jam; I'm also in charge of the concept, game design, and art assets.

My Patch partner is Liam who is VERY KINDLY acting as my mentor and programmer. He works part-time making games for a university and the other part making games with his pals. (Their game releases just three days after the jam even, wow! → http://superslimearena.net/)

devlog updates

1. Meet Berry and Chard
2. Timers galore

1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?

Hello ♡ My name is Emily, but a lot of my friends have taken a liking to calling me Emmer. I work as a library parapro, but my degree is in graphic design! I was really focused on print design and illustration during my studies, but I'm interested in all facets of design practice.

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?

This is my first time participating in a jam ever! Post-grad has been a difficult time for me trying to figure out quite which path I want to follow. Recently I realized that my neglected passions for web design, games, and all things tech were something I wanted to rekindle. I decided to take that small spark and run with it, beginning with re-teaching myself HTML and CSS; I'll be learning to program (for web design and games) starting in January! My boyfriend sent me a link to this extremely timely jam, so I think this is the perfect way to kick off a year of learning and growing.

3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?

My first ever game was Pokemon Yellow (which I played on a yellow Gameboy Color), so I have a strong fondness for Nintendo in general. On their consoles I've played tons of different types of games from action to puzzle to fighters all of which I loved playing. I think Nintendo's dedication to fun has always inspired me in my personal work. I want to be able to create things that make people smile ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧ Some bigger aesthetic inspirations for me lately have been Poinie's Poin and Jet Set Radio.

4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?

I have basically no experience with game development. I fiddled around with Scratch as an introduction to the basics a few months ago but I haven't really done anything since.

5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!

I'm very passionate about all things cute!! I like to incorporate cuteness into as many of my hobbies as I can; for about a year I ran a blog called PlamoPrincess exclusively to feature cute plastic model kits and gunpla.

6. What are your goals for this game jam?

♡ Learn the basics of a language for game dev
♡ Re-teach myself some basic animation
♡ Keep my scope small and stay on task with documenting my process
♡ Have fun (of course)