itch.io

For the people that haven't played my game or/and don't know me: Hello guys, I'm Daniel, a 16 year old teenager living in Germany. I made a very cool 2D golf game and I want to share my experience with you. Enjoy reading!

How I came up with my idea

I kinda wanted to make a small and simple game that wouldn't f*ck my brain up (It still did). I had randomly mini golf in my mind. I imagined it like the real mini golf, but in 2D and later I realized that i could make the idea better if I include things in the level that make the game more fun (for example a thing that boost your velocity). In Short: I stole mini golf but made it worse.

What went right

I was able to do the most things which is good. Programming was not a big problem for me because I quickly understood how I need to make things. Art design was really easy because my game lacks on good graphics. Sound design went surprisingly well even though I used an iPhone 8 and some balls for recording. Polishing went also great. My todo list was already empty on the 25th day, so I made more levels, changed things and fixed a bug my friend found. I also posted everyday my progress on twitter which is great (I still don't have fans).

What went wrong

I f*cked some stuff up. I haven't prototyped my game. That was a big error I've made because I could have made the game a bit better if I just tested out variants of my idea and stuff. My game had some stupid bugs because I forgot about important stuff. I haven't started optimizing my game right of the beginning and that is not good. The goal of the jam was to work everyday on your game and to be honest: I made a break on one day for a stupid reason (I was tired). On some other days I just had no time but I still worked a bit on my game. Another big error was to not give enough people play my game. I had a lack on feedback from my friends and I haven't even improved my game after their small feedback (this is very dumb). I asked people on reddit to play my game and I haven't received any feedback from the 2 people. I don't have much friends nor an audience, so this problem will probably last on my shoulders for a long time.  

What have I learned from it

I used more of Unitys features and now I know how to use some of them. I also kinda re-learned video editing, because I made a devlog for the first 15 days. If you have read "What went wrong", you now know that I realized my mistakes and that I have learned from them. I also learned more about vectors, because I've used them more frequently. Im also now a bit better at coding. I've also learned that it's very important to show the internet your game (for example on twitter) because people will then know that you're working on a game. Even though I gained nothing from posting everyday on twitter, I still think it's important. There's many smaller stuff I've learned but I think its not that important to write it here down. I've also realized that I can come very far with my projects, if I work every day on my game. 

I really enjoyed the journey with the goal of working every day on a game. As I said, I realized that I can come very far if I work every day on my game. Thank you Ellian for this awesome game jam!

If you finished reading this: Thank you!

Have a lovely day :)!

Thank you so much for the feedback! 

Thanks!

It has sadly no SFX but I like the game idea :)

A game with simple art like mine game.. Yeah i like this :)

This is so cool man!

Im suffering too from thinking what to add to my game.. I kinda like your game :)

Idk why but i like this game

This is so cool man! I like the art style and the music. 

I like the idea. You game looks a bit like mine that I've published for the jam XD

You dropped something: 👑

no

Whats the goal of the game? What do I need to do?

That's actually very good for a first game! My first game is very shit compared to yours. If you want to go with the chill vibe, then keep doing it! Try making the game fun with the chill vibe :). Keep going.

This game looks good but where is the action?  The art is very good but the gameplay feels kinda slow and chill. The beginning is a bit boring because there are a low amount of enemies. On normal mode the enemies dont even spawn. Hard mode is still kinda easy and the map feels too small. This game is not bad, but whos gonna play it, if its already boring at the beginning? You should increase the fun-factor by simply increasing the action  (more enemies etc) and maybe add some randomness. In conlusion this game has good artwork but has a lack in action :). Keep up making games and dont give up :). Let me know when you update this game.

That is extremely good for a first game! Dont give up, i see potential in you. Let me know when you updated your game :)

This game is extreme fun. I like it, that the enemies can pickup powerups too. More weapons (Especially something automatic or able to pierce through enemies) and enemies would be cool. I like the fact, that it is sometimes like "risk for reward" for the powerups, because it is often surrounded by enemies. It is also very cool, that  the music changes if you pick up the speed powerup. Now i want to talk about the downsides of this game. Sometimes enemies are spawning nearly inside of you or like 2mm away, so u lose a life if you slightly move. Like I said, more weapons would be cool, because the finger gets exhausted due to clicking. The sprites for the powerups doesnt fit very well to the artstyle of the player and enemies in my opinion. Pixel art only fits with pixel art, and not with high resolution sprites (In my opinion). The music sound like a pixel-rpg bossfight, but it kinda fits with the energetic gameplay. It seems to me, that the game doesn't really have its own twist that makes a game unique. For the twist you could implement a special feature. For example: The speed of the game depends on how many CPS (clicks per second) you have. If you have 2 CPS, so the gameplay will be slow and if you have 4, the gameplay will be faster. My example is just an example and doesn't have to fit in your game. If you want, you can use my example and try to make something fun with it. In conclusion this game is good and very fun, but needs more cool features (especially a twist) and bug fixes and an art style that fits. Don't give up and keep making games :).