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Oops guys, I might not be able to finish my game in time, as I've had a lot of school work this week and my partners couldn't do anything either, but I'll be looking forward to playing your games!

Hey everyone, I will be participating in this jam (and hopefully submitting) with two of my friends who will be doing art/music for me, but all the code will be done by me in Unity. The game will be about a startup mining entrepreneur (You) who is trying to pay back debt from student loans. The goal of the game will be to amass as much money as quickly as possible, and in order to do that you must dig up holes to find ores, then sell those ores and build automatic miners which mine for you. The game will be in top-down 2d, and will be timed for each run. I might add different ores to mine, and different upgrades to buy, but I'm already late to the party, and I want to make my game as polished as it can be. Anyway, good luck to everyone else, and I will keep you guys updated!

I kinda had a late start, and some logistical problems, so ... meh

Game Title/URL: Frostbiters' Descent https://dragonchemist.itch.io/frostbiters-descent

Pitch/Information: 2D platformer with slippery physics and focus on temperature mechanic.

I'd like feedback on: Balance, and any features I should add (fyi the game is pretty low-quality and still in development)

End of Day 14:

This is it. It was great working on this project while I could, and the jam really motivated me to do it as well. I didn't add much, but I submitted my project and am exited to play yours! I'll probably make one final devlog talking about how much I learned doing this jam with you all, but for now, here's the link: https://itch.io/jam/my-first-game-jam-winter-2020/rate/565408

End of Day 13:

1 more day to go until the submission deadline, and I barely have any game to ship. Due to a heavy snowstorm in my area, I lost power and internet for most of the day today, and when I got back on to working, I found out that my main level scene had corrupted, and my whole level was deleted. However, I was able to get everything back together, and get to the state I was in before in about an hour. The only thing I really have to say about progress today is that I finished the player's animations, and am preparing for a submission tomorrow. Sadly, I will not be able to work on it for most of tomorrow, so the game will most likely be a demo, with a few enemies, but no endpoint or variety. Good luck to everyone else on submitting!

Day 12:

Sorry for the long wait, but I am happy to announce that over these past few days, I have done literally nothing I have worked as hard as I could to get the game to a playable state! I've implemented the flier enemy, who dashes toward you through the air, which was drawn by @ButterTheTurtle: 

Also I've created the main menu of the game, some of the background is still a work in progress, but so far does it's purpose:

(Don't worry I'll change the font soon)

I've also created the main theme of the game, which I just whipped up today. It's supposed to make you feel scared, or worried, as you head into the deep dark cave. I'm not quite sure if my song has that feeling, but it works for now (you'll be able to listen to it when it comes out). 

Overall, despite conflicts and a busy middle weekend, I'm proud of what I've done for this jam so far. However, as time runs out on me, I'll probably cut back some of the game's content, as I don't think I can do effects and multiple levels in 2 days. However, I will try and finish the animations (If ButterTheTurtle can finish them in time) and maybe make the shooter enemies(?). So far, it's been fun, and I hope I can put out a decent attempt at a game before the deadline!

WOW! This already looks like a sick game and I can't wait to play it when it's ready!

That's a really cool idea! I might try to incorporate something like that into my game after I've finished the main mechanics ;)

End of Day 7:

Today I got my friend @ButterTheTurtle to help me with the art, and so the game should look a lot better! I added them to the project and (besides the player) they look great!

On the programming side of things, I'm currently working on the Frostbiters, with some test sprites  that don't even look like enemies  and so far I've got their basic mechanics in place. Eventually I'll have to figure out how to do A.I. movements, but we'll get there when we get there.  I've decided that I'm not changing the player movement until I've got enough of a game to experiment with something like that, but for now, it will do just fine. 

End of Day 6:

Today I worked on making the enemies, but I'm not done with them and there isn't anything to show yet. BUT I have a friend doing the art for me soon, and this weekend I'll get a lot more done! (I hope). I also fixed a couple bugs with movement, and started to set up animations for the player.  Anyway, sorry for the short devlog, but I hope to get another one out tomorrow!

End of Day 4:

Sorry for no devlog yesterday, but I'm kinda busy with new classes. Anyway, today I didn't do too much new features, but I made the movement more snappy, and temperature harder to manage. I added ice spikes that rapidly deplete your temperature, but can be escaped from. Right now it looks like blue fire, but it'll be fine eventually. Also sorry for no images/gifs today, but hopefully my next devlog will be Thursday, and I'll have basic enemy designs by then. My plans are still the same for this week, so I'll try to get a lot more done thursday/friday, so see you then!

End of Day 2:

Hey everyone, it's me again! Today I got a lot more done, and the game is semi-playable now! I made it so that the player slides across the ground, as well as cap their movement speed, so they wouldn't go too fast. I added a heat gauge, with a snowflake icon at the end that I might even use for the final build: 

Then I created the temperature system, which took longer than expected, since I had to tweak the movement speed and jump height of the player every 2 seconds a lot. Basically the colder the temperature, the slower and less high a player can move/jump. I then built a small level for testing different jump heights at different temperatures, and still had to tweak movement values (>_>). Finally, I added Lanterns to heat the player up if they stand near them, and made a temporary sprite for them too. This is a basic overview of what I've done so far:

So far, I've actually done more than I thought I would get done at this point, so I guess this week I'll work on creating the Frostbiters (enemies), their behavior and projectiles. Since my pixel art skills are less than sub-par, I might consider drafting a friend to help me with it, as I already have a lot on my plate for this project. I don't think I'll work on animations this week, because I want to get something playable before I add any polish.

I'll end this devlog off now, as I have school tomorrow, and it's a new semester. I'll try to get another devlog out soon, but they might not be everyday, depending on how much I can get done. Anyways, have a great week and good luck everyone!

Okay thanks, that helped make it feel less robotic! 

That's a really cool concept! Maybe in-between levels you could add a funny scene or dialogue between the police and the landlord and the police get increasingly suspicious of him until the end? (idk you can end the game however you want) Anyways, looking forward to seeing how your game comes along!

End of Day 1:

After a long day of doing nothing and trying to do things I should have done before the start of the jam (aka trying to find good software I could use for art), I finally have a working character that can run and jump (even if he doesn't look too good):

Does anyone have any ideas on how I could have a smoother movement system so the player slides along the ground a little? Thanks.

Tomorrow I will work on the heat system and get some lanterns with AOE heating, as well as make some rudimentary animations for the main character.

Alright that's enough from me tonight, expect to have a much larger and more engaging devlog from me tomorrow! (oh jeez its midnight already, that was fast)

(Sorry I'm late but I forgot about this whole thing until today :I)

1. Hi! My name is Jacob and I'm 16 years old. I want to get into gamedev, and figured a 2-week deadline would be a good place to start! 

2. This is my first game jam ever, and I'm excited to see how it goes, making a game from nothing but my skills(and google)!

3. I like to play a variety of games, but my favorites have been Zelda: BOTW, Skyrim, Starcraft 2, Hearthstone, Pokemon, Geometry Dash, Minecraft, Factorio, 7 Days to Die, and Super Metriod. I'm honestly inspired by all genres, and I've made board games based on some when I was younger. 

4. I have some experience with Unity, which I'm using for the jam, and I'm OK at programming (aka googling a ton)

5. I like designing concepts for games in my head, or on paper, and I love playing games and appreciating the game design and balance that the game devs worked so hard on. I also play music on my bass, and am a "music kid" at school.

6. I really just want to see what I can make in 2 weeks as I've never finished a project before in Unity. I also want to try and compose at least one track, and try my hand out at some pixel art for my game. Overall, I'm really excited for my first game jam!

Hello everyone, my name is DragonChemist, and I am participating in this jam since it's my first game jam ever! 

The Simple Plan:

My game is going to be a 2D platformer using Unity and drawn as pixel art. The object of the game is to get to the end of each level as fast as possible without freezing your legs off. Along the way, there will be heat sources (lanterns, campfires, etc.) to warm up at and increase your heat. However, the further you delve into the icy caverns, enemies called the Frostbiters will try to attack and chill out with you, and one wrong slip can lead to your unfortunate demise.

The Diagram:

(Sorry for bad quality)

First Steps:

I want to get started working on basic character movement and drawing up test sprites, and then I might start working on the temperature system.  Any feedback will be greatly appreciated!