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Aw, thank you !! I'm really glad you enjoyed it! It's definitely not gonna be a super grisly horror game by any means when it's finished (honestly debating if it could even be called a horror game at all), I meant for it to be slightly more serious when I wanted to first make it but once I started writing it just naturally ended up slightly more silly asdfjkl; I can't write actual horror just right yet I don't think.

[Spoilers!]

I won't say much about the ending itself, but there will be at least one bad ending in the full game (the dog's still fine don't worry), but it's relatively tame I'd say.  Also I never even thought about making that a choice! It was like, the first path and ending I wrote and so I haven't touched it since, but that's actually a really good idea to fleshing it out/diversifying it a bit ! :V!

POST MORTEM:

Heya! So, I couldn't complete my game in time, for the second jam in a row. But ! I do have a (vry, vry, VRY) small demo I can at least show yall! Now, onto the other stuff!

WHAT WENT RIGHT?:

Pretty much everything honestly. At no point did I hit any hurdles that couldn't be solved via googling/ my own tinkering. I definitely had gotten better about understanding what and what I cannot do during the time given, while still trying new things!

WHAT WENT WRONG?:

The only thing that didn't work out was the music aspect of the game. I just don't feel as though I'm really cut out for it currently, and trying to do it with my current set up isn't very practical, but aside from that nothing really went "wrong" per say. At the end of the day the only thing that stopped me from completing my game at all, heck, from completing it early, was my own life and laziness getting in the way. There are still things I'm not completely happy with my game so far, and I'm gonna be honest I'm not actually that big on Twine as I was at the start. Html and css are confusing to me, and I don't know enough about how to use either to really use Twine that effectively, or the way I want to, so until I learn how to use them both to my advantage, I can defo see me putting twine on the bench next time round.

WHAT DID I LEARN?:

Hm, if I'm being completely honest? Despite it being a completely new game engine as well as a genre I'm not very comfortable with, I didn't actually learn that much I feel like, which is kinda disappointing . Like I said I couldn't really get my head around html and stuff in twine aside from basic stuff or things I found from googling, and so I can't really say I learned from that, by far the most adventurous thing I did was the music, but I had to drop it 'cuz it just didn't work out.

CONCLUSION:

So, comparing this jam from last jam I definitely felt like I was a lot more aware of my limitations, however, I feel like that sorta stopped me, in some sense? I was heavily over ambitious last jam and it kinda showed since even now, the game is still in heavy development limbo, but I also learned so much more because of that, because it was so out of my comfort zone, while this year I feel like I played it too safe? Like, writing isn't hard for me, or even time consuming depending on what it is. What took writing so long last jam was because I had to write four different characters with four different personalities, each with multiple strings of dialogue. This jams game had 1 character and no dialogue, and so it was much much easier to write, and that at the end of the day is all this game is, writing. So the question for me now is "What do I do then?" and the truth is... Idk! I have to find some sort of middle ground I suppose. Where that middle ground is I'm not sure,  but I have a feeling I'm gonna try to find it next jam. See ya there !

Here's the link to the demo!

DEVLOG #5:

Heya! It's been a while!! I haven't been able to work on this much lately because of. well. life. But I just got back into swings with things today and I've been messing around with a lot of stuff!! For example....

(I swear the timing on the actual things are better-- The thing I used to capture it just made my laptop lag a lot. It runs fine otherwise)

I haven't done... A  whole lot of writing so far. I still need to finish each path but I still consider this good progress !

So..

GOALS (UPDATED UPDATED):

-FINISH PLOTTING OUT CHOICES (AND WHAT ENDING THEY LEAD TO) (DONE IT PRETTY MUCH JUST NEED TO WRITE EM OUT)

-CUSTOMIZE GAME GRAPHICS (SUCH AS FONT, AND FONT COLOR, IF I CAN) (Haven't done it all but getting there)

-FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT I CAN MESS WITH WITH GAME GRAPHICS

-STILL NEED TO MESS WITH MODPLUG SWITCHED TO BOSCA CEOIL (STILL NEED TO FINISH IT UP)

-FIGURE OUT THE EXACT ATMOSPHERE I WANT MUSIC WISE WITH MODPLUG (I THINK I GOT IT I JUST NEED TO EXTEND IT TO 1 MIN)

-MAYBE DRAW AN END CARD FOR EACH OF THE ENDINGS ??

-UHHHHH MAYBE ACTUALLY NAME THE MAIN CHARACTER AND HAVE THAT REVEALED SOMEHOW (STILL NEED TO THINK OF HOW TO REVEAL IT, BUT YOU DO HAVE A NAME IN GAME NOW)

-DRAW THE PROTAG AND THEIR DOG (This.. this one isn't really for anything I just wanna do it.)

Well that's it for now! Seeya again soon(er than last time, hopefully)! Also, just for those curious, here's what my little.. path system looks like rn.

Heya! This isn't really a devlog (I've been to busy to really work on anything asdfjkl;) but I do have a rough design for the protag you play as now!

You are a 26 year old woman,  still have no idea what to do with your life, and have a beagle puppy named Delilah that you'd actually take a bullet for.

Anddd that's about it for this right now.

Oooo this seems really neat so far!!

This sounds adorable, good luck !!

DEVLOG #4:

Heya ! Normally I post these later but also it's been a long day and I don't feel like working on it anymore so asdfjkl; Also gonna stop doing these devlogs semi-daily and start doin em when I actually feel like I've done some significant stuff, for the sake of everyone's sanity includin my own.

Anyways! I didn't get much done today (like i said, it was a long day) but I started messing around with some ~music~ ! I said I was going to try to use modplug but I've switched over to Bosca Ceoil because I just thought it was a lot easier to use like right out the gate. I'm planning on just having a single song loop throughout the whole game, roughly about a minute long. Soooo Here's what I got so far! It's only like. 10 seconds so i still have some work to do fbut I'm fairly happy with it so far, if any of yall have any feed back for it I'm happy to hear it, as I am a baby with 0 experience with music and am completely doing it by ear so.

http://chirb.it/49MLvk

So.

GOALS (UPDATED):

-FINISH PLOTTING OUT CHOICES (AND WHAT ENDING THEY LEAD TO) (DONE IT PRETTY MUCH JUST NEED TO WRITE EM OUT)

-CUSTOMIZE GAME GRAPHICS (SUCH AS FONT, AND FONT COLOR, IF I CAN)

-FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT I CAN MESS WITH WITH GAME GRAPHICS

-STILL NEED TO MESS WITH MODPLUG SWITCHED TO BOSCA CEOIL

-FIGURE OUT THE EXACT ATMOSPHERE I WANT MUSIC WISE WITH MODPLUG (I THINK I GOT IT I JUST NEED TO EXTEND IT TO 1 MIN)

-MAYBE DRAW AN END CARD FOR EACH OF THE ENDINGS ??

-UHHHHH MAYBE ACTUALLY NAME THE MAIN CHARACTER AND HAVE THAT REVEALED SOMEHOW (STILL NEED TO THINK OF HOW TO REVEAL IT, BUT YOU DO HAVE A NAME IN GAME NOW)

-DRAW THE PROTAG AND THEIR DOG (This.. this one isn't really for anything I just wanna do it.)

Thank you !! And yeah this is.. a breeze to do compared to the vn so far asdfkl; Twine is really cool tho !! I can't wait to see what I can mess with when I'm done doin all the basic stuff and really just go wild with it !! (And hopefully not break the entire thing in the process asdfjkl;)

DEVLOG #3:

Heya! Not much exciting to show this time, still doing the basic stuff of writing things out. So lemme just give yall a lil peak of the writing in the game, before yall think this is gonna be a very serious horror game.

Ooo this sounds really fun! I can't wait to see this more developed!! Good luck!

OOOO This looks so good !! I wish yall the best of luck!

OOO This looks great !! Good luck !!

DEVLOG #2:

Heyaaa defo got a lot more done today then yesterday ! (Which... isn't saying much since I got legit like. nothing done yesterday.) But I learned the basic function of Twine and am rolling along quite well ! I also just realized how short this game is probs gonna be, but hey. It's a two week game jam. I don't think anyones gonna make a 6 hour game here. 

ANYWAYS-- Twine is.. surprisingly easy to use?? (So far anyways.) I thought I'd have to spend like hours fiddling with it to just make a single path but I've just done 3 in like. 10 minutes. (That's an exaggeration but you get my point) Of course I'm probs gonna fiddle with them to hell and back throughout the 2 weeks but I was honestly expecting it to take so much more time? Last year working on my VN my writing + coding took up like. the entire two weeks. (I guess not having to write dialogue for several characters takes a lot less time asdfjkl;) Which means I will have hopefully much more time on my hands to really fiddle with the things that I feel like will really tie this game together! Such as the music and layout!

So I guess it's time to update my Goal list huh?

GOALS:

-FINISH PLOTTING OUT CHOICES (AND WHAT ENDING THEY LEAD TO)

-CUSTOMIZE GAME GRAPHICS (SUCH AS FONT, AND FONT COLOR, IF I CAN)

-FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT I CAN MESS WITH WITH GAME GRAPHICS

-STILL NEED TO MESS WITH MODPLUG

-FIGURE OUT THE EXACT ATMOSPHERE I WANT MUSIC WISE WITH MODPLUG

-MAYBE DRAW AN END CARD FOR EACH OF THE ENDINGS ??

-UHHHHH MAYBE ACTUALLY NAME THE MAIN CHARACTER AND HAVE THAT REVEALED SOMEHOW

And that's about it! Well actually... here's a non spoiler peak of what I've done in Twine!

Thank you !! And if it makes you feel better, so do I honestly asdfjkl; It's defo not gonna be a very serious horror game if that helps at all asdfjkl;

DEVLOG #1:

Okay so I didn't really do anything today coding wise or anything like that (I've just felt sluggish all day. and also i've been doing like hours of laundry because 1 stupid pillow refused to dry--) but ! I have decided that the game will have about 4 endings, best, good, neutral, and bad ! I also have already written out what each of these endings will be. I imagine that the writing will take very little time compared to my vn, (which took almost the entire 2 weeks last time) due to it being mostly narration, and choice description. I don't imagine there being any direct dialogue in this game either, with your character being completely described in a second person point of view, but we'll see! Also, just as a lil sneak peak, here's what I have for the good ending right now. >;3c (It's the only one that doesn't actually give that much insight to what I want you to be able to do in the game asdfjkl;)

Thank you !! I can't wait to develop it more !

AsdfJKL; That'll depend on the choices you make !!  :eyes emoji:  (and thank you !!)

Thank you and asdfjkl; No dogs will be harmed in the making of this game don't worry !! 

Oooo this already seems really neat !! Good luck !

What a nice concept ! Good luck !!

Ooo this sounds neat !! Good luck !!

OOO this sounds so cute and fun ! Good luck !!

Heya !

Some of yall may remember me from the winter game jam from this year, and here I am again ! I plan on doing a text adventure in Twine (well. that's the hope anyways.) So let me give you a small run down of what I hope to do !

GAMEPLAY:

It will be a choose your own adventure style text adventure, with multiple choices sending you down multiple paths. (Be careful which you pick tho !) The genre will be horror, with the primary focus being (hopefully) on sound and text to give off atmosphere, with visuals sort of serving a back seat function. 

PLOT:

"It is 3 A.M. Your dog was whimpering, begging to be let out, and you, unable in good conscience to ignore your sweet dog’s pleas, did just that. Now all you can see in your yard is emptiness, and a hole in the fence. What will you do?"

GOALS (Both long term and short term):

- Figure out how to use Twine

- Write out each of the branching choices and figure out their effects 

- Figure out how to properly use modplug

- Uhhhhhh I'm bad at listing goals that aren't super general until I get a better idea of what I'm doing sorry.

Thanks for reading and I hope to share with yall what I've got done at the end of the day !

Ahh thank you !! I'm glad to be back and can't wait to start jammin !!

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

Heya ! I'm Mo! I'm 17 and like a lot of bright and sparkly things!

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 did ! I plan on managing my time better, setting more realistic goals for myself, and try not to go to overly ambitious!

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

DeltaRune, Doki Doki Liturature Club, and uhhh Stardew Valley.  When I finished DeltaRune I felt so amazed and excited and I just had such a strong feeling of "I want to make something like that one day !!"

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

I do have some from last year's jam I suppose! I was trying to make a Visual Novel in renpy !

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

I love stories !! I love making them, I love reading them, and I love how they can effect you and other people in such specific ways depending on what story you decide to tell, it's interesting !!

6. What are your goals for this game jam?

Well for starters, make something and finish it but I think that's a given asdfjkl; But uhh actually tho, just trying stuff I haven't before! I plan on focusing heavily more on atmosphere and sound compared to visuals, which is something that I haven't really done before in any context. I also hope to learn from past mistakes of my last jam in regards to work load and how exactly I work best.

For returning jammers:

7. Any advice to new participants?

Uhhh be realistic with the work load you give yourself, start small. You can always add on later if you really want to. I got wayyyy too over ambitious last jam and have still yet to finish the game to this day not only because I bit off more than I can chew, but I also made some design decisions that were poorly thought out in the long term and are now incredibly tedious to do. And some more advice related to that, is the way you are making your game sustainable for you? 2 weeks isn't very long, but it can sure feel like forever/ kill your motivation to continue working if your method isn't enjoyable, and/or redundant.

8. What can the admins do to improve your jam experience?

I'm not sure ! I feel like everythings pretty much covered everywhere.

9. What are some of the past works you've made for the jam? Show off your favorites!

Here are some art assets I made for the visual novel I was working on in the last jam ! (Small note: I plan on redrawing all these eventually in a new style, due to the art style being an actual pain to do, but I still like them a lot.)

DEVLOG 7

HEYA! So it's been a while since I've done one of these- not cause I haven't made progress! but because I've just been working on the same thing for a very long time! and didn't think yall would want me to be all like "Oh hey it's ___ again" each devlog. but I finished the dialogue so now I can do everything else, like art and the actual coding! I'm already  done to 1/3 of the total options in game (as in like. total choices you have to make. there are defo more than 3 options in total asdfgjkl;) and I've done 3 sprites (granted the only changing things on them are the expressions, don't be afraid to cut corners to make ur life easier yall.)

Plus this!

Oooo what a good concept!! I used to play these kinds of games all the time when I was younger! I can't wait to play it!

Wowza this is looking so good so far!! I can't wait to see how the finished version turns out!

DEVLOG 6:

Still doing dialogue! But! I also did some of the game's actual script! Not a whole lot but it's a start! Have a look in gif form! (gotta love place holder art.)

DEVLOG #5:

Heya! So some of you may have noticed (or not) that I didn't post one of these yesterday! That's because yesterday I did quite literally nothing and didn't feel like posting a devlog specifically just to say that. But! I did do stuff today! and That is once again- You guessed it! Dialogue! Mostly rewriting some of the stuff I already had though but I do have a little somethin new that I can share with ya from it! Boop!

DEVLOG 4:

Heya! So long story short my internet was out for all day yesterday so I couldn't really get much done unfortunately! (couldn't acess my google doc with the dialogue so I can't work on that, and I couldn't work on the actual code script of the game because I need the dialogue for me to know when I want what done, ect.) I did manage to get some drawing for the game done but not enough to show. Hopefully today will be a little more productive!

Thank you!! Wizard mischief is certainly afoot!

Thank you!!

They're  freckles! but the idea of star blush is also 100% very good. Thank you!!

DEVLOG #3:

Heya! Still working on dialogue for the most part, and I've made some really good progress!! I'd probably say i'm like... 3/4 done? Maybe. It's hard to tell until I actually start writing but I know for sure I'm getting closer to the end!!

I don't have any new dialogue I can show y'all without spoiling anything but I have been working on the art aspect just a teensy bit so have a little snip of that!

Thank you!!

Who knows!! ...Well I do, but that's a secret >:3c asdfjkl;

DEVLOG #2:

Hiya! So, not much to report over here today! Not to say I didn't get much done! It's just that most of it was of one specific thing- Dialogue! I managed to write quite a fair bit today!! I'm not sure how far I am roughly in the entirety of the game, but I wanna say maybe.. 1/4? 1/3? Maybe.

Here's a very small excerpt for yall!

This is such a cute idea omg... It also seems like it could potentially be pretty challenging too! Good luck!