itch.io

Well it's a day and 1/2 after the submission deadline, but I'm back from my friends' wedding and ready to pull together what I can on this project before Nina streams the games tonight. I've been having fun putting what little HTML/CSS I do know to use and have the basic layout and theme set up. I have some ideas for dynamic elements in the art and narrative that will occur based on your choices, but those may have to be put to the side for now.

Progress report: I have the intro all set, with the basic structure of the narrative outlined. More importantly, I have a doll! It's modeled after cutout paper dolls that I remember my sister having as a kid with pins in the joints so you could pose them. My original idea was a scary moment that resulted from moving the doll parts around in certain ways, but I couldn't really think of any gameplay beyond that, so I'm going with a more narrative approach.

In the interest of transparency, I should say that Nina and I discuss the themes in advance of the announcement, so while I'm just starting to work on the project, I've been think about some ideas for the Doll theme for a while now.

1. My immediate thought was this singing android video that I and some other drawing students discovered Freshman year of college.  I don't even know if it qualifies as an uncanny valley thing, because it's just so weird, and it ends with some serious David Lynch vibes.

2. Amma's dollhouse in Gillian Flynn's amazing novel Sharp Objects, which has also been adapted into an equally solid HBO miniseries. The dollhouse is both an important plot point and thematic motif, so I won't spoil it here, but if you haven't read/watched it, it's well worth your time.

3. Robert the Doll is something of a precursor to Chucky. It's an adequately terrifying doll that belonged to the painter Robert Eugene Otto from his childhood till his death (yes they shared a name, but the child went by Gene, so it's probably fine, right?). Stories say that Robert the Doll had a seat at the family table and that it was not uncommon to hear mischievous giggling throughout the house or Gene talking to himself with different voices when the door was closed. Some of the more fantastic stories are recounted in Episode 15 of the Lore podcast, titled Unboxed.

So, how do I make a game out of these ideas?
One important personal restriction for this jam is that I will be traveling for a wedding over the weekend, so my time will be limited. As much as I would have liked to create a 3D dollhouse with mysteries to uncover, I definitely wouldn't have the time for that scale of project. It would also run the risk of being very similar to my last jam project, and I'd rather use jams to try out some new things.

With all this in mind, I've decided to try out some narrative design, based on some of the themes I've referenced above. I've messed around with Twine a bit, and it seems like a good way to get out something relatively polished in a short amount of time.  It's also something I can realistically work on on a plane.

I keep meaning to add Ink to the list. Thanks for the resources, they look great!

Absolutely! Coding is not a requirement.

Welcome to Tasting Room Jams: Summer 2019!

Use this forum to share your ideas for your game, receive and provide feedback on these ideas, and search for teammates if you don't want to make a solo game. The rules for the jam are posted on the main page, but if you have any additional questions, feel free to ask here or in the discord.

If you want to share your concept, progress, or feedback, start a topic and tag it as a Dev Log.

Here's where jam participants can discuss game engines and development tools. Below is a brief list of free ones that are worth looking into, some introductory resources to check out, and a list of well known games made with each in order to get an idea what the tools are capable of.

• Unity: The most popular game development tool, which is capable of creating both 2D and 3D games. Some C# scripting will likely be required, but a lot can be accomplished in the level editor alone, and with the help of the asset store.
Notable Games: Gone Home, Hearthstone, Cities Skylines, Ori and the Blind Forest, Cuphead
Resources: Unity Beginner Documentation; Sebastian Lague Intro Playlist; A little pricey, but this kit available on the asset store is well worth the cost if you're interested in making first-person exploration games.

• GameMaker: A relatively beginner friendly tool specializing in 2D games. GameMaker features a drag and drop interface but can also be programmed entirely with it's own unique scripting language.
Notable Games: Spelunky, Hotline Miami, Hyper Light Drifter, Undertale
Resources: Making A Game With No Experience; Shaun Spalding Tutorials;

• Twine: A tool used to create interactive narrative and text based games. While it can be used with no coding, CSS and JavaScript can be integrated for additional functionality.
Notable Games: Depression Quest
Resources: Twine Wiki; (Twine is really easy to pick up and shouldn't require much reading to get started)

• Unreal Engine: Noted for its visual quality, and used in AAA and indie games alike, especially for first person shooters. While a lot of effort has been put into making the engine more accessible, it will still require some research and knowledge of C++.
Notable Games: Bioshock, Unreal Tournament, Mass Effect Trilogy, Life is Strange, Rocket League, Fortnite
Resources: Unreal Engine Official Documentation; First Person Exploration Kit similar to the Unity asset listed above.

• RPG Maker: While very focused on JRPG style games, RPG Maker is also pretty straight-forward and easy to use. It requires no coding, but additional functionality can be added with custom scripts using the Ruby language. There are multiple versions, each with a free trial, but RPG Maker VX Ace Lite is a completely free version, which should serve the needs of this jam.
Notable Games: To the Moon, Lisa
Resources: RPG Maker VX Official Documentation;

• Superpowers: I'm not very familiar with this engine myself, but it was recommended by Potatoes Are Not Explosive in a previous jam. It's a collaborative HTML5 engine that actually runs in the browser. If you set up hosting for it you can get google-docs style collaboration, which is not great for proper software engineering but it's awesome for game jams!
Resources: http://superpowers-html5.com

• Puzzlescript: An HTML5 based game engine designed for puzzle games. Recommended by Nina for those who don't want to get into too much coding.
Resources: https://www.puzzlescript.net/

• Bitsy: Also recommended by Nina, Bitsy is a grid based, retro-style engine that's works well for top-down adventure games.
Resources: http://ledoux.io/bitsy/editor.html

Post here if you're looking to create or join a team.

Took a lot more experimentation to get to a point I wanted visually, but I did get there:

The basic structure of the game is going to involve collecting and putting away various items in the scene in order to proceed to the next (example: books, keys, backpack for class.) We'll see how much of that I actually get done by this evening, but getting the visuals right was always the most interesting part of this project for me, so I'll be relatively happy with the product regardless.

When Nina and I were discussing what the theme for this jam would be, we wanted to pick something that would inspire small, focused projects. So when Nina suggested "One Room", I was excited because I immediately had two things in mind as inspiration:

1. This awesome trailer for 12 Minutes:

2. This style of low-poly 3D models (source: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xXRJR):

From there, I had to think of how to make a game from that. I was considering an escape room or single-room bullet hell type game, but ultimately I kept coming back to my first college dorm room. I've got an idea for a drag and drop mechanic, something along the lines of The Sims, but to start I've got a basic greybox for the room.

Welcome to Tasting Room Jams: Summer 2019!

Use this forum to share your ideas for your game, receive and provide feedback on these ideas, and search for teammates if you don't want to make a solo game. The rules for the jam are posted on the main page, but if you have any additional questions, feel free to ask here or in the discord.

If you want to share your concept, progress, or feedback, start a topic and tag it as a Dev Log

Here's where jam participants can discuss game engines and development tools. Below is a brief list of free ones that are worth looking into, some introductory resources to check out, and a list of well known games made with each in order to get an idea what the tools are capable of.

• Unity: The most popular game development tool, which is capable of creating both 2D and 3D games. Some C# scripting will likely be required, but a lot can be accomplished in the level editor alone, and with the help of the asset store.
Notable Games: Gone Home, Hearthstone, Cities Skylines, Ori and the Blind Forest, Cuphead
Resources: Unity Beginner Documentation; Sebastian Lague Intro Playlist; A little pricey, but this kit available on the asset store is well worth the cost if you're interested in making first-person exploration games.

• GameMaker: A relatively beginner friendly tool specializing in 2D games. GameMaker features a drag and drop interface but can also be programmed entirely with it's own unique scripting language.
Notable Games: Spelunky, Hotline Miami, Hyper Light Drifter, Undertale
Resources: Making A Game With No Experience; Shaun Spalding Tutorials;

• Twine: A tool used to create interactive narrative and text based games. While it can be used with no coding, CSS and JavaScript can be integrated for additional functionality.
Notable Games: Depression Quest
Resources: Twine Wiki; (Twine is really easy to pick up and shouldn't require much reading to get started)

• Unreal Engine: Noted for its visual quality, and used in AAA and indie games alike, especially for first person shooters. While a lot of effort has been put into making the engine more accessible, it will still require some research and knowledge of C++.
Notable Games: Bioshock, Unreal Tournament, Mass Effect Trilogy, Life is Strange, Rocket League, Fortnite
Resources: Unreal Engine Official Documentation; First Person Exploration Kit similar to the Unity asset listed above.

• RPG Maker: While very focused on JRPG style games, RPG Maker is also pretty straight-forward and easy to use. It requires no coding, but additional functionality can be added with custom scripts using the Ruby language. There are multiple versions, each with a free trial, but RPG Maker VX Ace Lite is a completely free version, which should serve the needs of this jam.
Notable Games: To the Moon, Lisa
Resources: RPG Maker VX Official Documentation;

• Superpowers: I'm not very familiar with this engine myself, but it was recommended by Potatoes Are Not Explosive in a previous jam. It's a collaborative HTML5 engine that actually runs in the browser. If you set up hosting for it you can get google-docs style collaboration, which is not great for proper software engineering but it's awesome for game jams!
Resources: http://superpowers-html5.com

• Puzzlescript: An HTML5 based game engine designed for puzzle games. Recommended by Nina for those who don't want to get into too much coding.
Resources: https://www.puzzlescript.net/

• Bitsy: Also recommended by Nina, Bitsy is a grid based, retro-style engine that's works well for top-down adventure games.
Resources: http://ledoux.io/bitsy/editor.html

Post here if you're looking to create or join a team.

Welcome again to the hentaiphd Community Game Jam!

Use this forum to share your ideas for your game, receive and provide feedback on these ideas, and search for teammates if you don't want to make a solo game. The rules for the jam are posted on the main page, but if you have any additional questions, feel free to ask here or in the discord.

If you want to share your concept, progress, or feedback, start a topic and tag it as a Dev Log

Here's where jam participants can discuss game engines and development tools. Below is a brief list of free ones that I would recommend, some introductory resources to check out, and a list of well known games made with each in order to get an idea what the tools are capable of. I really only have recent experience with Unity, GameMaker, and Twine, so feel free to contribute any tutorials or info I might have missed, and ask questions if anything was unclear.

• Unity: The most popular game development tool, which is capable of creating both 2D and 3D games. Some C# scripting will likely be required, but a lot can be accomplished in the level editor alone, and with the help of the asset store.
Notable Games: Gone Home, Hearthstone, Cities Skylines, Ori and the Blind Forest, Cuphead Resources:Unity Beginner Documentation; Sebastian Lague Intro Playlist; A little pricey, but this kit available on the asset store is well worth the cost if you're interested in making first-person exploration games.

• GameMaker: A relatively beginner friendly tool specializing in 2D games. GameMaker features a drag and drop interface but can also be programmed entirely with it's own unique scripting language.
Notable Games: Spelunky, Hotline Miami, Hyper Light Drifter, Undertale Resources:Making A Game With No Experience; Shaun Spalding Tutorials;

• Twine: A tool used to create interactive narrative and text based games. While it can be used with no coding, CSS and JavaScript can be integrated for additional functionality.
Notable Games: Depression Quest Resources:Twine Wiki; (Twine is really easy to pick up and shouldn't require much reading to get started)

• Unreal Engine: Noted for its visual quality, and used in AAA and indie games alike, especially for first person shooters. While a lot of effort has been put into making the engine more accessible, it will still require some research and knowledge of C++.
Notable Games: Bioshock, Unreal Tournament, Mass Effect Trilogy, Life is Strange, Rocket League, Fortnite Resources:Unreal Engine Official Documentation; (I have zero experience with Unreal, so I'll let someone who does fill in the gaps here)

• RPG Maker: While very focused in its capabilities, specializing in JRPG style games, RPG Maker is also pretty straight-forward and easy to use. It requires no coding, but additional functionality can be added with custom scripts using the Ruby language. There are multiple versions, each with a free trial, but RPG Maker VX Ace Lite is a completely free version, which should serve the needs of this jam. Several of the paid versions along with some assets are also currently available via a Humble Bundle.
Notable Games: To the Moon, Lisa Resources: RPG Maker VX Official Documentation; (I haven't used RPG Maker for several versions so hopefully there's someone familiar with its more recent iterations.)

• Superpowers: I'm not very familiar with this engine myself, but it was recommended by Potatoes Are Not Explosive in the previous jam. It's a collaborative HTML5 engine that actually runs in the browser. If you set up hosting for it you can get google-docs style collaboration, which is not great for proper software engineering but it's awesome for game jams!
Resources:http://superpowers-html5.com

• Puzzlescript: An HTML5 based game engine designed for puzzle games. Recommended by Nina for those who don't want to get into too much coding.
Resources: https://www.puzzlescript.net/

• Bitsy: Also recommended by Nina, Bitsy is a grid based, retro-style engine that's works well for top-down adventure games.
Resources: http://ledoux.io/bitsy/editor.html

Post here if you're looking to create or join a team.

Most of the updates so far have been back end, so not much point in posting up to this point. I abandoned the First Person Exploration kit as it wasn't doing exactly what I needed, and it felt faster to just script it myself rather than figuring out how to work within the FPE assets. Movement, item pickup, and menu navigation are all working, with the last piece of scripting being a basic dialogue display system. I also started messing around with the lighting and it kinda looks like a game now? Obviously still a decent amount of modelling left to do though.

Definitely floating camera.

So I did the thing again where I said I would stick to an engine and mechanics I was comfortable with, rather than trying to learn new stuff... And then I decided to make a first-person game in Unity, which is very new to me. It's gonna be a pretty small walking sim, with some basic text narrative, so I think I should be able to manage it. Anyway, here are some screenshots of the gray-box I set up today:

Welcome again to the hentaiphd community Wine Jam!

Use this forum to share your ideas for your game, receive and provide feedback on these ideas, and search for teammates if you don't want to make a solo game. The rules for the jam are posted on the main page, but if you have any additional questions, feel free to ask here or in the discord.

If you want to share your concept, progress, or feedback, start a topic and tag it as a Dev Log

Here's where jam participants can discuss game engines and development tools. Below is a brief list of free ones that I would recommend, some introductory resources to check out, and a list of well known games made with each in order to get an idea what the tools are capable of. I really only have recent experience with Unity, GameMaker, and Twine, so feel free to contribute any tutorials or info I might have missed, and ask questions if anything was unclear.

• Unity: The most popular game development tool, which is capable of creating both 2D and 3D games. Some C# scripting will likely be required, but a lot can be accomplished in the level editor alone, and with the help of the asset store.
  
Notable Games: Gone Home, Hearthstone, Cities Skylines, Ori and the Blind Forest, Cuphead
Resources: Unity Beginner Documentation; Sebastian Lague Intro Playlist;
A little pricey, but this kit available on the asset store is well worth the cost if you're interested in making first-person exploration games.

• GameMaker: A relatively beginner friendly tool specializing in 2D games. GameMaker features a drag and drop interface but can also be programmed entirely with it's own unique scripting language.
  
Notable Games: Spelunky, Hotline Miami, Hyper Light Drifter, Undertale
Resources: Making A Game With No Experience; Shaun Spalding Tutorials;

• Twine: A tool used to create interactive narrative and text based games. While it can be used with no coding, CSS and JavaScript can be integrated for additional functionality.
Notable Games: Depression Quest
Resources: Twine Wiki; (Twine is really easy to pick up and shouldn't require much reading to get started)

• Unreal Engine: Noted for its visual quality, and used in AAA and indie games alike, especially for first person shooters. While a lot of effort has been put into making the engine more accessible, it will still require some research and knowledge of C++.
  
Notable Games: Bioshock, Unreal Tournament, Mass Effect Trilogy, Life is Strange, Rocket League, Fortnite
Resources: Unreal Engine Official Documentation; (I have zero experience with Unreal, so I'll let someone who does fill in the gaps here)

• RPG Maker: While very focused in its capabilities, specializing in JRPG style games, RPG Maker is also pretty straight-forward and easy to use. It requires no coding, but additional functionality can be added with custom scripts using the Ruby language. There are multiple versions, each with a free trial, but RPG Maker VX Ace Lite is a completely free version, which should serve the needs of this jam. Several of the paid versions along with some assets are also currently available via a Humble Bundle.
  
Notable Games: To the Moon, Lisa
Resources: RPG Maker VX Official Documentation; (I haven't used RPG Maker for several versions so hopefully there's someone familiar with its more recent iterations.)

• Superpowers: I'm not very familiar with this engine myself, but it was recommended by Potatoes Are Not Explosive in the previous jam. It's a collaborative HTML5 engine that actually runs in the browser. If you set up hosting for it you can get google-docs style collaboration, which is not great for proper software engineering but it's awesome for game jams!
Resources: http://superpowers-html5.com

• Puzzlescript: An HTML5 based game engine designed for puzzle games. Recommended by Nina for those who don't want to get into too much coding.
Resources: https://www.puzzlescript.net/

• Bitsy: Also recommended by Nina, Bitsy is a grid based, retro-style engine that's works well for top-down adventure games.
Resources: http://ledoux.io/bitsy/editor.html

Post here if you're looking to create or join a team.

Got the card traits (number, shape, color) and score implemented and working tonight after I got home. I still need to implement the Wine cards, but that should be pretty similar code to other mechanics in the game. The goal is to see how far I can get tomorrow so I can determine how much time I can afford to put into an overarching structure, so there's enough time remaining to work on polish.

https://gfycat.com/ifr/LittleWeepyBoubou

I'm posting this way later than I anticipated because I was over-ambitious, and decided to use this as an opportunity to get more experience with Unity. As a result, I was unsure if I'd be able to get a working game by the end of the jam, but finally made enough progress last night that I have something worth showing.

Mixed Signals is going to be an abstract dating sim, with a "dialogue" system built on card game mechanics. The current plan is for each card to have 3 traits, which you will attempt to match with those of your love interest. The more traits you match, the better the conversation, leading to more complex card combinations. Where's the wine you ask? Well sometimes, when you find you have nothing to say, a little liquid courage can be of great help, by adding a wine card to your deck and drawing a couple of extra cards. Doing so too often, however, may come back to harm you later on, as the wine cards do not match with any of the conversation cards.

Welcome again to the hentaiphd community Wine Jam!

Use this forum to share your ideas for your game, receive and provide feedback on these ideas, and search for teammates if you don't want to make a solo game. The rules for the jam are posted on the main page, but if you have any additional questions, feel free to ask here or in the discord.

If you want to share your concept, progress, or feedback, start a topic and tag it as a Dev Log.

Post here if you're looking to join or start a team.

Here's where jam participants can discuss game engines and development tools. Below is a brief list of free ones that I would recommend, some introductory resources to check out, and a list of well known games made with each in order to get an idea what the tools are capable of. I really only have recent experience with Unity, GameMaker, and Twine, so feel free to contribute any tutorials or info I might have missed, and ask questions if anything was unclear.

• Unity: The most popular game development tool, which is capable of creating both 2D and 3D games. Some C# scripting will likely be required, but a lot can be accomplished in the level editor alone, and with the help of the asset store.
  Notable Games: Gone Home, Hearthstone, Cities Skylines, Ori and the Blind Forest, Cuphead
  Resources: Unity Beginner Documentation; Sebastian Lague Intro Playlist;
• GameMaker: A relatively beginner friendly tool specializing in 2D games. GameMaker features a drag and drop interface but can also be programmed entirely with it's own unique scripting language.
  Notable Games: Spelunky, Hotline Miami, Hyper Light Drifter, Undertale
  Resources: Making A Game With No Experience; Shaun Spalding Tutorials;
• Twine: A tool used to create interactive narrative and text based games. While it can be used with no coding, CSS and JavaScript can be integrated for additional functionality.
  Notable Games: Depression Quest
  Resources: Twine Wiki; (Twine is really easy to pick up and shouldn't require much reading to get started)
• Unreal Engine: Noted for its visual quality, and used in AAA and indie games alike, especially for first person shooters. While a lot of effort has been put into making the engine more accessible, it will still require some research and knowledge of C++.
  Notable Games: Bioshock, Unreal Tournament, Mass Effect Trilogy, Life is Strange, Rocket League, Fortnite
  Resources: Unreal Engine Official Documentation; (I have zero experience with Unreal, so I'll let someone who does fill in the gaps here)
• RPG Maker: While very focused in its capabilities, specializing in JRPG style games, RPG Maker is also pretty straight-forward and easy to use. It requires no coding, but additional functionality can be added with custom scripts using the Ruby language. There are multiple versions, each with a free trial, but RPG Maker VX Ace Lite is a completely free version, which should serve the needs of this jam.
  Notable Games: To the Moon, Lisa
  Resources: RPG Maker VX Official Documentation; (I haven't used RPG Maker for several versions so hopefully there's someone familiar with its more recent iterations.)