Alright! Here we go!

I’ll admit, none of the themes triggered any immediate ideas. They’re not bad themes just because I’m unimaginative, you understand. I had to scratch out some notes and ponder for a bit; but I think I’ve got a plan now.

“Peaceful” was the first one to form an image. I prefer my games on the cozy side, so a peaceful game sounds neat. And not to be morbid, but the finality of “Aaand It’s Gone Forever” made me feel a little sad, maybe nostalgic, or really just aware of the one-way passage of time. “All Systems Have Broken” put me in mind of an adventure, or maybe a series of puzzles to solve with the goal of fixing something. And “Attachments After Attachments” reminded me of metroidvania-style power-ups.

So… I’m planning a small, cozy metroidvania / platformer that touches on the theme of death (but cozily). I’m pretty sure I’ve gone too far, but better to plough ahead than get stuck in analysis-paralysis, right?

I spent the afternoon hacking together a platformer to help me get a handle on the sprite / tile sizes I like, then threw up a couple of prototype levels to get a feel for the handling. That’s all built and uploaded here: https://pixelsallthewaydown.itch.io/the-lighthouses-keeper

I’ve got the “story” (not to over-egg it) scratched out on paper, and some thoughts on what power-ups to include. The big challenge now is designing the map, and making the world interesting without including too many rooms to build in the time I’ve got. I’ll be making all the graphics, sound and music myself, so I absolutely need to save time for that.

Here’s how the world looks so far:

…and I want to get that finished and somewhat nailed-down by lunchtime tomorrow so I can start greyboxing and playtesting the rooms.

I’m feeling pretty optimistic, if I’m honest!

And that’s day 2 done!

I took out a ton of the rooms that I’d planned for yesterday, but I need to give myself every chance of hitting the deadline – so here’s the finalised map.

I got the world greyboxed in Godot, too. It’s not pretty, and the rooms are missing their detail, but the world’s traversable at least!

And you might spot a splash of colour in the middle, too. I started building out the tile set for the first room to help me figure out the mood for the rest of the world, and… well, look: I hate it. I need to rethink the palette and make the whole thing more pleasant to look at, but it’s a start at least! I’ll get that sorted in the morning.

The game’s uploaded and playable at https://pixelsallthewaydown.itch.io/the-lighthouses-keeper, and thanks for being around!

Nice!

And there’s day 3!

The last thing I said yesterday was that I wanted to “rethink the palette and make the whole thing more pleasant to look at”, and I definitely think I managed that. I swapped to the mulfok32 palette, simplified the details that were more noise than signal, and I’m not planning to change that again. Gotta keep moving forward!

Here’s the map as-of day 3:

The wind turbine is mostly done-enough (but watch out for the softlock at the top if you play today’s build), and the first room in the lighthouse is totally done.

And speaking of that first room; the goal of The Lighthouse’s Keeper essentially boils down to “light all the candles”. Each room starts in a drab, “broken” state, and lighting a candle in a room repairs it. It’s a very simple effect, but there ain’t time to go overboard.

Also, the map is now no-longer fully traversable. That’s right! A metroidvania needs locks and keys, and the first locks are in place. The keys, on the other hand… well, that’s a job for tomorrow.

Give it a play for yourself at https://pixelsallthewaydown.itch.io/the-lighthouses-keeper, and thanks for sticking around!

That’s day 4, then!

My main goal today was to sort out the magic casting system so “locks” (fallen logs) could be “opened” (destroyed). In yesterday’s build it was possible to softlock at the top of the wind turbine because you weren’t able to destroy the logs blocking the only exit; and now, at the top of the wind turbine is an “air” charm you can pick up.

Both the spell casting and disintegration effects use particles, and there’s an informational screen when you pick up the charm to let you know how to use it, and the blades rotate when the blockage is removed.

It doesn’t feel like a lot, and the map isn’t much more colourful than yesterday, but hopefully the next set of charms and locks will be much quicker! Hopefully!

Tomorrow, I think I’ll crack on with a bit more of the lighthouse, or maybe the waterhouse. Hmm… there’s a lot left to do in 10 days…

There goes day 6, and it’s going to be a quick update: I took the day off. My partner took me out for breakfast, then we spent the day on trains. Not a bad day at all, then!

I snuck a little bit more colour into the middle of the map when we got home, but that’s about it. I’ll do a big day tomorrow to make up the time.

As always, you can play today’s build at https://pixelsallthewaydown.itch.io/the-lighthouses-keeper and thanks for sticking around!

Day 7 already? That… puts us half-way through the jam, right?

Eep.

I had a good shot at the watermill right in the middle of the map today, and it’s all looking a bit more colourful.

The watermill introduces the water spell (shock). Along with the air and fire spells I finished last week, that leaves just one more then the whole world should be traversable again. And that’s the plan for tomorrow: to finish up the mines and add the final spell.

If you fancy giving it a play at https://pixelsallthewaydown.itch.io/the-lighthouses-keeper, it should be possible to gather all the spells required to repair the mill and make the wheel turn. Good luck, intrepid alpha testers!

I’m quitting day 8 early because I hate this game, I’m sick of the sight of it, I’m not convinced I’m capable of finishing it, and I’m not convinced it’s worth finishing anyway.

I’m taking the afternoon off, and I’m praying I feel better about all this tomorrow.

Day 9! After yesterday’s meltdown, I’ll admit that I do still despise the sight of this game. But I got up this morning, I got to work, and: all the rooms are done!

I won’t be uploading a build today, but I promise you: you can now visit every room, and play the game right through to the end credits. It still needs some polish and an opening cinematic, but it’s not in a bad place at all.

I desperately needed a break from Godot after lunch, so I started working on the soundtrack. It’s still a work-in-progress for sure, but it’s a start: https://makertube.net/w/dHXYq8pVeJgAXRoYEPm2vR

So, 5 days left? Let’s get it done.

So there goes day 10!

The plan for today was to start and finish the opening cinematic. Well, I bit off way more than I could chew. I made a good start, but I’ll need to finish it up tomorrow.

And it needs to be finished tomorrow, because the game still needs a polish and a playtest… in the next 3 days.

Eek.

Day 11 – and done!

It’s bloody done!

I wrapped up the opening cinematic. I recorded some sound effects. I polished a couple of rooms. And now the game’s up for playtesting.

There’s still a couple of days left for any bug fixes if anyone spots anything, otherwise… it feels a bit anti-climatic, but there it is. Bloody done!

https://pixelsallthewaydown.itch.io/the-lighthouses-keeper

Day 12! And I know I said yesterday that it was done, but a ton of incredible folks playtested it overnight and I had some fantastic feedback waiting for me when I woke up.

So today I snuck in a ton of bugfixes and accessibility considerations, and now it’s done. Bloody done!

…unless anyone spots any showstoppers, that is.

Voting closes in an hour, so I wanted to sign off with love to everyone who made time to read these devlogs and play The Lighthouse’s Keeper! Thank you all so much for the kind words and thoughtful feedback!

I’m amazed that only one dude got in touch (outside of Itch) to be mean, and I think that’s a testament to the beautiful low-rez community here. I’ve never met more cool folks during a jam than this one, and I’m so happy I took part!

If you have time to leave a few more votes before the jam ends, please do sort by least-rated. There are some real gems back there, and I’d love to see everyone hyped to come back next year.

My preemptive congratulations to the winners! I’ll see you in the comments! And I’ll see the rest of you on Mastodon at https://indiepocalypse.social/@cariad.

❤️