1-Bit Jam 5 Post-Morteim

Title screen for my project, a little barebones, but functional

So, It's been a while since I've successfully done a jam. It's been a while since I've actaully published a game, I've worked on a lot of projects, but I just needed to start and finish something new in order to get in the habit of making my progress known.

Fortunately, that's what game jams are for, you and a bunch of other people schedule some time to work on a game outside of your normal working hours, and you post it at the end should you have something finished. I have attempted several other jams between then and now, but usually there was one reason or another as to why the project couldn't be done (usually scope creep).

That's why I find more success in week-long jams, you come up with an idea related to a theme, spend a day sketching out the design document, put together some assets, then you spend the rest of your time building a game. You make a smaller project, but you don't end up promising features that you don't have time for, you only focus on what is necessary.

To that end, the jam I partook in this time was the 1-Bit jam, a jam focused on creating games with a 1-bit aesthetic, usually through monochromatic pixel art. It's a style I like using in my own projects so it's a jam which meshed well with what I wanted to accomplish.

The jam's theme was "Winter", so my thought was about attempting to survive it. To that end, I had a lone soldier, armed only with a pistol trudge through a hostile, snow covered land with dead trees and little hope. In order to accomplish this, I wanted to create a grid based puzzle game where resource management was key. To that end, I programmed a top-down grid based movement system where enemies react to the player's presence and either follow or shoot them. I'm proud of how I implemented aiming and shooting the player's gun, you aim through holding the space bar and release it to shoot.

Level 2, the enemies in this level are programmed to not attack you, plenty of extra ammo is provided so that you can learn the mechanics of the player character's gun.

I think I want to put this game in the oven some more. I think I've got a nice core idea here, but the current format (level progression) doesn't suit the atmosphere I'm trying to go for, and was decided on due to time constraints. I think I want a key piece of the puzzle to be how the player manages their bullets and health across multiple challenges rather than a single challenge, sort of like old puzzle rpgs such as Tower of the Sorcerer. That would help create a more survival oriented experience, and would open the door for multifaceted solutions to various problems. Plus, it could open the door for a unique story I have in mind which I am not ready to share yet.

There are technical issues as well, moving the player doesn't feel the best at the moment, I think that's because there's a delay in order to account for the enemy units taking their turn, there may be issues with pathfinding on the enemy's behalf, I need to stress test sometime in the future. Also, sound effects, sound effects would go a long way.

The fourth level of the game, The trees on the right are cut off, need to fix that.

Also, I've always had other people do the exporting and screen compatibility troubleshooting when I was at Champlain, so that's something I need to learn how to do myself. Overall, I'd say that this jam was pretty successful, just being able to say "I released something this year" is honestly a very welcome breath of fresh air.

If you want to see what I've made, check it out here.