PREMISE

You have to traverse very unpredictable landscape that shifts and changes with each step you take! Blocks could fly up in the air, crumble beneath your feet, bounce you up, or even make you move faster! But you can take advantage of your situation and throw rocks to shape the landscape however you please.... within reason.

I'm sorry that there's only a Windows version. I used the now deprecated GameMaker: Studio 1.4 to make this, merely because I had never FINISHED a game with it; it's also the Steam version, which is no longer available (I just wanted to say that.)

THE DEVELOPMENT (WARNING: PRETTY LONG):

I've decided to update this post so as not to appear so whiny compared to the original, which can still be seen down below. It's been 3 days as of writing this update, and I'm feeling a LOT better, so I will now ACTUALLY describe the development.

Well, every Ludum Dare theme can be interpreted in a wide variety of ways; well, at least that's the way they SHOULD be, but that's not the point. The point is, "Unstable" can definitely be quite physics-oriented... and guess who still doesn't know how to use GameMaker's physics system..

Well, at least that constraint can potentially lead to innovation, maybe. And the idea that I came up with, I decided to make on a whim, of which I should've come up with more for it. I feel this game is incredibly barebones as a result of doing this idea without further planning. Really, what sucks most to ME about the game is that it's much less interesting than my previous submission; but hey, they can't all be winners.

I couldn't come up with something to shake things up, something to give the game value! In the end, I tried to make a puzzle-platformer, based off of what someone else said about a GIF I had made to show current progress. But I also didn't want the player to be a static placeholder:

So I made the final character sprite you see in game, based off my older brother who's become 20 years old! But THIS is where things would take a turn for the worse. I animated a running cycle, which is one of my better ones to date, even though I don't normally animate.

But this was taking a REAL long time, and that's a no-no in Ludum Dare, that timer's tickin! I've gotta finish this animation, I've gotta finish this entire game in less than a day! AND THIS ANIMATION IS TAKING FOREVER TO MAKE!!

Yeah, October 2nd was a wasted day for the game in hindsight. All I did was add sound effects, which I made with my mouth, evidently, and mixed some on Audacity for the crumbling sounds. And I formally apologize for the bouncing sound effects, sorry. And then I did the character animation! Not even a single level! This is most definitely what lead to the horrific late-stage development.

Regarding that "late-stage development", this is was originally what I spent this description on:

I was getting worried SICK about the amount of time I had left, and I was starting to feel utter despair about my predicament. Everything was slowing down, my game just seemed so empty, and I've got less than a DAY to wrap it all up! I was becoming a sobbing mess from all this mental strain, it was becoming a true disaster.

Now a typical person would have thrown in the towel by this point. Well, I'm not typical. I had that cliché mindset of "I've come too far to give up now!" and continued on, even though I was literally in tears. Eventually I went to bed to try and calm down a bit before the final stretch.

On the final day(?) I quickly made all the levels you see in the final game; though the project file has some empty rooms, which are remnants of level that never were. I hastily inserted the character animations and fought the nasty battle of interweaving animation with game states, probably a terrible idea in general, let ALONE a few hours before the deadline. Though I got it working surprisingly well, despite the character jerking around when bounced up in the air.

It was goddamn MINUTES before the deadline that I added the end screen and title screen (in that order). I came up with the title in mere seconds, and scrambled to build the game, submit it, put the project file in a zip folder, then upload THAT, and finally get some cover image. I had no time to draw a unique cover image for the game. Then I typed up a whiny entry description for the game, and submitted.

I felt no satisfaction upon submitting the entry. I'd have a hard time appreciating my accomplishment, given what I sacrificed to even say that. Going the entire way, and submitting my entry, was a mistake. It was NOT worth the emotional torture I put myself through to make it.

They say that no matter what happens, you should submit your game... well, I DID submit my game, and a LOT did happen. And after what I went through, I'll question if they ever considered THIS outcome. I mean, I don't wanna be a Negative Nancy, but we should consider the edge cases, at least some of them. Or maybe I'm just a hopeless situation.

Either way, I'm not very proud of my game. I wouldn't mind it too much if this game's rank is N/A. But of course, give it a go if you want.

Also, for those who are curious, like yours truly, THIS is what the original description looked like. It's a good projection of how I felt at my worst during this jam. Honestly, it's kinda funny, but it also does project some real fears I still feel about the future of my participation. Also, there's a better chance I'll compile that timelapse video, just in case you're interested, like yours truly.