There are many different ways to look at game jams and the "right" way to do them. For me, I've used them as motivation to try new things I wouldn't normally find the time for. Nothing like an impending deadline to get you going! I also want something more complete and finished at the end of the jam than other jammers might be looking for. The following is my postmortem on my team's game. Maybe you might find something useful out of it? I know I did.

When thinking about what was a success and what could have been done better, I realized that for every topic where I got something right there was also something I got wrong for that same very topic. Here's a list of areas in my game that have both a success followed by its failure.

High Score

My previous game jam included a hastily thrown in high score but the game was so basic and was to see how long you can survive (or how long you can stave off boredom) that it didn't really have much of an appeal to get a high score. I recognized that having a high score tracker is often worth taking the time to add and in this game it fits the need for it much better. It's great to see people post their high scores and come back to the game to beat others' high scores.

While I did include a high score and I feel like it was a hit, I can't help but think that having a local and online leaderboard would have made it notably more completive. Seeing other games with an online leaderboard definitely showed me I missed out. This is something I will keep in mind for future jams.

Button feedback

My previous game didn't have any clickable buttons but it did have some user input feedback. For this jam I made sure to make my buttons have mouseover and click images. Little things like button feedback really helps give your game that polish that people might not actively notice but can affect their overall opinion of the game. Just ask @elysiagriffin :smiley:

My buttons were very basic, I could have spent just a tad bit longer on them. Including visibly pressed buttons and a mouse over that really popped would have been even better. Audio clicks would have been a nice touch at hardly any extra dev time.

Audio

I considered audio as a stretch goal for my first jam but I made sure to add sfx and music for this game, no matter how basic. Much like button feedback, a little bit goes a long way but in this case people will notice if your game doesn't have audio. I find no audio often gives a game a bit of a hollow feeling. This was my first time doing sfx and music and I'm pretty happy with it.

My one regret was not spending more time on the music. I was extremely intimidated and came up with a silly and small 7 second tune to add in. I added some instrument variation when completing each loop but it was still way too short and therefore repetitive. I should have tried for at least 15 seconds of music if not longer.

Volume Control

I've seen streamers play countless LD games with audio that was too loud. Having adjustable volume control is a valued attribute to streamers so I'm glad I took the time to add it.

I should have had volume control accessible while in game, not just in the title screen. Players often don't realize they want to make adjustments until they are in game. My volume control settings also don't save which would be great if you want people to come back and play your game multiple times.

Title screen movement

My game's movement is intentionally a little...slippery. I wanted to give players a chance to test out movement on the title screen and make the screen a little more interesting.

I didn't do enough to message that Lucky is moveable in the title screen. I would guess the majority of people who played didn't even know. I should have had an in game prompt telling them to try instead of just adding some auto movement on the title in hopes players would notice and try to press some movement keys.

Getting help

My first jam I had no experience and I did everything myself. I don't regret it but it makes sense tackling new areas in smaller bites. For this jam I was lucky enough to get @elysiagriffin to help with the art and animation. While I would love to get better at game art assets, it was a huge relief to have time to work on other aspects of the game.

I could have used more help. I use jams to try out new things and having so many other things on my plate means I can't play around in depth with new interesting areas. I feel like a 3 or 4 person team split among disciplines would be ideal. That said, I find it likely I will continue to be on a 1 to 2 person team in the future.

Mood

I was aiming for a simple, fun, and a little silly game. I feel like I delivered. The music, sfx, player movement, art (from @elysiagriffin), ending loop mechanic all fit what I was going for.

My goofy AI movement fits the mood but only accidently, when playing around with getting Righty movement in it was completely broken but at the same time I kind of liked it so I kept it. That isn't something I should count on and who knows, if I did it correctly maybe the game would be better.

Small scope

I have excelled in both my jams at setting a realistic scope and being able to finish a game. It might not be award winning in content but it's very satisfying to finish a project and be happy with the results.

Having an overly small scope means you don't challenge yourself as much. Playing it safe meant I didn't even try audio in my first jam and while I went further in this jam there were still areas I skirted around due to keeping my scope small. I wanted to have a slime trail but I was worried about it being too complex to tackle with my current knowledge and have it turn out good so I barely even tried and gave up early.

In conclusion, I've learned just as much in this jam as my first and can't wait to use what I've gained in the next LD!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/lucky-lefty-loves-loops