Team : Our team consisted of 4 members, with 3 working at Angel Corp, a small video game development studio. Team cohesion was excellent, with a strong mutual understanding, especially during development. The fourth member, a friend transitioning into level design, provided valuable support for level design and content creation.

Early Design : Right from the start of the jam, we established a clear hierarchy within the team, a first for us. Two members took on leadership roles while the other two followed. Although this proved efficient, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this approach, as it might not work for every team. Typically, we work more collaboratively, with all members as decision-makers and more initial meetings. (I think we were lucky that it went well) We regretted not providing prior training on GitHub and Unity, as this could have saved us time.

Training Time : I became a “teacher” (haha :D), giving Antoine and Elodie the basics of GitHub and Unity. This allowed them to take on game integration, which was a game changer. Making sure the whole team could stand on their own proved to be a huge positive of this jam, significantly reducing the workload on me.

Project Organization : Utilizing Unity prefabs was a significant strength of our jam. It allowed each member to work independently without disrupting others' work, contributing to better time and resource management.

Choice of "Vampire Survivor like" Genre : We opted for the "Vampire Survivor like" genre, despite its classic nature, as we wanted to infuse our own creative touch. To fit with the “Space Limited” theme, we designed a classic mechanical battle royale mechanic to our concept, which turned out to be more innovative than expected for this genre of game. I'll talk about it in more detail on another devlog I think.

Scheduling : We began sound integration as early as Saturday evening, which minimized last-minute stress. Elodie's ability to work independently on sound design on Sunday was a considerable asset.

Scriptable Object Development : Using scriptable objects to integrate enemies, weapons, and items was a smart technical solution, allowing Ilona and Antoine to effectively work on these aspects of the game on their own.

Sound Export Issue : Technical issues can arise despite good planning. Fortunately, we resolved the problem with Guilloteam's assistance, another jam team. We discovered that the WebGl format on itch.io handled .Wav exports poorly, so we had to re-export everything in .mp3.

Polish : I thoroughly enjoyed the "polish" phase, enhancing gameplay, details, and the overall game feel. We also made decisions by cutting some features to meet the time constraints.

Jam Atmosphere : I appreciated the jam's atmosphere, with snacks and a GEEKY vibe. However, I admit I struggled to detach myself from the jam, even during sleep, which can affect mental and physical well-being.

Lack of Time for Balancing : The lack of time for game balancing is a common challenge in jams. We regretted not having enough time for this step.

Thoughts on Ludum Dare : Overall, I enjoyed the Ludum Dare experience. The community is very supportive, the atmosphere is friendly, and the games created are of high quality. I look forward to participating in future editions to tackle new challenges and enhance my game development skills.

Thank you for reading, and if you'd like to play and vote for our game, here are the links: I'm going to do a more detailed devblog on itchio I think :)

Hearts to my team and everyone who tested the game, commented on the game <3 :3

Ludum Dare Page : https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/gacha-fever

itch.io Page : https://alexkail.itch.io/gacha-fever