This will be my first Ludum Dare.

I plan to make a Twine game alongside a friend whom shall be the one responsible for the art.

Happy LUDUM DARE! 😀

After being a little fraking afraid of the theme revealed (and sad for the swowman), I decided that me and my partner in crime (and game jam) had about twenty minutes to think about concepts and what to add on the game with the theme in mind.

The time passed and we started a call via Google Hangout in order to share our thoughts and ideas. We managed to decide a theme, come up with three characters (each with some personalities’s traces) and the general environment of the game and a possible name.

And now comes the time to actually do the ~stuff~ that I put on Trello.

May the game jam odds be ever in our favor. *whistles*

RSG in numbers so far

Characters: 4.082

Words: 668

Passages: 11

Links: 8

The first day was a slow start because of ~personal reasons~, but it was a decision we made since there is a big event happening here in São Paulo and the deadline for the jam is three days. Work a bit less today and compensate on the other days.

The major obstacles I’ve encountered so far was to find the right tone of the narrative. The next big item on my To-Do Trello list is to set the scope straight, in order to not be overwhelmed later.

Tags: RSG, Twine

RSG in numbers

Characters: 5.305

Words: 886

Passages: 13

Links: 10

Since the first day of production was a bit slow, I decided to stay up until I felt more comfortable that we will be able to actually deliver everything what we planned.

The artist made a couple of quick sketches for two characters and meanwhile I toyed around a little with the CSS code, started one conversation and had an idea for a twist on the game.

And now off to bed because I can barely tyh fkjhkjasdjhk… ZzZzZz

Tags: RSG, Twine

Progress of Ready Set Go (RSG) in numbers

Characters: 14.715

Words: 2.391

Passages: 27

Links: 43

Today was a very well spent day on the project. The biggest thing I learned so far on this jam was to get a glimpse on how my life will be when I make this hobby my fulltime job. Even though I love making games, this will be still be a job, and it is not above my family or my relationship with my girlfriend (and future wife).

“I think there is a misconception that to build a great game you have to spent every ounce of your body to do it.” These words from Jamie Cheng, Klei Entertainment’s founder never made more sense to me until this Ludum Dare.

Tomorrow will be the last day for us to finish the game and I think we are on track to do it. The only thing left on the plot is the conclusion of the story. After that, playtest, check for broken links, and consider possible improvements.

Tags: Ready Set Go, RSG, Twine

Play Ready Set Go!

TLDR: It’s hard to focus when you have more time than you’re used to, but everything worked out as planned.

Since me and a friend were making a Twine game – he was responsible for the art and me for the design of the narrative -, our reaction when the theme was revealed was not the best one. Each one of us made a quick brainstorm alone (about twenty minutes) and then another one, a more extensive one together via Skype. While we were discussing the theme, we both panicked a little, specially when you consider the idea for an interactive fiction to have all the game on one screen.

Given the limitation for our chosen technology (as well as personal skills), I took the liberty to be creative with the usage of the word “entire” on the theme. Not to give spoilers, but let’s just say you can get to the end of the game through the first screen.

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What went wrong:

• Time management

This was my fourth game jam, but my first Ludum Dare which I worked from home. Since those who were participating on the Jam had one more day (total of 72 hours), I found it hard sometimes to focus on the tasks I had to do. Also, having one more day than I had at previous jam entries contributed to my dispersion.

• Lack of “game” aspects on the final product

At the beginning of the Ludum Dare I tried to come up with gaming aspects that I would develop in Twine. Inventory (which I had already did at another jam), a simplified quest log and a combat mechanic. In the first day (saturday) I gave up on this functions because they would take too much time, and I wanted to focus on the narrative this time.

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What went right:

• Exercise a genre of writing I had not yet tried

After our initial brainstorm, we decided one of the main references for our game would be The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy from Douglas Adams. Needless to say I had a blast writing all the script, dialogues and coming up with crazy, nonsene puns. I enjoyed a lot writing comedy.

• Make updates about the game and even write a Postmortem

This Postmortem is my sixth post on the Ludum Dare’s site while the jam is still happening (to be fair, I started this post before the deadline ended). Anyway, this is my first Postmortem ever and I am super happy to be able to finish a game jam making one of this.

• Finish the jam with a more polished game

We had time to go over a few points of the game and the artist even got time to make a poster (check the image below). It feels good to set your scope right so you can finish everything on time.

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Lessons learned:

• Balance other areas of my life during the jam

Since I made the decision to spend almost 14 hours either with my girlfriend, my family or recording a podcast with friends, I had a glimpse on how my life will be when I turn this hobby into a full time job. Even though I love making games and am anxious to become better at it, this is still a job. I was happy that I managed to do all of this while was taking part on Ludum Dare.

• Trust someone you have worked with before

I must admit that on the first day of the jam I was a little skeptical to work with another person even one I’ve worked with before remotelly (not face to face) above it all.

Play and rate Ready Set Go!

Tags: interactive fiction, postmortem, Ready Set Go, RSG, Twine