The Glass Shapeshift Post Mortem

Hello everyone, this is ReimJ here.

Another Game Jam project "completed" (it's not actually done) for an SDC (Sacramento Developer's Collective) hosted game jam. The name of the jam is "The Voyager Jam" and the theme for this particular jam was "lifeform" with a time limit of 1 week instead of the usual 48 hours.

Initially, I started the game jam with the intention of finishing a tabletop game that I had written up back in may, but that plan feel through as I had no way to playtest a tabletop ruleset and I lack experience in the creation of tabletop games. So I did what I usually do with Game Jam Projects: make something in RPG Maker.

The first thing I did was brainstorm. It went something like this: Lifeform > Shapeshifter (It was a pretty short list this time around. Afterwards, I created a new RPG Maker Project file, and immediately created a "sandbox" of sorts to test out mechanics and such. Usually, I would create environments first, but this ensured that I had the mechanics of the game established to prevent headaches further in the project. At the same time, I also attempted my hand at drawing a character sprite sheet for use in-engine; used Inkscape to draw it. I also brainstormed a short narrative as well; where I reused some characters from prior Game Jam projects.

Things I needed to scrap or couldn't get done:
-Didn't have time/energy to write dialogue
-Didn't have time/energy to add music
-Had a battle system but scrapped it
-Tried finding plugins to view HP/MP/Items in overworld. Failed.
-Tried finding plugins to modify the menu. Failed and used the default.
-Considered swapping to a straight up puzzle game mid-way through but found it difficult to swap.

What I was satisfied with and what I learned:
-Satisfied with the shapeshifting mechanic.
-Satisfied with the Player Character Art and Face Visuals.
-Learned lots about Common Events, Variables, Switches and how to efficiently organize their structure.
-Satisfied with the level design.
-Had no playtesting pipeline for quick feedback during development and probably need to establish one.

I'm not entirely satisfied with this project and will likely not "finish" it. However, I can use this project as a stepping off point for other projects, ranging from drawing more assets in Inkscape for use in-engine, designing game ideas around the keyword of "shapeshifting", and perhaps establishing an actual playtesting pipeline that's quick.
Until next time,
-ReimJ
Date: [2020-09-26]