The Unbroken Forest - Postmortem

How I Got Here?

So when I finished a game jam (I know it sounds crazy to join a jam after finishing one), I found another two game jams. Zeno Jam and GoedWare Game Jam. But only four days were left. I decided to join them both. Well, I thought it was kind of tiring to make different games for both jams, so why not just make a single game that follows both themes?

(Also, I am not that good at writing these posts, so I am sorry. Also, excuse my grammar.)

Theme:

So I checked the themes, and it was "Isolation" for GoedWare and "Don't Give Up" for ZenoJam. So yeah, I have to think about something that follows both themes.

Development:

Day 1:

So I opened Godot and tried to think of a concept. I wanted to make a click-and-point adventure game, but it didn't fit any of the themes, so I scrapped the idea. Well, after some time, I went with the idea of the player being lost in the forest. But I didn't want to be another average horror game that follows the same formula (Slenderman *COUGH* *COUGH*). So maybe I should add some puzzles to it! But wait, I am bad at making puzzles. Well, I still went with this idea, lol. Anyway, I wanted to make something like Sokoban but mixed with the button mechanics of Portal. I started the project in 2D and chose a pixel art style. So yeah, I started making character controllers. So I added the character, and yeah, it moves! Next, I added a button mechanic (Spoiler Alert: it was not easy). So now the character pushes the button, and the door opens. Yeah,  pretty easy. So I wanted to add a crate or box that also pushes the button. The problem was that I had no experience with pushing box mechanics. So I looked for tutorials but couldn't find any. Well, in the end, I found a setting in Godot called "Safe Margin," which pushes the body whenever it gets close to another body. It wasn't the best way but it does the job, so I went with it. Anyway, after finishing the box-pushing mechanic (I mean, yeah?), I wanted it to also push the button. So I wrote the same code as the player, but, uh, it didn't work so well. The box pushes the button, but whenever the player also presses it, the animation is restarted. So it took me some time (8 hours) to find the solution for it. I just had to check if "get_overlapping_bodies().size()" was equal to zero, and after that, execute the code. Well, this was day one.

Day 2:

So in day 2, I decided to make levels. I found this amazing asset pack called "Hana Caraka," but sadly, it didn't have enough tiles to make a game like I wanted, so yeah, I spent a lot of time editing it. After making a level, I had a problem with Y-sorting. I also spent a little bit of time fixing it. Nothing much happened on Day 2. I just made sprites for the game.

Day 3:

So in day 3, I wanted to add more levels—at least 5. So I started working on it. Well, I wanted to add some new mechanics to not make it boring, so yeah, everyone's favorite! "Color Combination" (Worst Mistake). You have to press the button that has the same color as the crate or box. Okay, this was a bad idea because it took me so long to make it work. Also, I wanted to make it feel more like an isolated place. So how can I do it? Of course, by adding fireflies!! Well, nobody will notice them that much. Well, I used Godot's particle system to make some fireflies. I also made it a little dark. Also music (yeah).

Day 4:

Well, nothing much happened on Day 4. I added 2 Easter eggs. I added the last puzzle (I don't know if I should call it a puzzle because it's just pushing the boxes). Anyway, I was done with this game and submitted it for both jams. As I said, I only had 4 days (5 days for GoedWare, but I just published the game at the same time), so yeah, this was my small, boring story you just read.

Conclusion:

Well, it was pretty fun. I learned a lot of stuff. My favorite part about game jams is that you can play other games and give feedback to them. I am pretty new to game development, so I didn't participate in many jams. Well, I think my game did well with the "Isolation" theme. About the "Never Give Up" theme. I thought about the player not giving up even in this isolation (Cheap Way, lol).

Well, this is the end of the post.