- How was the jam overall? What were your biggest challenges, and how did you meet them? Overall, I enjoyed the game jam, it was nice to see the salamander idea through for the most part. The biggest challenge really was reworking the idea both for the game jam and into the Bitsy engine, but I think the move to Bitsy was for the best. It let me focus on the stuff I actually wanted to focus on and fall more in line with the old-school adventure game vibe I was going for.
- What are you most proud of about your prototype? The Pythagoras sprite at the end I really enjoyed, it was kind of a pain but I think it helped to differentiate it from the rest of the game and gave it a more ‘final’ feeling to the cave section.
- Based on your engine, what did you learn about balancing narrative (story) and mechanics (function)? How might you apply this in other areas of your life, not necessarily in terms of building a game? I feel that Bitsy is in a bit of an awkward position when it comes to narrative and gameplay, I definitely think that it leans more towards narrative but at the same time the text box is so small that even then it’s not the best. It was a bit of a lesson in trying to make the best out of an unideal situation, not necessarily bad, but also not everything you hoped for.
- If you were going to make another level of your game, how might you implement the feedback? I’d probably add an exit out of the caves straight back to the starting room, a lot of people seemed confused right at the end and I think that would help.
- What did you use from your portfolio and what got left out? Why? I tried to include everything to some extent but everything relating to combat was cut for Bitsy reasons. All of the salamanders were there or at least mentioned once but their roles were reduced, and the evil Heraclitus plot was cut because I felt it would be a little too complicated and difficult to pull of in Bitsy.
- What did you notice about narrative while playing other students' games? A lot of things are easy to miss or not make clear to players that might seem clear to the developer.
- Which game was your favorite and why? Saltquest. But in all seriousness I think Maze Master was my favorite. The mazes were all really well designed, and it felt the best overall to play.
- Were there any patterns in the feedback you got? There was a lot of comments on the salamanders being other things, like fish or bugs, so I think a text box somewhere clarifying that would help.
- Were there any surprises, either in the jam and building your game, or in your feedback? I was surprised by how easy making music in the engine was, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to implement it.
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