Postmortem
In order to teach game jammers, I appealed to participants in Harold Jam 2022 to share their experiences. Now, months later I offer my own so that others may learn (nothing).
I dreamt up HAROLD AND THE DEAD END as I drove to work, 2 hours before the submission period ended for Harold Jam. The game popped into existence in my mind, fully formed, and it made me smile. I wish I had thought of that last night. That would make a decent joke submission, I thought to myself. Then I realized I might have time to create it before work. I was set to get to work about 10 minutes early, a rarity. I could make this in 10 minutes. I soon learned this was incorrect.
As soon as I arrived at work, I rushed into my office and opened RPG Maker. I hit the create project and waited. . . and waited. . . My work computer sucks. 3 full minutes went by as a new project was created. In a panic, I canceled the creation and combed through my folders for an old project, anything I could use as the base for the project. When I finally found some old project I could use, it was too late! I was scheduled to do some work with a colleague on a low stakes project sooooooo, I began to "work" then I told him I had to make a quick family related call, ran to my office, and rushed out the game. The end!
Ultimately, this game accomplished what it was meant to. A smile, a laugh, all without wasting the players' time. I purposely made it undownloadable, because that would be frustrating to get the files for a 30 second game. The Theme6 sound effect for everything is arguably the most creative part of the game, and I am well-pleased with it. The only addition I would have made if I had the time is making the volume buttons totally non-functional. The volume would be set at 100%, and lowering it down to 20% would only increase the volume. Putting it back to 100% would increase the volume even more (hopefully to a limit). That would have been . . .kind of funny! The main punchline, the whole premise of the project, is a common joke repeated during pretty much every jam with requirements. Haha I'll just put them in the crossroads and name them Steven and say "where do we go from here?" and it'll be great lol This was probably the only jam where a joke like that actually fits into the feel of the jam itself, thanks to our derpy friend Harold. Now that I made that joke, it is off limits to everyone, forever.
Now please read some real devlogs!
A Harold Between Worlds - Moogle Rampage
Comments
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This log also gave me a smile and a laugh. One of the funniest post mortems I've ever read, huh!
Truly an honor. Thanks for reading it!