"Brain Juice" - My first ever game release.
"Brain Juice" is my first ever original game release. Though admittedly by release it's more a functional prototype than any sort of polished product.
I'd originally hoped to submit it to the Godot Wild Jam #67 and while it was "mechanically functional" 2 hours after the Jam closed, it wasn't easy to understand and had no "playable" levels, so decided not to try to making it a late submission. While all art (models, animations and sounds) are as they were at the jam deadline, I spent an extra week adding playable levels and a tutorial, which I felt was badly needed.
Level design was actually the hardest part of the challenge - particularly with the move limitations, there was lot's of testing and tweaking to make sure the levels were both completable and challenging. Even though there are only 3 (+ tutorial) I spent somewhere around 12 to 15 hours working on them, iterating designs and then fixing bugs or tweaking mechanics to make things work more smoothly.
I learned to use a lot of Godot's features especially for this game during the jam:
- Enemy navigation
- Bone attachment
- Ray casts
- Grid maps
- Custom classes
- Static functions and variables
I also had to refresh my knowledge of Blender (I've not animated a walk cycle in some time - which shows 😅), indeed I was relearning rigging and creating actions the morning the Jam closed!
Overall I'm very happy I took part (even though I couldn't submit it in time) - I learned a lot of concepts which will hopefully stick with me for the next jam (plus lot's of original code I can reference and reuse). Perhaps most valuable of all I got a decent understanding of the time it takes to complete the different aspects that go into a playable game!
Thank you for reading, my next goal is to take part in Wild Jam #68 and actually get something submitted in time!
~ Lexa
(P.S. version 0.0.0.2 of Brain Juice is the works, and will hopefully be available next weekend.)
Files
Get Brain Juice
Brain Juice
Entry for Godot Wild Jam 67
More posts
- Brain Juice V0.1 UpdateApr 02, 2024
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