Devlog "Blackthronprod Game Jam"

Blackthornprod Game Jam Devlog

6 days before the jam! I will definitely go solo again for this jam and will (as always) create all assets (sprites, code, music, etc.) from scratch myself. However, I do think I want to limit myself to a genre (2D endless runner) already for the following reasons:

• I will have limited time throughout the week and "dreaming big" can lead to me getting lost in trying to reinvent the wheel and trying to come up with a unique genre that is just too time consuming to realize
• My game jam games ALWAYS lack gameplay and "fun" - they are kindof unique, but never really that entertaining. By limiting myself to a very common genre, there are less chances to screw up :)
• I want to use the time before the jam to look up, what actually makes a specific genre such as endless runners FUN. I need to invest more time to do research and understand some more basic concepts of what creates FUN in a specific genre
• Going for a 2D endless runner requires only very few art assets: Background, ground, splayer, obstacles/enemies and UI

So, to use the time preparing for the jam, let's do some reaseach.

What makes an endless runner fun and unique

I researched the most downloaded and most commonly known endless runners:

Recap of the observations so far

Endless runners seem to differ mainly in the following categories:

• Fighting ability yes/no *(subset: interaction with objects or items possible)
• Comic style, bright colors vs. minimalistic, reduced color palette
• Fast paced vs. slow, cinematic

Most of the top rated/most downloaded endless runners differ in their primary scenary/location: Be it on Mars, on train tracks or on a mountain, there is variety in the type of landscape/terrain that they take place in. Controls appear to be always very simple and straight forward (as you would expect for casual games, so that people can pick up the game easily and "get on with it"). 

Story in general is no priority for this genre; if any story is present, it is minimalistic at best. Characters and their background story is never an objective in common endless runners.

Endless runners seem to be very much binary: Either they are fast paced and action loaded or relaxing - there is not much room for being "in the middle of the road". I believe in endless runners deciding which direction to go for and fully commiting to it is the way to go. You can't please everyone so you might as well go for one direction entirely.

Preliminary ideas

With that in mind, these are some preliminary ideas that came to my mind:

• Go for a scenary/environment that is new and unique (maybe dark and sinister to contrast the comic style usual types? Simplistic wireframe?)
• Can two genres be combined?
• No half measures - commit fully to a style and principles
• Explore the option of more advanced story telling during the game and a more relatable character
• Are there any clever alternatives to coins and typical collectables? 
• Is there an alternative to the most common fighting mechanics? Swap/color changing mechanism?

The Theme: Less is more

Day 1:

Okay, get over the shock! Yes, the theme is tricky, but it should get me thinking! So, let's go: After applying the "BUT" method and some brainstorming, this is the current idea:

You are an astronaut stranded on an alien planet. Your spaceship crashed and you need to find your team mate/girl friend astronaut. In the 2d pixelart style, low color palette endless runner, after each section of the level you can decide to drop one item: E.g. swiss army knife, sock, oxygen. It won't have an impact that much, other than maybe on the jump height. It will capture the theme less is more (as you drop stuff). I want to improve the existing endless runners that exist by adding a cute background story and maybe combining it with the genre of a graphical novel: You start the game with a comic-style illustration (i.e 3 pictures, black background and white lines similarly to a comic book). That could add a nice touch and make it more unique. The color scheme will be fairly dark and space-ish (of course), with maybe fog or some light particles as part of the background...your goal is to reach a certain distance (i.e. if you survived without losing your health), you can chose the item to drop, next level, repeat, and then the big reveal: WIll you find Mrs. Astronaut? How will you return to earth? To be continued...

I found this amazing artwork that inspired me soo much: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/409757266079383208/

I definitely want to try some pixelart background...

Update: Okay, so I have spent 3 hours toying around in gimp. I thought I could just brush different colors and apply a pixelate filter but that does not look ANYWHERE near pixelart :D I guess there is a reason why the word "art" is part of pixelart... Will try different attempts.

Update 2: Yep, pixelart takes AGES but it is really soothing and relaxing. I might have started with too big of a canvas (640x360) altghough I need to only color half of the canvas, as I want to mirrror it so it wraps nicely in unity...So in essence I need to work on 640x180 which still seems very large for a background? Not sure about propoer dimensions...Shoud have informed myself before jumping into it :)

I have decided on a color palette (purple-ish) and keep a very monochromatic approach. I started with a big brush and then removing 2x2 pixels and adding 2x2 pixels to "loosen up" the cloud. First layer is the dark space, layer above the dark purple one, then the blue tone, on top of that the light purple and on top of that the very light purple for accepts in the cloud. I realized that pixelart does not like pixel size inconsistencies: I wondered why it looked weird when I removed some of the solid purple clouds to make them look ligher, and it turned out that I used different sizes of pixels (1x1 or 3x3) so an uneven amount of pixels. DON'T DO THAT!

It took me another few hours to get a planet into the scene. I also added little 2x2 pixels of different colors (within the color palette ofc) to add a bit of sparkle and give the impression of a vivid sky:

Day 2:

I think I just invented a new Genre: Pixelart-Action-Comic-Endless-Runner. Not a fancy or catchy title, but I like the idea that I tried to merge two genres (one of which isn't even a genre) into something new. There are elements of a comic which are used to tell the background story which lead into the endless runner levels, followed by another set of text. I like the idea. Quesiton is, how can I make the gameplay unique as well? I wanted to use Jonas Tyroller's "BUT Method" (Big fan of "will it snail btw - you should all wishlist it on steams!)  to think  about unconventional mechanics. So - let me pull up my Moleskine notebook and scribble some ideas.

Ok I got it! i stopped the brainstorming after 5 min actually: If I want to go for a comic-action style genre, what if you don't collect coins or such, BUT fragments of the comic! You could collect rare items (5 to be precise) that reveal parts of the story. So you have an incentive to risk your live (less is more, less health in an attempt to get more story) and maybe play the game again to reveal all elements of the story. That fits perfectly! It is actually coherent and fits the theme and the overall game design principles well!

So, I think I have all mechanics figured out and can begin coding today. Then I have 2-3 evenings to get all character pixelarts ready - oh boy, going solo doing pixelart is tough...I can imagine having 30min for sound and music again, as in every other game jam haha! Let's crack on!

I believe there is something in this game that could make it a great full game. The idea of writing your own comic book by playing along and capturing the adventure not just in realtime, but also captured as a comic strip seems intriguing. But I feel like you would really need an artist to do that and a more dedicated, rich story. It is okay for a jam game, but I can envision something bigger. In that regard, the jam was already successful!

By the way: 3400 people joined this jam! This will be a fierce battle.

The categories that the game will be scored on are: Overall, Theme, Visuals, Innovation, Design, Sounds, Music.

That reminds me, I should remember to make "sounds" as well :D 

Day 3:

I programmed all mechanics (followed along a youtube tutorial for an endless runner), took only 30min to get it done! Included the background and some dummy sprites to see how it feels! Core mechanics done! Woop Woop! Got the health system done, the restart system and some basic 3 frame animations for the main character and the monster.

Day 4:

The game could now be considered "finished" as in you can play, win and lose. But it certainly isn't polish at all. A big thing missing is player feedback: the interactions with monsters for example are missing visual feedback and perhaps a shake. Maybe I can add comic speech bubbles? 

Update: While I am really proud of the pixelart, I don't fancy the game play anymore. After having seen some of the submissions, there are some waaaaay more ubique games out already. My core mechanics are not really relating to the theme, there is some relation to the theme, but I am not confident I will score any points in that category :(

Day 5:

Got a nice upbeat, simple main music theme! Worked on making the buttons less horrible (memo to myself: Why is it impossible to link burst particles to UI buttons? There are NO working scripts, no good videos, it is impossible!).

I am struggeling to find a good title...something with adventure, comic, pixel, oxygen...Lost in space?  Astronaut and the fight against space gremlins? Space Gremlins - An action packed pixelart comic? Pixel Adventure, Pixxi lost in Space, Pixelmania? Pixel Hero, Gremlin Smasher, Crashed Astronaut..

SAVING PIXXI.