You can play the game here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/chickens-vs-dinosaurs

The game

The game is gameplay-wise a combination of a rhythm game and supposedly an RPG. The idea was to create a classic Japanese turn-based system but enhanced with the music aspect. In the current state, it’s more of a prototype than anything else, but I think the combination would work very well in a full-fledged and polished game.

The struggle

We planned to go quite easy on us for this jam, as my ideas often end up being too ambitious. As it turned out, it wasnt as simple as imagined and the battle system still lacks many features we planned to implement. In the best case scenario, we expected there to be more enemies or a color changing mechanic connected to the attack types. But who knows, maybe one day?

Anyway, saturday was quite hard on us, as our computers betrayed us a bit. Graphic software crashing and learning to animate in a new one was one of the many obstacles we had to overcome and sunday on the other hand was in the sign of adjusting the game to the beat. Technologic failure was, as in every game jam, a huge factor.

The experience

Every game jam is mostly not about the finished product, but about the experience you learn on your way. Me and my GF made flat graphics for a videogame for the first time and it was a great opportunity to get to know this style further. Vašek got to finish his first game jam ever and he didnt panic or get stuck at all. For me, it was alsao a lot about experimenting with design choices further, as I never did a music game before and just had to try!

The summary

Game jaming is fun, hard, sometimes stresful and not always rewarding. But it gives you so much motivation and energy to make your ideas to reality. Sure, your game almost never looks as you imagined it would be, but game jams are not about a polished game of the year. Its about ideas, experiences and people.

I know how demotivating it is to see these geniuses who somehow manage to make a new Skyrim within two days. But it should not stop you from doing the best you can do. Because if you give it your best, thats all that matters. Just make games, have fun and enjoy one of the best hobbies you could possibly have!