This was my first Ludum Dare, my first time using GameMaker Studio (after binge-watching tutorials the day before the jam started), and technically my first game, if you don't count Ren'Py experiments.

It was an insane challenge and I loved it. I'm proud that I managed to complete an actual playable Thing that is technically a game, even if it's very simple and not quite polished.

Everything in 'Embers' was made by me during the 48 hours - code, art, music, sound effects (a lot of close up recordings of different objects in my flat)

The hardest part was getting my head around GML and getting it to do what I wanted, but the more I did the more I saw how liberating it is to make something like this from scratch.

I had a lot of ideas for the game that I didn't have time to implement - mostly I wanted to include a narrative, which would slowly reveal as you built the fire up to different stages. Maybe I will work on a better version after this.

Overall I'm mostly just feeling grateful this event exists - I wouldn't have had the drive to learn these new skills if it wasn't for the prompt and this supportive community.