i had fun making my first “real” game, called curves.

here are some thoughts.
what went right
i had fun.

i was already familiar with the tools i used.

i didn’t have to draw pictures! trust me, if i make art for anything, it sucks.

my idea popped into my head pretty fast as well, and i finished early.

when i found a game-crashing bug, i slept on it and fixed it the next morning. always the best idea.

speaking of sleeping, i didn’t adjust my sleep cycle too much. this made it very easy on myself, and i never felt tired.
—–
what went wrong
i played it too much. might be a good thing?

my code is an absolute *mess*. especially the variable declarations, they take up a whole page and they’re just a big pile.

i kept worrying about how other people were going to like it.

i underestimated my ability, and took too many breaks. i finished 10h early without trying.

i threw out too much.

i failed to test the old level editor. turns out clicks mapped to every level, not just the selected one. this caused edits to the last level to ruin all the previous levels. luckily they weren’t very good.

i tried to be too minimal. i even thought the friggin particle system was too complex for the theme.
—–
what you and i should do next time

overestimate your skill, and cut things if needed.

remember the rule of 2: when you tweak a variable, multiply or divide by 2. nothing else or you just get all ocd about your number.

remember that 48h is actually a lot of time. and keep the jam in mind: if you can’t get finished, submit to the jam.

help others and ask for help. it’s not like you lose money for losing the dare. be a good loser.

don’t look down on your own game. because it’s great, and nobody gets to see it if you don’t submit it.

thank you.