This was my first game jam and I have to say it was a nice eye opener! You can play the game here!

What went wrong

I want to first talk about my mistakes and what I wasn’t able to acomplish. The version of the game I submitted is way to hard because I wasn’t game to get around to implementing my save points. This was mostly due to time management. I was able to work on the game for long periods of time but at the same time my breaks went on too long. I feel like at times I would be to negative about the final product. I was able to push past this for the most part. There was also some buggy behaviour with the holes in the levels. They would kill the player in unexpected ways which caused frustration for my playtesters.  However, I was able to fix these problems in my current version. I also was very limited on sounds and had no music. This is something I want to learn more about so I can create a better experience in my next ludum dare. The art was also not up to the standard I want it to be so I want to invest more time into creating better pixel art.

What went right

Even though the game has some problems, there was quite a bit I feel I did right with it. I wanted to create a zelda-esque game which required shapeshifting to progress through a dungeon. These shapeshifting forms can be gathered by killing different types of monsters. The first time you kill a monster type, you gain that form. When designing the concept, I wanted each form to have a unique ability that the other forms did not have. I feel like I nailed this idea down. In fact, I find it a little addicting to track down new monsters and kill them for their forms. There is something exciting about trying out new powers and I feel like I was able to implement this feeling into my game. My favorite form is the mouse because they can travel through mouse holes and passage ways. This passage ways will take the player to other areas of the map that they normally couldn’t get to without the mouse. I even put in some secret passage ways for the mouse. These passage ways can completely bypass areas that require you to have another form. I definitely want to expand on the shapeshifting mechanic some more.

The Future

Maybe I am crazy but I want to polish this game up, add more forms, expand the world, and try my hand at steam. I will work on this game for as long as it takes until I have something I feel is worthy. Also, I will be submitting a newer version of this game on One Game A Month around the end of the month so keep an eye out for that if you like my game by following me on twitter.