I’m doing this! Sadly I work for much of the weekend, but that will just make me think through my plans a little more thoroughly.

For this jam I plan to use either Game Maker:Studio, or Unity. I would prefer to use Unity if I think that I can, due to GMK being a bit awkward in places, and so that I could have a web version, but I’m still not very skilled with Unity, so I’m still on the fence. I’ve been spending the last week trying to put things together in Unity to make it more of an option.

And of course, GIMP and/or ASEPRITE, and sfxr, because both are free and wonderful. I’ll be generally holding to the compo rules, and I would like to submit for that, but if I don’t like what I have by then I may just call it a Jam entry. Time will tell.

I’m committing early to make sure I get ahead on my schoolwork. This time I’ll almost certainly be using the following:

IDE – GameMaker:Studio – I have plenty of experience with it, and a few helpful addons. If I’m going to finish, it will be with that.

SFX – sfxr, of course

Sprites – ASEPRITE is quality, I’ll likely be using that for everything that isn’t trivial.

The themes look solid, my homework is somewhat contained, I’m healthy, and I’m happy. Let’s do this! I’ve succeeded in two other jams, and flunked out of two others as well. Time to tip that balance.

Engine: Gamemaker:Studio – Fast, easy, and reliable. Plus, it exports to what I need, including HTML5. I’ve messed with Unity in the past, but it seems a bit more complicated than a solo project really requires.

Graphics: Aseprite and Gamemaker:Studio

Sound: sfxr or some variant.

I’ve completed the core of my entries gameplay, with 21ish hours left. I’ve never been this far ahead of the game. Frankly I’m shocked that I’m ahead of the game at all. But I am. Feels good.

I’m gonna spend the rest of the night looking into different level designs, and the possibility of adding some different characters. Multiple characters might seem like a luxury, but this is a game with a pretty low survival rate, so it’s more of extra lives than anything. Hopefully I can keep things simple enough that the player won’t need to practice with each, though with a total playtime of less than 5 mins, replaying once or twice should be fine, so long as it’s good the first time around.

Bonus Round: Guess which one of these is placeholder art.