My first ever Game Jam submission! I'm super proud of it but I wasn't expecting the clarity that comes after a game jam is complete

What went wrong?

Well that's a loaded question, lots did and yet also not as much as I thought would go wrong. I don't feel like I spent enough time playtesting or confirming the idea, especially as the end of the jam came up I feel like I rushed to get my visualized product completed without actually confirming if that idea actually worked. Thankfully I think it DOES work, it just could be better.

What can I do better?

ORGANIZE ORGANIZE ORGANIZE! To all my other first time jammers! I can't stress this enough! Please spend some time before starting your project to actually organize your ideas! Journals and notebooks are fantastic! Don't spend too long on it but create a basic flowchart! It'll help so much in the future!

Thanks again to everyone who played and rated my game! I don't know if I'll come back to it in the future as I like to leave my projects untouched so that they remain a product of the time crunch but if people really like the idea of this game I'll give it a shot!

Here's to next year!

I worked really hard on making my game Sticky's Aquarium for the jam, unfortunately it's really hard to get reviews! I would love it if people could play and rate my game! Thank you!

Play the game here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/stickys-aquarium

Another Jam Done

I'm happy to have finished something, anything, that's as complex and well put together as this project here. I have a few game jams under my belt now and I have learned the same lesson over and over again. Simplify. I have a bad habit of over scoping and releasing a super unfinished project, but not this time. I came into this jam with a goal. One mechanic that feels really satisfying to play with and then everything else can just be filler content.

I decided on a super replayable minigame that I used to play a lot on the phone "Pop the Lock." It was a really simple and fun game that had its own challenges and difficulties that I wanted to bring into a cozier game about fishing.

Why The Art Style?

As I get more and more confident with my artistic talents I find myself drawn to the old styles of the game boy advanced or even Paper Mario on the N64. I am in love with the round thick sticker like pixel style so I had to make an entire game using that look

Mistakes

Like usual I made many mistakes, I still found a way to over scope, maybe not mechanically but content wise. I realized that if I was making a game that had a simple collection mechanic I needed a lot and I sure do mean A LOT of content. I wasn't really happy with how few fish managed to make its way into the game, nor was I happy with just the one map. If I had the chance to do it again I wouldn't have spent so much time on cleaning up the mechanics of the game to be a super 100% polished experience and instead I would have just chosen to add way way more to the game.

Conclusion

Overall, this is the happiest I've ever been with one of my games. I am so insanely proud of my work on Sticky's Aquarium! I can't wait to play and rate more games this jam too! Everyone did amazingly!

This isn't my first jam but it's definitely the first one that I'm coming to fully prepared and skilled enough to complete something. A bit nervous since I haven't made a game now for a couple of months as work and life as been a bit busy, but I've set aside the time to give this my all!

Engine: Unity (I know I know)
Graphics: Blender / Krita
Music: LMMS
Audio Audacity

Team: Me 🥲

Here's to giving it our all! Good luck everyone!

How many people here would be interested in people streaming their game jam entries? Personally streaming the ludum dare games is a highlight of every game as it gives me an opportunity to meet other devs as well as try out their games in a way for people to get real time feedback. Let me know your opinions and I might stream the games after the jam is over!