Introduction
I don't usually do post-mortem posts, but I think that this time around there's some potential to expand my compo entry, Age of Mail, into a real game. So first, I think I should reflect on what went well last weekend and what didn't go so well.
Age of Mail is a 2D mail delivery game set sometime during the "Age of Sail", wherein you control a mail ship and must deliver mail and packages to various locations around the Caribbean. The main gameplay loop is somewhat lacking as I mainly focused on polish this time around, but we'll get into that later.
I was honestly expecting Cartography to be the theme this time around, so before the jam started I was throwing around the idea of a sailing game where you would be filling in a map by sailing around, which ultimately led to the style I chose for this game. When it was announced as Delivery, I actually had an idea for once so I decided to alter what I had to fit the theme and chose to deliver items by sailing between locations, the Caribbean was the obvious choice to emulate for the setting.
If you haven't checked it out yet, feel free to give it a look here
What Went Well
Overall, I think the game came out really well. As I said, I focused more on creating a polished experience this time around rather than working on really solid gameplay.
- I think this entry shows off some of my best art so far - now that I'm really comfortable with Aseprite, I was able to focus on pushing myself and working to achieve a cohesive style. I wanted to make the environment feel like you were sailing around on an old map, and I think I achieved that.
- The gameplay that is there works really well - I haven't had any reports of major bugs or even minor issues apart from some collision shapes not quite matching up and causing hitching on the coastlines.
- Godot 4 worked surprisingly flawlessly, I was expecting to run into some issues with the engine as this is the first time I've used the new version but it was a mostly smooth experience. The only thing that was an issue was that the web build won't run on this site as it doesn't support SharedArrayBuffer, I was able to turn this feature on for the itch page though so it runs there.
- My first real attempt at music went pretty well, it's not an original song (it's the first few bars of The Wellerman) which is maybe not super in the spirit of the compo, but I did arrange it myself in BoscaCeoil so I think that counts.
What Went Poorly
I think what suffered the most in my pursuit of a polished entry was the gameplay, I had a long list of features I would have liked to implement to create a better sense of progression, but of course I ran up against that 48 hour limit.
- The gameplay basically consists of moving from one port to another dropping off packages, and picking up new ones along the way. Each package has a timer on it and the remaining time when you deliver it dictates the amount of gold coins you're paid for it. That puts some time pressure on delivering as fast as possible, but it still ended up being pretty chill.
- Unfortunately the timers on each package don't count down unless a menu which shows the inventory is open (the cargo screen or a town panel). This is the one known major bug in the game, although no one seems to have pointed it out in the comments so maybe no one noticed. I believe this is due to how I had to remove the inventory from the scene tree upon closing a menu so that the items could be displayed in the town panels as well as the cargo screen. Removing a timer from the scene tree stops it from being able to count so I'll need to find a different solution for this in the future if I continue.
- The other major issue as I see it is the lack of progression and a proper game loop. The original goal was to offer some upgrades to the ships in the larger towns but of course, I ran out of time.
- Sound effects would have been a nice addition, but again, there wasn't time.
- I had also hoped to get some obstacles in, storms, whirlpools, sea monsters, depleting rations, perhaps even pirates and a combat system but alas, there wasn't time.
Conclusions
Overall, I'm really happy with how Age of Mail turned out. As always, I overscoped for what I could get done in 2 days and didn't hit the features I would have liked to. As Sunday came to a close, I considered working on it for another day and submitting it as a jam entry but I was already pretty burned out at that point so I decided against it. For the next Ludum Dare, I might dedicate the time and do a jam instead as I'm now pretty confident that with the right idea I could create a polished game with a good gameplay loop using that extra day. As far as my approach this time, I think focusing on polish paid off and I've been getting some really good feedback, but I do think that the gameplay suffered and I wonder what I could have accomplished if I'd focused on gameplay over polish.
What's Next
I have some time this summer, so I think I'm going to continue development on Age of Mail and see where it takes me. I've never released a commercial game as I've always just been a hobbyist but I'd like to give it a shot. I think the game has good potential, and I have some interesting ideas that I'd like to try out and see. I think the main driving factor could be delivering increasingly important mail, and the game could allow players to make the choice if that mail should be delivered at all.
