Reflections on GDEX 2023

Figma prototyping trial

We prototyped with Figma. We went with our original idea.

Our project was built with Unreal Engine 5. The starter content got us a long way for prototyping.

New work I explored in the jam

I learned about combining rotations Used rotations to open doors Player camera rotations

Learnings

• Establish early on what the fun part will be. That is where players will interact and where the focus should be. Fun can be in the movement, art, interaction.
• Simple mechanics to start with. You can build on them but if they are too hard then it blocks exploration of the rest of the game.
• Difficulty mechanics can backfire. If its too hard and difficulty increases, its even more impossible.

Follow the structure

• planning
  • brainstorming
    • can scope down
    • first idea is often the best one, but can pull other ideas in
    • dont worry about originality, can take games and add a twist
  • plan out what you want
  • limit your scope
    • divide your systems and mechanics
  • complete a simple one
  • MOSCOW method
    • must, should, could, wont

Release

In total, we had 6 dev builds for playtesting and 3 release candidates. Doing many builds was the right decision for sure and let us find issues early.

https://foolofatom.itch.io/indoors-game

Future Thoughts

parallelizing work

• UI stuff
  • title, settings
  • in-game widgets
• sounds
• art
  • models
  • materials
  • decals
• gameplay
• big picture programming
• programming the individual pieces
  • characters, ai, nav, movement, puzzles, features