Intro

I’ve really been struggling over the years with completing projects. I don’t know where it occurred to me to stop not completing projects and actually complete projects, but that’s what I did here. The end result of 2 weekends + 1.5 additional days of work, with no crunch or stress is a pretty simple but really fun game. I’m happy with it as is, though I’m leaving the door open for improvements if people show interest. 

I really feel I found a proper methodology here, and I plan on doing 3-4 more games like this and WOW that is a weird statement for me to say, but it’s true. However, I might not have put it into words succinctly, so if you have questions, please contact via twitter (@snarge) or comments here.

What went right

• The “odd” design pillars
• I say odd because usually design pillars have to do with the actual design of the game (Combat should be frequent, fun, & visceral, Puzzles should have an a-ha moment, etc)
• These pillars are more about development and well...menu navigation??
• Make a game fast (< 1 month)
• Be able to get to the gameplay quickly
• Be able to fail & restart quickly
• Don’t worry about failure, game development wise
• These pillars were liberating to work with. In combination with “The Filter”, they helped me easily (yes, easily) finish a game in about a week
• The Filter
• Putting the game through the filter I picked up from Push Forward Combat (Doom GDC Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KQNpQD8Ayo)
• Though my filter was much different
• Does it make the game drastically better and is it going in quickly with not much pain?
• I cringe when I call this, lovingly, Push Forward Development
• Writing my own character controller (Unity)
• I followed a quick tutorial (Brackeys) for an FPS controller and wrote out each line of code instead of just using Unity’s FPS Controller
• Definitely modified it from there (Separated Input to Update, Movement to FixedUpdate)
• This allowed for a simpler, leaner controller that I knew what it could do and how to quickly modify it
• Also helped fix bugs more quickly
• SFX Friends
• I showed one of my game design friends an early build and he gave me sounds
• They really did make the game better. Nice percussive sounds made by professionals are worth the time & investment
• I also paid money for the Taiko drums. Worth every penny and I would definitely suggest getting some royalty stock-ish music in your game sooner than later, it’s a motivator

What went wrong

• Not marketing
• I went totally carefree on this, that meant leaving behind the marketing aspect. Completing a game was good enough for me, but I doubt anyone will play it
• Also, it's hard to do a marketing campaign for a game you didn’t even know you would be releasing in a week.
• Too Simple
• There is such a thing! I started entertaining a curve of difficulty with a variety of parameters that would increase it, but I went with wanting to release quickly, so I left that stuff behind
• Even this postmortem was completed quickly and is too simple :)
• Last Minute Name Change
• I didn’t check if my game’s name was taken. It WAS! I found this out after clicking “Publish” AND starting a Discord server. Because I’m an idiot!
• Lesson: Search your game’s name. Especially the platform you are launching on

Fun Facts

• Originally started out with a jetpack. Removed about 50% of the way through and replaced after a brief test of just having a double jump. The double jump felt more challenging and also fair. The jetpack felt like a constant easy mode, no matter how I tried to balance it.
• The original name, Iaido, comes from a real Japanese martial art of quickly drawing a sword from its sheath to attack. It’s a real thing!
• Developed over 2 weekends
• The sword came from Synty’s Polygon Samurai which coincidentally went on sale via Humble Bundle the Friday of the 2nd weekend. I couldn’t pass up that deal and that really birthed the Samurai look of the game 
• 34 Commits from 2/8/2020 to 2/17/2020
• The lantern being smashed is a series of flower pots being foley’d
• Devil Daggers, Downwell, and Doom 2016 were all huge inspirations for the game. I guess I have a thing for games that start with the letter D
• Also inspired from an older amazing iOS game that just didn’t get the credit it deserved, Cool Pizza by Secret Library: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab8w8tFYb6A