
I finished my second entry and you can play it right now! It’s a small Metroidvania-style platformer, inspired by the MSX game Legacy of the Wizard.
When I uploaded my game, there was 28 seconds left on the compo timer. I guess it wouldn’t have mattered if the actual uploading had gone a few minutes over the time limit, but I was dead set on getting my entry in within the deadline. Can you imagine the rush when uploading the game on the last minute?
I’m happy with my entry, although its really buggy and a lot of the mechanics (even the jump!) are basically in a placeholder state. Because I got the game finished so close to the deadline, there was no time for proper testing either, so a lot of the level design is really annoying and the game flows awkawrdly. I feel that didn’t manage to capitalize on my central mechanic enough (You Only Have One Minute), and that the time limit feels more like an annoyance then a legit gameplay mechanic.
Looking back at the last 48 hours, here is what I think went right:
- Working on the big picture, not the details: Instead of polishing single mechanics as I built them, my first priority was getting everything into a barely playable stage.
- Time management: I made a plan with an hourly time allocation before I wrote even a single line of code. Then I stuck to that plan like my life depended on it – most of the time!
- Doing what I know: I’ve made quite a few platformers in Game Maker, so I decided I would go with what I know best. Trying to create something that I haven’t done before within the compo timeframe has been my downfall on previous LDs.
- Having a Plan B: Before I started working, I wrote concepts for two different games: one more simple, the other more involving. I made sure to plan both with a lot of similar mechanics, so code from one could be repurposed for the other if need be. I felt comfortable developing my game knowing that if my first plan were to fail, I could still fall back on the second one.
Congrats to everyone else who finished, and good luck to those still putting the finishing touches on their Jam entries 
Now its time to start reviewing!