Devlog: ECTOCOMP & Bare-Bones Game Jam(s)
Final devlog!! Late night, brain-empty thoughts comin' atcha.
This has been a wild month, but I'm glad to say I have finished 2 games within it. I haven't really parsed how I feel about it--probably because I've spent about 25hrs in the last two days starting and finishing game #2. Proud? Probably proud.
But Laurie, no one asks, what about that game you talked about ages ago? You had cover art for it and everything. You invented (and purchased) merch for it because the idea cracked you up so much. Well, dear player, what happened was I fell really in love with a story that kept growing. I realized if I was going to get it done before the end of October, I'd have to cut a lot of things out of it. I decided it was worth it to do it right. Never fear! The project has been moved to Nano and will (fingers crossed) be published by the end of November. I got about a third of it written, I love the characters so so much and I didn't want to rush them.
I decided that with about two weeks left before the end of the jams. Plenty of time to do another small game and I thought it'd be really neat to get 2 games finished. And I had a ton of ideas--teens break into a Spirit Halloween to do a seance and shenanigans happen; you've been set up on a first date for Halloween and the order in which you, well, order your food determines the ending you get; it's the far-flung future and your a teen on a space ship feeling disconnected from the life you know and a friend found some old Halloween party guides from earth and is throwing a Halloween party--and as much as I liked them, I never found the spark that makes a story catch fire for me. I was ready to be content with the game I had made.
Until 3 days ago. When the opening line "Honey! I've got some hair wrapped around my toes." popped into my head out of nowhere. Suddenly, this horror story develops whole cloth in my mind. And it's...a kind of horror I don't usually engage with. It's uncomfortable to write. I feel a little conflicted about publishing it. It's not about Halloween and I really wanted to make a game about Halloween! But it's done so I am. There are enough narrative things I find interesting that it seems worthwhile to share. And it's pretty good horror.
I still have to finish some backend stuff--write copy for the game page, finish some placeholder text in the game itself. I ended up going with Twine (Harlowe), even though the UI makes me want to cry. I knew I wouldn't be able to figure out pathing and variables well enough to make Ink work (not without something even more clunky than what I've got). And I really needed italics and base Ink doesn't do italics
Anyway, that's all. It's late and I should sleep but I've spent so much brain writing the last couple days I'm enjoying vegging out with youtube. I'll do a post mortem for both games because I have Feelings about them. And I get a whole 2 days without writing nonstop before nano starts! 😂😭 Thanks for reading!
