Robert - The Review

I always love participating in game jams. They help push my boundaries as a programmer and force me to think outside the box for fresh, new, and unique ideas. This project has been no exception - I am very happy with the storyline, mechanics, and atmosphere I have created within the game and I think it makes for a very impactful experience.

What Went Well

I am happy to say that many things went well in this project, and I am very happy with what I have achieved in such a short period of time.

Overall, my time management skills in this project have been very good, and I was able to complete the game and bug fix all within the time limit (and had time to spare!). This is an aspect I try to keep on top of, as it is extremely important to manage your time correctly in these small projects.

I am very happy with my pixel art too. As a programmer, I tend to not practice pixel art in my own time. However, with every game jam I participate in, I really try to spend more and more time making assets and adding as much detail to them as possible to create the best possible player experience. Especially during this game jam specifically, I really wanted the assets to be perfect. This is because I focused so much on the atmosphere and feel of the game, so I wanted the environment to reflect Robert's humanity, sentience, and journey to freedom.

Moreover, I am very happy with the mechanics I created. I have never created anything like this before, where the player is picking up and putting down objects, and I love learning new skills and trying to create new things in game jams, so I am very happy that this game helped me create something new! I have also never created a puzzle game, so drawing out the puzzles and testing them was very interesting! It was more difficult than I originally thought it would be, as I had to make sure the puzzles were hard enough, yet could be worked out by the player with a bit of thought. However, I think that they turned out well; with the right level of difficulty.

What Could've Gone Better

despite the success with the project, it isn't without its downfalls. For example, I found some small bugs when testing it, which I will list below:

• If you spam click the switch, all doors will open.
• Sometimes, the first door will close even though the box is on it.
• There is a chance to get stuck on the first puzzle if the planks are misplaced.

Despite this list being small, it can potentially ruin the gameplay experience. So, I may go back after the game jam voting period is over and fix these. In addition, I would add a restart button, just in case something goes wrong and the player needs to restart the game. This would remove the need to close the game and start it up again. So, when bug fixing, I will add this as an extra feature.

One last thing I would change is the logo, as I completely forgot to change it in the project settings before exporting it. This will be a quick fix, but it is very frustrating that I forgot to do this!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read these development logs. I have had a blast with this project, and I can't wait for the next game jam! :)