Swerving Around
After last week's game jam I'm still feeling a little worn out. Having to prepare for meetings & read up on employment law all week didn't help, even though I am on paid leave at present. I think the mental drain is most of it, & the time of year truly doesn't help, as the darkness seeps in around us. Well, those of us in the northern hemisphere anyway.
That said, I don't want to toss away another opportunity to make something. So while I won't be starting a new project today, I'm going to leave that until tomorrow, & finish/continue on Monday instead. I have more time on my hands, so why not use it?
I'm going to shelve the previously mentioned echolocation idea, though. I didn't get particularly far with it & I did begin to realise that it was going to be a bigger job than a weekend could accommodate. I need to keep drilling it into myself that these ideas have to be very small, minute, bite-size ideas that can be condensed into a fun little game.
During my time off, I've been returning to Stardew Valley a lot. It's a comfort game for me, & I do get a lot of enjoyment out of watching the silly little plant pixels grow. So I might try making my own little farming game. Mechanically, it should be relatively simple; the growing of plants & a day to day cycle are very easily accomplished, however I will need to think of a 'twist' or 'hook' that makes it not just a little gardening simulator.
Going to spend today attempting to recuperate & put the farming game on the low power cycles in my brain, to see if the backrooms can come up with something interesting & achievable!
Worst case, you'll get a nice little allotment to play around in.
In other news, we're rapidly approaching the end of this idiotic redundancy process at work, so my schedule will be changing somewhat over the coming months. I still intend to continue attempting a new game most weekends, but I'll have to evaluate how feasible that is alongside streaming longer development processes on twitch.
I'll keep you updated! See you again, with a (hopefully) new game on Monday or Tuesday!
-Tim