Wrapping Up A Pair of Game Jams and a New Update of the Game

I just wrapped up the 32bit Spring Cleaning 2023 and Improve My Game Jam 27 game jams. Check out the latest version of the game for PC/Mac/Linux!

What Went Well

• I was able to add full controller support to the game and it should now be playable. I’ve only been able to test it with an Xbox controller, but it should theoretically work with other controller types.
• I added a visual feedback system to show what controls activate objects in the game, that also adapts to the input source being used by the player (keyboard/mouse vs gamepad).
• I was able to fix most of the bugs from the previous version of the game.
• I was able to add more polish to the existing gameplay, including more environmental sounds, as well as more audio feedback to the player.
• I was able to add a basic Feedback Form that links to the game’s Itch.io and GameJolt.com store pages. Learned a lot about Godot’s config and resource files when looking into how to allow the player to remap controls.
• I was able to cleanup a lot of clunky “game jam” code from last time and managed to document and refactor a decent amount of my code base.
• Added in footsteps when the player is walking around.

What Didn’t Go Well

• Time management (again), I got a late start on the jams, so I was only able to spend a couple of days working on the new version of the game.
• I was not able to get the remappable controls added into the game for this version before I ran out of time.
• I did not get a chance to add the animal models into the game with some basic behaviors that would allow the player to see them in the level.
• I did not get a chance to make the 3D models that I need for the next iteration of the game.

What I Can Do Better For Next Time

• Look for existing Godot plugins that do what I want to save myself time on not reinventing the wheel instead of working on gameplay.
• Focus on making the needed 3D models that I need at the start of the next iteration/sprint cycle.
• Rig and animate the 3D animal models so that I can add them into the game so that players have more of a visual hint where the animals’ dens are for placing traps.

I’ll make a more detailed video and post it sometime next week showing all the changes and talking about my future plans.