A-maze-ing Mess postmortem

Let's go with the postmortem of this jam. I'm very happy with the game, but this postmortem probably will be short, lets go to it.

But first, you can play the game here!

This time I got the idea pretty soon. I was tired and unmotivated, so I wanted to make something simple, probably the decision I made.

I wanted to make an exploration game, my main reference was Atic Atac, but with the light fading out instead of hunger. My first idea was to recharge the torch using enemy loot, but eventually that was scrapped out.

I started making the main mechanic, the light. It was pretty simple so I got it very fast.

Once that was done, I've got to the important part, the map. I wanted sharp transitions like the ones in Atic Atac, fast, functional. Again, it was easier that I expected.

With that done, I started with the graphic part, I was using placeholder sprites and my intention was not that. I wanted my own sprites there. Again, as usual, I wasn't happy with my art, but this time I didn't mind, because I wasn't dedicating a lot of time to the jam, basically I was ready to not submit the game.

After playing a bit with some shaders, surprisingly, I've got something I really liked. The game with the lens distortion, the color correction and a bit of chromatic aberration was... very cool for me. That gave me the motivation I needed to complete the game.

I dedicated some hours to the map layout, placing the keys, doors, torchs (the new way to refuel the torch) and grimoires in strategic places to make the game more engaging. I think I did a good job with that, I'm very happy with the result. Cutting some ideas to improve the ones already implemeted was a very nice decision.

I've also added some text to give context, nothing fancy.

After that, I tested the game to make sure it was doable and started building it... And with that the problems. The Web version, for some reason, had the colors completely broken. The blacks had a green tint, making the immersion... less immersive. I wanted to solve it, but in the end, I couldn't. That's the only thing I'm sad of. The version that will have more players is the one I don't like, but I didn't found the solution... Probably no one cares... but I do.

What went well
- Closed game
- Chill jam
- Cool aesthetics
- Reduced scope

What went wrong
- No enough dedication
- Broken colors on the Web version

Tools
- Unity 2019
- Visual Studio 2019
- Aseprite

With that, I'm very happy with the result, the people seems to like the game and this is the most important thing.

Thanks for reading me :)