I'm in for this jam! Using Godot again, Photoshop for art, PxTone for music, and probably bfxr for sound.

I also want to do a daily blog post that covers everything I'm working on and my process, to participate in the community here more and add some content to the front page, so this is my first one of those. Here's some music that should get everyone in the mood for a climate change jam, and hopefully get everyone to read this whole post…

I haven't had the best luck with longer jams, mostly because it feels like so much extra time that I don't scope properly, so this time around I'm going to change up my standard practice. I've planned out my tasks for every day of the jam in advance, and I'm scoping for 4-5 days instead of the full seven. This should give me time to fix bugs, polish, and get those sound effects and music tracks done for once. Here's my starting plan in case anyone else is interested:

1. core gameplay design and code, balancing growth powers and fruit times
2. art (sally, g-mo, vine leaf, veggies, building bg, water, menu, cards, portraits)
3. animations (vine growth, fruits, water FBF, mouths) and screen transitions
4. code polish and transitions, tutorial, save and load highscores
5. code extra
6. music and sfx
7. art and anim extra (sally gardening/win/loss anims? shaded art pass?)
8. project extra (remove 3d lighting profile from export, record final gifs, etc)

The design I want to do is inspired by Pieces of Cake and Starseed Pilgrim, it'll be turn based and use randomized edge connectivity but other than that I'll be designing as I go. Basically, hand of cards, they have different growth behaviors, and possibly can only attach to the level on the randomized sides that have arrows. Good harvests add cards to your deck, so there's an element of endless play, but I might have an ending as well for highscore purposes. P1 Select had a cool score averaging mechanic that works better with a finite game experience, if you haven't played that (free!) game yet you are really missing out.

One of the big things I also want to try out in this jam is the 2D animation system in Godot, particularly with Polygon2D rigs and Skeletons. Maybe even mess around with dynamic polygonal water effects… The plan is to basically get the gameplay done first, and then try these systems as early as possible, to make sure they are useable in gamejam time constraints. If I'm struggling by the end of day 3, I have the time to revert to other animation styles, and a full "extra" day reserved for it.

And speaking of the extra days, they're basically my time cutoffs for different aspects of the jam. Code must be done by day 5, art should be done by day 3 but can be polished up to day 7. The art extra day would be a paintover of existing assets only, so I just have to reimport everything and it will work in-game without changes. If things are going particularly well, though, I might add more content for the transition scenes and actions, since everything else will be done by that point.

Day eight is only for things that are non-essential, and will be bumped up if I'm working much faster than expected. Since I plan to blog post every day, I'll have WIPs I can use for project pages, and everything else would just improve the size and speed of the export. Nice to have, but not required.

Okay, day 0 tasks are basically to set up an empty project, grocery shop, do laundry, etc. I'm starting my jam tomorrow when I wake up, so the day 1 post will be later that day, when I have some work to show. Good luck everyone! And if anyone else wants to do daily blog posts with me, I'll be happy to read how other people do their jams.

We made a 2 player game this time, so grab a friend and shoot and parry each other for a while. It gets addicting I promise.

We need a couple more votes to get to 10!
You can check it out here: https://alakajam.com/6th-alakajam/732/yamabushi/

update: made it!

Soooo close to getting a rating. Only need one more. But the deadline is nearing also. I'm getting desperate. :P

Please help me out here. You can play my game here: https://alakajam.com/6th-alakajam/702/the-fencer/
Should only take you a couple of minutes and it will run on anything (even a phone)

I will play your game if you leave a comment.

Cheers!

Check out Thiago Schiefer's amazing soundtrack for Rootin'Tootin'& No Shootin'!

Be sure to drop us a rating too if you haven't already!

Listen on Soundcloud.

AFTER THE JAM UPDATE!

I've updated the pictures now that I got some sleep to show off the game as it stood at 48 hours.

Found some bugs, ah yes… bugs. Reported them on the itch page and fixed them in a new build.
That build will be coming out later but I don't want it to get in the way of ranking the 48 hour version.

As a bonus for anyone that enjoys the game and has more players, once you are done rating and ranking the two player duels for the jam feel free to check out the four player test build!

I've been asked if I was inspired by splattoon. The answer is "Stay Fresh!!!" fam.
I took inspiration from time splitters 2 and 3 also, and my LD44 game Marrow Quest.
I would have to say Joust and Killer Queen also came to mind.

Thank you so much for playing my game!
More devlog and post jam info later.

You read that right, but don't fret. The complex name hides nothing but a simple duel about time estimation with a cat.

Give it a spin with a friend or foe.

Dang it!

So close for the unranked… Oh well… Next time gadget!

Here's the game anyways… Would love some feedback! <3 :)

Play Game

Phew, that was a long weekend. I was able to get some decent opponent AI working in the last 12 hours, and adjusted the 8 unique player decks accordingly, so they mostly ramp up in difficulty. Make sure you win games early and get new cards, or the later battles will be much harder to win. And Inga is a little easier to start with than Sly is, but the two players are basically the same otherwise.

Since I had to submit to unranked because I overscoped it this time, I'd really appreciate some comments on the game. I even added a highscore timer and reset system so we could take this duel theme a little bit further! XD Here's some screenshots to pique your interest:

Thank you for another amazing event! I'm going to catch up on some sleep now, but I'll be back for some playing and rating tomorrow.

Did you know Rootin' Tootin' & No Shootin' supports Alakajam highscores? Play the game, screenshot your best score and submit it to the Alakajam leaderboard!

We're looking forward to seeing your scores!

The weekend came and went on other business. Now is the time for a quick project, once again. I do seem to have settled into a concerning habit concerning jamming. The design is much more simple as a result, though.