Round 1 of GDKO 2023 is officially over. And I made it through to GDKO 2023 Round 2! Theme has been revealed and I have a rough plan. So before I get started, I wanted to document both the results and my general development plan for Round 2. Once the jam is over, I’ll follow up with a post mortem as well.
Results
Of 105 entries, I placed 45th. Middle of the group, pretty much where I expected to be. I estimated 42nd (because 42) and was pretty close. Would I like to have placed higher? Of course. But, it was a completely fair ranking. There were some absolutely amazing games submitted. (Be sure to check out my 15 favorite submissions.)
I placed 33rd for how good the art style was. Which was both surprising and flattering. I consider artwork a weakness of mine and really tried to learn pixel art (spoiler: it’s hard.) It really made me feel like I’m on the right track.
Mechanics were overwhelmingly the constructive criticism I received. And I both appreciate and hear the feedback everyone has given. More focus will definitely be placed on making the game actually feel good to play (especially early on in the creation process).
GDKO 2023 Round 2
The challenge for Round 2 is to tell a story using sound. This one is a little more my forte (pun intended). I’ve been a classically trained musician for more than 20 years now and actually love theory and composition. Ironically, it’s been the one thing I’ve never actually created for my own games in the past (usually due to short game jam timelines). Now I’m being forced to do it. And I’m ready for the challenge!
Brainstorming
Once the theme was announced, I sat and brainstormed ideas of what to do. I came up with about 20 ideas. When narrowing down ideas, I eliminated most for either time constraints, technical knowledge/limitations, or just not enough to really build a game from. But there were a few that really stood out:
- Haunted house where you use sounds to track ghosts. As you eliminate them, the house (and thus, the music) becomes less “spooky”.
- Puzzle platformer where the character unlocks new sounds for the game world as a story element.
- Untitled Goose Game knockoff with sound effect shenanigans.
My wife and I came up with ideas for each of the three games. Then, we went back to the game jam criteria. Overall, we felt like the puzzle platformer in particular would allow me to focus on the audio. (Plus, the other two just felt ‘eerily’ similar to other games. See what I did there?)
Game Outline
The protagonist lives in a world with no music (and to tie senses together, also no color). As the game begins, the character is in search of “that strange noise”. On finding and touching an object, the world transforms. New sounds (music) that the character has never heard becomes real. New colors begin filling the environment (and unlocking new areas). And the character needs to find more and understand this new phenomenon.
Visually, it will be minimal. Mostly just squares. Monochrome at the beginning. Each color will unlock platforms in the world. I’ll add a touch of glow/bloom to each of the platforms and the character. Minimal background as well. Likely just slow moving particle effects or light sources to give interesting shadows. (Think Thomas Was Alone meets Hue.)
Mechanics will also be pretty minimal. The character can only jump. I really want to focus on getting that one thing feeling awesome. (Learned my lesson last round.) Each colored platform will move in a slightly different way or be an obstacle of some kind. But past that, not much mechanically.
Audio is going to be my main focus. The music is vital to the story. At first, there is no music. On each “collectible”, more instruments add to the track. As more are added, it gets more complex. (inspired by Celeste). For music theory nerds, I’ll also be shifting modally from locrian up to lydian, slowly getting brighter with each new addition.
Overall, I think it’s a good, well thought out idea (not to brag). It allows me to:
- Minimize the time spent on areas irrelevant to judging.
- Focus heavily on telling a story that literally reinforces how sound and music are vital to games.
- Spend a large majority of my time composing a killer, multi-part track.
Development Plan
Knowing how much time things take is something I struggle with in game development. Partially due to inexperience. Mostly because I’ve never tracked it. I’m trying to remedy that so I can plan better in the future.
GDKO 2023 Round 2 has officially started and runs to February 15th (technically the 14th for me, due to time zone differences). So my schedule is as follows:
- January 30th – Basic Unity project setup and CI/CD to my Itch.io page. (Prototyping page is available. Feel free to test it as it develops.)
- February 1st – Player movement and mechanics. Make as tight as possible. No sliding or wall collider issues from last round.
- February 2nd – Collectible objects. Spatial audio from collectibles (temp tracks). Colored platforms and next collectible unlocked.
- February 3rd – Mechanics for all platforms/puzzle elements.
- February 4th – Background changer and particle effects. Bloom effects added.
- Prototype should be complete (without audio). Get it into people’s hands and get feedback!
- February 5th – Compose final track with full instrumentation. Specifically focus on compositional ideas used in modal variations.
- February 6th – Reduce instrumentation for each mode. Adjust harmonic issues where they arise. Identify any major trouble spots.
- February 7th – Adjust trouble spots and continue tweaking tracks.
- February 8th – Get tracks in game. Add sound effects for walking and jumping.
- February 9th – Play through myself and make notes of absolutely everything. Implement any feedback. Revise plan for remaining days, focusing on player movement and audio.
- February 10th – 15th – Revisions to player movements and audio. Then stretch goals.
Stretch goals (in order) if time allows:
- Well thought out puzzles/platforming.
- Dialogue system for the story.
- Harmonic tones on player jumping on platforms.
- VFX for collectible pickup and platform colors enabled.
- Tutorial images for new platforming mechanics.
- Stretch and squash to player.
- Menus, title screens, options, key bindings, etc.
Conclusion
I’m really happy I made it to GDKO 2023 Round 2. Round 1 was a struggle, but I learned a ton. I’m bringing a lot of that knowledge into Round 2. And I’m going to do my best to go all out on this one.
I feel like this idea is one that I personally would enjoy telling. It reinforces the theme literally by integrating music into the character’s world. Plus, it allows me to showcase not only using audio, but composing it. And overall, I think it’s a pretty well thought out plan.
What do you think of my development plan for GDKO 2023 Round 2? I would appreciate feedback, as I’m still looking for a process that works for me. Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!