Another (successfully completed) gamejam, another postmortem to see what I've done right and what I could have done better. I've got quite a few things to say, so as the clock ticks down to the end of the last week of the rating period, here's my thoughts on how I did with my entry. Before I do that I do recommend you have a peek at the submissions if you haven't. Mork Borg is one of those games which has inspired a lot of creative content and this jam has been filled with some excellent examples.

Anyway, now for your regularly scheduled self reflection.

The Bad
Once again, poor time management rears its ugly head when I didn't want it. This time it was mostly my fault; sure, I did go away to Airecon but I also made the same mistake of attempting two game jams at the same time, with identical results; dropping out of one jam, and submitting an entry that quite frankly should have been better in another.

This leads me to my second grievance with SWS, the writing could have been better. The Deeplings are very clearly the Mork Borg versions of the Deep Ones, and I really, really should have done more, including some different names. I do like the Salt Witch, and I do like the ability I gave to the Chanter, but apart from those two I feel like I should have done better.

Game design is often a game of chains and axes, and often you do end up cutting content or abandoning ideas because they don't work, or because of constraints. However, it is possible to cut too much, and this is where I feel like I made my most grievous error. Originally, something wicked stirs was going to be a randomly generated dungeon, similar to Operation Green Box, however as the deadline approached I realised I wouldn't be able to fit everything, and so I decided to focus on the NPCs, the Deeplings. I feel like I should have focused more on the isle of spite, this would have probably ended with me having to cut most of the stat blocks, but I think it would have been a better entry.

The Good

There is one area which I am very pleased, with, one which I have long since hoped to improve in, and while I feel like I've still got a long way to go, in the grand scheme of things I feel like I've made progress in this aspect: graphical design.

I read 'I'm not paying Nohr for Cover Art' before the jam; this is a significant library of resource for creators, particularly those who want to make something for Mork Borg and its ilk. Of particular note was a collection of websites where you can source images that are free to use (note that some of these websites do host copyrighted images, but if they do it is noted in the document).

This is where I discovered that you can do a surprising amount with an old drawing, and GIMP. While there are certainly better entries in terms of visuals, I'm still proud of how SWS looks. Previously, my work was mostly, for better or worse, visually plain, so this is a bold leap forwards. Of course there's room for improvement (here's looking at the lo-res fish), but overall I'm, for once, happy with the visuals

The Future
I've got a few things coming up. First of all I've (hopefully) GMing a game of Electric Bastionlands soon, and I've made a rather scuffed GM screen. I'm putting together some tables and reference sheets for the game, which I'll put up here (they'll be free/PWYW like my previous gamejam entries).

Other than that I am once again making the questionable decision of committing to two gamesjams, however one of them is the Loose Playbook jam, which I'm going to try and finish in a short amount of time. The other jam is the SciFi oneshot jam, which I'm either going make a one page hack of 24XX, or I'm going to make my entry compatible with Death In Space.

Anyway, whoever you are hope you take care, and I'll see you soon for more madness.

-Tableplant