Mechjam V Postmortem and Terminal Engagement's future

So, Mechjam V is wrapping up in a couple of hours and I think its time I looked at my own project and ask myself were did it all go wrong, and what did I actually do right. This was my first gamejam and my first time releasing a game onto the unsuspecting public and well, its been an fun experience. I came signed up to Mechjam V because I like big stompy robots, and because I wanted to get some hands experience with creating a tabletop game and well, I got it. Of course, that dosen't mean everything went according to plan, quite the opposite. So lets start off. there.

The Bad

So to start off I joined the Mechjam V Discord server and proceeded to not use it much, if not at all. That was mistake number one and I would argue my biggest mistake. I would later discover that the discord had dedicated channels for teaming up and sharing useful resources. Needless to say this could have helped preventing or mitigated my second major mistake: going for a skirmish game. I hadn't appreciated how difficult it was to create even a simple skirmish game, let alone a simple skirmish game in two weeks. I should have in hindsight done a simple TRPG rather than a complex PvP skirmish game, were things such as balance are an issue. It also rather limited the quality of any visual assets, such as the cover, illustrations, maps and so forth. I was originally planning to do so simple Mech Tokens for example, nothing special since I'm not a great illustrator, but it would have added something to the book. Unfortunately I had to drop that plan as I realized I wouldn't have the time.

The Good

Well I got the game out before the deadline, and I feel like I managed my time relatively well. As tempting as it was to spent every hour available on my game, I resisted the urge and instead paced myself. I would say that I spent on average two or three hours a day working on TE. I had only two weeks but I wasn't going to burn myself out. I found a comfortable pace and stuck to it throughout the event and that helped. I also went in with a rough plan in my head; yes it turned out to be a flawed plan but it was a plan. This meant I knew roughly what I wanted the final product to look like and gave me something that resembled a path forwards.

The Future

Do I consider TE to be in a finished state; not really. I know its not unusual for Gamejam entries to be prototypes or a proof of concepts and I walked in expecting TE to at that level. I do want to revisit my entry and refine it, however, I feel like I need some more experience with game design (as well as with Inkscape and Libra Office and graphic design in general). So for the time being I'm going to step back, look at my ratings and any feedback I get before getting back into Terminal Engagement. Still I've enjoyed myself; its been a challenge yes but I feel like its given me some insight and more importantly, confidence. My next projects are going to be a little less ambitious but they help me learn. If you are thinking about doing a Gamejam, I say go for it. I'm already in the middle of my second one, and that is not going to be my last, I can tell you that much.

Whatever you do, and whoever you are, please, take care, and I hope to see you again soon.

Tableplant.