Demon Death's Post-mortem Devlog!

First Ideas

The game had changed A LOT from it's original idea back when the jam began. 

at first it was going to be a 2D action platformer, until I realized it's not relevant to the theme at all (altough the final thing ain't too relevant either haha), and at some point, it became more of a horror project (for example, the creepy videos , and the ladder climbing segments), until by the end it became a little bit of one, and a little bit of the other.

The Player's Character

The player was supposed to be a scarred man in a post apocalyptic world, looking for any trace of humanity whilst hunting down all the demons he can find. In the end Ive turned him int oa random 'Guy' because I realized I don't have the time to put all of this backstory into the game in a meaningful way, so he became basically a 'Nobody'.

The character's design was originally going to be a biker guy, and only in the end would you see his real face, in a segment where he sits by a fire. instead, before going to sleep, I closed my eyes and randomly thought of his new design (note that the green coat with the fluff remind in both designs). Luckily, it wasn't too hard to change the animations, since the only difference was his face! 

I think his newer design is slightly more alienated and non-human, but it's also more generic. 

(At this point the game was almost a horror-rougelite, 'till I remembered how annoying it is to make rouglites...)

The Enemy

The enemeis were supposed to be evil demon monsters, who turn humans into demons. In the end it was just reduce to them being demons and that's it.

The enemies are redraws of the player's sprites, with a pair of big hands added to all the animations (as a different object, that was also controlled by the same Animation Player), to add more character and to clerify the evil intentions it has. The enemies are supposed to be weird mutated monsters, who used to be humans, but it's not mentioned anywhere in the game.

The Mechanics

The game has some mechanics that really went unsused due to lack of time and ideas: Aiming up, Crouch aiming, hiding in tall grass and enemies ambushing from tall grass.

Aiming Up - at first there were going to be flying monsters and ones that cling to the ceiling, in the end none of them got into the game.

Crouch Aiming - I wanted to have some sort of "tactical" aspect to the game, where you could aim underneath doors and into vents, and if you're aiming towards a closed room, the room would get slightly revealed after a while. in the end only buttons used that mechanic.

- Unused Mechanics -

Hiding In Tall Grass - this mechanic is from when the game was going to take a horror focus, the idea was that enemies wouldn't notice you while you crouch in the grass, and while the mechanic is in the game, it dosen't get used in any level.

Enemies Ambushing From Tall Grass - this mechanic is also from when the game was going to take a horror focus, where the enemies would detect grass and hide in it almost completley until the player walks by them, theb they'd hop out and dash towards the player, and while the mechanic is in the game, it dosen't get used in any level.

- Note Worthy Ideas for Mechanics - 

End of the day Segment - As you've seen above, those were scenes to break up the tension and make the player feel safe, only for that feeling to be broken by the end of the game. This didn't even make it into the game.

Random levels - The game was supposed to have random levels, each with their own puzzles and encounters. the game would pick randomly between a group of premade levels (since, as mentioned before, I'm not good with procedural generation). This didn't even make it into the game.

The Music

The entire game's music (and ambient stuff) was made using the Earthbound soundfont. I even made little "covers" for the easter eggs!

I don't have much to say about the music except how much I love making music. this was some of the most fun I've had in the jam.

 My favorite track:

Unused track:

Some Code Stuff

Ironically, I don't have much to say about this. despite coding stuff for almost 5 years now (I think) I still don't see myself as much of a coder. Most of my code is based on knowledge I got from online videos, and I still find myself stuck in "Tutorial-Hell". despite all that I will say that there is some "clever" code in here in my opinion. the enemies use a state-machine that allows various states, and some of the scripts in the game are actually pretty modular. I think I'm becoming better with state-machines, but I still got a long way ahead of me.

Time (And The Lack Of It)

One of the biggest challenges (that I VERY MUCH imposed myself into) was that whilst the jam was happening, I had some exams coming, so I had to juggle around between time for studying and time for the jam! In the end I think I've pulled through well enough, and the final product of the jam is good enough for me (hopefully the same could be said about the exam - at the time of writing this I don't know how well it went!)

Easter Egg Talk

just as a quick mention, just like the last Goedware game jam I participated in, all the easter eggs are references to some of the music I listened to a lot while making the game: MF DOOM, Calum Bowen, and the Dragon Ball OST. Of course, I listened to more than just that, but I have no idea how am I supposed to make references to Chet Atkins and Claude Debussy haha.

Closing Words

In the end, I think I did pretty well. 

The game isn't perfect, and it's lacking many things I wanted it to have, but I still think that for a game made in a couple of days, it's a very satisfactory final product! 

I've enjoyed myself very much, and hopefully in the next jam I'll make something cooler ;)

See You Next Time!