Global Game Jam 2018 Experience - Part I

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I am going it solo in Malta for this year's Global Game Jam.

I.... am...?

...There is a disturbance in the space-time continuum... Its almost as if the author of this post, myself, abandoned the post and came back to it a full two weeks later.

Sorry @eaglespirit - this is not the "important post" that I had promised. ^_;

As such it will seem like this post is a little out of time and place.

... so lets get back to it.

I am going it solo in Malta for this year's Global Game Jam.

And, since I am a glutton for punishment - I am going it solo... and learning a new Game Development Engine to boot.

In the words of Marco Massini "Perche Lo Fai?" ("Why do you do it to yourself?") 9_9

This is my record of the event - notes (mostly) taken live.

OK... so while others are still discussing how to proceed with the game, I am forging ahead (pun intended).

Remember folks: (To go far go together, to go fast go alone)

Well... the theme for this year is "TRANSMISSION".

A fun term!

I got into thinking about the various ways in which he term could be interpreted and three kinds of transmission appealed most to my mind (in terms of their potential):

The transmission of diseases
The transmission of energy or power, &
The transmission of data or information

So... I quickly got to thinking that it would be interesting to potentially combine all three of these.

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And this brought me to the following game concept (which is forming as I type):

This game is set in a future where humanity's overconfidence in its ability to control technology has gotten the better of us. Many missteps were made but none were as devastating as our expedient exploration and venture into the marriage of nanotechnology and artificial intelligence.

At first all was fine. Human life-spans theoretically quadrupled overnight. Its use in promoting health was initially a resounding success.

I use the words 'theoretically' and 'initially', because of two things.

First of all one had to be wealthy enough to afford these new nano treatments. It further separated the haves from the have-nots.

Secondly, it was only a matter of time before somebody decided to start tampering with the microscopic nano health bots for their own purposes. The debate still rages on as to whether it was terrorists or shadowy government agencies or even individuals hacking for the lulz.

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What can be agreed upon is that at some point the coding of some nanobots was deliberately altered to produce very unfortunate side-effects. Individuals began to die to a nano-augmented immune system gone rogue.

As if that weren't bad enough, in the mix, some nanobots had been programmed to enable and facilitate transmission from one host to another... and even worse than this, a few had even begun to near-mindlessly replicate to produce what has been termed "grey mould disease" - or the conversion of natural elements into members of an ever-growing nanite army. Left unchecked, this one infection could leave the entire World devoid of life.

The nanite war is ongoing. Human-controlled Weaponized Atomic Nano Drones (WANDs) have been utilized in an increasingly desperate effort to take out and neutralize the infections. Humanity may have been decimated but we still have a chance.

Well... that is the story.

But now I am immediately getting stuck on implementing the artwork in the game.

I had really been hoping that I'd be able to pull off a quick immersion into the Godot platform just as I had into the Stencyl platform the previous year...

It doesn't look like things are going to be anywhere near as easy... but perhaps things just need to 'click'.

As the midnight hour of the first day approaches, I find myself looking into the nuances of nodes that attribute physics (kinematic-what? Oh... its good for objects that I want to animate in-engine, huh?).

But I faced a more troubling problem. I had really wanted to let players choose their nanomech payloads so as to make things more interesting. Who doesn't like to be given some choice?

It is proving a lot less simple than I had hoped...

I'll have to sleep on it. This marks the end of Friday's efforts.

OK... I am awake now and its mid-morning. Had my breakfast and slept on it.

Now... to think of a name for the game project.

Its about nanobots gone wild...

'Interminable Resistance' comes to mind.

Yeah... lets not overthink it (30 seconds). That is the title.

A couple of hours pass.

With the help of the Godot community I've kind of figured out how to attach images to files.

Result!

OK - the artwork could definitely have been better but I am not dedicating anything more than an hour to it. Game Jam is all about pushing my limited boundaries and proving that I can (whether to myself or to others).

However I have yet to address the elephant in the room.

I am not a competent coder.

For several hours I try to wrap my head around the ins and outs of how to get the various things in a game - particularly variables - to work together.

I'd often find myself straddling the cusp of frustration. I allow my thoughts to wander onto more fruitful grounds. It is how I work. I like to cover ground rather than grind my head against massive problems.

Of course - when those problems threaten to derail an entire project, that is rather problematic.

So I first establish my game flowchart. I don't usually formalize these but the guest experts would be around soon enough and I really want to have more than just a few simple images to show.

I have decided that one of the better exercises (if not necessarily the most imaginative) would be for me to produce an 'Asteroids'-like game where one or more players could control nanobots against ever-increasing waves of unfriendly nanobots.

However I've very much another idea stuck in my head.

I really want a player to be able to choose what kind of body, legs, main weapon and arm weapons his or her nanobot features.

I'd like different kinds of behavior to feature. Different weapon behaviors too.

And... I've been giving some thought into the variables that I'd like to get tangled in.

However I am no closer to gaining the rudimentary level of understanding of Godot's inner workings necessary to make all this "progress" anything more than pretty illustrations and placeholders for a Steemit article.

And so several hours into this I did spend, pouring over the documentation and inquiring in Discord forums and the like.

However this endeavor has not produced the fruits desired. I am no closer.

Whats worse... the computer has grown slower and slower and slower still.

I have tried to ignore it but it has gotten so bad that I am no longer able to play instrumental music directly into my ears. It keeps stuttering - and the wifi connection seems to be fine.

Oh. Ooooh...

Why on earth is Malwarebytes Anti-Maltware hogging up well over half of my RAM?! O_O

Unbelievable... as are the ensuing efforts to disable and close the program running maliciously in the background. I never remember that program causing me difficulties in the past. Could it be the "premium" trial messing with things?

OK! This should do it.

What? Windows needs to restart? Fine.

What?! Updates?

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There is a special kind of rage that grips the heart when the very software that is supposed to be aiding you instead acts to bring about your downfall.

For upwards of two hours I've had to look on helplessly, as the dang computer engaged in its mandatory updates.

Needless to say, I felt gutted during the entirety of it... but it also forced me to think.

Even as I impatiently wandered around the other teams (some of whom probably felt that I was just trying to spy on them) and inquired about how things are going, occasionally looking back at that blue screen of gloom, I though long and hard.