Gaining Perspective

Hey there! Just a check-in to mention I’ve been shifting gears here a bit. You may have noticed it’s been a while since the last time I wrote a Jackalope dev log, and I thought I’d explain why.

Game design is hard, ya’ll.

I was making some good progress on Jackalope and it’s still a project I care deeply for and plan to return to, but after implementing the basic functionality I definitely hit a wall. I realized somewhat quickly that my vague, half-baked design ideas just weren’t cutting it. The game just was not fun. This is a common problem in game development and is part of the reason why games can take a long time to make. It was something I knew I would encounter sooner or later.

I spent some time floundering and grasping for quick fixes to make the game more fun - to no avail - before coming to the realization that sometimes what you need is to just step away for a bit and look at the project with fresh eyes. Reluctantly, I put the game down and stopped working on it for a couple weeks.

…And in the meantime, something else happened. Turn-based tactics games (a la Final Fantasy Tactics or Into the Breach) are one of my absolute favorite genres, and I’ve always wanted to make some of my own. A while back I participated in a game jam where our team made a tactics game called Farmageddon about harvesting crops in the post-apocalypse while simultaneously fending off giant, radiation-mutated, bug-like creatures who are trying to eat you and your food source. A couple of us had continued to work on the game after the initial Ludum Dare 50 submission, with the intention of making the game a larger, more complete experience, but various reasons caused us to slow and eventually stop work on it altogether.

The original Farmageddon build, made for Ludum Dare 50.

While gathering resources on GDScript and techniques I could use on Jackalope, I stumbled across some tutorials about making tactics games in Godot. And, much to my surprise and delight, I realized I had come to acquire enough GDScript know-how to actually understand the techniques being discussed in these tutorials. Suddenly, the dream of making my own tactics games seemed much closer on the horizon.

With the blessing of my former collaborator, I began tentatively experimenting with taking Farmageddon - which had initially been made in a web-based “pseudo-engine” - and rebuilding it from scratch in Godot. And again, I surprised myself with how smoothly it started to come together. Whereas, with Jackalope, I was building everything from scratch (not only the assets, but the design), with Farmageddon I had a base to start from. Sure, I had to write everything in GDScript from scratch, and I’m in the process of revamping all the art, but at least I had a target for what things were supposed to feel like, and that significantly reduced the mental overhead.

Rebuilding Farmageddon in Godot, and tweaking as I go.

As I continued to build each piece and put it in place, I was constantly coming up with ways I could modify, remix, or alter these pieces to create an interesting and ultimately more robust experience. And the more I’ve been following these threads the more this game has began to take its own shape and move away from the initial concept we created for the jam.

Looking back on Jackalope, I began thinking about other games that were similar to it; games I often used to describe the concept to other people. And thinking about those games made me think about what it is about those games I enjoy and make me want to make a similar type of experience. From there I started noticing differences between those games and my game, and how some of those differences might be creating dissonance with the kind of experience I was trying to provide for the player. I began to see ways I might be able to capture some of the essences of those other games - the elements that gave those games the feeling they had - and add them to Jackalope in way that would increase the fun factor while still maintaining an identity of its own. It made me realize why people don’t try to re-invent the wheel: for one, it’s extremely laborious but, more importantly, it’s still possible to create unique experiences even if you start from a familiar place.

A few inspirations for Jackalope.

I have ideas now for what I can do to fix Jackalope, but I have to admit - I’m having a really fun time working on Farmageddon, and I’m not quite ready to put that down yet. So - this is maybe more of a promise to myself than to anyone else - I will return to Jackalope. I still believe it’s an interesting, fun idea with a lot of potential, and I have no intention to abandon it altogether. Just… not ready to go back quite yet.

I’m excited to show the work I’ve been doing on Farmageddon. The next several dev logs will more than likely be devoted to that.

So, for now, this is goodbye to Jackalope - but I promise it really is just for now. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon.