the announcements for the rankings for velox fabula 2 were posted online. guess what? under the lighthouse won the overall vote, in addition to ranking within the top five in every category. what an incredible feat! i really don't know what to say!! i've been laying on the floor for a while :'D

a very hearty, sincere thank you to everyone who has helped, rated, played, lingered, or spitefully took a look at this short story. it's an honor!!! i knew i had to write a proper postmortem, but i still don't quite know what that means, and i honestly hope to keep a bit of the game a mystery... i'll consider this like a trivia page of gamedev funfacts! really, thank you again.

personal dev motivation

i came into this gamejam hot off the heels of starting our first official team project ready to test myself. to be honest, i wanted to show my teammates what a short and focused project would be like, and that i could do it. i almost wanted to treat this game with the O2A2 jam mindset by focusing on quality > quantity. so, by turning my tendency of hyper-focused writing directed into tackling favorite tropes, plus putting my audio design & recording to the test, i had my sugar, spice, everything nice - right?

but i mentioned something in my jam reflection thread. i said that i felt out of place, inexperienced; coming in feeling "a little like walking into a room of strangers" - this entry would only be my second solo game ever! i had the realization the gamejam theme of "you shouldn't be here" was imbued in the development process with that healthy dollop of imposter syndrome and unknown social pressure. with that as chemical x, it's great to understand how it all came together so strongly and i'm kind of proud i wouldn't fall into the trap of making a game about those topics, and just try my earnest at a sincere story.

game conception

i don't think myself of a writer as i do a designer. so, i made a base of the story, but the exact plot came secondary to how the game was actually made, as i'll explain later. i wanted to take advantage of the medium and utilize the tools i have to keep a player "in the moment", so to speak; this is where any strength in narrative game writing comes through. timing is everything. visual novels are nothing but time sinks.

my first few days was spent juggling different gameplay concepts, putting down main character ideas, and (still) agonizing over the main plot concept. but i settled on three main points:

• the first main point was broad: this game will not have a happy ending. making it a linear vn made sure everyone knew i meant it. no matter what, it was going to be hard-coded into the game's DNA that there wasn't a chance to go "somewhere else". 
• the second main point was more focused: any relationship present was based on broken promises and distrust. a relationship that isn't a friendship. an anti-romance? an anti-friendship/hateship? no matter! it's uncomfortable, it's perfect.
• the third main point was hyper-specific: write it like an awkward date. why not?

so, ok. i'll make an anti-romance VN. not quite a hate novel, but definitely an anti-"modern romance VN". ditch all the do-hickeys and dating points and cute visuals, don't have to deal with branching narratives, and now... just make it simple. ok, now maybe this was doable.

writing inspiration

in the style of ursula k. le guin, my story was "found" rather than "made up". i found how it could be told best and tried my best to deliver it to you. anything you need to know about my writing (and gamedev in general) process stems from this idea.

take for example, the choice of dialogue only: as i've always written dialogue first to be honest, it was not a very intentful choice. in fact i was surprised to remember you can write inner narration... woops. but you don't NEED to "tell" readers that liv fumbles with her pockets or she keeps flitting her eyes around since she's nervous when she walks you up the stairs - just focus on what she's saying to fill up the empty air. listen to how her hands are shaking the keys to make it jingle. see at how you can't even lift up your head from the bottom of the stairs to look her in the eye - it's in these small moments that you can feel there's a little more care and life in the entire work. it's in these moments where i have intent and direction.

while writing the dialogue, i kept returning to and noticed there were little ideas that repeated itself various times, including:

• "soulless" art regurgitated into warped self-expression
  • related to AI art or "replacement" art - such as 3D models replacing human actors (or even humans replacing humans)
  • related to artist/actor's rights/safety - such as cases of exploitation, set injury/accidents, snuff films, etc
• deep web access/piracy as preservation & normalized surveillance
• unhealthy online friendships (vs being online alone)

(can you tell this was destined to have a dreadful and angry plot?)

but i couldn't really tell you what these ideas mean, other than they help me fill out the world. they give me a sense of unease, like knowing someone is in the wrong place (see the relation here?) - i used these ideas to build the plot's foundations, i couldn't say much else. i could only tell you the answers we needed to know, like how i knew there was a girl named liv in a lighthouse. but i never knew what exactly caused the rift with her friend before. i'll never know if liv actually felt cold. we don't need to know. we never will.

definitely stuck with the original plot

audio recording

i heard you all like night ocean stormy waves asmr

music and sound is a direly underrated in most media, and i wish i could explain all the ways i feel it matters. for now, i feel i can't say much about my thought process because i knew exactly what this needed story needed to sound like in order to deliver its message. it needed to be oppressing, ominous, overt. ambience worked best for the uneasiness and immediate attention the game needed to stay immersive - and i'm a sucker for editing ambience <3. this was decided very early on, especially to not use any music. i was able to make nearly every scene a unique BG track and i recorded a slew of original SFX.

for some scenes to work, some sounds are played to be layered over each other in order to ensure a smooth (or abrupt) transition. basically, as the audio was being developed and coded into the game, almost all of the story re-writing was in this stage was made with careful deliberation either with the atmosphere or in tandem with each other in order to make more either plot or sound effective. some scenes have a drone, some don't, some choices have audio cut out at specific times, some play specific sounds, etc.

the entire game has original audio or was designed with material from my library - this is all me, baby!!! i'm 100% proud of how the game sounds. it is a personal favorite aspect of the game.

oh yeah just look at that amazing and cohesive REAPER workspace

visual interactivity

i have to note that literally every entry in the gamejam had featured hand-drawn art or character sprites in some form. mine did not have either. i'm not an artist (yet) and i think i also made it quite clear in my entry. i'm honestly quite shocked how highly rated the visuals got, so i'll leave a note that if you have intent and can direct it to make sure your vision shines, then that's what matters.

the GUI of the game is simple, and relatively untouched from the default Ren'py GUI. however, had to give it a bit of audio feedback to satisfy my button clicking tendencies. but ngl the color choice was a risk. i was unsure if it was going to give someone eye strain. i wasn't sure if it even all meshed well together. i chose the color entirely because i liked it, and intended to replace it if a better, more striking idea came around.

i got a fair bit into designing liv's sprites, wrote up what expressions i needed, drew the drafts, made the test sprites and build and everything. i even felt that the art style i got was fitting... but it just wouldn't be done in time. it got cut into the trash. right now i'm not sure if no character sprites is a strength or a quirk or what - it was also a risk regardless. i think a lot about the visual identity of this game and how most of the quirks came from the limitations. i mentioned in my jam reflection that i really wanted to develop a version with a proper sprite, but what would that actually look like? feel like? ah well...

my voting says the visuals were the weakest point and i agree - a more unique GUI and maybe a glimpse at liv would really solidified it.

drafts of liv + a note for you

final notes

i don't think there's much else to say and i kinda wanna wrap this up. i'm forever thankful to my beta readers, my dear friends, and the new pals that i've met through this jam. i want to give a special shoutout to the jam hosts robobarbie and allie vera for fostering a wonderful community of people that immediately welcomed me as a peer despite my nervousness.

i can't wait to make more games with everyone.

- rombuffer