I’d say the toughest part of a game jam isn’t really finishing a product, it’s making something that works in such a short time. Some peeps are already reporting crash bugs post the contest finishing. =( I was working on fixing those crashes up to the last minute, but never tracked them down. So sad.

Better time management on my part could have helped fix this, and less features would have given me more time to fix these bugs. I was so excited to get all the sim aspects of the game in, I gave myself very little time to track down any edge case issues. Also, in a game with so many variables and moving parts, testing by myself was extremely difficult and time consuming.

Concepts such as the total happiness score system and even the main menu fell to the wayside for other features. Also, something as simple as an end screen never made it, so you pretty much have to “call it a night” and close the game when the last party goer leaves. It would have been better to tackle things such as the menus earlier in the process.

The score system was a last minute addition to give something gamey to the game. I’m not certain it was necessary, but it’s there for peeps who want it, and can be ignored by those who don’t, so that’s a good thing. The score only ticks up when there are guests there, and there are a limited number that can ever come to the party, so there is a max score that can be achieved, what that is, I’ve not worked the math out yet on.

Timewise, I didn’t start working on the game until about Monday/Tuesday, so I missed the entire first weekend of the contest. I used Game Maker for the engine, and wrote every line of code from scratch in a week. I only started using Game Maker about a week before the contest started, so there were a lot of learning hurdles there. With all that, I’m not sure why I chose to try a simulator instead of a very simple game idea. I think I just love sim games. =)

Otherwise, I’m fairly pleased with the outcome. I feel very accomplished and I hope someone finds it enjoyable at least for a little bit. Thanks everyone! It was a blast. =)