Postmortem: GameJolt GDC Jam 2016
Title: A Lifetime of Realistic Simulations

Alright, listen up. Before you get to read this jam postmortem you’re going to have to make some important decisions. You see, I have to be really careful writing this while not spoiling the magic of our game. If you’ve played it, keep on reading, if you haven’t yet go give it a quick play right now and come back to enjoy watching me dodge spoilers.

Reading not your thing? There’s an experimental ‘jam-aftermovie’ coming up (soon) that gives you an impression of what it was like to put this thing together within 72 hours.

Alrighty let’s get started.

What did you make?

We made one of the most extensive, detailed, visually stunning, realistic, open-world and customizable life-simulation experiences ever made within 72 hours, on February 4th – 7th. For real.

Why did you make it?

Good question! pats himself on the back To be honest when the theme, NUOVO, was first announced I was pretty much completely lost. Then I realized this theme was just begging for something quirky, unconventional and controversial. An analogy of my personal brain-functionality. A few hours later I was inspired by the energy of this clip called ‘Choose life’ from ‘Trainspotting’ , not the drugs theme though, just the kick-off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCxgqHqakXc

Added to that source of inspiration the fact that, as a 21 year old, this is a subject that’s been on my mind a lot lately. Life is weird, the world is wrong, what am I doing here, that kind of behavior.

Added to THAT the fact that I enjoy game-jams so much I actually took the full weekend off! That’s why.

What were your goals?

I could go into so much detail about the concept, but that would do this game no justice right now. It’s all very much open to interpretation, it is what you feel about it. So the goal is this; inspire people to think, contemplate on life, choices, bring to light the influences of others on the choices you make daily and the taboo of ahem death.

SPOILERALERT-LAND BORDER
DO NOT CROSS WITHOUT I-HAVE-PLAYED APPROVED PASSPORT

How’s this NUOVO?

That is completely up to you, but here’s a few thoughts:

• The entire ‘game’ and character creation screen are one big analogy for your ‘life’ and its choices.

• Contrast. From ‘weird and quirky’ to ‘dead serious’, pun intended.

• It punches you in the face when you least expect it ( if you haven’t played it yet, forget about it ).

*Can I play this game twice?

Haven’t you learned anything? Time is precious. Playing twice for contemplative purposes is allowed, but more importantly share it with the friends whom you think might need it, do them a favor.

What went wrong?

When I went to bed at 4:15AM on Sunday (Central European Time), my brain refused to go to sleep and decided it would be a good idea to start getting really creative, generating very good ideas all of a sudden. After writing down those ideas hoping he would let me go, I kind of just laid there with my eyes closed for about an hour and a half. That’s when I gave up and went back to work, a decision I came to regret at about 11:30AM. I took one final nap and made it to the end though roughly 30 mins before deadline.

What went right?

I went all hack-and-slash on the pile of ideas I had generated the first day to make sure I could deliver something that felt complete, instead of unfinished. Scope was great, I planned it out pretty neatly if I may say so myself.

I had fun! I made something I’m very proud of. Have you even played this thing yet?!

Will Dawson rocks his role as the narrator, AKA the voice in the back of your head.

Anything else you’d like to say?

If you’ve read the entire thing, and decided it was a good idea not to play, that’s your loss. Just kidding folks, if you’re not into simulation games I totally get that, just pressing buttons, generating statistics, making meaningless choices. Sound familiar? Yeah, it is the sound.. of life.. dramatic sting

If you DID play this game AND read the entire thing, I’m flattered. I’d like to take this moment to thank the participants, players, the entire GameJolt staff, and the awesome people that supported me. Jam on!

Special thanks to Will Dawson for once again providing first-rate voice acting! I worked with Will before on another jam ( Bladblazers ) and he accepted my request to be the narrator in this. Awesome!

Enjoy the rest of your life,

~Frycandle
( Tim Bekkers )

P.S. Don’t forget to check out that Aftermovie in a few hours, I’m editing it right now. There’s already a trailer out there on YouTube if you haven’t seen it yet;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOXBnvULVIw

http://frycandle.com/
@frycandle on twitter
#gjgdcjam