During the first week of July, I participated in my first ever game jam: Only One of Any Asset. The constraints are pretty obvious only one of any type of asset and a maximum of 1,000 words.
You can use at most:
one sprite / one character / one pose (multiple expressions without change in pose are okay)
one background / one place / one time of day
one illustration (in place of the one sprite and one background)
one thousand words
one background sound file (either one music track or one ambient background noise)
one sound effect
one voice actor
one piece of menu background art
one main project (submit only one entry where you are the creative lead/director or owner of an account. You may participate in other teams as a different role)
I submitted two projects
but one had to be removed because the looping background was technically multiple background images. Even so, I am extremely proud of both projects.
The first project: Hello Friend was inspired by by the fact I know very well sometimes we want to hear encouraging words but we are not ready to talk to anybody.
It's dedicated to myself and everyone who needs a friend most... and maybe it'll inspire somebody to be a friend to a stranger one day.
The second project: Interview With The Moth was really fun take on my friend’s VTuber lore story.
Of the two projects, "Interview With The Moth" was undoubtedly more enjoyable to code. I had a blast "hand animating" - essentially coding a series of image transformations - to bring Moffy to life. Moffy's flight in and out of the screen, as well as his wing flaps, were particularly rewarding to code. I didn’t even have look up how to do it!
I learned a few things along the way
ONE
Animating a splash screen is MUCH harder than you think it is. I discovered and used this free tool — https://pikimov.com/. It allows you to animated within your browser.
TWO
You can batch edit audio files in Audacity but it’s worth double checking the edits because if the tempo isn’t the same for every file then some will be distorted.
THREE
How to loop audio, thanks Jimorian for the explanation:
Cut the sample in the middle, move the end piece to the front, then put a crossfade where you butt the 2 new pieces together in the middle.
The new ends of this clip are perfect transitions into each other, because that's where you cut directly into the flow of the original clip.
That means you can either butt the new clip endlessly onto the end in editing software without needing to worry about adding crossfades at each seam, or loop in software like in the game engine, and never hear that sharp cut.
FOUR
It's undeniably easier to work on passion projects when you're not working every day. This game jam kicked off over a long weekend was significantly more fun on the days I didn’t have to work (go figure). I strongly believe more game developers should consider making games a hobby because it seems to be a mostly unsustainable business model BUT unholy hell is it hard to focus on hobbies after work.