SqrFil (#LowRezJam2022) Postmortem

SqrFil  is a puzzle game that was made for lowrezjam2022. It was made in 5 days in Godot, and is the third "released" game I have ever made.

The Design

This idea came to me when I played a game the previous year https://itch.io/jam/lowrezjam-2021/rate/1159259 which I thought could be expanded by having procedural levels. I even left a comment on the game suggesting that to the original creator.

My entry last year had used a walker to generate levels, which I thought could be easily expanded to make the correct sort of levels required to complete the jam, so I already knew for the most part how to do it.

I also have in my memory of playing a similar game somewhere else, so if you know of games with a similar mechanic please let me know!

The Result

The Good

I produced a game you could play and get a score at, a full proof of concept. There was a lot I wanted to add, but for the most I think it was a "complete" game.

I liked working on the procedural level design, as for me that makes it fun to play the game compared to when I build the levels myself.xx

Managing to finish in the short time frame I had for the jam also felt like a major accomplishment. It really is amazing what you can do when you put yourself to the challenge.

The Bad

My time management was poor. I'd had a prior commitment at the beginning of the jam that meant I didn't start it, and then I kept thinking that the few days I'd missed meant I wouldn'. I ended up only having half the time, and that means I didn't have the time to implement some features I wanted, such as showing the level could be completed once failed.

The difficult options are unneeded and start too hard. I should have just had the game start. I was worried about making the game too easy or hard, but even as I was testing it I always started as easy. Sometimes a lack of choice is better.

The Ugly

I was trying to go for a kind of “neon miami” look with the colour scheme I had chosen, but I think there could have been a better colour palette, or even have an option to have it change,as the game goes on.

And of course the code base is a mess. Although this is sometimes to be expected during a game jam!