Start of development

Today I've officially started working on JumpMania. To give myself a good way of self-reflection and to give others insight in my work and progress I'm going to try and keep this blog alive and kicking with updates and explanations of decisions I make along the way.

First of all, what is JumpMania? If I would describe the gameplay, I'd say it is a free-running game. For me, JumpMania is about perceiving,  preparing for and overcoming obstacles. It's a game of jumping puzzles and speedruns to achieve a higher goal in both a literal and figurative way. 

Second, why am I making JumpMania? To answer this I need to tell you a little about myself. For as far as I can remember my greatest passions have been music and games. In the first part of my life this was expressed in taking drumming lessons, being part of multiple bands, composing some music for myself and on the other hand gaming throughout the night. Music was my greatest outlet for creativity and gaming was my source of relaxation and distraction during hard times. The past two years I've tried to combine these passions and started my journey towards being a game-audio composer and sound designer. I've learned a lot and have had the honour of working with various (aspiring) game developers. These experiences have been a lot of fun but they also helped me realise something I hadn't before: I could actually make games myself. So since this year I've also started to learn how to develop games myself, and finally we get to the answer of the question: why am I making JumpMania? I've found an educational institute that helps you and educates you to become a more proficient individual in the gaming industry, and to enter this I need to make a game about myself and the education.

From Assignment to JumpMania

post-it brainstorming

Using a method I really love, thought to me by Leonard Eilander, I did a brainstorm session after receiving the assignment using post-it's to scribble down every idea and thought I had regarding myself, the education and games I want to make. After an initial session I like to leave the ideas just hanging on the wall for a while so I think about it from time to time and at the same time have the chance to take a little distance and see if I'm still happy with it. Since then a week has gone by and I've had my time to think about the different concepts in my mind. At this point I have exactly one month to complete the concept to a working prototype, and the concept I've chosen is JumpMania.

Rough Schedule

As a month is a bit of a tight period to develop a prototype I try to make and keep to a rough schedule so I know where I stand.

Planned Date	Goal	Finished Date
06-April-2016	Finishing up gameplay-design and world-premisse	00-00-000
09-April-2016	First draft character(s) and research movement calculation	00-00-000
13-April-2016	Movement development in Unity	00-00-000
16-April-2016	Movement and character finished, first prototype testing	00-00-000
20-April-2016	Improvement movement based on testing, starting on rewards	00-00-000
23-April-2016	Focus on feedback and rewarding the player, add sound	00-00-000
27-April-2016	Replace temporary/prototyping assets with own assets	00-00-000
30-April-2016	Feedback and assets finished, second prototype testing	00-00-000
02-May-2016	Improve second prototype based on testing, end polish	00-00-000
03-May-2016	Submission Date HKU

A few Words on Vision

Even though this short time period doesn't allow for a lot of dwelling on vision and personal preference I'd like to shortly express myself on this subject. In my thoughts, expression and work I try to always have three main visions in mind when (talking about) creating.

1. I want a recognisable product.
   This is to me a very important point. You can't always be original in every aspect, but in my opinion you always have to try and stand out in at least one aspect of your product to make sure that you will stand out and people will recognise your work. This could be done with a unique art style, innovative gameplay or a striking soundtrack or a combination of those and others.
2. Story and gameplay need to complement each other
   Needless to say, we all want a game where all elements connect, but for me story and gameplay need to have a strong connection to work. For example, if the main character is supposed to be smart and all you do is shooting bullets directly at your enemies I feel like someone just wanted to make a shooter and took a random backstory.
3. You should strive to be socially relevant
   This is of course harder to achieve in every project, but even if it is not directly reflected in the end experience I try to have some relevance to the world outside, even if only in the designing process.

With this the introduction of this blog ends and it's time to get to it!

Cheers!

Ruben Bergshoeff