Day1 - Shapes!

Day 1 of the game jam. Shapes! Hmm... After an extensive brainstorming session and a night's sleep, we had various ideas. Originally, I didn't want to use PGE, but instead submit a text adventure with Twine. But that really didn't fit the theme of “shapes” at all.

Since I wrote the game Cheetah last year, I made extensive use of the Box2D library. It's great for simulating physics, which is a real relief, and it's really great simulation software.

You can use it really well for the theme by creating shapes that tumble through the world – and that's the approach I decided to take.

We originally wanted to develop a Tetris game, but we felt that the story was missing something that would make the game exciting, and at some point I came up with this mountain story about rockfalls, something that tumbles down a mountain.

The name was obvious: Avalanche. It sounds cool and looks good.

It could threaten a flock of sheep or a house, that's still open, but that's how I knew what I wanted to start with that day, and I started with a prototype of a mountain and falling blocks and splinters, which worked relatively quickly.

My OLC template, which I've developed over the years, sped up the setup considerably.

I worked in three shifts today and took longer breaks in between, and I feel super organized. I have to, because  I don't have nine days, but only six and a half days, then it's vacation time.