T.R.E.N.T.

This was our 2nd foray into the GM48 game jam, and we did better than our last entry (we were 20th this go around, 33rd last time).

The Theme was one tool, many uses, and we both thought of a USB cable at once, so we decided to make a robot that could plug into different things to accomplish different results. As we started working out visual designs, our plans changed, and once we started implementing everything, we were stunned at how fast the deadline was approaching.

This only has about 5-10 minutes of gameplay, but we had 30-45+ minutes of gameplay planned and many more challenges/uses/features that I just simply couldn't code in time.

The final product we submitted contained only few bugs (There was a slight possibility for a collision to completely blip the player across the map, and if an enemy "fell" into a pit, there was a chance they were still actually there attacking the player, but too small to see) however was not as intuitive as I hoped.

Our takeaways from this entry are

• Approachability, how quickly can a player quickly jump in and how easy is it for them to understand what the goals are, and how to accomplish them
• Challenge, our last 2 entires have been "too easy", and could be pretty boring. Our next entry will be much more challenging.
• Presentation: While I feel our artwork was fairly decent, our presentation on the game left much to be desired, and probably deterred a few potential players from trying to game. Next time we are going to devote more time to the intro graphic (The short Gif that acts as the icon on the GM48 site) that will hopefully lure players in, then we can get their votes with fun, challenging, and intriguing gameplay.

That's the plan anyways... that 48hour timeframe can REALLY sneak up on you, and force you to cut corners in order to submit a playable result.

• Ian