Signal Lost - Post Mortem

AIE,  (Academy of Interactive Entertainment in Lafayette, Louisiana) held a Game Jam from 6 pm Friday November 8th, 2019 to Sunday 4 pm November 11th, 2019. The theme? Signal Lost.

Hi Tavian here, programmer for Signal Lost. I'm going to be writing about the process of making this game with the awesome team that was Team Flag!

Writers: Jackson Williams  and Jessica Brown

CG Artists:  Morgan McGrath, Mackenzie Box,  Evan Harris, and Selvyn Bell

UI Artist: Selvyn Bell

Programmer and UX Design: Tavian Bell

Music: Evan Harris

I'll be using a Q&A format since it'll be easiest to write and read.

Q: How did you all come together? 

A: Me (Tavian Bell) and Selvyn Bell are students at AIE and since we're in the Ambassador Comity it was mandatory we be apart of it. We invited our friend Jessica Brown to join in and the rest of the team were first years at AIE who joined our group after the theme was announced.

Q: How did you all come up with the concept of the game and how long did it take?

A: As soon as our group formed together it became apparent we were a team of 7 artists with no programmer, I let the team know I could program and make games in Clickteam Fusion (a powerful 2D game making application) but I was new to the software's 3D extension Firefly and could not guarantee I could make a decent game with Firefly in 48 hours, so we all decided to make a 2D game using just Fusion instead. 

It only took roughly 1 hour to decide on how the game would follow the theme. We decided to make a visual novel since it'd be the most easiest to make with our experience and knowledge.

Cell Phones were the first thing that came to mind and we used that as a base. As we tossed initial ideas back and forth we wanted to tell the story of 2 lost individuals trying to find their way without the use of their phone signals. The genre changed from comedy, to horror, and eventually became a romance story. The idea of a romance visual novel stuck due to relationships in real life requiring communication and signals from ones significant other in order to stay alive. The theme: Signal Lost, then had a dual meaning. A couple lost in the woods with no cell phone signal must communicate together if they want to keep their relationship going, reconnecting together.

Q: How well did the team work together?

A: Very well! From the start each member focused on their strengths and put their best effort towards their job. I don't believe we could have asked for a better team! That said towards the final hour of the Game Jam we were rushing to polish the game and tensions were on high, everything was turned in on time thankfully and we won Best Visuals for our efforts.

Q: Advice for others that may join in on a team based Game Jam?

A: Communication is key! Whether it's every hour or every few hours, make sure the team you're with is on the same page at all times! Consistency in theme and visuals is a must when making an appealing game.

Q: Reception of the game?

A: When it was presented we didn't have time to implement music and the endings weren't proof read, despite that we presented it anyway since it was fully playable and beatable (Can't say the same for all the games at the Game Jam). Our game had multiple endings so we asked the 3 Judges of the Game Jam (Who were all industry professionals / CEO's of companies) to make the choices in game and while the team expected them to go for the good ending...They purposefully went for the bad one! They seemed very entertained and the game had no bugs or glitches present. It went super well! Not the most impressive game presented but we left feeling very proud of what we accomplished. Winning Best Visuals definitely helped us feel even more accomplished!

That's it for my post mortem, please feel free to ask more questions or let us know what you think of the game!