<commit_before>---
layout: post
title: My first game jam
---
In the last time game jams became popular stuff. Some known indie game titles started as different jams entries.

Actually jam is a competition. And I participated first time. As for me I won.

It is first time in my life when I delivered a game. If my life was on Steam, I would get an achievement for this. It's hard to describe how happy I am. Mission completed.

The jam was libGDXjam, and the game was "[Generation Ship][gs]".

It can be described as resource management turn-based strategy. And, it's by no means is no rogue-like. 
I have a lots of thoughts about process

It's about returning home from far far away. 

The game was influenced by FTL:Faster Than Light and Skyshine:Bedlam!.  


[gs] http://sheix.itch.io/generation-ship "Generation Ship on itch.io"
<commit_msg>Update 18-01-2016_my_first_game_jam.md<commit_after>---
layout: post
title: My first game jam
---
In the last time game jams became popular stuff. Some known indie game titles started as different jams entries.

Actually jam is a competition. And I participated first time. As for me I won.

It is first time in my life when I delivered a game. If my life was on Steam, I would get an achievement for this. It's hard to describe how happy I am. Mission completed.

The jam was libGDXjam, and the game was "[Generation Ship][gs]".

It can be described as resource management turn-based strategy. And, it's by no means is no rogue-like. 

It's about returning home from far far away. 

About graphics - it can be much better. I described it as "programmers graphics". But, even in this case, it does the job. Star looks like star, planet - like planet and spaceship - like international space station. Sounds and music - I'm going to add something to it. May be I still remember how I did it 15 years ago. 

Gameplay-wise it's pretty simple - jump from star to star, gather resources with probes, get to the end, win. Or die trying. Ship is getting out of air and food supply, metal to build probes is scarce resource and those probes are very hard to control. Crew getting lost on missions and hard to replenish. May be some aliens will join your team?

The game was influenced by FTL:Faster Than Light and Skyshine:Bedlam!. There is no combat, unlike those games, though. I cut the scope as much as I could. I almost did not changed my way of life - still slept well, worked on my dayjob, met friends, spent time with <NAME> and went out with my wife. So, in total I worked on Generation Ship around 40 hours, mostly on weekends. I started with pen and paper design, drew some pictures. Started coding and almost at a start got my sprites done. I went for 320x240 resolution, kind of pixel art (I wouldn't call what I've done art, anyway). I like that old games aesthetics, as inspiration I could name <NAME>'s Civilization I, which I liked a lot. My code uses procedural content generation techniques for solar systems and galaxy generations. 
In addition, the game deserves better presentation not only in form of graphics or controls, but in user experience in general. It's a bit unclear where to start for new players. May be balance is not perfect yet.

Anyway, as I stated on game's page, I will continue to work on it. As for this version - I'll fix gameplay breaking bugs and re-release it.



[gs] http://sheix.itch.io/generation-ship "Generation Ship on itch.io"

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