Loremaster ~ Tips for Game Jams and HUGE Steem Monsters' Resource l...

Hello everyone!

Now that the game jam is done for me I wanted to take a moment to do a little casual follow-up dev log about it.

Note: This post will contain spoilers for the game so go play it first if you'd like and come back after.

I'm going to start off talking about my experience with this game, highlighting some things that help me in game jams, and I'm going to finish off the post with a list of the resources I pulled to make it, with a few exceptions of things I'm not sure should be passed around outside the discord yet.

Making the Game

When the game jam was announced, I was pretty stoked. I've done a few of them and even run a few so I'm pretty familiar with the format. My goal was to create some very different from the main battling dynamic of the card game that also tapped into the huge amount of lore that has already come out of the Steem Monsters community. In the end, I skipped the first two days of the jam because I had other Hive account@planetslothicorn stuff I wanted to work on but I worked Monday - Thursday on it.

I'm a writer and I love lore I can sink my teeth into. I also know that on the blockchain you can burn through so much content so quick. Everything moves so fast. So I wanted to slow it down and really use some of the work that has already been done in an interactive way.

I ended up going with a trivia game where you encounter each of the currently known Summoners who test your knowledge about the lore.

Tip #1 - Play to your strengths.

Since I have the most experience with Ren'Py and I ❤ Python, I chose that as my game engine. I've been burned in game jams in the past because I got off too hard on the crunch and tried to do wild and crazy things that were too buggy in the end. I skipped that here and just went for a solid playing experience that could be expanded on and would give a decent amount of enjoyment but would be a very different playing experience than the card game.

It's obvious to me that Selenia should be the final encounter because she stands out from the other Summoners as the only one able to summon monsters not from her splinter. If you've delved into the lore that's being created, there's some very interesting information about her people that really made her stand out to me.

Tip #2 - Assess what you have to work with. Sort through pre-existing content.

I made this a really easy process for myself. It worked in my favour that there was a huge pool of creative effort that I had to pull from for this little game. Backgrounds were sourced from Ren'Py creators and the sounds were sourced from Freesound. The images of the Summoners and logo were provided by Hive account@steemmonsters.

Other than coding, what took the most time was going through the wealth of Steem Monsters content that has already been made. I've had to do this twice before, once for Hive account@steempunknet and once for Slothicorn so I knew this would be incredibly invaluable for me to start off with. Once I did that, I could really see what I had to work with. I didn't want to waste time making up things that had already been written about by other folks. I'm going to list what resources I used at the end.

While I was doing that, I noticed this gem almost immediately: Hive account@isaria's The Splinterlands music. It's a beautiful track and really got me into the spirit. More on that in a moment.

Reading all this content also gave me a pretty clear vibe for each other summoners so I knew how I wanted to style their dialogue to make them each distinct personalities.

Tip #3 - Create systems and consequences.

I don't know if anyone else does this but when I'm working on a game I like to make systems for myself so that when I get to work I can just go without worry about what's next. For example, this is a trivia game so the most important system I set up for myself was what kind of questions each Summoner would ask and how to make it fluctuate in difficulty.

So spoiler alert - Alric asks you mostly general questions about the cards which almost everyone who is casually familiar with the game should be able to answer. Lyanna asks you about elements, which is a bit more difficult if you haven't been paying attention to the community fiction contests but you should be able to figure out if you think about it as many times elements from different magical traditions both fictional and in real life share characteristics. Malric asks you about the Summoners themselves, which you can find the answers for by looking at their cards. It's contained in a way because there's only 6 of them so far. Tyrus asks you about monster cards, which is more difficult because there are so many cards. Zintar asks you about community-created monster card lore and stories so if you're not familiar with the writing contests going on and the pieces that have been written, you'll have a harder time with these questions. Finally, Selenia asks you specific questions about the Dragon/Purple Splinter. If you manage to best her without just cycling through all the possible answers, I'd love to hear about it.
/end spoiler alert

I also added the consequence of wrong answers about mid-way through because it upped the tension for the player and made it more interesting.

Tip #4 - Sound is your best friend.

I'll say this forever but sound design makes such a huge difference when you're crafting an experience. Hive account@isaria's music and adding sound effects to correct answers and Summoner voices to wrong answers really added something special. I had to play a bit to level out the sound sample volumes to not be too soft or too loud but that was easily done with Audacity.

I am absolutely in love with the noise the dragon makes when you get one of Selenia's answers wrong and Zintar's laugh. And the sword sound when you lose and the game kicks you out is so abrupt and final it gave me a shiver the first couple times I tested it. These elements bring vibrancy to the playthrough and were very simple to implement.

Tip #5 - Make a solid experience, while leaving room to grow.

Because the point of this game was to expand the Steem Monsters universe, I wanted to make something that felt complete as an experience but that also gave you a glimpse into what was possible. There's literally infinite amount of content you can add to this game. I dropped some cut scenes I wanted to do between Summoners interacting with monsters because I wanted to leave the last day free for all the polishing I'd need to do for the game to make it playable for other people (cause you know the game jam gods are fickle and will literally crash your computer 10 minutes before the deadline), but they can be easily added after to really flesh out this style of game.

I wanted to make something that could add to the Steem Monsters brand if the game resonated with people. A rough license was posted in the Discord (which I won't post here without permission) so I knew that the team is open to works that can be released commercially on their own.

For a commercial release, some of the backgrounds would have to be changed and I definitely think the intro should be more cinematic and I'd adding in some scrolling credits at the end, but I wanted to give folks a sense of the possibilities while still making this a finished game.

Tip #6 - It's a game so have fun.

I had to play this game so so many times to test all the elements and I think that is one of the best ways to know if you like what you're doing. I had fun playing this game. I had fun when Zintar chuckled and Malric threatened to burn me to a crisp. So hopefully, that translates to other people having fun playing it.

And now! The resources!

List of Steem Monsters posts

Here's a monster list of posts I pulled to help me make this game. I've omitted things from the discord that I'm not sure should be posted outside of there. I didn't use all of these but making a document with all of them available gave me a great pool of information to draw from.

Art Contests:

Pixel Art - https://steemit.com/art/@jonny-clearwater/pixel-art-weekly-is-back-with-a-huge-steem-monsters-game-jam-art-contest-all-artists-and-animators-wanted-and-welcome // https://steemit.com/dlive/@jonny-clearwater/8ed0f311-a80a-11e8-bfaa-0242ac110003
Week 11 - https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-week-11-15-booster-pack-prize // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-winners-week-11-15-booster-pack-prize
Week 10 - https://steemit.com/art/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-week-10-15-booster-pack-prize // https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-winners-week-10-15-booster-pack-prize
Week 9 - https://steemit.com/art/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-week-9-15-booster-pack-prize // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-winners-week-9-15-booster-pack-prize
Week 8 - https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-week-8-10-booster-pack-prize // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-winners-week-8
Week 7 - https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-week-7-10-booster-pack-prize // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-winners-week-7
Week 6 - https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-week-6-10-booster-pack-prize // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-winners-week-6
Week 5 - https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-week-5-10-booster-pack-prize // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-winners-week-5
Week 4 - https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-week-4-10-booster-pack-prize // https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-winners-week-4
Week 3 - https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-week-3-10-booster-pack-prize // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-winners-week-3
Week 2 - https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-week-2-10-booster-pack-prize // https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-winners-week-2-10-booster-pack-prize
Week 1 - // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-art-contest-week-1-winners

Writing Contests:

https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@aggroed/steem-monsters-writing-competition-pre-announcement-how-to-build-a-faction-culture
https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/teem-monsters-official-1500-sbd-fantasy-writing-contest-announcement
Week 12: https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-week-12
Week 11: https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-week-11-10-booster-pack-prize // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-winners-the-giant-roc
Week 10: https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-week-10 // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-winners-the-skeleton-assassin
Week 9: https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-week-9 // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-winners-the-divine-healer
Week 8: https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-week-8 // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-winner-rexxie
Week 7: https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-week-7 // https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-winner-the-pirate-captain
Week 6: https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-week-6 // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-winner-the-goblin-shaman
Week 5: https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-week-5 // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-winner-the-haunted-spider
Week 4: https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-week-4 // https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-winner-the-feral-spirit
Week 3: https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-week-3 // https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-winner-the-flesh-golem
Week 2: https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-week-2-10-booster-pack-prize-pool // https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-contest-winner-the-crustacean-king
Special: https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-common-card-fantasy-story-winner-the-twisted-jester
Week 1: https://steemit.com/contest/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-individual-card-fantasy-story-contest-week-1 // https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-fire-beetle-fantasy-story-contest-winners

Music:

Naga Warrior - https://steemit.com/dsound/@isaria/20180819t185546132z-naga-warriors-worship-of-the-moon--music-for-steem-monsters
Forest Awoken - https://steemit.com/dsound/@harrisonmir/20180810t052934627z-steem-monsters-music--forest-awoken-original-score
Flight of the Elemental Phoenix - https://steemit.com/dsound/@isaria/20180812t185638532z-flight-of-the-elemental-phoenix--music-for-steem-monsters
The Dark Eternals - March of the Undead - https://steemit.com/dsound/@isaria/20180729t190421816z-steem-monsters-music--the-dark-eternals-march-of-the-undead
The Trading Room - https://steemit.com/dsound/@harrisonmir/20180722t145604515z-steem-monsters-music--the-trading-room-original-music-score-teaser
The Splinterlands - Alien Prophecy mix - https://steemit.com/dsound/@isaria/20180718t184636403z-the-splinterlands--alien-prophecy-mix
Summoner’s Strife - https://steemit.com/dsound/@harrisonmir/20180716t161030753z-steem-monsters-music--summoners-strife-original-score--and-a-poll-to-the-community
The Splinterlands Teaser - https://steemit.com/dsound/@harrisonmir/20180709t183221578z-steem-monsters-the-splinterlands-original-music-score-teaser
Variation on Main Theme - https://steemit.com/dlive/@isaria/30629a00-826b-11e8-bbe8-435b8d3c86e8
The Splinterlands - https://steemit.com/dlive/@isaria/c179dae0-7fef-11e8-bbe8-435b8d3c86e8

Map: https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-cartography-contest-winners

Kiara: https://steemit.com/steemmonsters/@steemmonsters/steem-monsters-animation-announcing-a-partnership-with-austinvisuals

Loremaster ~ Tips for Game Jams and HUGE Steem Monsters' Resource list