Playable Game Link: https://elevatecode.itch.io/braindive
Jam Name: Brackeys Game Jam 2023.2
Jam Duration: 1 week
Jam Theme: Diving Deep
Software I Used: Unity, GitHub, Miro, Google Sheets/Docs
Genre: RPG, Action, Single Player
Development Team: 13 people (including me)

Summary: Top-down action game where the player uses melee attacks, skills, and mobility to fight waves of enemies leading up to a boss fight. After the team finished brainstorming, I designed the game's combat through Google Docs and on Miro. This included player and enemy actions. I added level design inspiration to Miro and made a Google Sheet detailing loot dropped from enemies, their properties, and drop rates. I was also involved in deciding features to cut for time and scope, along with testing/adjusting player and enemy variables in Unity. Also helped with other minor tasks in Unity.

What Went Right: Communication was very successful. We all knew what we were working on and when issues or questions came up, they were resolved quickly. There was a strong sense of knowing what everyone was doing at all times with presentations, meetings, and check-ins. Multiple people also said my designs were clear and detailed with visual representations on Miro and with the documents I created. There was very little stress and everyone was excited to be working from start to finish.

What Went Wrong: Two biggest problems were scope and game focus. We set out to make a beat-em-up action like game with a bit of exploration, but this turned out to be too much and there were massive cuts to what was planned in the last few days. This was also coupled with situations where I failed to make use of pre-made ideas we generated before the jam that we could have used. Namely, a looting system that I failed to plan as a part of the game that was made before-hand. There was a lot of time spent on figuring out how to put it into the game when it just didn't fit.

What I Learned: I learned a lot from being a part of a well managed team, communicating on Miro for the first time, working with time restraints, sudden big design decisions, and learning to define a game focus and sticking with it.