The rating period is over, and I'm happy to have made a solid rank in the middle range. 17 out of 40 is great for my first finished game, especially considering how many amazing pieces of art are among the other submissions. I was also pleasantly surprised that I actually made rank 4 in the audio category! All in all, this was a great learning experience and I'd like to have a detailed look at the feedback I got.

Audio

As I mentioned, rank 4 was a surprise. I feel deeply honored, especially because I still consider myself an amateur when it comes to composing. Sure, I am familiar with a number of instruments, and I love listening to soundtracks, but I'm not that confident when it comes to musical theory beyond what I remember from school.

What I intended

I created the main theme early (I think on the second day) so that I knew what mood I was going for. My goal was to create a calm but melancholic piece to emphasize the longing for the lost memories and eventually for what the memories were about. For the instruments, I chose strings for their lamenting sound, a soft synthetic pad for a space-y background sound and a vibraphone with futuristic filtering for some delicate highlights.
Later I made a slighly more upbeat version to play for the beginning and the ending. I also made some short instrumental cues for the main emotion quadrants, to play them when an emotion was triggered.

How it was received

The only negative feedback I got was that the audio was "a bit repetitive". Most feedback was positive, and apparently I succeeded in conveying the main aspects - the space setting and the emotional state of the protagonist. One person found that it "was soothing and fit the mood of the story." Two people said that it made them feel like they were really in space. According to another person, it "set the exploration, but poignant mood", and one said that it helped them "get in the state of mind of the protagonist."

What I learned from that

Overall, I am now more confident in my composing skills. I'll look into the issue of repetitive audio, and maybe I'll create some more variants of the main theme that are tailored to the final version of the story.

Theme

The theme "magical realism" was challenging because I'm not really familiar with that genre. My comfort zone is closer to science fiction and fantasy.

What I intended

I really wanted to use the optional themes. The memory theme seemed perfect for creating an engaging story, the space theme spoke the scifi nerd in me, and sneaking in a pizza sounded like fun. But I struggled for a bit because I feared that a story in space might interfere with the mandatory theme. Eventually, I solved it by sticking to humans in our own solar system and keeping the spacefaring technology out of focus. To create the magical aspect, I connected two of the optional themes and decided that the stars in this world are made of memories. The pizza served as the (not-so-fun) trigger for the memory-hunting plot.

How it was received

My game got rank 14 on the theme category, with 3.5 stars out of 5. The one person who explicitly commented on the theme liked how I managed to fit magical realism into a science fiction setting.

What I learned from that

It's hard to draw a lesson from that, because things might look completely different with a future theme. But I'm quite content with how this turned out. Researching genre definitions for magical realism definitely helped here.

Concept

The time frame of ten days put some limitations on what I could implement. I ruled out branching storylines and my beloved point-and-click adventure mechanics because they seemed too ambitious.

What I intended

I chose to focus on a linear story and simple skill-based mechanics. Some inspiration came from similar self-control minigames in the game "Fahrenheit"/"The Indigo Prophecy", some came from my knowledge of dimensional emotion models, and some came from my personal experience with focusing on the here and now in order to handle overwhelming emotions. This resulted in the idea of "unlocking" the missing memories by overcoming the associated emotions.
A simple dialogue system presented the commentary and thoughts of the characters, and later I added space travel to make the gameplay more varied.

How it was received

My concept scored above average. Two people commented on the mechanics, calling them "interesting" respectively "unique." One said that the emotion mechanic "mixed up the game in a good way." Two others pointed out how fitting the space travel scenes were for creating a mood of loneliness. I was also complimented on combining memories with the vastness of space.

What I learned from that

I'm happy that I added the space travel scenes. It never really occurred to me how well they stressed the protagonist's loneliness, but I totally agree with the commenters. I've heard the term "environmental storytelling" before, and I'll try to pay more attention to that idea in the future.

Story

Since the game jam focussed on the narrative, the priorities were clear in this regard.

What I intended

Out of the three pillars that were mentioned in the suggested video, I chose to focus primarily on characters. Plot came second and the lore last. I used a random number generator to make the fundamental decisions for my central characters' physical characteristics and their backstory. In writer's terms, I'm somewhere between "plotter" and "pantser", so I placed my protagonist in a suitable initial situation, set the goal and obstacle in front of them, sketched out a general course and then let myself get dragged along.
During that exploration I took note of things that needed foreshadowing, and scrapped the idea of actually reaching the star because the memory traces that it left behind turned out to be enough. Besides, tracking the star via a lifetime of emotional experiences would have been a lot of work that ultimately would have distracted from the crucial event.

How it was received

I reached rank 16 out of 40 for the story category. While one person wished for more information regarding the backstory and the meaning of the emotion scenes, the comments were mostly positive. The atmosphere was described as "mysterious and lonely but also beautiful". Someone called the story and characters "well-written", and two people found the storyline interesting and engaging. One of the latter explicitly mentioned feeling with the protagonist, worrying for them and being relieved to see them happy in the end.

What I learned from that

I was worried that the linear story would be a bit too simple - no major twists, and nothing too outlandish going on in the backstory. But it looks like I succeeded with the characterization. I'm still surprised how attached I've grown to the characters whom I only created for this jam and might not use anywhere else. Seeing other people care about my protagonist was very rewarding. I do feel like I need more practice when it comes to the plot, but focusing on that will be easier knowing that I can indeed create engaging characters.

Graphics

This aspect had a lower priority for me, and it showed. I mostly stuck with 3D assets because I had no experience with 2D games in Unity.

What I intended

This game was a welcome opportunity to use the free software MakeHuman. I rarely need it because most of my art focuses on aliens and fantasy creatures. I did consider using a slideshow of quick sketches, but eventually settled on a mix of 3D graphics for the present events and 2D sketches for the memories. Due to the time limit, I did not try to animate the characters but posed them for still images. I did my best to match the body poses and facial expressions to what was going on in the characters' heads. For the sketches, I tried to find a balance between keeping them simple and making them pleasant to look at. I also kept the environments simple, reasoning that I could make them more pretty if there was any time left.

How it was received

Three people liked the 3D graphics. One of those found them to fit surprisingly well, creating a "unique and quite interesting vibes." The other two stated that they liked the contrast with the 2D sketches. However, one other person pointed out that players are not used to seeing motionless 3D characters, and that this makes them appear lifeless and uncanny.

What I learned from that

I'm happy that the art shift for the memories worked as planned. As for the 3D sections, I do agree that they appear lifeless. I did consider using a cartoon shader or postprocessing to make it look more painterly. That is definitely something that I would love to try out for the post-rating update. But overall, I think blocking out environments with primitives was a good approach for a prototype.

Enjoyment

This was the game's weakest point. Though rank 27 out of 40 is not too bad, the score was below average here and there is clearly room for improvement.

What I intended

While testing my prototype, I did notice that the emotion minigame could not carry the game on its own. There was a lack of agency on the player's part, which I tried to solve by adding the space travel scenes. Since the story was linear, there was not much else that the player could do - and I felt like unloading cargo crates from the freighter would have drawn away from the memory recovery plot.

How it was received

One person remarked that the gameplay felt repetitive, but that they put up with it because they were so invested in the story. However, most comments revealed a bigger problem - the controls were confusing, and the objective of the minigames was difficult to understand. People got lost in space without knowing what to do, or were left wondering how exactly they had gotten through the memory scenes.

What I learned from that

One main reason was that I did not manage to draw in testers for early prototypes. I suppose I need to be less timid about inviting people for that, because testing it on my own is clearly not sufficient. However, some of these problems are easy to fix afterwards. I already have plans for adding hints after a timeout, such as revealing the protagonist's thoughts and later pointing towards the target directly. In future projects, I'll probably set some time aside for implementing such hint systems right away.

Conclusion

Overall, I'm very happy with the results of this jam. There are still a number of things which can be improved, and I will try to do so before I move on to other projects. Actually publishing a game was a huge milestone for me, and getting real feedback from players is rewarding on many levels. I'm looking forward to participating in more game jams in the future, and I've definitely learned a lot that I can use for the projects which are much closer to my heart.