The Stranger

This game was originally started in April for Pizza Doggy's Ham Jam. He's since announced a total of two further jams and I have only just finished it. In my defense, I was working many 12 hour shifts and had another run-in with my old friend Ulcerative Colitis. Go read my last community announcement if you wanna know more about that. Other than that however, I have been slacking. Despite my efforts to make clean code, I always end up with a big plate of spaghetti that just makes me not even want to open the project. ChatGPT is a blessing and a curse when it comes to helping fix my messy code. I mean at least you always learn one extra thing not to do next time, right? Oh well.

There's many things about this game I wish were different and ideas I wish I had done, but it's another case of starting with constraints due to a jam, and then having to build a game, still with those constraints, even though you missed the deadline. I was gonna go for a much darker tone, where you'd lose a finger each time you got caught, with nasty, realistic sound effects and all. A really cold game. Though, I don't hate the humorous approach I took instead. If I ever "remaster" this game, I'll be sure to do it the colder way. It looks a lot cooler in my head. I think that's all I want to say about this game specifically. I'm just happy to be done with it really. I have no shame about it like I do Home Alone, though I won't think much more of it.

I actually want to take a step back from grungy, PSX horror for at least 1 game. All my WIP projects are PSX horror and it gets a bit tiring. I love it, but I wanna make something a little more whimsical or colorful just to switch it up a bit. I also have a nasty habit of focusing on games built around a narrative, despite not wanting to be a narrative designer. Or maybe I do? If I do, it's subconscious.

No, I need to start making games with actual addictive gameplay. Games that just feel right, no matter how crap they are visually or how bad their narrative is. Those can all be afterthoughts.

I'm done with university until September rolls around, so if I really bust my ass, I could make maximum 2 new games! That's more games than I release in a year. Imagine... Anyway, have a good day y’all. Remember, you're young and live in a time with instant access to any and all information. Don’t waste that while you have it. Learn new skills, try new hobbies. Don’t waste your creativity on TikTok and Marvel Rivals. Toodles!