So…LightBear’s ninth game jam has officially come and gone. It was so much fun watching our server pop off with game updates and feedback over the past couple of weeks! This game jam saw a whopping 73 submissions, the most we’ve had (so far)! That’s absolutely amazing, so we’d like to thank everyone who submitted a game. You should be very proud of yourselves, regardless of where your game ranked. Making a game is no easy feat, so please know that we appreciate all of your efforts.
To celebrate the end of our September game jam, we’ll be interviewing some of the lovely teams who participated. And who better to start with than the winner of our game jam, Stuart Johnson (AKA BrigG on Discord), who created boatiful? Now, without further ado, let’s kick off with our first interview!
- How long have you been developing games?
I’ve been a software developer at various early-stage startups for the past 7 years, but like so many, I started with making games in Scratch and then later experimenting with Roblox scripting. This is my first standalone game in a traditional format. So either 0 years or 17 years, depending on how you measure it.
- What made you want to get into game dev? Is there a particular game that inspires you as a developer?
I’m naturally extremely competitive, and in the past have greatly enjoyed competing in hackathons. My girlfriend Michelle has been considering a degree in game art, so I thought it would be a delightfully romantic way to combine something that we both love. And it was! We had a blast working on our game and it brought us closer together. Mich and the main character are thinly concealed self-inserts for the two of us.
- Did you learn or realize something while participating in this game jam? If so, what was it?
I started out trying to use writing as a delivery vector for great mechanics, but I realised along the way that the game I created that way felt hollow, and that I should be using mechanics as a delivery vector for great writing. The early mechanics-focused version of boatiful involved you trying to construct a salt generator and then turn the salt into dirt and plant crops. I made some good progress on this, then created walter the crab to explain things, and realised walter was better than the rest of the game put together! The other thing I learned about writing is how hard it is to come up with a satisfactory ending when your writing style is to make a pile of funny characters and have them do things. We went through three major iterations of the ending before settling on something that felt remotely good.
- When creating games, what comes first for you: the coding, artwork, writing, or something else?
Once I’d shaken out boatiful’s identity crisis, the first and most important thing I wrote down was a big list of things that I thought were funny. The list was extremely long, but here’s how it started. You might recognize some of these jokes from the game (picture provided below)! A lot of people are rightfully skeptical of AI in game development, but I really think that the writing process is improved immensely by it. Being able to go from idea to playable scene without needing to switch my brain into engineer mode made the creative process significantly more enjoyable in this regard. Michelle’s early work on the sprites for Mich and Walter were also instrumental in making us fall in love with the aesthetic of our game.
- How did you get the idea for your game? Was there anything that inspired your idea?
The original inspiration for the game was actually going to be Minecraft Skyblock – I wanted to make a factory style game where you have to combine gameplay elements to manufacture new things that you needed to progress your island. That said, I’d just finished Deltarune before the jam, and I found myself enjoying the process of writing stupid characters and jokes much more than trying to come up with a fun gameplay loop for progressing a tech tree.
- A silly question, just for funsies: If you could live inside the world of any video game, what would it be and why?
I think life in the Wii Sports cinematic universe would be pretty great. Everyone’s staying physically active, you get to compete with your friends in all these fun and varied events all the time, and your greatest struggle in life is jumping out of the way when newcomers to the island throw the bowling ball backwards ten times in a row for unknown reasons.
Thank you to Stuart and Michelle for making boatiful, and for taking the time to answer my questions! In case you missed it, boatiful is a hilariously charming game about a couple who must find their way off an island after crashing into it. In their quest to leave the island, they encounter all kinds of quirky characters. If you’re looking for a game filled with silly bits and memes that will keep you giggling, why not try boatiful? You can play it on itch.io here! There are multiple endings, so see which one you get!
Thank you again to everyone who participated in this game jam! Stay tuned for our next interview with the team that created Van Gold’s Birthday Party.
‘Til next time! Ta-ta for now!
🎉