{"id":658,"date":"2026-10-01T23:34:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T22:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/?p=658"},"modified":"2026-10-01T23:44:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T22:44:00","slug":"sept-game-jam-interview-series-the-offishal-interview-with-the-team-behind-van-golds-birthday-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/01\/sept-game-jam-interview-series-the-offishal-interview-with-the-team-behind-van-golds-birthday-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Sept Game Jam Interview Series: The OfFISHal Interview with the Team Behind Van Gold&#8217;s Birthday Party!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Ah! Back for more, I see? Good, good! Come on in and get comfortable. If you liked our last <a href=\"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/27\/sept-game-jam-interview-series-an-obviously-oar-some-interview-with-stuart-johnson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">interview with Stuart Johnson<\/a>, then you&#8217;re in luck! We have more interviews coming your way, so stay tuned. Now, get ready to settle down with your favorite snack because we interviewed the team behind <a href=\"https:\/\/rawmeal1026.itch.io\/van-golds-birthday-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Van Gold&#8217;s Birthday Party<\/em><\/a>, who won second place in our most recent game jam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just a quick note before we start! This interview will be a little different from the others because each team member was kind enough to take the time to answer all of my questions. To give you a breakdown of what each member did, here&#8217;s a little guide:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>RawMeal: Main programmer and sprite artist<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Galaxus: 2D artist<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>JEK: Sound designer and audio implementer<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rompolitos: Music composer<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dimana: 2D artist<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay, now that that&#8217;s out of the way\u2026let&#8217;s get into it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-659\" style=\"width:535px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How long have you been developing games?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RawMeal: <\/strong>I&#8217;ve been into Game Dev ever since I was a teenager. Making prototypes has always been my hobby. I started with &#8220;Choose your own adventure&#8221; text games. It was only two months ago when I gave enough effort to make games that&#8217;s above my average standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Galaxus: <\/strong>I&#8217;ve been in a lot of game teams, mainly for game jams since Pirate Software Game Jam 15 (Yeah, that didn&#8217;t age well), but from that time I&#8217;ve started participating in game jams, mainly doing some 2D or 3D assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>JEK: <\/strong>I have always been interested in the way video games immerse you, and a substantial part of it is the sound. To be fair, I only started a month ago and I still feel like a complete beginner, but I am starting to get the hang of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rompolitos: <\/strong>I&#8217;ve only recently started out in game development, with this very team in fact, so I&#8217;m still very new to it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dimana:<\/strong> Honestly, since this May after graduating from college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"2\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What made you want to get into game dev? Is there a particular game that inspires you as a developer?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RawMeal: <\/strong>Art invokes emotions in people. As someone who hates the mundane and numbness, I genuinely think games are the best art medium for making people feel something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Galaxus: <\/strong>Honestly, just like with drawing and animation, what made me step into game dev is a desire to create something cool: Something that people would love, talk about it and be inspired by it. I don&#8217;t really have a particular game that inspires me, because I&#8217;m mainly inspired by 2000s games like <em>Psychonauts, Sonic Adventure, Kao The Kangaroo 2, Ratchet and Clank<\/em>. Probably because this was the time when big studios were more creative with their video games in terms of gameplay and artstyle, unlike nowadays where they only care about how realistic the graphics must be (the exception is Remedy, who recently made <em>Control Resonant<\/em>. I didn&#8217;t play the game yet due to the fact that I don&#8217;t have money for it, but I&#8217;d be happy to buy it when I get money)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>JEK: <\/strong>I have always loved programming and technology, and when I discovered that I could mix my passion for sound and programming, I couldn&#8217;t resist! I really love atmospheric and immersive games like the <em>Fears to Fathom<\/em> series (To be fair, I have never played them because I am too scared. I have only seen some playthroughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rompolitos: <\/strong><em>Hollow Knight <\/em>is such a heart-touching experience that changed me, so it has a special place in my soul. I want to create something that can change other people this way too myself in the future!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dimana: <\/strong>I really love fighting games, they are my favorite genre. The one game that got me into it was <em>Dragon Ball FighterZ<\/em>, so much so that it made me want to make a fighting game of my own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold3-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-660\" style=\"width:535px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold3-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold3-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold3-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold3-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold3.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"3\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Did you learn\/realize something while participating in this game jam? If so, what was it?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RawMeal: <\/strong>It&#8217;s my first game jam with a proper team. I&#8217;ve discovered more of my shortcomings. It&#8217;s not very uplifting, since most of those shortcomings stem from macro skills like communication, planning, and time management. It&#8217;s pretty difficult to tell what I should do to overcome those weaknesses. But looking forward, building more games should do something about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Galaxus: <\/strong>People I&#8217;ve worked with on the game are very nice, but I didn&#8217;t really learn from it, since I&#8217;m already familiar with how games are being developed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>JEK: <\/strong>This was actually my first game jam. And I have to say that I have been extremely lucky. I met an amazing team and we have created a game that makes me feel really proud. In particular, I had to quickly learn how to implement sound directly into Godot, since I worked with FMOD until the last day, when I found out that it was incompatible with web exports&#8230; I had to redo it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rompolitos: <\/strong>I learnt&#8230; well&#8230; how much I love game development! I am so excited to have worked with an actual team on an actual game with actual potential! I definitely want to follow the path of game development in my life!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dimana: <\/strong>I realized how much I need to learn to cooperate with others. I\u2019ve been a solo artist for a bit and, with game dev, unless you know how to make it all, you\u2019ll need a team and you need to learn how to work with one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"4\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>When creating games, what comes first for you: the coding, artwork, writing, or something else?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RawMeal: <\/strong>The planning stage, I cannot emphasize this enough. Planning should involve 2 things: feature scoping and asset assignments. Feature scoping includes game mechanics, game narrative, and everything that&#8217;s about making the game coherent. Asset assignment is narrowing down what assets are needed to execute those features. You can&#8217;t add features if you don&#8217;t have the assets to back it up. And picking the wrong features will require monstrous amounts of assets, which is often what causes overscoping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Galaxus: <\/strong>As an artist, the first thing that comes to making a game is creating a Game Design Document or Game Design Overview: This is where you need to come up with the game&#8217;s overall concept, like art style, game mechanics, level design, and even a budget<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>JEK: <\/strong>Since my focus is on the audio aspect of the game, I usually try to understand the mood the game sets through its mechanics, movement, and story, then I record the sound effects and implement them directly into the code<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rompolitos: <\/strong>It has to be the concept, you can&#8217;t make a game if you don&#8217;t know what you&#8217;re making. You could end up with an uninteresting experience if you continue without an image of what you&#8217;re creating. Of course, you can add to the concept with details, context, backstories, etc., but if you don&#8217;t have a main idea for what you are building, you will most likely end up lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dimana: <\/strong>Artwork, obviously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold4-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-661\" style=\"width:535px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold4-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold4-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold4-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold4-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/vanGold4.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"5\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How did you get the idea for your game? Was there anything that inspired your idea?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RawMeal: <\/strong>I don&#8217;t know, lol. That&#8217;s just the game idea that came to mind when I heard about the ocean and upliftment. From that idea, I&#8217;ve thought of those incremental games about cleaning tree leaves on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rompolitos: <\/strong>Well, it was an ocean theme, and when I entered the team, the idea was there&#8230; all we did from there was modify and add to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dimana: <\/strong>I joined sort of later, so the visuals were already done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"6\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A silly question, just for funsies: If you could live inside the world of any video game, what would it be and why?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RawMeal: <\/strong>Anything just to see the peashooter baddie. (Picture provided below for context; the game is <em>Plants vs. Zombies<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"298\" height=\"289\" src=\"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/comic.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-662\" style=\"width:170px;height:auto\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Galaxus: <\/strong>Probably <em>Deltarune<\/em>, obviously removing the possibility of a higher being possessing your body, the Roaring, and also finding out you&#8217;re just an NPC of a videogame lol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>JEK: <\/strong>I would live in the world of <em>Zelda <\/em>because it is peaceful and the nature is untouched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rompolitos: <\/strong><em>Stardew Valley<\/em>, with having the ability to add any mods I want any time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dimana: <\/strong><em>Splatoon<\/em>. Wake up, get breakfast, take a shower, brush my teeth, then go out there and shoot ink for sport; sounds like a dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to everyone for answering our questions and for putting in all the work to make <em>Van Gold&#8217;s Birthday Party<\/em>! It was so much fun getting to learn a little more about each of you, and we hope our readers enjoy it as much as we did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you haven&#8217;t already, check out <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/rawmeal1026.itch.io\/van-golds-birthday-party\"><em>Van Gold&#8217;s Birthday Party<\/em><\/a> on itch.io! Work together with the friendly fish in your neighborhood to clean up and prepare for your brother&#8217;s birthday party! Filled with silly characters and a heartwarming narrative, <em>Van Gold&#8217;s Birthday Party<\/em> makes for an absolutely lovely experience. But don&#8217;t just take our word for it! Play it for yourself and let us know your thoughts in the comments!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s all for this interview! Keep an eye out for our next interview with Celeste (AKA gainax2k1 on Discord and itch.io), who created <em>Uplifting Ocean<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See ya later, alligator!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ah! Back for more, I see? Good, good! Come on in and get comfortable. If you liked our last interview with Stuart Johnson, then you&#8217;re in luck! We have more interviews coming your way, so stay tuned. Now, get ready to settle down with your favorite snack because we interviewed the team behind Van Gold&#8217;s &#8230; <a title=\"Sept Game Jam Interview Series: The OfFISHal Interview with the Team Behind Van Gold&#8217;s Birthday Party!\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/01\/sept-game-jam-interview-series-the-offishal-interview-with-the-team-behind-van-golds-birthday-party\/\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Sept Game Jam Interview Series: The OfFISHal Interview with the Team Behind Van Gold&#8217;s Birthday Party!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[20,22,19,23],"class_list":["post-658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-gamedev","tag-gamejam","tag-games","tag-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":672,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658\/revisions\/672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearsoftware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}