Aperture Now Published!

Before you read this, make sure you have played the game as I will explain here the behind-the-scenes of it.

As I am making this post, my game is still under review and is not searchable but I'm really happy and excited to share it with the world even if it's just a simple game with a simple story. 

So what pushed me to create this game and managed to finish it? 

I can't believe to this day that I managed to finish this game if i'm going to be honest. I'm a writer as well and it has been a common experience for me to start something but never finished it. It sucks but it is what it is. 

I was reading Atomic Habits by James Clear a month before and I guess I got tired of my situation/habit as well. So I started planning and trying out new things and one of it is creating a game. 

This isn't the game that I'm going to publish first.

I have another game (To be published in a distant future) but it is not realistic in the time/date that I've set because for creating a game, I challenged myself to do this for two months. (Which I actually did, I did something right, finally!) 

What went right

Most of the things that I visioned in my mind I managed to put it in the game. The digital typing in the screen like it's from 1970/80s? computer, sound effects - I owe my life to freesound.org, it's a lifesaver. If you are having a hard time looking for sound effects, try it! Incompetech is good for bg music if you really want your game to have atmosphere. For the story, I'm satisfied with the script because this is the type of story that I really want to tell and the endings are meant to be like that. I want it to look like a credits from a 1990/1980s movie wherein they will splash the title again and then proceeds to show all who are part of it.

 What went wrong

The things that never managed to make it to the final draft is probably creating a dynamic page. Some text based games that I've played have an interactive page that gives you that sense of freedom to explore the story instead of linear way. Like players get to click a link and it will reveal a clue on the same page or the next. Another, you will need to click a link to unlock a specific ending, missing it will give you the same ending, as the game will take note of it. 

The transitions, I'm having a hard time making the fade effect work, so it ended up only in the introduction of the game. This was supposed to be used for the dialogues and since it's not working, I went to "no effects" route for it. It looks good as it balances the typing effects in most parts of the game anyway.

What I learned

I'm not really considering me not having a knowledge to make a twine game as "What went wrong". I am a beginner but the limit of my knowledge did limit my ability to make the game more interactive. Honestly, Twine's Sugarcube is really challenging to learn because I do not understand some of the codes that the twine community was sharing and I was overwhelmed when I was just starting to code the game. I ended up using the macro type instead of the actual javascript because I have little background of it. 

And yeah, I learned that I can actually make a game! That I have the potential to put an idea into something that is interactable or tangible. It's not as fancy as others but it's a step to more. So the saying to just start and keep creating even if it's not as good as you expect may have sense. It's not that your work is not good in the end, it is,  but the power of constant repetition and focused learning that is behind it. In just two months, I have a decent knowledge already of Twine and how to make a simple game. Can you believe that? 

It's a valuable experience and realizing it made me believe more in myself and gave me the confidence and excitement for the next game that I will make. 

For now, I will celebrate, take break and take care of other responsibilities. I hope that this gets published next week or hopefully earlier than that because I'm really excited to share my game. 

Yep, the original name of the game is Hypnopompic but I changed because it's not catchy~

Until then, support other indie devs!

- Hiraya