Postmortem - Having fun making small games!

So I’m relatively new to game development by experience. It was just five days ago that I released my first small complete game, called Jam Heist, on Itch. Before this, I had released a small demo of a game one and a half years ago, made using GBStudio, and was pretty content with it then. However, the fact is that I’m a highschooler, and I come from a household that put my studies above all else and surrounded everything to do with games with a piercing stigma. I was discouraged and my parents barred me from going down the game dev route. Needless to say, I was heartbroken.

This could have been the end of the story, but for the fact that I loved creating games and had a desire to make a game that I’d be proud of. So I persevered, designing quite a lot of games, anticipating an opportunity to develop, but never being able to do so. This continued for one and a half years, going on and off, sometimes breaking off, then coming back again. Then, last December, my ray of hope came. Someone made a comment on my old demo, asking for instructions, and I was excited. This was my first comment, like ever, and I showed my parents, also selling myself and making them realise the potential of game dev.

And at last, my parents recognised a point in game development.

Since then, my parents have been a bit more supportive, and even let me develop a game in the Christmas vacations, albeit with restrictions.

And therefore, I created Jam Heist, an arcade-esque game made using Godot in just 20 hours. Looking back, I feel like I’ve done a great job considering the time and my skill level. Here are some things that I’ve learned are helpful, especially for new developers.

Read more postmortems: Reddit, especially r/gamedev, has a lot of game developers who have tons of experience, and postmortems teach you considerably more than those ‘beginner game dev tips’ videos (they also help though; postmortems however get you more specific, overlooked tips)

Design your game on paper: My drawers have some books worth of pages with drawings and notes of my old games, and it’s this planning habit that helped my actually finish the first project I started. Many people do advise to create game design docs, but I want to add on this: actually make your games on paper. Draw out rough maps, plan mechanics, see if they fit together. It’ll save you a lot of time, trust me.

Trust your gut: Sometimes when you create the design, you might feel something not fitting right. And you may be right. It took me a lot of time to learn to trust my feelings. This works in the opposite way too; if you feel confident about the game idea, go ahead!

Scope small, new devs: I know, it’s not easy scoping small. And it doesn’t matter that you go a little overboard on paper. Do the best you can, and start development. When I originally designed Jam Heist, I had a lot more in mind. But as the deadline neared, I began to automatically cut off a lot of the mechanics. And I’m still proud of the end result.

Connect with the community: The game dev community is massive, and you can quickly make great friends. It was a friend who exported this game for me, and some other friends who commented on it. And I feel much grateful for them for supporting me throughout my game dev journey. Likewise, you might find that you need support too.

About the analytics of my game, Jam Heist received 80 views and around fifty browser plays. It’s not much, but it’s huge for someone like me, who’s new to the wonderful world of game development.

This postmortem is written aiming at new developers, and I hope you found something useful too. Feel free to add your own tips, suggestions and feedback in the comments. Moral of the story, just because you don’t have enough time or support, doesn’t mean you can’t make games. You can, just take the initiative and create a small, fun, sensible game. That’s still an acheivement to be proud of.