Day #1 of Brackey's Game Jam 2025.1

I decided to write a Dev Diary for this game jam. This would help me reflect on my process, how to improve it and even appreciate my growth as a game developer.

Brackey's Game Jam - The second time around

This is my second time joining a Brackey’s Game Jam. The first was when I published Final Broadcast in 2024. The community was supportive, and the participants were actively playing games and providing feedback. I’m looking forward to playing more cool games again! :)

In the last game jam, I submitted an HTML5 game. This time, I will submit a game developed using Godot. I first started learning Godot last month when I joined the Pirate Software Game Jam to develop the Māori game Taiaha. Since then, I’ve been following several game tutorials, mostly focusing on simple 2D games.

What I hope to achieve in this game jam is a better understanding of game design and the concept of "fun." As a fan of visual novels, I naturally enjoy story-driven games. However, after three game jams, I’ve realized that fun comes in many different forms.

So this time, my goal is to focus on "replayability." I’m still a storyteller at heart, so this will still be a visual novel. However, instead of the game objective being based on the player's dialogue choices, it will be determined by the player's skills in different games.

Ideation

It's midnight. I was sitting in the kitchen when I learned the theme of the game jam. "Nothing can go wrong". The first thought I had was my therapist. She never said "Nothing can go wrong" but I had a lucid dream of her urging me to pursue my goals. "Mistakes happen, of course, but what if nothing can go wrong? What if the fear of failure is the rope holding you down to reach your dreams?"

Fear of failure.

Huh.

And I went the other way instead. I will maximise the human's fear of failure. From simple tasks, I will make a game that will slowly induce this fear. "Nothing can go wrong" is not an encouragement anymore, but rather a command, an absolute law.

Then I remembered an interesting word I learned. Ataraxia. The state of calmness. My mind started writing a story. A lab of neuroscientists whose aim is to promote ataraxia in the human mind during stressful events, such as test-taking. The player, a scientist themselves, who is tasked to go through series of seemingly mundane tasks. But in this facility, "nothing can go wrong". Mistakes will not be tolerated. Failing one task means immediate dismissal.

Then I found the perfect name for the game. Kakorrhaphio. A greek word which initially meant "a plan to do bad things" turned to "a badly executed plan". A root word of Kakorrhaphiophobia. The abnormal fear of failure.

Maybe that's too much spoiler.

Development

After drawing mockups of the user interface on a piece of paper and writing the requirements for the game, I opened Godot and started writing the code for the mini-games. I decided to go for three mini-games for this game jam. And if I get a good reception, I will add more mini-games.

I've already learned to make the games before from tutorials so it didn't take me much time. I had to keep in mind that the mini-games are part of the overall game and I have to write the code so it can seamlessly fit the main game. I decided that the games will just simply emit a signal (success or fail). Based of the player's performance, the main game will respond accordingly.

I've added my code in a private Git repository as per good practice. As I am writing this, I've already finished the mini-games and I will write the code for the main game soon after. I am starting with code this time instead of art. I already have a vague art design in mind. I also picked the main music (got the license to use it) and chose the appropriate sound design.

It will be tight with just a week but hopefully, I don't scope creep and I can finish the game as I intend it to be. I will think of it as a demo for a longer, more refined game.