Discount Run - The little game with a big mission

Somewhere in between the first and second versions of my first game, there was a little game with a mission greater than itself. This post mortem is about how, knowing how to play your cards right and picking the right events to attend you can get recognized even if you're not very good at gamedev yet. This is also a cautionary tale about budgets, and how they expand beyond what you see in your computer as "the game".  

The determined gamedev

The theme of my first game, falling islands, was designed around climbing back up when you fall down. As I had mentioned in the post-mortem for that game, my family's financial situation was the worst it had been, so I was thinking about how to help, in my own immature, 19 year old who has never held a job way.

Then the chance showed up. A popular technology expo based in the city I had just moved from was holding a contest sponsored by a computer company with a big-eyed, bald face as a logo. The theme was making a game based on the brand. The prize? A desktop computer with an estimated 3.5k usd value, plus accessories. The selling price of the desktop would be enough to help my family get on their feet again in my country, and being the cocky newbie that I was, I was sure I was at least going to get past the draft. The deadline was in a week and a half, so there was no time to waste. I talked to my family about this and they said it was fine, I also asked some friends if I could couch surf while in the city and got that taken care of.  

Based on a true story

All that was left was the game, so I started thinking and found an idea pretty quickly. It was based on a real world experience with a different brand, and it was relatable too! Everyone's experienced rushing to the store to get something at a massive discount, so that was what the game was going to be about.

There was only a week to get working so the scope was unavoidably small. A simple game with simple rules; run against a timer and reach the end of an obstacle course. Grab some free assets online, recycle a music track your friend gave you, use some free sound effects and that's it! That was the process I had in my mind, and it started pretty much that way.  

The bug that shouldn't have become a feature  

Obviously bugs started coming up, when the character jumped in between two roofs, a super jump was achieved. I tried getting a couple different hit boxes set up, but it only made it worse. Then I tried getting my mind wrapped around ray casting, and it was too confusing at the time. So with little time and lots on the line, I decided it would be a feature.

Hit boxes were also a big one; they were too big and too clunky when played. My testers said so, but as hard as they tried to get it through to me I shoved it off because "It's easy I can finish it super-fast so it should also be easy for the players!". Average number of plays was >5, which is bad for a show off and leave it game. Even in the final product, there’s still invisible geometry in the level.  

The scope of real life  

And so, with a couple of hours left and a really rough game, I sent it in ready to be reviewed, and couple of days later the results were in. I was a finalist! I felt a huge rush of adrenaline like never before, out of 150 people my game, rough as it was, was one of the 20 finalists!

All I had to do now was get to the event, the event was free for finalists, I had arranged staying at a friend’s house, and my ego was through the roof. The bus ticket was just 20 dollars; unfortunately, life has a terrible, horrible bug in which you need money to survive everyday life. My parents and I tried for 2 days to no avail. My uncles, whom we were living with at the time also couldn’t help. So I spent the night before the event in the room we slept in, curled up in a ball, crying myself to sleep, I didn’t sleep that night. The next day they had a facebook live stream showing off the games of finalists that did make it to the event. I wanted to watch it, but I knew if I did I risked knowing that I had the chance if I had made it there, so I didn’t. Now the stream and event are lost in a sea of brand promotions.  

The miracle that never came – Closing thoughts

I’ve never considered this project as a finished one, but looking back on it now, it had been finished since the moment I turned it in. I felt a lot of pride knowing one of my games had been acknowledged by someone, and be among the twenty picked as finalists. It saddens me to never know if I would have won or not, but so is life.

I’m compelled to say discount run feels more like a complete game than the floating islands, even if it is uglier, buggier, and most of the assets are public domain. I’ve come to know the importance of knowing not only the scope of the game, but also the resources needed for when the scope transcends into the outside world. In retrospective, I feel proud of the little game that could, and I like to think I’m no longer the big adult that couldn’t.