Hi all!

Throughout October I have been working on Blink as part of my Devtober submission. 

Blink's Current State:

Currently Blink is fairly short and consists of an intro scene and one level consisting of two rooms and two possible exits. I always intended Blink to be a short escape roomesque game with multiple possible endings but I would say that Blink is currently about half the length that I would want the final version to be and is still missing some key components. All in all, I was able to get a good chunk of the game completed during the jam time and I hope to continue to build, develop and polish this game in the future. 

What went wrong

Time management was probably what went wrong the most often during the making of Blink. Unsure if I would have the time to invest in this game jam, I came up with a basic idea and design for the game but then put off the actual development until about midway through the month. This caused a high need for a organized and well managed use of my time so that I could accomplish all that I wanted to for the game. As a result, I had to be less ambitious with the amount of game I could finish by the end of the jam. As a solo developer there are always plenty of other smaller issues that occur that I do not have the expertise to resolve immediately, but luckily in this jam many of the smaller issues turned out to have solutions and be quite manageable . 

What went right

Fortunately a lot more went right than I initially thought when I started the jam late. Blink is the first game that I am publishing using Unreal, so I was pleasantly surprised on what I was able to learn and create with the engine. I was also able to create a lot of the atmosphere and mechanics that I was unsure if I would be able to create in such a short time period. Overall, I was happy with the result using an engine that I am still unfamiliar with. 

Future 

In the future, I hope to continue development for Blink. I hope to create levels for both of the two paths that already exist in the current version. I also hope to add enemy AI that I was unable to get to within the month, and make sure there are multiple endings for players to reach. There are also plenty of things to polish and fix, hopefully with the advice of those who play Blink in the future. 

Closing Remarks

Devtober is always a great jam to make some fun horror content. This year I tried to challenge myself and try a new engine to increase my development skills. I a personally happy with the results of this Devtober, even if it is only a short and not quite finished game. I hope anyone who plays Blink now or in the future enjoys!