Post-Jam Report + Future Plans

Hello, thank you everyone for enjoying the game! I'm really happy I got 3rd place! Thank you for the compliments on the art and the gameplay, I'm glad Marigold is appealing to so many people!

For this year I decided to keep things simple for the game, as the previous two years I had big ideas and I tried reinventing game genres, and I learned that was just not feasible to do during the length of a game jam. By keeping my scope small, I was able to get a complete package out that I felt proud of. Even with the simplicity though, there was still some things I had to cut, like additional minigames and more importantly, balance testing.

I decided to err on the side of the game being too easy, so people would at least be able to beat it and not get bored grinding for hours. I made the latter half "good enough", but I didn't expect the first stage to feel very grindy. I wanted to aim for at least 5 rounds to beat each stage, but maybe I'm just too used to playing these runner type games that I've built up a tolerance to the grind. So for everyone else that will play in the future, I will release a balance update to make each stage equal. It's mostly just tweaking numbers around, but each stage plays a bit different due to how many bullets get fired.

In addition to the balance update, there are other features I'd like to add. A lot of people had problems with the text being cut off on the bottom, which I never experienced with my windows, so I flicked the switch to make the game window resizeable. I'll add some additional clarification, like giving indications of when the skills proc, showing more clearly what the targets do, and adding some instructions for how to do each minigame. I'd also like to add music and sound effects, as well as more minigames based on common mobile games. I'll see about adding a save feature and a CG viewer which would be useful for...

I know what everyone wants, they want to see a continuation to 2048. One of my goals for this jam was to make a complete game that I wouldn't have to do a major content update for later, but ironically that's where I've ended up again. I thought about whether or not to make it a separate game, but I think an update to this one would fit better. Obviously an update like that would take a longer time to make, especially since I have some additional ideas I'd want to do. I'd want to change the primary "runner" portion after that point, and add in some different gameplay sections to break up the repetition. Marigold would be able to grow more and reach 2048, but I have an idea that would let the other characters join in on the growth!

Once again, thank you all for enjoying the game! Please look forward to the QOL update, and let's both hope I can continue on and make the "post-game" update!