Postmortem: Bluebird of Happiness and the Condemned Witch

It's been a few weeks since I released my first game Bluebird of Happiness and the Condemned Witch. It was honestly something I didn't know I would have fun making. Fun and stressful, but mostly fun. 

Before I started using RPG Maker, I learnt Godot mainly but because of how terrible I am at it (im very dumb when it comes to programming) I ended up giving up wanting to make games. 

Then while I was bored from waiting to get a job, I started wanting to try again but using Renpy this time. But then my Big Bro told me to use RPG Maker instead. His reasoning was that it'll be easier for me because I don't have to draw backgrounds and I thought yeah! That's a good point!

...then I realized that I had to draw my own assets. Sure I could use the standard ones but it wouldn't fit the game setting... 

He probably scammed me for fun again. But jokes on him, it was also a fun process. 

After finishing and uploading the game, I realized that wow, this is it. My first real game. Simple, a bit buggy, but ultimately my own game. I was so happy. 

While not many people played my game, some did. It was enough for me. Though I did hope to get more feedback about the game so that I can improve. One gave a good feedback which made me really happy though. I can improve the next game with that feedback.

This is the list of mistakes I've made during making the game:

1. No proper drafts.

I had a draft, not a proper one though. So I had to go back and adjust stuff, sometimes breaking the game and had to fix many more things. Next time I'll prepare a better draft. 

2. Didn't prepare assets early. 

Having to replace placeholders with proper assets took so much time. Next time I'll prepare everything in advance.

3. No proper time progression system and didn't lock events if didn't go through certain objectives.

One of the feedback was about an event playing despite the required event wasn't met. It's due to improper implementation of the time progression system I used. It's still a good system, I just need to adjust it. 

4. No 'Ending' indication.

I thought I want to make the ending like a bonus room stage where you can explore post game. But it only made players wonder have I reached the ending or not. Sorry about that, I'll do a better ending next time.

5. Rushed game due to procrastination

I was being lazy and made the game only when I'm in the mood. Then I got the announcement that I'll be starting work next month and had to rush and finish the game. The game would be in a better quality if I wasn't lazy and didn't rush the game. I think?

6. Not attractive picture (the first picture to be seen by people here) to entice players.

My first picture uploaded to itch.io for my project was simple. A feather (ugly) and game name. After I switched to the witch picture and bluebird more people played the game.  Well, now I know haha.

I think that's it for now?

Overall, I'm pretty happy for my first game. 

Oh by the way here's the picture of the Witch before the events of the game.