postmortem?

This is not the game that I wanted to make

The game that I wanted to make was a puzzle platformer where the player had to lead a collective of pigs through each level to safety.  The player, pigs and parts of the environment could be interacted with using the different type of balloons to solve the puzzle and advance to the next. The balloons that could be used are the same ones that are found in the actual game. The player wouldn't be able to die but the pigs would be able to, sort of acting as a disguised life system. 

Why I didn't make the game that I wanted to make

When the jam was announced there was about ~5 weeks to create a game, but that quickly become 4 weeks, and then 3, and then 2 , and then 1. Now, 5  weeks was more than enough time to create the game that I wanted to make, however I severely under estimated the amount of time I would have over Christmas to actually work on the game. I was also maybe a bit lazy. Towards the end of the jam, I knew I wouldn't have enough time to create any gameplay for this idea so I tried to create a new game using the mechanics that I had already created.

The game I actually made

The game that I actually submitted to the jam was put together in around a day mostly using the pieces and mechanics that I already made for the previous idea. It was made in one long crunch session (oops). It goes without saying that this game isn't very good but, I don't mind because at least I submitted something. 

What went well

- I submitted a game to the jam
- I got some more experience
- I had fun

What didn't go well

- The balloon abilities aren't very balanced and the mechanics are clunky
- Lots of bugs
- Not much gameplay
- The levels were made in ~30 mins and can basically be cheesed using a combination of only 2 balloons
- Scope creep
- Crunch

Things I'll improve on next time (I won't)

- Don't change the idea last minute 
- Better estimate the amount of time I have to work on a project and make sure the scope of the game is possibly within this time
- Spend more time thinking about other game ideas and not get attached to the first one I think of
- Spend more time focusing on the cake (core of the game) and less on other less important stuff