I decided to participate in a game jam - a challenge to create a video game in a certain time frame - that was set to start on February 1st, and would last for only 12 days. The only other requirements for this game jam was that it should be pink. For my game, i wanted to make a story-based visual novel. Before the jam started, I worked to come up with an idea and began to make concept art for it. The concept art is below:

After wrestling with many ideas, I decided on an idea to make a story about a shy 5th grade girl who keeps her hobby of drawing and writing a secret. One day the character that she created, an over-the-top girly superhero, comes to life and causes her much embarrassment in front of her peers. Ultimately, the character ends up helping the girl to open up to people because she is really a reflection of the girl's interests and all the things that she was too shy to reveal about herself. This game would be called "Star of Mine".

For this game, I used Ren'py, a Python based visual novel maker. It provides you with a simple interface that you can modify to essentially infinite extent by applying graphics and some programming knowledge. I had some prior experience experimenting with Ren'py, but I also learned some things while making the game. I had enough knowledge to be able to do a few animations and more complex features, like having interactive rooms and scrollable graphics. The music was provided by a musician who wished to collaborate with me for the game jam.

Some backgrounds from the game. I had to be a bit resourceful in differentiating different classrooms because I didn't have enough time to design different shaped rooms. Going forward I plan on adding things to each scene - books in the english room, posters in the art room, etc - and insert characters that you can talk to in each room. This will help to distinguish each room besides just the color.

This short clip shows the title screen and main menu buttons. The first scene is set in the shy girl's bedroom as she wakes up and gets ready for school. The room is interactive, so you can click on items and hear what the shy girl (Marie) has to say about them. I hope to add more color to the scene and more items for you to click and eventually add to an inventory.

This clip is of the lunchtime scene where the camera pans across to show the protagonist's drawings.

Here are some story boards for the key scene in the story that I made. I wanted to plan out what the reveal would look like for the magical superhero. It also served as a helpful tool to send to the person making the music, because he was to make a specific short song for this scene and wanted to know how it would look. You can see how i translated these storyboards into a more polished animation for the game below:

This is what I accomplished within the 12 day time frame. It is clear that it is still unfinished, but the timing and general look of the scene was what was most important to me to capture. I really wanted the characters bubbly, confident personality to shine through just from seeing her for the first time.

The first image here is the title screen I managed to complete within the 12 day time limit, adn the second is the revised menu screen that I redid later in my free time. The new title screen has animated elements like Harmony and Marie blinking, the logo floating back and forth, and a meteor shower continuously falling in the background.

I hope to work on this game throughout this year. I have already thought of the general plot and how it will end. This game demo only covered a fraction of the entire story I hope to tell, and I had to cut out a lot of characters even from the beginning to be able to finish by the deadline. I really enjoyed working on it, and it is helping learn about story timing as well as programming.