"The Last Layer" or how I made my first jam game in 72 hours

Hello everyone

My name is Nick, and I'm a regular warehouse worker. I've been interested in video games all my life. This year, my gaming experience has reached 30 years. My grandfather gave me my first console when I was 5 years old in 1995. Since then, my passion for video games has not subsided.

One day, I was falling asleep after another video game session... I don't remember what kind of game it was, but... I thought, "Oh! I wish I could change some things in this game. I would have done it differently." And then it dawned on me. Or maybe try to make a video game yourself?! And since then, I've been studying game design and learning how to draw pixel art.

This month (11/01/2025) I decided to participate in a game jam and made my first game in 72 hours. The creation process and the mistakes I made (oh, there were a lot of mistakes):

1. I didn't prepare.
Damn, I didn't know how to prepare for a gamejam at all! When the jam theme was announced, I just sat down at my computer and started the project from scratch. Or I could have originally come up with a project base and written the code on simple square models. It would be very easy to customize any jam theme for such a project. And the topic was the simplest! "Epiphany." Hell, you can do anything on this topic, even RTS! (≧◡≦)

2. Lack of understanding of the project structure to create a game quickly. I've been redoing a lot... On the second day of the game session, I realized that many mechanics were becoming more difficult to implement, and the reason for this was the ill-conceived basis of the project. The initially ill-conceived foundation cracked, and in a hurry I had to redo the foundation, simultaneously redoing everything else, even partially the level design!

3. Disregard for sounds and music. Instead of making the last (most uninteresting) level of the game in a hurry, it was necessary to add sounds and music to the game. The lack of sounds and music STRONGLY affects the overall impression of the game.

4. The team. Oh yeah... It was the first time I decided to participate in a solo. I think I've done a lot, but it's very little compared to what the guys in the team have been able to do. For the next jam, I will definitely find a pixel artist and a sound designer to join the team.

You can see the result of my jam activity by playing the game The Last Layer, where the main character puts on glasses in order to look into subspace. Unfortunately, my game is not indexed, and I could not get feedback from the players, but feedback is what makes us better. If you are interested in my game, please leave a review.

Honestly, I don't care about the promotion of the game, I just want to get feedback and understand what I did wrong so that my next games would be better! Thank you for your attention. ^ _ ^