Some lessons learned from my recent game jam experience:

  • Don’t wait until the very end of the jam to download the export templates bundle (see screenshot).
  • The last few hours of the jam are NOT the right time to learn shaders
  • The last few hours of the jam are NOT the right time to learn parallax backgrounds

Godot features I attempted to re-create (poorly)

  • Path2D (i was trying to move platforms back and forth by tracking points and managing velocity, before I figured out that Path2D could do this for me)
  • One-way collisions (I had used an Area2D and code to manage what collision layers a platform is, to create the effect where you could jump through a platform from below, while it acts as if it’s solid when you land on it. Turned out this was built in, and a matter of checking one goddamned checkbox.

Godot features and nodes that I had never used before (besides Path2D/PathFollow2D and one-way collisions)

  • ParallaxBackground and ParallaxLayer (though I messed this up somehow, my background that is supposed to repeat stops repeating at some point)
  • The ability to place limits on camera movement, which I’d previously done myself via code.

The only add-on I used was Godot State Charts, which continues to be the bees knees.