Postmortem & Next Steps

I want to share some thoughts about the project. I'll talk about the focus of the game and how I achieved it, ideas that didn't make the cut, and what’s next for the game. It's a bit lengthy, so I’ve broken it down into sections.

Before diving in, I want to give a huge thanks to everyone who played the game! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Also, a massive shoutout to Jern for organizing such an amazing jam!

Jam goals

In every Game Jam, I aim to learn something new and push my boundaries. Looking back at my previous jams, they’ve often been mechanic-heavy but lacked polish. They were missing key elements like models, music, sound effects, and particle effects that would’ve made them feel more complete.

This time, I wanted to focus on cinematography (cutscenes), animations, and overall game feel (completeness). And omg it paid off! The game won the Jern Choice Award for Cinematography & Completeness! Insane!

How I achieved the goals?

Level Design

I'm not a designer, and I suck at level designing. I decided to take a different approach by using an asset pack and focusing on other aspects of the game instead. Great choice in my opinion - If I had tried to design the world myself, the game wouldn’t have come out nearly as good.

Animation

I finally had the chance to learn and implement inverse kinematics (IK). It's an incredibly powerful tool. By combining traditional animations and IK, I was able to make the game feel more immersive: having characters (both the player and NPCs) rotate their heads, making the player's hand aim and move around, and even using it in cutscenes.

Cutscenes

How do you make cutscenes? Well, I knew my way around the Animator tool, so I initially used that together with syncing delayed calls, music, and camera animations. It worked... but making even the smallest changes, like adjusting a transition by half a second, was time-consuming and super annoying.

After struggling with that !@#$ for a few days,  I remembered the Timeline tool, which I had used once before for my previous game Cyber Lounge Tycoon. What a game changer! I ended up redoing all the cutscenes using Timeline. It felt like editing a video in a proper software - so much simpler!

Voice Overs

Cutscenes need voice overs, so I spent some time finding a good Text-to-Speech AI. Elevenlabs was excellent choice! The only catch was that I needed a commercial license, which meant paying $5 for a monthly subscription. No big deal, I could afford that. So, I subscribed, found a voice I liked, and thought I was set.

Then, halfway through the jam, I found out that Jern is against any use of AI, even for voice overs. Damn, the game wouldn’t be the same without it... I didn’t know what to do. I even considered submitting the game with the AI and getting disqualified because I really liked the result.

Luckily, on Thursday evening, just three days before the deadline, SolarLabyrinth and AnihanShard offered their incredible help. I quickly put together a document with all the lines, where they’d be used, and AI-generated examples for reference. By Saturday morning, I had all the voice recordings I needed. Thanks to the Timeline tool, it was super easy to sync their voice acting with the cutscenes.

I honestly can’t thank them enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You two saved the game from disqualification.

Music & SFX

Music and sound effects are crucial in games, yet my jam submissions usually lack in that area. I tend to add them as a last-minute touch. But not this time!

I spent hours searching for music sources that I could use for free with commercial rights and stumbled upon Pixabay. I probably listened to every track tagged with "cowboy," "western," "desert," and everything in between. I even found a funny tag, "Spaghetti," which had a lot of western-themed tracks. In the end, I found what I felt were the right tracks for the game. I did the same with sound effects.

Scope creep

As with every project, there was a bit of scope creep. This section is all about the ideas that didn’t make it.

Bar Fights

Originally, there were going to be two ways to fight enemy groups. The duel made it in - because what’s a western without a duel? The second option was supposed to be a "Provoke" feature, which would turn the saloon into a full-blown bar fight: smashing chairs over enemies, throwing bottles, and all kinds of chaos. Unfortunately, I didn't have time for that and decided to focus more on the duel and the cinematics instead.

Power Ups

Power-ups were supposed to play a big role in the game. I had envisioned the game with a roguelike feel, where the player could gain different abilities. These would be chosen at a poker table in the form of cards. Some power-ups would be permanent, like increased strength and speed, while others would last only for one fight, such as super punches, exploding bullets, and health potions.

The idea was that, before a duel or fistfight, the player would sit at the poker table and choose a limited number of power-ups for the upcoming battle. Temporary power-ups would be consumed, even if they weren’t used.

During the second week of the jam, I started working on this idea on stream. But not even an hour into development, I decided to drop it and focus on what I already had. There was still so much to do, and adding another HUGE mechanic would have been overwhelming for both me and the project. Chat was super supportive of the decision, and I’m glad I chose to scale back.

Replayability

I wanted to add some replayability into the game, which would also play along the theme. The idea was that after defeating all the enemies, the main character (MC) would go back in time and have to recapture the city over and over again - creating a cute time loop that tied into the game’s lore. This is why the MC says, “Well, here I am, again. Same town, same saloon.”

Along with the power-ups and different fight styles, this was intended to give the game a roguelike/roguelite feel (with a Hard Mode option that would reset everything upon death). With each loop, both the player and enemies would become stronger and more challenging.

The time loop concept also inspired another idea involving a horse. The MC would ride in on a horse, and if the horse were to die, the MC would enter the next loop without it, using the current riding animation.

Ultimately, I felt that the entire concept might not be as entertaining as I had hoped. So, I decided to make the game linear and simple - a one time adventure and that’s it.

Some More Decisions

I want to talk about a few more decisions I made.

Crosshair & Reloading

During development (and after release), I received feedback from many players who complained about the missing crosshair. And some players joked about the ridiculous reloading times, with comments like, "Pressing the reload button more than shooting the gun." Yes, I could have easily added a simple dot on the screen and implemented a reload time, the lack of both was intentional.

I liked the idea of "spray and pray." This game isn’t meant to be taken seriously - just look at the horse riding animations! Which brings me to...

Ridiculous Animations

Some animations in the game are funny, unrealistic, and even a bit broken. All intentional. The dying animations are exaggerated, and the horse riding animation is a comic touch to the overall experience. Plus, the IK sometimes glitches - causing the head to freak out and aiming & shooting backward. The game is meant to be comedic, which is why I chose not to fix or improve any of these quirks.

Next Steps

I’m really happy with the result, and many players have asked for more. The main goal moving forward is to avoid overscoping the project - something every developer has probably said before, only to find themselves working on a project for years...

Story

There won't be any additions to the storyline. It is what it is - short and cute (IMO).

Improvements

The main goal is to improve the current game experience.

Character Customization - I’m glad I was able to include two characters in the game (cowboy and cowgirl). In the next version, there will be some minor character customization options, including three skin tones and four clothing color styles.

AI - I want to improve the AI, as it’s a bit dumb at the moment. There’s a problem with Y-axis aiming; if the player gets on a platform, the AI can't aim at them...

NPCs - I want to add more life to the town by introducing additional NPCs to kill around. It would be fun to include voice lines for specific characters. For example, when killing the sheriff,  it would be funny to have a reference to I shot the sheriff.

More Cutscenes - I really enjoyed creating cutscenes! Hmm, maybe it's a sign to shift away from making tycoon games and do cinematic storytelling... Currently, there’s a voice line when the MC enters the saloon for the first time. I already added a small cutscene to that.

Duels - At the moment, all duels start in the same location with the same cutscene. I plan to change that, so every duel begins in a different spot on the map, each with its own unique entry animation.

Tumbleweeds - I'm sorry Jern, I will be adding a kickable tumbleweed!

Bug Fixes - And of course, fixing those damn bugs. No game is perfect, especially one made in two weeks. My friend somehow managed to get himself deadlocked after the last fight... How???

Steam

Steam? Yes, Steam! I’m not a fan of updating jam entries on Itch; I think they should remain as they are. Since the game will remain small, it will be FREE to play. So, stay tuned for that!

By putting the game on Steam, I hope to achieve two things: first, to reach a wider audience, and second, to drive more traffic to my main Steam games. Yes, this is a bit of a marketing move!

Waves Mode

While developing the game, I really enjoyed running around shooting things. I’m considering adding an infinite game mode where enemies spawn in waves, and the player must survive as long as possible. I might also include droppable items from the killed enemies.

"Thank You Partner"

Are you still reading? Wow, thanks! I had fun writing this out, reflecting on the process and what not. I hope this was an interesting insight on the behind the scenes.

That's it... Get lost!