I talked about it a bit on the front page, but this is the project I decided to work on for the "Finish Your Game" Jam!

It's not finished (obviously), because I think it needs a few more days (hahaha... 6v6;) in the oven, but hopefully, I'll get a playable alpha out by early next year. :)

Nana Soup started out as a paring down of Anachronic, which is one of my big pie-in-the-sky games that I'm fairly sure I won't be able to make all by myself, but I just like thinking about it and pretending that I'm not biting off more than I can chew when I decide to pick away at certain elements of it in my free time.

Nana Soup should be much more manageable to achieve. I've gotten down the main gameplay loop, but now I have to beef it up a bit with writing. It turns out that writing... takes time. Also, it could use some nicer art, but that takes time as well. I have to physically stop myself from endlessly doting over the art because I know I will become entrapped in the "better art" labyrinth and never see the light of day again.

ANYWAYS.... The main idea is that your grandmother runs an apothecary and has fallen ill, leaving the shop to you in the interim. You've got to procure ingredients through various means, please customers, and then at night, care for your ailing grandmother. The story is going to be fairly short--spending about a week tending to the shop--and will have two endings.

I, a fool, thought I could write at least three days of content before the jam was over. Alas. I have only written one. It's not even a particularly interesting one. So in the oven it shall stay. We'll preview it another day.

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Going a bit more in depth, my initial intention was to have a large map of the forest where Eurie (the main character) lives, and the player can roam around and forage for medicinal herbs as well as other things. You have a limited time every morning to collect materials and ingredients and then you have to tend the shop. After closing for the day, you cook for your grandmother and talk over dinner, go to bed, wake up, rinse repeat.

My main dilemma when nearing the end of the jam was that I wouldn't have enough time to finish the map (though, it was half done already when I started, being one of the things I'd been working on before starting the jam). My work around was going to be a text adventure style section where you make your way through the woods via branching paths. I took a day to sketch up some backgrounds for these sections, but since I've missed the deadline, I'm wondering if I should just discard them and go back to plan A or if I should use them... since... I made them... lol

They do offer a bit more of a cinematic look at the world vs the 2d isometric style I was initially going for. Maybe I'll just keep them as concept art.

Since they might not into make it into the final game, I'll just put them here for y'all to see.

Anyways, I guess that's it. Thanks for reading! Hopefully, I'll have something playable soon.

Stay fresh! 😎