Finishing the Thing

I have joined my first game jam. The “Finish It” Narrative Game Jam, which started today, was designed to inspire game developers and creators to return to an incomplete project and finally finish it.

And I definitely have a project that I would love to finish.

I’ve been working on “Bluebeard: An Interactive Tale,” a Twine game, off and on for a little over a year. As much as I love this project, a number of factors have caused delay, including crunch times at my day job, the need to work on other personal projects, travel, family events, and — let’s not forget — plain old self doubt.

Despite these delays, I have finally reached a point where I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Finding out about the “Finish It” jam coincided with that moment perfectly. I’m the kind of person who works better with a sense of community and under a deadline. If I know that people are expecting me to deliver something, then I’ll work all the harder to make sure to push myself and finish it.

Here’s what I’ve got left to do in the project:

1. Complete the first draft — Currently, I have about two-thirds of the text completed. I’ll nee d to draft the three final segments (leading to the three main endings) and implement the decision branches in Twine.

2. Read through the entire text — Reading the text involves checking several aspects of the project: Does prose and dialog flow smoothly? Do I need to shorten or condense any sections to get to the decision points quicker? Are the three main endings balanced and satisfying?

3. Do final checks — After taking a short break, go back through it again to make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes and that all the links work properly.

4. Pull the trigger — Take a deep breath, swallow my self doubt, and share the final game online.

I’m looking forward to finally reaching that final step.