INTRO

Ever since I entered the Haroldverse with Violet Spinel last year as a total RPG Maker newcomer and left with a newfound passion for game development, it was a dream and a goal to enter the next Harold Jam. It didn't matter what I made; my initial thought post-Haroldverse was a goofy little Harold roulette game you could get a total of three minutes out of. However, by the time Harold Jam 3 rolled around earlier than expected, I already had a show-stopping concept in mind.

A week or two before the jam began, I caught wind of the One Map Game Challenge hosted on the RPG Maker Forums through the RPG Testers Discord. While I was going crazy on planning a full-length RPG for the last seven months, I hadn’t actually made a game in a while so I thought it could be a fun way to get back into game development. No deadline, no voting, just a fun little way to limit myself. My first thought was a long take/oner shot where a scene in a movie is shot in one interrupted take. My mind soon shifted over to the thought of a stage play which would encompass a brief RPG in a single room using set changes.

I also realized this would be a good opportunity to experiment with MV3D. For almost as long as it existed, I always envisioned my full-length RPG I mentioned above in a 3D Paper Mario-esque perspective and was dead set on using MV3D for it. (Spoiler alert, I'm not using RPG Maker anymore.) I wanted my Harold Jam entry to also use MV3D so I could get used to how it works, and it turned out the stage play setting was practically made for MV3D. While MV3D's performance can be spotty, limiting not only map size but also the number of events meant guaranteed good performance. A front-on audience perspective could let me seamlessly pull off curtains obscuring the set. (This would have looked horrible in 2D.) MV3D's lighting controls and event lamps meant changes in ambient lighting and spotlights. It was a tough decision to go with MV3D despite all this due to the month-long timeframe, but the features it offered eventually swayed me and I think it was a good investment.

As a cherry on top, the format of a stage play was perfect for a jam where limiting time was key. This also meant while the One Map challenge determined my location, the Harold jam could determine my plot and both could be a huge opportunity to practice MV3D. I chose to combine Harold Jam, One Map, and MV3D into one big learning experience and the stage was literally set for Harold: Show-Stopping Hero.

DEVELOPMENT

Throughout the development process, I stuck to a core philosophy; everything about this game must make sense in the context of a stage play. My concept drew some similarities to Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, but that game takes place in its own world and battles take place on a disconnected stage. Show-Stopping Hero would exclusively take place on the stage and so it had to be designed to be as much of a stage play as an RPG. Stage pyrotechnics would replace magic spells, which meant Pyro Points shared by you, your optional partner, and the final boss replaced the usual MP. Likewise, set changes would condense sprawling maps into a single environment and enemies would be costumed extras or props that dangle from the ceiling. Tutorials, albeit necessary, can end up breaking immersion; what better way to teach the workings of the game on the stage than a musical number?

I preemptively started the map before the jam objectives were announced after watching a few other participants do the same. The map took about a week of dev time as I not only had to learn how MV3D's code worked but figure out how everything should be assembled. There were definitely some snags; for instance, I almost thought I couldn't change tilesets using MV3D, meaning set changes would be moot. I nearly went back to 2D before I found out I was forgetting a MV3D script command to reload the map. I was also a little hesitant about whether I could create events spanning multiple tiles for the curtains and implement lighting and spotlights as I intended, so it's a blessing everything worked out. I cannot thank the MV3D community enough for their help and advice.

I specifically devoted the first day the objectives were announced to homework, making some Pokéstar Studios films in Pokémon White 2 and watching the FFVI opera scene since I didn’t own the game. Both of these familiarized me with both the theatrical feel of the game and the choice mechanics that would be prevalent throughout. This was also a valuable use of jam time while I figured out the finer details of the story.

On the topic of time, making this game required every ounce of my creative energy every second I was available. If I wasn’t sure how to handle one scene, I would jump to another or focus on other aspects of the game. Fortunately, as is usual of basic RPG Maker games, eventing was no sweat. The One Map Challenge’s 10 event limit forced me to get creative, having one event drive the entire game and only using common event spaces when absolutely necessary. In SSH's case, these were the 0/1 CP tracking event, the battle transition with the curtains, and the dialogue and CP boost that accompanies the Showstopper. There were also several new plugins outside of MV3D I had to learn on the fly such as Galv's Timed Popups, Srd's Common Event Battle Intro, and Yanfly's Enhanced TP (which Violet selflessly bought for me along with the rest of the Yanfly suite).

Combat was honestly an afterthought. After creating a particularly grindy game in the last Harold Jam, I wanted simpler and more linear combat this time around. Additionally, with no Violet to come up with an insane battle system this time, it was all in my hands. I contemplated some weird ideas including entirely choice-based battles taking place on the main map, but of course this didn't make it in. Coming up with an outlandish battle system could have cost a finished entry, so I'll take what I have. After all, it is a RPG-themed stage play so it should have RPG-themed combat.

Regardless, this game was still a photo finish. Both my audience and I doubted I could finish on time and I was only able to get a minimum viable product beta out for testing the day before the deadline. Thankfully, I was able to clean up and submit the final game at about 2:30 AM the night of the deadline. I only got to do two final test runs before the deadline, one right before submitting the first time and the other right after I woke up and submitted again. If any of my countless lucky streaks hadn't broken my way, forget about it.

STORY

Once Human announced the requirements for the Harold Jam, I immediately came up with a plot. For reference, Harold must be involved, a character must say "What have you done, Harold?", and the player must go to a dead end. Immediately I decided to tie this in with the Dark Universe theme by having Harold turn off a sacred light switch which would both affect the stage itself and the world the play took place in. I later reworked it to Harold destroying the lighting rig and the script having to be rapidly reworked on the fly to make up for it. Having been in situations where everything went under on a dime and I had to make it work as well as I could, this was an idea I could personally associate with. This was an obvious "What have you done, Harold?" moment, but the dead end took a little more thinking. Originally the guards at the end of the game would chase Harold into a dead end, but instead I had the dead end be where meets Marsha. I honestly think the dead end I went with worked a little more since it ended up being a core part of the story instead of a brief encounter.

Outside of that, the story is pretty surface level; frankly something I'm not 100% confident in to this day. My intention was for it to start as a very generic RPG translated to a stage play; picture something like a Dragon Quest musical. Then of course everything goes to hell once Harold does Harold things and it's up to you and the stagehands freaking out backstage to rerail it. Having it turn into a moral about atoning for your mistakes and making something great out of them was not in the cards at first; I have a feeling I tried to think a little harder about it after testing Violet's Re:PUNCH!!!.

Even if I wasn't entirely happy with the story, the rest of the community was happy enough to rate it the 4th best story of the entire jam. I'm absolutely shocked at how well it rubbed off, and it's incredibly reassuring to know I can tell a good story. As someone who never really tried beforehand, I'm glad I have it in me.

MUSIC

Instead of an overall winner, Harold Jam 3 would feature six different winners for each category, one of which was for sound. As a composer first and a game dev second, I had to go OFF on this soundtrack.

Already, due to the setting of this game, this would be a very unique soundtrack in the way that it would need to be primarily composed of music effects that timed with the action rather than your average looping background music. As you can guess, this was tough. Instead of freely developing and composing whenever I felt like it, I had to leap-frog between eventing a scene, timing it using a stopwatch app on my phone, and writing a song that would fit that length and accentuate important moments in between. I also forgot that writing orchestrated music is much more time-consuming than the chiptune I wrote for Axial and Stuck In The Past, my Enter the Haroldverse game. I had previously done an orchestrated soundtrack for Dracula Is Dead for Hawktober 2021, but I only wrote music for that game as opposed to doing everything else alongside it. Going back to chiptune is going to be so refreshing.

It might take a few plays to realize, but there are three core motifs in the soundtrack alongside the obvious Theme6: the Show-Stopping Hero/Harold's dad motif, Marsha's melody, and the Darkness/Oldhar motif which is literally just Theme6 flipped upside down and slightly modified. Real creative. Nonetheless, I do believe motifs are an incredibly powerful tool in any soundtrack for both the player and the composer. The player becomes as familiar with a character's motif as the character themself and the composer has to spend less time thinking up a new melody for every song!

The song Harold's dad sings in act 1 is a musical landmark for me; the first song I ever wrote to feature lyrics! I had planned to write songs with lyrics before but not much came out of them. With a deadline over my head, though, getting this one done was a necessity. Unfortunately, this came at a nasty cost; writing the whole four-minute song, coming up with fitting lyrics, and synchronizing the in-game dialogue with them meant act 1 took a solid week to develop! This set me back to the point where I genuinely believed I wouldn't finish, and as much as I wanted to do another musical number I had to respect the deadline.

The dopey march that accompanies Harold in the plains is based on a concept I had for the overworld theme in Stuck In The Past, which was based on Gon's theme from Hunter X Hunter. That song has big RPG energy but also feels goofy enough to match Harold's personality. The Pokémon style theme that made it into SITP came a lot easier and sounded better in 8-bit, however, and I finally got to repurpose the march for Show-Stopping Hero.

Right off the bat I wanted act 3 to have a notable soundtrack with a lot of emotion and mystique. I wanted something along the lines of Dave Malloy's Ghost Quartet at first, and I do think I kept the atmosphere I wanted in the lush melodies that accompany Marsha. Legitimately some of my favorite music I've ever written.

The normal battle theme, which I named Show-Stopping Showdown, is my favorite song in the game. Easily the most anime song I've ever written and one that powered me through the rest of the dev process. I’m serious, I had it blasting through the sound test built into MV as I evented. Funny how much it motivated me considering I wrote it near midnight in about an hour right after a blue screen took away at least half an hour of dev time. Fun fact, I was 24 when I started it and 25 when I finished! Took me long enough. The final boss theme was actually planned before I even had the stage play idea, but unfortunately, I got to it on the last day before the deadline and the chromaticism in Oldhar's motif meant the first third sounds muddled.

All in all, I wrote a whopping 75 music tracks for Show-Stopping Hero; 69 music effects, 4 looping background songs, and two custom jingles for loading and saving. While I don't think the quality of the soundtrack stacks up to Stuck In The Past, I am proud of it just for being able to do something different effectively. I really value unique concepts that stand out in general, so I think I did alright. After all, life's too short to make the same game (or soundtrack) everyone else is making.

Sure enough, the sheer effort I exerted composing this soundtrack paid off; I won 1st place in the best sound category! While a part of me had a feeling I'd win, it was still an absolute joy to find out I took it home.

THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR

The working title for Show-Stopping Hero was Harold: Hero of Light and Dark. From the moment I came up with it, I did not like it one bit. While it did relate to Harold and Oldhar and the lighting situation, it sounded far too generic and didn’t give the impression it would be a stage play. The name Show-Stopping Hero came around when I wrote the musical number from act 1; fittingly enough, also called Show-Stopping Hero. (Funnily enough, the term “crowd-pleasing hero” was written in my notes and “show-stopping hero” was a misremembering of that phrase. Imagine!) I realized that name would actually work very well for the game; not only does it scream “stage play” off the bat and tips its hat to the core gameplay, but Harold almost literally stops the show by blowing out the lights!

The whole damn game was going to be a musical. After I spent an entire week of dev time on act 1, I decided I would just have act 3 be another musical scene before saying F it and scrapping that. Smart move; I wouldn't have been close to finishing had I committed.

The bad CP option in the first act when Harold's dad tells him to tell the audience exactly who he is was originally "YOUR MOM!" This was a not-so-sneaky reference to how I always ended up pulling your mom jokes in jam games; both in Stuck In The Past and as a line for a character I was going to voice in Dracula Is Dead before VA got canned. Three days before the deadline, however, I realized it felt out of place in the musical setting, and then I immediately realized afterward I was intentionally breaking the immersion of the game to try and force an in-joke. In other words, my single greatest writing pet peeve. Thankfully my little brother quickly came up with "A stop-showing hero" not long after and I was quick to implement it. Thank God!

I wanted to keep the dead end with the guards alongside the dead end with Marsha, complete with Marsha saying "Don't worry, I'm used to dead ends." However I put the guards scene together with no more than four days before the deadline so having them just corner Harold and Marsha was sufficient.

Violet and I discussed moves that could build or decrease CP, and my idea was a rock-paper-scissors move that let you predict where your enemy would go. If you guessed right, you would hit and gain a CP. If wrong, you would miss and lose a CP. This got scrapped after I realized CP would need to be fixed in order to unlock the Showstopper and make grading possible.

There was going to be a bows scene at the end, but I wasn't sure how I would do it and I figured just having a grade reveal would be plenty enough. Funnily enough, there is a song in Stuck In The Past called Bows but no bows in the game where bows would be expected!

Peek through the game files and you may find an unused character who may or may not look exactly like me. I had originally planned the director of the play (named Director Johnson for painfully obvious reasons) to come out at the end and apologize to the audience. Depending on how much CP you earned, the audience would react appropriately, and Director Johnson would then decide whether he wanted to stick with the script or not. This would have been immediately after the bows sequence before the curtains closed. Like the bows sequence itself, this was replaced with the grade reveal. In hindsight, I think I was a lot better off not having the goofy self-insert. Thinking back on this makes me realize this game could have been so much more cringe between Director Johnson and the your mom joke.

SHOW-STOPPING STRUGGLES

Show-Stopping Hero is a goofy little jam game with years' worth of stress and strife condensed into a single month. Hoooooooly crap. Just to sum it up...

• Not only was this the first jam game I made pretty much completely alone, it didn't seem like I had a strong support system outside of my brother at first. Some weren't convinced by my overall idea, and I even had one friend telling me I should have been focusing on my long-term project instead. It really got to me, but thankfully as progress developed and I rolled out an alpha build more people started to warm up to it. This gave me a huge confidence boost that carried me to the finish line, and afterward pretty much every doubt everyone had in me vanished. Words cannot describe how absolutely vindicating that felt.
• I lacked confidence in the story at first. It felt like I was doing so much development and songwriting for a garbage zero-effort story. I've felt the same way about much bigger projects as well. I did warm up to it near the end though, and I could argue its cheesiness contributes to the stage play feel. Plus, it’s Harold Jam. I don’t think anyone is exactly expecting a masterpiece.
• After act 1 took far longer than expected, pretty much the entire development cycle was anchored by crippling deadline stress. One really rough night, I was absolutely convinced I wouldn't be able to finish on time and was completely miserable. I hopped into bed, shut my eyes, and immediately saw myself being locked in an iron maiden. Yeah, stuff got real bad. Up the irons?!
• I started to develop an ego the size of the sun about halfway through. Of course I need to make the best entry possible; I'm better than 50% of the people in the RPG Testers community! They don't know how to tell a story worth jack and I need to make sure they're fully aware of that! Merely acknowledging this developing ego was enough of a feat; I still have yet to fully quell it before it consumes me.
• I gained about three pounds during the making of Show-Stopping Hero I haven’t been able to shed since. Hopefully it’s just muscle mass.
• The last night before the deadline, I think I got physically sick. I pretty much had to write every song after the final battle on top of final testing and jewelry, and despite feeling mentally confident my body was getting really hot and sore. Nonetheless I powered through, but that's still concerning.

I don't know what this says about me. I clearly flew too close to the sun and overworked myself, but would it have been better to make a complete throwaway entry and save myself the stress? Every time I enter something focused on both creativity and competition, I always want to give it my all and put out something creative, inspired, and hopefully unique even if I lose. The real question is am I doing too much? Making a stage play in an engine as easy as RPG Maker shouldn't have to result in waking nightmares and almost dying.

VOTING

Sweet release! The morning of the deadline, I woke up and gave Show-Stopping Hero one last playtest to see if I could catch any more bugs. Thank goodness I did; not only was it possible to bypass Oldhar's mid-fight dialogue which could result in missing out on 3 CP, but due to the Showstopper giving 1 CP instead of 2 and forgetting to add CP to the last dialogue branch it was impossible to get a perfect score! I made the changes as fast as possible, deployed, tinkered with package.json to get rid of that stupid nw.js error, and with ten minutes before the deadline, submitted the final build. I ran upstairs, made a coffee, and spent the rest of the day decompressing. Finally, it was all over! I had to get used to life outside of slaving away at Show-Stopping Hero, but the pressure was finally gone! People would finally get to play what I had spent a solid month making! I would feast upon the fruits of my near constant labor!

I woke up the next day to see three testers saying the game crashed on boot.

Now scroll up and read everything again. I know it's a lot, but really read it. Take in those details you don't see on first read. Really soak it in. Now once you get back down here, think about everything you just read and now think after all that, no one could even open Show-Stopping Hero.

Instant panic attack on hours. It got so bad I genuinely couldn't focus on work, and since I work remotely, I ran downstairs and deployed and uploaded an emergency hotfix. I wasn't sure if I'd get disqualified for uploading after the deadline or not but I didn't care; for absolutely no one to play Show-Stopping Hero after how much time I put into it would've been a total waste regardless of how much experience I gained. Thankfully, the only thing more DJ than being unfortunate enough to spend a month on a game no one could play is being dumb lucky enough to somehow upload a post-deadline hotfix, bypass a lock Human swore he put in place, and somehow not get disqualified! I really have to thank Human for not only hosting Harold Jam every year in the first place but also giving Show-Stopping Hero a chance. I can assure anyone who reads this I made absolutely no changes to the post-deadline build. Trust me, there are very obvious bugs I could have easily fixed but chose not to in order to maintain integrity.

Just to have other people actually play my game was enough of a blessing, but the reception kinda blew my mind. I watched HawkZombie rate SSH 5 stars in every category except gameplay and combat (which both got a 4) and nearly pissed myself. Human, host of the Harold Jam and the man who could have dropped the ban hammer on SSH, called it “really the one to beat so far.” I was confident in SSH for sure, but I didn't think it was that good!

Of course, it got its fair share of criticism as well; experimental ideas done by a relative newcomer are bound to have flaws. The biggest gripe many had was with the automatic text. While a core part of the presentation, it also meant dialogue could go by too fast (especially when streaming) or too slow. Additionally, despite designing the game with replayability in mind, I failed to look at the big picture and realize not many would want to replay a game set on rails where one wrong choice borks their score. Some pointed out that different endings would have been better than grades which definitely checks out. I really should have designed it so being as Harold as possible got rewarded just as much as putting on a genuinely good show.

But regardless of any criticism, Show-Stopping Hero stopped the show. Not only did I win best in the Marsha's Melody category, I placed in the single digits in every other category except combat. Words cannot describe the emotions I felt. All that effort, all that stress, all that sheer dumb luck; it all paid off. Considering how much doubt I had about myself and my game, I am shocked but ever so grateful the community loved it as much as it did. I couldn't have dreamed of these results a year ago, and I sure could not have seen myself not only being more creative a year before that.

And speaking of paying off, I was also awarded the $50 that would randomly be given one out of six award winners. Right as my shock and awe from winning best sound fades away, life throws another beautiful sucker punch. I guess with that said, I won Harold Jam 3. I actually did it. Talk about not seeing myself winning a year ago; I couldn't have even predicted this yesterday!

POSTMORTEM

Even though I won the jam, there were obviously things I could have done better with my entry. Different endings instead of slight alterations to the dialogue could have upped the replayability a ton. Even then, though, a game as on rails as Show-Stopping Hero with admittedly minimal player interaction shouldn't be designed to be replayable in the first place. Even then, I stand behind every choice I made with Show-Stopping Hero, even the more controversial ones. It was an experimental idea I really wanted to attempt, and now I know why it flourishes but also why it flounders.

So in short:

What went right:

• Learning MV3D. Even before the stage play idea, I really wanted to get used to MV3D and see if it would be feasible for a more in-depth game. Even if my opinion on MV3D changed during the process, being able to get used to it and make Show-Stopping Hero shine was still worth it.
• Doing two jams at the same time. Kind of insane to think about, but because Harold Jam and the One Map Challenge were so mutually exclusive, I was able to use one for my setting and another for my plot and have them seamlessly integrate.
• Doing something unique and sticking with it. The stage play setting has hardly been done not only in RPG Maker, but to my knowledge in games in general. Final Fantasy VI had its famous opera scene and the Paper Mario games had battles set on a stage, but those were small parts of those games as opposed to the whole. Even if some features may have backfired, I’m at least proud of how they contributed to the stage play setting. Creative and ambitious ideas no one else would think of are a sure-fire way to make an impact. You gotta be a show-stopping hero!
• Writing a dynamic and ambitious soundtrack. Of course I would focus on music both as someone trying to make a stage play/musical and as a composer in general, and a lot of reviewers would agree music was the high point of the game.
• Making something on my own. While Stuck In The Past was a largely collaborative effort, I ended up doing Show-Stopping Hero almost completely on my own, albeit not without some valuable advice from others. As someone who easily gets paranoid about how much of myself shines through in what I do, this was very validating and I’m happy I could make it work as a solo effort.
• Experience! Regardless of how I do, I’ll always gain experience from participating in jams.

What went wrong:

• Overcommitting. Even if I was able to get a fully playable game with no huge bugs out on time, it came at the cost of working so feverishly it affected me both physically and mentally. I didn’t think this idea would be as much of a commitment as it was, so next time I need to understand how much effort I would need to put in before doubling down.
• Not understanding replayability. I didn’t factor in most players not wanting to replay an on-rails game despite implementing features like multiple routes and a final score. Additionally, different endings which are more objective than a grading system would have worked far better.
• Overscoping the music. I know I was really gunning for that Marsha’s Melody award, but I forgot how much more time-consuming writing orchestrated music is than the four-track chiptune I’ve written in the past. While the orchestrated approach worked for Dracula Is Dead, this was because I was pretty much only writing music as part of a larger team. Also writing 75 songs may have been a mistake, no matter how short. I’m genuinely shocked I even got this soundtrack finished on time, let alone the game it was written for!
• Pushing writing and combat to the wayside. Because I was putting so much effort into learning a million plugins at once and writing a detailed, orchestrated soundtrack, I think writing and combat went overlooked. Harold and the supporting cast felt weaker than the last time I wrote them, and I think not having as much fun with their dialogue affected my enjoyment of the development process. While I’m still not sure how I could have made a more engaging combat system for a stage play, it still felt very basic and I really wish I had done more with it to excel on all cylinders.
• Experimental ideas meant less practical experience. This was something I realized long after voting began. For instance, having a game set on a single map meant I lost out on some valuable mapping skills. Needless to say, I went right into a 3D prototype and had no idea how to make an effective map. It’s weird because experimental one-offs are perfect for jams but jams are also a great opportunity to sharpen your skills and level up your weak points. Something more conventional next jam could be a great way to level up my practical skills.
• Not giving myself time for testing. Even though the RPG Testers community and my younger brother came in clutch, I myself didn’t have much time to test the final product. I tested each act individually when I finished, but had I had an extra day for testing I would have caught some oversights.
• Not enjoying it as much as the last Harold Jam. Maybe it’s because my writing wasn’t all there. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t that random newcomer anymore and I had something to prove this time. Maybe I’m just nostalgic over Stuck In The Past, therefore making me stuck in the past myself. Maybe there was more over my head. Maybe this game was just harder to make! Either way, considering I love making games so much, it shouldn’t have to become something that literally hurts to do. As much as this goes against my philosophy, maybe I do have to hold myself back if it means enjoying the process.

What to learn:

• Replayability. While replayability is great for a jam game, instead of focusing on tiny changes here and there try to make a game that people want to replay. Look at it more from the player’s perspective than simply observing how others do it and plopping it into my own game with zero context. Additionally, having completely different endings instead of a different score reveal makes replaying a game so much more worth it.
• Think from the player's perspective. As I mentioned earlier. Even if I put all sorts of frills and conditional easter eggs into my game, is the player going to see them? Think about what the player is guaranteed to see, hear, and feel and focus on that first and foremost.
• Temper my ambition. It’s hard for me to do this, honestly; I never want to put out anything less than I’m capable of. With that said, I should try and make this a goal next jam just so I don’t almost die. Additionally, a less committal game means more time to polish and test it. Teaming up like I did with Stuck In The Past could also mean duties get delegated and the game gets done faster. (I may or may not have a teammate for next year.)
• Leave more time for testing. Towards the end of Show-Stopping Hero, I planned to leave the last weekend before the deadline open for some intense beta testing. I ended up releasing an unfinished beta Sunday afternoon and only got to test the finished beta once before submitting. I also deployed a final build ten minutes before the deadline and didn’t even open it, resulting in the crash on boot fiasco that could have cost me dearly. Considering I uploaded the final builds of both Show-Stopping Hero and Stuck In The Past without testing, this is something I have to change next year.  
• Chill out next time! Make something a little more low-key. It’s Harold Jam for crying out loud! Don’t become conceited and egotistical! Don’t work yourself to death! Have fun!

CONCLUSION

Do I think Stuck In The Past is a better game than Show-Stopping Hero? Yes. It's more interactive, has a unique graphical style and a better soundtrack (in my opinion at least), and the characters and writing are better across the board. Does that mean I am a worse game dev now than I was before? Absolutely not. I quadrupled down on a concept that, albeit a little awkward in terms of pace, was unique, well-oriented for a jam, and something I saw a lot of potential in. Jams are a wonderful opportunity to experiment, and even if you don't place well nothing can take away the experience you gain and the lessons you learn.

Plus, growth is never a straight line up; everyone ebbs and flows, everyone wonders if they've fallen off, and everyone gets conflicted over whether they're actually good at what they do or not. It's all part of the learning process; understand what went right and wrong and what to gain from it all. Remember that one bad day doesn’t define a career. Take every bit of criticism to mind but not to heart and apply what others say. The single greatest tool any artist, game dev or not, can have in their arsenal is a good growth mindset. It’s not easy; criticism can easily demoralize many fledgling game devs and even more experienced ones. Even if it hurts, to learn and grow from it is what truly matters. Diamonds are made under pressure after all.

All in all, Show-Stopping Hero was absolutely worth it despite all the stress and strain that came with it. Participating in Harold Jam was a big goal for me this year, and what I produced yielded some invaluable experience both in making games and understanding the nitty gritty of MV and its countless plugins. Winning the whole thing was just a big ol' show-stopping cherry on top. If I had focused on other projects during Harold Jam, I doubt any real experience or value would have come out of it.

So what’s to come? First things first, I’ll be uploading a final post-jam patch and the original soundtrack very soon. After that, I plan to shift my focus to making a prototype for my passion project. Prototype is a loose term now, as it’s slowly starting to become a full-fledged game in its own right. It’s about a boy with a technicolor dreamcoat studying cave drawings and returning with invaluable knowledge and treasures for his dad’s museum. He also makes some wacky friends so it’s pretty much The Goonies. Show-Stopping Hero prepared me well, as I recently decided I want to commit to MV3D to see if my planned perspective will work and learn to map for that perspective.

And let's talk about that passion project since this is the perfect time to plug it. I don't know what the main character's name is, so let's just call it Funny Chameleon: The Colors Of Life. (Unmarked spoiler alert in the GDD!) It's a turn-based RPG featuring an elemental type system based on colors. The playable cast can change their own colors, equip differently colored weapons to change their attacks' types, and even recolor enemies. The story is about a chameleon who happens to be the daughter of royalty and next in line to claim the throne. She is sent on a worldwide mission to make peace with the locals; only everything happens to be going wrong in a classically RPG-esque fashion. While she starts off incredibly anxious and LARPs as a magical girl to soothe her nerves, she makes friends, forges a found family, and begins to understand life past the walls of her city. I've been planning this game since right after Harold Jam 2, and it's grown to be something I wake up in the morning for. It's transcended RPG Maker by now and I'm still waiting to find the perfect engine (literally, I'm waiting for RPG Architect to get to a mostly completed state), but that hasn't stopped me from near constantly planning and theorycrafting.

So in short, thank you to Human, Violet Spinel, my little brother, the MV3D community, and everyone who played and rated Show-Stopping Hero. This is a huge milestone for me, but even then I know I still have a long way up. So excited to keep growing and loving the process!