I finally tried out the #TIC80 fantasy console today because I saw that the #aGameByItsCover 2021 #gameJam (https://itch.io/jam/a-game-by-its-cover-2021) had started and I liked one of the covers enough to join:
https://famicase.com/21/softs/114.html

#pico8

I've already got the base mechanics of moving using cards, and I even have holding a card from your current hand and some cute pixel art. I wish I had thought to post while on my computer, but I'll have to post a progress screenshot tomorrow.

Here's what I've got so far!
It's pretty simple: use the cards to navigate through the maze. The card you choose is discarded, and the other cards go to the bottom of the deck. You can optionally hold a card so it won't go back to the deck.

#TIC80 #pixelArt

I've been debating whether I should /not/ shuffle the deck but instead try to make the mazes hand-crafted puzzles, but that's probably a bit too much work for a game jam (and for me generally). Maybe a future version could have a puzzle mode?

To make the game more challenging, a monster will appear every every 10 discards. The monsters will probably move around randomly to mess up your plans. After a certain number of monsters appearing/time passed?), the minotaur appears and moves straight for you from the entrance.

There will also be different difficulties in the maps themselves. Some areas will have pits instead of just walls so you have to navigate carefully: with walls, you can use cards to just walk into them without moving, but pits will send you back to the beginning without your cards!

I haven't decided what happens if you run out of cards yet... maybe you just lose? Or maybe I make it a scary affair where you can't move while the minotaur comes and gets you without any obstacle!

Instead of working on game mechanics, I made level intro animations! I'm pretty happy with how they turned out!!
#pixelArt #TIC80

I should start actually using the right hashtag for the A Game By Its Cover jam... #AGBIC

Here's my pathetic attempt to recreate the beautiful cover art in limited pixels... Even though it's nowhere near as nice, it's not actually that bad!
#AGBIC #pixelArt

Yikes, work has really gotten in the way of working on this. I got a lot of enemy movement in, but I still have a long way to go and a lot more levels to make before I'll be happy enough with it. I just hope I'll be able to get that done before the #AGBIC #gameJam is over...

Well..... I get up for work in about 6 hours, but I got to spend 3 hours tonight working on sound effects and music for my #AGBIC game! I'm going for a spooky sort of vibe and I'm getting pretty good results so far!

Here's the #music I've made for the title screen! It's spooky and foreboding to set the tone for trying to escape a dream labyrinth! #AGBIC #gameDev

And here's the #music I made to play on the Help screen. I figured I'd share it here because there are some people who might never look at that screen. #AGBIC #tic80

Yeah, I'm definitely not finishing this game on time. I'll release what I've finished on Wednesday, but it's woefully incomplete. I've become too busy in life to finish game jams anymore it seems...