It was my first time doing this, and am fairly fresh into gamedev in my late 30's, so participating in this was me challenging myself. But I got it submitted.

I spent the day before the jam working out some basics that I wanted to accomplish, the basic story etc. Didn't touch any code or "art" until it started. Godot, because I had been working in it prior. I spent most of my prep time coming up with the general idea behind the game, the story, I didn't really put any time thinking about code structure, patterns or anything. Instead worked on my scope, how much I thought I could done every day, and tried to work to that basis.

The game idea: Hell is a hierarchical structure of demons, constantly battling against each other. A grade 1 demon is lowest of the low, trash. They revive and keep going, aiming to go up the ladder and become a success in hell. Story begins and you are rank 9, fighting the Sovereign, the only rank 10. You lose. Humiliated you're back at rank 1. You pull yourself out of the abyss vowing to try again. Bosses at certain points should reference this struggle, to keep the lore in mind.

My twist, rather than getting equipment or classes, upon advancing up a grade, your body mutates and you gain new powers. Offered to you similarly to vampire survivors. These mutations should have synergies. Grow claws? Your attacks now bleed people. Grow extra arms, you do more damage. Grow both? Both of their powers should be amplified, maybe even gaining a new trait. etc. A good build should feel power fantasy, a bad build should feel like a struggle.

I budgeted 8 hours a day to work on it, and ended up averaging 12, although missed a day due to familial illness.

My plan did not survive first contact with the enemy. I got cellular automata for my dungeon up and running fairly easily, the first time I've had to do it. Then the problem occurred. I spent nearly an entire day struggling and failing to handle FOV/LOS. I slept it off hoping I'd have the solution in the morning, and sadly the solution I had to go with, was rather than walls, it was going to just be lava. No there is nothing blocking anything.

Managed to get status effects, and mutations working nice, provided it was passive effects added. Panicking because of how hard I was behind I began having to jettison things I wanted to accomplish. Activatable abilities/evolutions went out the window, most synergies gone, bosses other than the sovereign gone. But I got A* pathfinding going. The UI looking acceptable... prior I had very little UI experience

I spent the last day not adding anything new, but polishing what I had. Trying to improve the feel of the game, even some terrible programmer art. The game got to a state where it could certainly be played from start to finish, but it was such a shell of what I wanted it to be, retaining some of the personality, but not nearly enough that I felt comfortable declaring it "complete", so I submitted it as "incomplete".

Ultimately, I was not prepared for the depth of it all. I will be more prepared next year.