agents
Written on 11 November, looking back on 3 to 11 November. Times are Dutch local time.
Pack it
One script cooks and packages with the editor closed. It waits for 8 GB of free memory first, builds the zip, measures it, and turns red above 1 GB. It uses our own build targets and no -build step, because the standard route needs a Windows SDK that is not installed. works
Check it
The game writes its events into its own log in a fixed format. A small parser reads that log and reports crashes, frame rate, time to the first decision and stuck spots. A second tool reads screenshots and logs and measures pixels and timing, with its own PNG reader. A third looks for personal traces in the zip. We keep that last one optional. works
SPELTEST 6.10 eerste_beslissing 120 40 0A build lock makes the two machines queue instead of colliding: one Unreal job at a time, a clean tree, a maximum run time. Past it, the whole process tree is killed and the lock is freed. We tested that with a deliberate hang. works
What broke
| what broke | what fixed it |
|---|---|
| A zip made by the shell had backslashes in its paths. The game did not start after unpacking. | Proper paths, a check that reads the original names, and a test that builds a broken zip on purpose. |
| The cook ate memory on a 16 GB machine when shader workers piled up. | A profile that counts the workers from free memory and puts the setting back afterwards. |
| Unreal sometimes hung for minutes after being told to quit. | A timeout that kills the whole tree, not just the process. |
| The house rule is never 100 percent of the CPU, but the engine started more workers than allowed. | Every started process gets lower priority and a cap of 75 percent of the threads. |
Make it
Three generators feed the line. A Blender chain builds a procedural object, its LODs and bakes, and writes one FBX per level of detail. A 2D tool makes seamless textures and icons with transparency. For sound, a catalogue of prompts makes a set of effects, and every sound passes a gate that measures peak, silence and loop seam. works
The rule
Prepare tools, not a game.
The jam rules say nothing playable exists before the theme. So we made scripts, prompts, lessons and a tuning protocol, and tested them on throwaway scenes that never go in.