Enjoyed reading all the stories and thought processes in this thread! We need more posts like this.
Here is mine:
I always wanted to make a game about space. When the jam started I knew I had to tie in the theme to a story as opposed to a game mechanic.
My main inspirations were sci-fi TV shows and movies, like Cowboy Bebop and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
So I came up with the idea of you being a cargo transporter ship taking jobs from NPCs, taking packages from point A to point B.
There was a lot of room to incorporate the "trust no one" concept – shady clients, deals gone wrong, ambushes.
I had so much fun coming up with the stories, dialogs, NPC and location names for the game, so much so that I ended up not using about half of them.
I also incorporated a "citizens band" radio network with procedurally generated text. Initially my plan was to make it so that the network of space truckers can help you with decision making, but it ended up being just lore and flavor text. Distress calls would have been perfect for the theme too.
In the end, I feel the gameplay felt too flat and ran out of time to implement more "fun" mechanics, so I just committed to a more minimalist, cinematic vibe to the game, instead of half-assing a battle system. It would be a good break anyway from all the arcade games I've made in previous jams.
Without spoiling too much, the game contains: transporting cargo across space, outrunning space pirates, and losing a fleet of Interstellar Police in an asteroid field, Han Solo-style.
My goal was that each level could very well be a premise for an episode of Firefly.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the result and I'm considering expanding it into a full game.
Checking out all your games now!