Those of you who follow me closely have probably seen a HackyZack GIF or two. It is a project I started one night as a solo game jam. It was just something fun that I threw together to blow off steam after staring at a single project for way too long.

This is something that I feel that I need when working on a commercial project. When I start a big project that I am passionate about, I get super excited and work, work, work. Often 12+ hours a day. There is bound to be some form of burn out period, and during that time I like to have something else ready.

The important thing to note is that your side project should in no way detract from your main goal. HackyZack is not my full time gig. It doesn’t take any time away from CATAM. It is my nights and weekends. It is my breathe of fresh air after a rough week of water physics.

Moving Forward

The plan with HackyZack is to test the itch.io market. As well as the micro game market. I want to pump out some quick, 1-3 hour experiences. I have a lot of fun ideas and neat game mechanics, but some of them don’t really need and/or deserve a twelve hour epic with an interesting story. I’d like to use this opportunity to make small games by myself. It also allows me to practice pixel art.

I started a new file and created HackyZack again from scratch. I have been working on it for about a week and I plan to release it within the next four weeks.

-Z