I started working on Gemlings while brainstorming ideas for games I could create specifically for my portfolio. One of my main goals was to keep the scope manageable. When starting new projects, I tend to get overly excited and design games with a much larger scope than I can realistically finish. In the past, this often led to projects becoming too complex, and eventually being abandoned.

Gemlings became a bit of a personal challenge: to keep the idea simple and actually finish the project. I’ve worked on many prototypes before that never made it to my portfolio because I wasn’t satisfied with them or they remained unfinished. With Gemlings, I focused on completing a small, polished experience instead of constantly expanding the idea.

The game was also inspired by a number of small PC games that sit on your desktop and progress passively while you do other things. Examples include Rusty’s Retirement, Bongo Cat, and especially Cornerpond, which served as the main inspiration. I liked the idea of a game that continues progressing in the background while you work or browse.

To support this idea, Gemlings includes an auto-damage upgrade that periodically deals damage during the mining mini-game. This allows the game to eventually complete the mini-game without player input. However, the upgrade starts off fairly weak, so players still need to interact with the game early on, especially when trying to obtain rarer gems. In theory, the game can be played entirely passively, but progression will be slower.

During development, I also spent time working on the art, UI, animations, and other presentation elements. In the past, I often used the excuse that “I’m an engineer, so these things aren’t really part of my job.” However, when presenting a game to players, it’s clear that people are much more engaged when the game looks polished and visually appealing.

For future projects, I’m planning to expand further into areas like sound design and continue improving the overall presentation of my games. My goal is to gradually become more well-rounded in the different disciplines involved in game development.