{"author_link":"\/users\/microwerx","author_name":"microwerx","author_uid":"microwerx","comments":[],"epoch":1524929820,"event":"LD41","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":95112,"likes":1,"metadata":{"p_key":"114337","p_author":"microwerx","p_authorkey":"1010389","p_urlkey":"330297","p_title":"Marco Polo Post Mortem","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD41","p_time":"1524929820","p_likes":"1","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1010389","us_name":"microwerx","us_username":"microwerx","event_start":"1524182400","event_key":"72","event_name":"LD 41"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD41","removed_author":false},"_superparent":73256,"_trust":4,"author":10389,"body":"It was fun to create Marco Polo. I've always wanted to do a classic text adventure game like Oregon Trail or Marco Polo. At the same time, slowly I'm getting better at creating a game experience. There was a lot of good feedback and this has been my most ambitious game.\n\nWhat went right:\n1. I had maybe a day and a half to work on the game. So using the skills I already had, I didn't try to go crazy learning something new. So for genre #2, I used a side scrolling game mechanic that I have been working on.\n\n2. One hour game jam. This little compo on Saturdays has really helped focus on what key items need to be part of the game experience such as starting, stopping, winning, and losing a game. I am getting good at quickly putting those key items into my final application.\n\n3. Graphics and typography. I have found a few typefaces that I really like and have a particular aesthetic. Likewise, I had decided a while ago to embrace 8x8 sprites because they require a lot less time to create. They hearken back to the old Commodore VIC-20, which I am very fond of.\n\n4. Playtesting. I got the feedback I needed by simply playing other games and rating them. I had a lot of fun and it was good to see what others were able to accomplish in 48 hours. You learn quickly what works and what doesn't. It is fun to play and rate the games that your reviewers have created!\n\nWhat went wrong:\n\n1. I had never created a text adventure in a modern event loop based architecture. I spent many hours trying to work on state transitions in order to keep the game from crashing.\n\n2. I was not able to smoothly transition from one genre to the next. I would have liked to smoothly fade in the screen. This requires some more work and understanding on my part.\n\n3. I didn't do as good of a job at marketing my game. On the LDJAM website, I had screenshots of my game and very little description. Next time, right off the bat, I'll create a compelling graphic to represent my game and a good description highlighting its features.\n\n4. Random events. So this time around, I used a random number generator to create events, but what I needed to do is created randomized lists so that events do not happen repeatedly over again.\n\nI hope this was mildly interesting. If you would like to play my game, feel free to visit https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/marco-polo\n\n![Marco Polo Logo.png](\/\/\/raw\/598\/2\/z\/145ef.png)","comments":0,"created":"2018-04-28T15:23:40Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":95112,"love":1,"love-timestamp":"2018-04-28T15:40:32Z","meta":[],"modified":"2018-04-28T15:40:32Z","name":"Marco Polo Post Mortem","node-timestamp":"2018-04-28T15:38:26Z","parent":78089,"parents":[1,5,9,73256,78089],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/marco-polo\/marco-polo-post-mortem","published":"2018-04-28T15:37:00Z","scope":"public","slug":"marco-polo-post-mortem","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":280871},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"95112","n_urlkey":"330297","n_parent":"78089","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/marco-polo\/marco-polo-post-mortem","n_slug":"marco-polo-post-mortem","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"10389","n_created":"1524929020","n_modified":"1524930032","n_version":"280871","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/marco-polo\/marco-polo-post-mortem","text":"It was fun to create Marco Polo. I've always wanted to do a classic text adventure game like Oregon Trail or Marco Polo. At the same time, slowly I'm getting better at creating a game experience. There was a lot of good feedback and this has been my most ambitious game.\n\nWhat went right:\n1. I had maybe a day and a half to work on the game. So using the skills I already had, I didn't try to go crazy learning something new. So for genre #2, I used a side scrolling game mechanic that I have been working on.\n\n2. One hour game jam. This little compo on Saturdays has really helped focus on what key items need to be part of the game experience such as starting, stopping, winning, and losing a game. I am getting good at quickly putting those key items into my final application.\n\n3. Graphics and typography. I have found a few typefaces that I really like and have a particular aesthetic. Likewise, I had decided a while ago to embrace 8x8 sprites because they require a lot less time to create. They hearken back to the old Commodore VIC-20, which I am very fond of.\n\n4. Playtesting. I got the feedback I needed by simply playing other games and rating them. I had a lot of fun and it was good to see what others were able to accomplish in 48 hours. You learn quickly what works and what doesn't. It is fun to play and rate the games that your reviewers have created!\n\nWhat went wrong:\n\n1. I had never created a text adventure in a modern event loop based architecture. I spent many hours trying to work on state transitions in order to keep the game from crashing.\n\n2. I was not able to smoothly transition from one genre to the next. I would have liked to smoothly fade in the screen. This requires some more work and understanding on my part.\n\n3. I didn't do as good of a job at marketing my game. On the LDJAM website, I had screenshots of my game and very little description. Next time, right off the bat, I'll create a compelling graphic to represent my game and a good description highlighting its features.\n\n4. Random events. So this time around, I used a random number generator to create events, but what I needed to do is created randomized lists so that events do not happen repeatedly over again.\n\nI hope this was mildly interesting. If you would like to play my game, feel free to visit https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/marco-polo\n\n![Marco Polo Logo.png](\/\/\/raw\/598\/2\/z\/145ef.png)","title":"Marco Polo Post Mortem","wayback_source":[]}