{"author_link":"\/users\/jf1989","author_name":"jf1989","author_uid":"jf1989","comments":[],"epoch":1525011155,"event":"LD41","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":95289,"likes":2,"metadata":{"p_key":"114443","p_author":"jf1989","p_authorkey":"1080384","p_urlkey":"330403","p_title":"YATBBH - Postmortem - Part 1 (graphics)","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD41","p_time":"1525011155","p_likes":"2","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1080384","us_name":"jf1989","us_username":"jf1989","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":1,"author":80384,"body":"My aim in entering\nthe competition was to learn more about game dev, and the purpose of this\npostmortem will be to try and make the lessons learnt explicit. My entry is\navailable for download on itch, and the source code is available at github.\n\n* Game: [jf89.itch.io\/yatbbh](https:\/\/jf89.itch.io\/yatbbh)\n* Code: [github.com\/jf89\/ld41](https:\/\/github.com\/jf89\/ld41)\n\nThere are many things one could focus to talk about in a postmortem - the number\nof choices made in making a game is staggering. So I want to make a number of\nposts, which otherwise would have been notes to myself, about the most important\nlessons I've learnt from this project. In this post I'll talk about the\ngraphics.\n\n### Graphics\n\nIf you had told me I would be pleased with the graphics of my Ludum Dare entry\nwhen I started I don't think I would have believed you - I am no artist!\nHowever, after the\ncompetition, I think the graphics are perfectly acceptable. They are very basic,\nbut are functional, have a consistent style and a consistent colour scheme. In\nparticular, I think the conscious choice to keep to a restricted colour scheme\nwas a very simple way to drastically increase the quality of what was produced,\nand something that can easily be replicated in future.\n\nBeyond that, I encountered some issues and suggestions with the graphics which\nshould be addressed in future. The first of these was handling edge cases. In an\ninteractive medium like games it is inevitable that the game will produce some\nedge cases that were originally unaccounted for. In the case of my game, there\nare two edge cases which I've noticed crop up that I am unhappy with the\nhandling of. Here is a screenshot showing both:\n\n![ld41-postmortem-01.png](\/\/\/raw\/00a\/31\/z\/146fe.png)\n\nOn the left are two overlapping bullets moving in opposite directions.\nUnforunately here the shape of the bullets does not work well and it is awkward\nto visually parse this information. On the right in this image is a gun with a\ntimer which really just means \"this gun always shoots\", which could be more\nsimply shown by having only one stage in the timer (in general, timers can have\nrepeating patterns, which ought to be removed to simplify the player's\ninformation).\n\nUnforeseen edge cases like this are by definition not something one can account\nfor beforehand, however, whilst making my entry I did not pay attention to\ndetails like this at an earlier stage in development. Instead, I didn't take the\ntime to test for things other than \"does this code work\", which was a mistake.\n\nThe second problem I had with the graphics was how good a job the graphics do of\ndrawing the attention of the player to the important things happening in the\ngame. Here is an example screenshot:\n\n![ld41-postmortem-02.png](\/\/\/raw\/00a\/31\/z\/146ff.png)\n\nThe most important thing in the game is probably the player themself, who is\nlocated in the top left here. I think that the robot is sufficiently visually\ndistinct, so this is not a problem. However, the next most important thing the\nplayer probably ought to be aware of is the location of the goal, which in this\nscreenshot is two squares down from the player. Unfortunately, I chose to draw\nthe goal in a dark purple colour rather than a light purple, and the goal does\nnot draw the eye well. In addition, a bullet may be located over the goal to\nfurther obscure it (this is not really avoidable, but is something I ought to\nhave been aware of).\n\nOther things in the scene of importance are the timers of each of the guns.\nI think these are quite visually distinct and self explanatory (I've not had\nanyone leave a comment saying they didn't understand when a gun would fire, or\nwhen it would rotate). However, I relied on the timers to give all information\nabout when the guns fire, but neglected that this means there isn't a big visual\ncue about which guns are firing next turn. This means a common error whilst\nplaying is to move into a square believing it is safe but find out you have\noverlooked a gun which was going to fire into that square next turn. This could\nbe addressed by the guns changing colour to be brighter when they are going to\nfire next turn.\n\nFinally, here is a better screenshot to demonstrate the problem of locating the\nmost important information in the game. As it stands, the first part of the game\nis a mini-game of where's Waldo to locate the robot and the goal!\n\n![ld41-postmortem-03.png](\/\/\/raw\/00a\/31\/z\/14700.png)\n\nFinally, there are no sprite animations in the game, but this would have added a\nlot. Below is an example of the animations:\n\n![ld41-postmortem-04.gif](\/\/\/raw\/00a\/31\/z\/14701.gif)\n\nI think in light of how much it would add, I ought to look into learning to\nanimate the robot (and perhaps upgrading the explosion animations from particle\neffects). We shall see about this in the future!\n\nTo summarise the lessons learnt for the future are:\n\n* Use a colour scheme as an easy way of increasing graphics quality;\n* Make notes on what important information the graphics need to convey;\n* Try hand making animations.\n","comments":0,"created":"2018-04-29T13:50:25Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":95289,"love":2,"love-timestamp":"2018-04-29T15:00:06Z","meta":[],"modified":"2018-04-29T15:00:06Z","name":"YATBBH - Postmortem - Part 1 (graphics)","node-timestamp":"2018-04-29T14:12:35Z","parent":80385,"parents":[1,5,9,73256,80385],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/yet-another-turn-based-bullet-hell\/yatbbh-postmortem-part-1-graphics","published":"2018-04-29T14:12:35Z","scope":"public","slug":"yatbbh-postmortem-part-1-graphics","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":281646},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"95289","n_urlkey":"330403","n_parent":"80385","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/yet-another-turn-based-bullet-hell\/yatbbh-postmortem-part-1-graphics","n_slug":"yatbbh-postmortem-part-1-graphic","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"80384","n_created":"1525009825","n_modified":"1525014006","n_version":"281646","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/41\/yet-another-turn-based-bullet-hell\/yatbbh-postmortem-part-1-graphics","text":"My aim in entering\nthe competition was to learn more about game dev, and the purpose of this\npostmortem will be to try and make the lessons learnt explicit. My entry is\navailable for download on itch, and the source code is available at github.\n\n* Game: [jf89.itch.io\/yatbbh](https:\/\/jf89.itch.io\/yatbbh)\n* Code: [github.com\/jf89\/ld41](https:\/\/github.com\/jf89\/ld41)\n\nThere are many things one could focus to talk about in a postmortem - the number\nof choices made in making a game is staggering. So I want to make a number of\nposts, which otherwise would have been notes to myself, about the most important\nlessons I've learnt from this project. In this post I'll talk about the\ngraphics.\n\n### Graphics\n\nIf you had told me I would be pleased with the graphics of my Ludum Dare entry\nwhen I started I don't think I would have believed you - I am no artist!\nHowever, after the\ncompetition, I think the graphics are perfectly acceptable. They are very basic,\nbut are functional, have a consistent style and a consistent colour scheme. In\nparticular, I think the conscious choice to keep to a restricted colour scheme\nwas a very simple way to drastically increase the quality of what was produced,\nand something that can easily be replicated in future.\n\nBeyond that, I encountered some issues and suggestions with the graphics which\nshould be addressed in future. The first of these was handling edge cases. In an\ninteractive medium like games it is inevitable that the game will produce some\nedge cases that were originally unaccounted for. In the case of my game, there\nare two edge cases which I've noticed crop up that I am unhappy with the\nhandling of. Here is a screenshot showing both:\n\n![ld41-postmortem-01.png](\/\/\/raw\/00a\/31\/z\/146fe.png)\n\nOn the left are two overlapping bullets moving in opposite directions.\nUnforunately here the shape of the bullets does not work well and it is awkward\nto visually parse this information. On the right in this image is a gun with a\ntimer which really just means \"this gun always shoots\", which could be more\nsimply shown by having only one stage in the timer (in general, timers can have\nrepeating patterns, which ought to be removed to simplify the player's\ninformation).\n\nUnforeseen edge cases like this are by definition not something one can account\nfor beforehand, however, whilst making my entry I did not pay attention to\ndetails like this at an earlier stage in development. Instead, I didn't take the\ntime to test for things other than \"does this code work\", which was a mistake.\n\nThe second problem I had with the graphics was how good a job the graphics do of\ndrawing the attention of the player to the important things happening in the\ngame. Here is an example screenshot:\n\n![ld41-postmortem-02.png](\/\/\/raw\/00a\/31\/z\/146ff.png)\n\nThe most important thing in the game is probably the player themself, who is\nlocated in the top left here. I think that the robot is sufficiently visually\ndistinct, so this is not a problem. However, the next most important thing the\nplayer probably ought to be aware of is the location of the goal, which in this\nscreenshot is two squares down from the player. Unfortunately, I chose to draw\nthe goal in a dark purple colour rather than a light purple, and the goal does\nnot draw the eye well. In addition, a bullet may be located over the goal to\nfurther obscure it (this is not really avoidable, but is something I ought to\nhave been aware of).\n\nOther things in the scene of importance are the timers of each of the guns.\nI think these are quite visually distinct and self explanatory (I've not had\nanyone leave a comment saying they didn't understand when a gun would fire, or\nwhen it would rotate). However, I relied on the timers to give all information\nabout when the guns fire, but neglected that this means there isn't a big visual\ncue about which guns are firing next turn. This means a common error whilst\nplaying is to move into a square believing it is safe but find out you have\noverlooked a gun which was going to fire into that square next turn. This could\nbe addressed by the guns changing colour to be brighter when they are going to\nfire next turn.\n\nFinally, here is a better screenshot to demonstrate the problem of locating the\nmost important information in the game. As it stands, the first part of the game\nis a mini-game of where's Waldo to locate the robot and the goal!\n\n![ld41-postmortem-03.png](\/\/\/raw\/00a\/31\/z\/14700.png)\n\nFinally, there are no sprite animations in the game, but this would have added a\nlot. Below is an example of the animations:\n\n![ld41-postmortem-04.gif](\/\/\/raw\/00a\/31\/z\/14701.gif)\n\nI think in light of how much it would add, I ought to look into learning to\nanimate the robot (and perhaps upgrading the explosion animations from particle\neffects). We shall see about this in the future!\n\nTo summarise the lessons learnt for the future are:\n\n* Use a colour scheme as an easy way of increasing graphics quality;\n* Make notes on what important information the graphics need to convey;\n* Try hand making animations.\n","title":"YATBBH - Postmortem - Part 1 (graphics)","wayback_source":[]}