{"author_name":"Volatile Dove","cat":"LD #33","comments":[],"epoch":1443989640,"likes":3,"metadata":{"p_key":"12819","p_author":"Volatile Dove","p_authorkey":"17202","p_urlkey":"48069","p_title":"Architect Of Terror #LD33 Post-Mortem","p_cat":"LD #33","p_event":"LD33","p_time":"1443989640","p_likes":"3","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"17202","us_name":"Volatile Dove","us_username":"volatiledove","event_start":"1440115200","event_key":"29","event_name":"LD33"},"text":"

Oh my, it’s late, but better late than never \":)\" This is the postmortem for the game Architect Of Terror<\/a> I made in three days for the Ludum Dare 33. Note: this postmortem contains spoilers. You should play it before if you didn’t do yet, it’s an unusual (and maybe disturbing) experience!<\/p>\n

\"screenshot\"<\/p>\n

Ratings:
\n #91 Innovation(Jam) 3.76
\n #117 Mood(Jam) 3.81
\n #117 Theme 4.00
\n #128 Overall 3.77
\n #207 Fun 3.52
\n #618 Graphics 3.19
\n #1627 Coolness 40%<\/p>\n

What went right:<\/strong><\/p>\n

– This was a challenging Ludum Dare experience because I had never made a game with Unity before<\/strong>. Before the Ludum Dare , I had only followed the 3 first Unity tutorials (Roll a ball, Space shooter and Survival) and had played with it one or two hours. And yet I shipped a working game in time, which was roughly like I wanted. I had read before that one should not start Ludum Dare without knowing its tools… I’d reply that it depends! (in the other hand I had more than 7 years of professional experience in development, so C# was not a difficult step for me).<\/p>\n

– I did a game in a weekend but I also did other stuff as well – partly because my girlfriend would have been unhappy to see me hooked on the computer the whole time. I still found maybe less than 15 hours of working<\/strong> on it, which is not that much for a Jam, and yet, like I said, I shipped a working game in time, which was roughly like I wanted. <\/p>\n

– Unity physics engine did a really good job. Sometimes unexpected bugs becames features, like for example red people “shaking” of excitement when you talk to them on the tribune. Sometimes simple tricks gave a really good impression, like red people following a yellow victim, giving the impression to push or even lift it.<\/p>\n

– The game theme and main idea went quite quickly, and the game ideas went progressively during development. I though as first to make a more explicit reference to Nazism, but my girlfriend suggested to change this, and I think it’s a good idea because it makes the game more universal.<\/p>\n

– In the end, the ratings results show an improvement compared to my previous (first) ludum dare game, yay!<\/p>\n

What went wrong: <\/strong><\/p>\n

– Nothing really important. I got some trouble in the end because I think the source code was going a little bit confusing and Unity physics engine wasn’t exactly always behaving like I was expecting, and as such I took some time in displacing source code functions and doing trial-and-error tests. I was also not really sure about things like “do you have to go back to the tribune to activate the prison” or “how many blue people do you have to convince to activate bullying mode”, etc.<\/p>\n

– I didn’t get enough time to add either music or sound. But that may have been complicated anyway to find something fitting the game.<\/p>\n

– After the Jam, I didn’t get enough time to test that many games, or didn’t put enough time in it, to be honest. As a result my Coolness score is clearly below the rest.<\/p>\n

How to continue the game:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m not sure about this, I could of course add some music or sound. But anyway I don’t know, because of the somewhat sensible theme of the game, I’m not sure it would be fitted for commercialization anyway (maybe it has to remain free, to show people how manipulation and terror may gain ground).<\/p>","time":"October 4th, 2015 3:14 pm","title":"Architect Of Terror #LD33 Post-Mortem"}