{"author_link":"\/users\/jeremy-ryan","author_name":"Jeremy Ryan","author_uid":"jeremy-ryan","comments":[],"epoch":1556684676,"event":"LD44","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":153872,"likes":1,"metadata":{"p_key":"130976","p_author":"Jeremy Ryan","p_authorkey":"1015034","p_urlkey":"347164","p_title":"Microtransaction Mages --- A Post Mortem","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD44","p_time":"1556684676","p_likes":"1","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1015034","us_name":"Jeremy Ryan","us_username":"jeremy-ryan","event_start":"1556236800","event_key":"75","event_name":"LD 44"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD44","removed_author":false},"_superparent":139254,"_trust":14,"author":15034,"body":"![banner_6.png](\/\/\/raw\/aba\/3\/z\/24049.png)\n\n## I Made a Thing!\n\nWoo! This was Compo #5 for me, and the timing could have been better for putting aside a weekend to make a game. In addition to approaching finals, I participated in a programming challenge that took up about nine hours on Sunday, so I really had to think hard about how to budget my time.\n\nMy strong areas tend to be in Graphics and Audio, so I try to focus on different categories for each event to expand my strengths. Last event, I aimed for top 100 in *Overall* and *Fun*, so this event I'm shooting for top 100 in *Theme* and *Mood*.\n\n![wizurr.png](\/\/\/raw\/aba\/3\/z\/2406b.png)\n\n## What Went Well\n\nOverall, I think the jam went pretty well.\n\n- **The Parallax:** I brought back one of my favorite visual tricks, **parallax**! The background scrolls by in all of its layered glory.\n\n- **The Audiovisual Gravy**: I prioritized \"game feel\" elements to fairly good effect, with explosions, button feedback, and camera shake (if you haven't already seen it, I would highly recommend this talk on [The Art of Screenshake](https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/gamedev\/comments\/1t0jlc\/vlambeers_jan_willem_nijman_the_art_of_screenshake\/).\n\n- **The Scope**: Although there were a few extra elements I would like to have implemented, I feel like I scoped the project reasonably well and made something that was close to my original vision.\n\n- **The Logo**: Before the jam, I made a personal logo to display as the game loads! Here we go, space fish.\n\n- **The \"Story\"**: I haven't tried to make a narrative for a Ludum Dare entry before. It's pretty bare-bones, but existent this time around.\n\n![orc.png](\/\/\/raw\/aba\/3\/z\/2406c.png)\n\n## What Went Poorly\n\nAny project is incomplete without its pitfalls.\n\n- **The Schedule**: Once again, I committed around nine hours on Sunday to a programming challenge, so I had to downscope a bit to get a game out on time. This ultimately meant me frantically throwing some audio together in MuseScore and SFXR in the last three hours.\n\n- **The Audio**: I'm not particularly fond of the direction I went with the music, but it fits reasonably well. One of these days, I hope to make a simpler rhythm-based game and give the Audio category the love it deserves.\n\n- **The GUI**: Man, creating a GUI from scratch in Pygame really drains hours out of the Compo workflow. The advantage of this is that I'm forced to be really deliberate about how I want things to look and interact; the downside is that I have less time to, you know, make the game. Speaking of which...\n\n- **The... Game**: It's really not that fun after 30 seconds. I'll pretend it's just a social commentary experience.\n\n![cubicle.png](\/\/\/raw\/aba\/3\/z\/2406e.png)\n\n## Going Forward\n\nI'm already excited for LD45, but hope to make some minor changes to my workflow.\n\n- **Newey GUI**: I tried out a new architecture for managing frames in-game that I liked, so I might add some support to my base code for next event. Additionally, having some base code for GUI elements would also be nice.\n\n- **No Double Dipping**: Next time, only one hackathon per weekend, please.\n\n## Thanks for Reading!\n\nIf you want to check out my game, [Microtransaction Mages](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/44\/microtransaction-mages), check out my profile! Any feedback, especially critical, is super helpful moving forward.\n","comments":0,"created":"2019-04-29T23:00:07Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":153872,"love":1,"love-timestamp":"2019-05-01T04:31:44Z","meta":[],"modified":"2019-05-01T04:31:44Z","name":"Microtransaction Mages --- A Post Mortem","node-timestamp":"2019-05-01T04:24:36Z","parent":144330,"parents":[1,5,9,139254,144330],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/44\/microtransaction-mages\/microtransaction-mages-a-post-mortem","published":"2019-05-01T04:24:36Z","scope":"public","slug":"microtransaction-mages-a-post-mortem","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":466397},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"153872","n_urlkey":"347164","n_parent":"144330","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/44\/microtransaction-mages\/microtransaction-mages-a-post-mortem","n_slug":"microtransaction-mages-a-post-mo","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"15034","n_created":"1556578807","n_modified":"1556685104","n_version":"466397","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/44\/microtransaction-mages\/microtransaction-mages-a-post-mortem","text":"![banner_6.png](\/\/\/raw\/aba\/3\/z\/24049.png)\n\n## I Made a Thing!\n\nWoo! This was Compo #5 for me, and the timing could have been better for putting aside a weekend to make a game. In addition to approaching finals, I participated in a programming challenge that took up about nine hours on Sunday, so I really had to think hard about how to budget my time.\n\nMy strong areas tend to be in Graphics and Audio, so I try to focus on different categories for each event to expand my strengths. Last event, I aimed for top 100 in *Overall* and *Fun*, so this event I'm shooting for top 100 in *Theme* and *Mood*.\n\n![wizurr.png](\/\/\/raw\/aba\/3\/z\/2406b.png)\n\n## What Went Well\n\nOverall, I think the jam went pretty well.\n\n- **The Parallax:** I brought back one of my favorite visual tricks, **parallax**! The background scrolls by in all of its layered glory.\n\n- **The Audiovisual Gravy**: I prioritized \"game feel\" elements to fairly good effect, with explosions, button feedback, and camera shake (if you haven't already seen it, I would highly recommend this talk on [The Art of Screenshake](https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/gamedev\/comments\/1t0jlc\/vlambeers_jan_willem_nijman_the_art_of_screenshake\/).\n\n- **The Scope**: Although there were a few extra elements I would like to have implemented, I feel like I scoped the project reasonably well and made something that was close to my original vision.\n\n- **The Logo**: Before the jam, I made a personal logo to display as the game loads! Here we go, space fish.\n\n- **The \"Story\"**: I haven't tried to make a narrative for a Ludum Dare entry before. It's pretty bare-bones, but existent this time around.\n\n![orc.png](\/\/\/raw\/aba\/3\/z\/2406c.png)\n\n## What Went Poorly\n\nAny project is incomplete without its pitfalls.\n\n- **The Schedule**: Once again, I committed around nine hours on Sunday to a programming challenge, so I had to downscope a bit to get a game out on time. This ultimately meant me frantically throwing some audio together in MuseScore and SFXR in the last three hours.\n\n- **The Audio**: I'm not particularly fond of the direction I went with the music, but it fits reasonably well. One of these days, I hope to make a simpler rhythm-based game and give the Audio category the love it deserves.\n\n- **The GUI**: Man, creating a GUI from scratch in Pygame really drains hours out of the Compo workflow. The advantage of this is that I'm forced to be really deliberate about how I want things to look and interact; the downside is that I have less time to, you know, make the game. Speaking of which...\n\n- **The... Game**: It's really not that fun after 30 seconds. I'll pretend it's just a social commentary experience.\n\n![cubicle.png](\/\/\/raw\/aba\/3\/z\/2406e.png)\n\n## Going Forward\n\nI'm already excited for LD45, but hope to make some minor changes to my workflow.\n\n- **Newey GUI**: I tried out a new architecture for managing frames in-game that I liked, so I might add some support to my base code for next event. Additionally, having some base code for GUI elements would also be nice.\n\n- **No Double Dipping**: Next time, only one hackathon per weekend, please.\n\n## Thanks for Reading!\n\nIf you want to check out my game, [Microtransaction Mages](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/44\/microtransaction-mages), check out my profile! Any feedback, especially critical, is super helpful moving forward.\n","title":"Microtransaction Mages --- A Post Mortem","wayback_source":[]}