{"author_name":"miro662","cat":"LD #33","comments":[],"epoch":1440951000,"likes":1,"metadata":{"p_key":"13156","p_author":"miro662","p_authorkey":"22312","p_urlkey":"48411","p_title":"Alien Rush post-mortem","p_cat":"LD #33","p_event":"LD33","p_time":"1440951000","p_likes":"1","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"22312","us_name":"miro662","us_username":"miro662","event_start":"1440115200","event_key":"29","event_name":"LD33"},"text":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-33\/?action=preview&amp;uid=22312\">Alien Rush <\/a>is mine 6th LD entry and mine 5th Compo entry. You can play it <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-33\/?action=preview&amp;uid=22312\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n <p><a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/SCR2.jpg\"><img class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-498109\" src=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/SCR2-550x340.jpg\" alt=\"SCR2\" width=\"550\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/SCR2-300x185.jpg 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/SCR2-550x340.jpg 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/SCR2.jpg 957w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p><strong>What I&#8217;m happy about:<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>Gameplay &#8211; Most people commenting my game (my friends or other LD participants) says that my game is good, addictive and based around good idea. Personally I also like it <img src=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/simple-smile.png\" alt=\":)\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" \/><\/li>\n <li>Game genre &#8211; All my former games are platformers or top-down shooters. I didn&#8217;t want to make another same game, so I decided to make something different, and the final result is mash-up between platformer, real-time strategy and tower defense.<\/li>\n <li>Graphics &#8211; In my former games graphics were awful. I think Alien Rush graphics are acceptable, which is already big improvement (and some people even likes graphics!). During warmup, I had a bit of practice with pixel art. Also, I learned how to make animations. I think they adds life to my game.<\/li>\n <li>Level design &#8211; Most players and I think that levels are nice and fun to play.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p><strong>What I have mixed feelings about:<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>Theme &#8211; Amount of ways LD participants could use it was pretty small, in the other hand,\u00a0 there were a lot worse themes during votes, or former LDs.<\/li>\n <li>My engine &#8211; I really like Unity3D and its workflow. But there was one bug in engine that caused me a lot of pain. It caused that some Rigidbodies2D automatically translated into (0,0,0). Everytime it happened I had to restart Editor.<\/li>\n <li>Sound &#8211; Sound in my game is just SFXR-generated sound effects. I cannot make any music (I&#8217;m willing to learn it someday). Besides that, I feel that sound &#8211; similar to animations &#8211; makes my game alive<\/li>\n <li>Splash screen tutorial and learning curve &#8211; it translates rules of the game, but now I think that in-game tutorial would be better, ever if I had to sleep one hour less <img src=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/simple-smile.png\" alt=\":)\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" \/> Also, learning curve is too steep IMO. I should add easy level 1, which also would serve as tutorial.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p><strong>What I don&#8217;t like:<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>Balance &#8211; I hate balancing units and I can&#8217;t do it, no matter how hard I would try. As a result, cannons are practically useless, and game feels overall unbalanced.<\/li>\n <li>Way I made this game &#8211; Shortly after I got idea of game, I sat down and started making it, without any thinking how I will do it. As a result, code is a mess and it leads to last issuse<\/li>\n <li>Glitches and annoying things &#8211; I fixed all major bugs, but some things are a result of implementation design (e. g. houses blocking units). I couldn&#8217;t fix it without remaking almost whole game.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p><strong>What I hate:<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>I hate that I didn&#8217;t make any screens during development or timelapse <img src=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/frownie.png\" alt=\":(\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" \/><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p>Anyway, I&#8217;m very happy with result. You can play my game <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-33\/?action=preview&amp;uid=22312\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n <p><strong>Other things about my game:<br \/>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>Major inspirations were Lemmings (gameplay, way of commanding units), StarCraft (plot, units) and Plants vs Zombies (HUD, overall design).<\/li>\n <li>I&#8217;m still thinking about making <strong>post-compo version<\/strong>, but I don&#8217;t know if I will have sufficient time (school begins soon). In post-compo version, I would rewrite game, eliminating all glitches and annoying things. I&#8217;d also like to rebalance game and add in-game tutorial, more levels, more complex A.I. and music).<\/li>\n <li>I were going to add menu which would serve as invasion plan, but I ran out of time.<\/li>\n <li>If you want to ask me anything about my game or post-compo version, feel free to do it under this post.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n \n <p>Tags: <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/2d\/\" rel=\"tag\">2D<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/compo\/\" rel=\"tag\">compo<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/ld33\/\" rel=\"tag\">LD33<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/postmortem\/\" rel=\"tag\">postmortem<\/a><\/p>","time":"August 30th, 2015 11:10 am","title":"Alien Rush post-mortem"}