Hey,

I thought it might be a good idea to process some of my thoughts about this last weekend in a blog so I can process what I've learned from the experience and share that with you.

A bit of background on me, I've been doing game dev in Unity for over 5 years at this point, which started with ludum dare 30 in August 2014. I entered with the game Big Fish Little Fish which, at the time, was the best I could do. The game was horribly broken, and had a lot of design issues that I never got around to resolving because of how much I struggled with the tools. Somehow I still scored pretty highly for graphics, so I had something to feel good about.

Comparing that entry to my most recent, Contraband, I think there are a lot of obvious things that have changed. The game is winnable, the graphics and sound are much cleaner and have purpose, the mechanics unfold carefully and lead the player through the systems without bogging them down with tutorials. The game is punishing, but I think it reaches that point in a meaningful way rather than by accident. It's hard where it's hard because I wanted it to be that way. It mostly plays exactly how I wanted it to, which I'm proud of.

This said, I don't think I've really managed to create something that met my overall goals for this competition. Firstly, I remember deciding that I wanted to produce an asset pack for other devs (tiles, animations) with the work I created for this jam. I don't think that's something that I achieved in the 48 hours. The graphics work for the game I made, but they fell by the wayside in favour of tuning the mechanics and tacking on an ending. I want to do better next time. Secondly, when I reflect on the game I made and how my choices unfolded, it's really clear that I put myself under too much pressure with the scope of work. The game has physics with jumping, wall sliding, combat mechanics with a 3-hit ground combo and aerial combo, two npc / enemy types with various animations each (the rabbit has 4 idle animations, which you'll never see considering how fast you have to play that section), animated hazards, a dialogue engine, top-down and side-scrolling sequences... The main character alone has 30 or so frames of animation.

Why did I choose to create a game with so many moving parts? I think I could have created something more beautiful and with more focus without sacrificing fun, and I might have finished with some time to spare. I've been reflecting recently about how we sometimes make choices, or absence of choices, without even realising. We rely on certain axioms to stand-in for actual decision making, and I think this was an example of that. When I look at the game I work on full-time, Insignia, the pressure of scope creep is something I really struggle with. Partly because of how difficult it is to actually estimate scope, but also for the following reason:

Adding things always feels easier than taking them away and, when I get anxious, I lose discipline, so I add things.

Working hard on things added for bad reasons means the work might be bad, even if you're working hard. I feel kind of ashamed to admit that I'm guilty of that, because it seems like a really obvious truth. It's important to design with confidence and intent, and I think doing so actually shows in the work you make.

Playing other games entered in LD45 has really opened my eyes to how good a simple experience can be. I want to highlight three games that fit this description: Last Goodbyes, A Field of Flowers and World Collector. I think these are all excellent examples of games that started with a clear concept, and were developed solely with the direction of serving that concept, no more no less. No matter what your technical skill is, if you think clearly about what you want to make and apply focus to making it a reality, you'll make something that communicates itself clearly to players, and that's better than forcing as many things in your game as possible.

I had a blast entering LD45 this weekend. There was so much support from twitch and other devs while I worked on my game, and I can't thank everyone enough for being there for me. I'm very proud of what I made and I think Contraband is a fun game that I hope you take the time to play. I've played it a bunch of times just because I wanted to, which makes it hard to hold onto the feeling of being an impostor. So I'm happy with the result, no matter how well it ranks.

I have a lot to learn, and I'm really excited about applying those lessons for next time. Thanks for reading!

-Adam

If you're interested in what I do outside of LD, check out my twitter page or my twitch channel