{"author_link":"\/users\/papabirb","author_name":"Papabirb","author_uid":"papabirb","comments":[],"epoch":1634883688,"event":"LD49","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":274948,"likes":5,"metadata":{"p_key":"162341","p_author":"Papabirb","p_authorkey":"1126880","p_urlkey":"385331","p_title":"Gunsundheit! Post-Mortem (very long, some swears)","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD49","p_time":"1634883688","p_likes":"5","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1126880","us_name":"Papabirb","us_username":"papabirb","event_start":"1633046400","event_key":"119","event_name":"Ludum Dare 49"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD49","removed_author":false},"_superparent":258323,"_trust":5,"author":126880,"body":"Looks like it\u2019s Post-Mortem Dare season again! Prepare for the world\u2019s longest post here, it\u2019s up to 5 pages in Microsoft Word\u2026\n\n### What went wrong:\n\nI came into this jam unenthusiastic on a spur-of-the-moment \u201cfuck it, may as well, I hate this semester and this might spark joy, I guess\u201d type of vibe. I didn\u2019t have nearly enough hype or creativity flowing through me since I missed all the theme slaughter stuff \u2013 that would have been great to do between classes, I\u2019ve got a LOT of on-campus wait time this semester.\n\nThen, we got the only theme I gave a downvote in the final round of theme voting\u2026 literally everything else was neutral or upvote, lol. That sucked for brainstorming, I really hate one-word themes. Much like everyone else with humorous minds, I started trying to think of horse-related games until I saw it was the popular interpretation from the funnyman side of the jammers; then I tried to really think outside of the box.\nOnce I did come up with an idea, I spent way too long thinking about it and how I wanted to approach it, what I wanted it to look like. Because of my low proficiency in art, I was afraid to start sketching ideas, and I was afraid of designing the game \u201cwrong\u201d, ruining its potential. On the other hand, waiting until real late on the first day did give me a great \u201cfuck it\u201d sketch of our friend Gun Nose. But ultimately? I think I failed him. I don\u2019t think I took the game in a compelling enough direction. It\u2019s okay, it\u2019s adequate, something you might put a little bit of time into at a waiting room as a throw-away time-waster you never come back to. But even then, although my ratings analysis says otherwise, I just don\u2019t think my game was that fun and I don\u2019t really understand why anyone said it was. Yet, I can\u2019t argue that empirically, it was enjoyed more than my previous games\u2026 Very baffling.\n\nDespite trying to veer away from previous gameplay designs I\u2019ve done, wherein being accessible & mobile friendly = 2-button resource management\/clicker, I think I\u2019ve only really created a more complicated sort of clicker. A little bit more fun that trying to keep a meter full, so there\u2019s more agency and a goal for the player, but still ultimately the same type of games I always design. Is it a fault of me as a designer, being unwilling to try classics like platformers and puzzles, or a fault of me as a person who cares about accessibility but struggles with the limitations of trying to make it available on all platforms + limited button controls? I\u2019ve seen a proper accessibility features list passed around this year, and actually having a list of things I could do next time is intimidating to say the least, they all sound pretty hard to do simultaneously\u2026\n\nAlso, I REALLY let myself down on the music. I just didn\u2019t have the time or mental capacity to make a song that had the feeling I wanted; I wanted a song that was a bop but absolutely made you feel like you were about to sneeze but keep not sneezing. What I made was something\u2026 not entirely ear murder, but not great, either. It\u2019s so bad it made me wish \u201cAudio\u201d was two separate categories; one for SFX and one for OST.\n\nA lot of people didn\u2019t seem to get that the title was a pun on \u201cgun\u201d + \u201cgesundheit\u201d, which is fair, because I think the fact America uses that as a loan word when people sneeze might not be common knowledge, and for those who it is common knowledge, I sure as hell didn\u2019t know how to spell \u201cgesundheit\u201d before this jam, so the pun might have just read as the correct spelling of the word. Or, it just wasn\u2019t that funny of a pun to them, which is fine.\n\n### What went right:\n\nI managed to come up with a great idea and day one and steadily work through it on time, while multitasking spending time with my parents and helping the love of my life with coding his game AND even doing some last minute stuff at Uni on the final few hours before the deadline! That goal bar on top of the screen??? Did it at school on my phone so I could convert the game real quickly into a high score game! (Note to self, I need to add both LMMS & Ibis Paint to my \u201ctools\u201d credits\u2026)\nThe sound effects I made with my mouth noises and Audacity editing were GREAT.\nI love the police car tween animation I programmed in Godot, as well as the overall aesthetics of the game.\nI assumed everyone would think my generic critters were bunnies, but they were surprisingly generic after all! I didn\u2019t expect to have succeeded on that front, it was a great time seeing what names everyone gave them. Cats, (teddy) bears, pedestrians, \u201cthe babies\u201d, \u201csqueakies\u201d\u2026\n\nIt was also fun seeing what lore various streamers would ask about; a lot of people thought that running past the critters is what raised the sneeze meter, which is funnily enough one of the mechanics I had originally considered.\nContrasting to the last paragraph of \u201cwhat went wrong\u201d, a lot of people really did enjoy the pun and complimented it, although it was my partner\u2019s pun to begin with. I probably would have just called the game \u201cGun Nose\u201d, because really, how do you come up with the perfect title for a game like this within 72 hours???\n\n### What I learned:\n\nIt\u2019s important to be motivated and enthusiastic for game jams, and also important to get enough sleep, and not be afraid to draw out sketches and little visual comic prototypes before development. Gun Nose could really have benefitted from having more thought put into his game, and I\u2019m disappointed I wasn\u2019t able to give him the game he deserves.\nI learned about a lot of built in things in Godot, and that it really is a lot better for me than Unity \u2013 I know for a fact that in Unity I\u2019d have to code the \u201clook at\u201d function myself and probably the pixel-perfect rotation interpolation too\u2026 Godot does a lot of good for being able to rotate a single sprite in a mostly pleasing manner, even if official rotation sprites would most likely look better, but that involves calculating angles to I know when to change the sprite and that\u2019s awful so absolutely not something I wanna do in a 48 to 72 hour jam.\nUltimately, sometimes it\u2019s the friends you make along the way \u2013 my dev logs made the team of the incredible Lovecrafting laugh while they made their game! And I really enjoyed just interacting with the feed people when I made that \u201cgoing to the store, want anything\u201d post mid-Jam.\n\n### Other:\n\nDid you know the craters on the moon are actually the LIGHT spots, not the DARK spots?\n\n## Ratings Analysis\n\nRankings wise, I didn\u2019t do quite so hot as my previous two entries for LD46 and LD43 \u2013 although I had the same humor rating at LD46, so there\u2019s that. However, that just goes to show that the rankings are a fun, competitive comparison of yourself to other people in a localized point of time \u2013 what really matters are your actual star rating averages, so that you can compare public opinion of your games against your other games in the past or future.\n\nAs such, I will provide a comparison to my past entries for me to learn and grow from, per category, as well as my average ratings across my three Ludum Dare entries. Prepare for some copy-pasting to fuel my ~~laziness~~ efficiency:\n\n### Overall\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.316** for overall, which is a roughly **3% improvement** over LD46, and a roughly **13.5% improvement** since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.1527***.\n\nI\u2019ve always found it funny that \u201cOverall\u201d is a separate category of ratings rather than an average of all the other ratings, which feels like it would more accurately reflect certain entries compared to ones that are ranked at like #7000 Overall, #2 Fun or whatever crazy imbalances you\u2019ve got.\n\n### Fun\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.342** for overall, which is a roughly **17% improvement** over LD46, and a roughly **22% improvement since LD43!** Between the three games, my average is ***2.981***.\n\nI\u2019m a big fan of these numbers \u2013 I feel like that means my games are, in fact, getting better; although I personally think my LD46 entry was more fun. Maybe it\u2019s because I didn\u2019t hate the music, but I think it\u2019s more to do that LD46 was a rapid-paced clicker that encouraged trying for high scores more, whereas Gunsundheit! is a more meandering game of being patient and having decent timing. It gives you, perhaps, too much time to stop and shoot the roses. (Note to self: Write that down, write that down! That\u2019s a great sequel title!)\n\n### Innovation\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.684** for overall, which is a roughly **36% improvement** over LD46, and a roughly **19.5%** improvement since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.1557***.\n\nAlongside Fun, I think Innovation is the category that shows my improvements as a game developer the most; and it also accurate reflects that my gameplay here was more innovative than my LD46 (which was a very simple clicker game since I was new to Godot) but only slightly more innovative than my first time LD entry.\n\n### Theme\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.75** for overall, which is a roughly **-10% decrease** over LD46, and a roughly **16% improvement** since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.721***.\n\nI feel like I don\u2019t really agree here \u2013 I think I fit the theme quite well! However, I think my poor abilities as a game designer skewed the gameplay itself towards being too balanced (not something you usually hear), so I can understand how it\u2019s worse than literally keeping your sourdough starter alive for Keep It Alive.\n\n### Graphics\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.197** for overall, which is a roughly **-14% decrease** over LD46, and a roughly **-12% decrease** since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.5047***.\n\nIt\u2019s a bit of a big oof to see that the overall opinion on my art this time went down compared to both previous, however I get it! Art is not my strong suit, and I strayed from my usual clean pixels into something a bit more Humongous Entertainment-y; some weird minimalist almost-pixels.\n\n### Audio\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.149** for overall, which is a roughly **-1.6% decrease** over LD46, and a roughly **8.5% improvement** since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.084***.\n\nI absolutely understand my audio being worse than last time I participated, because the background music for this game SUCKED. But better than Pawspel Choir? Now that\u2019s just sad, Pawspel Choir was pretty good for someone who\u2019s still very new to music\u2026\n\n### Humor\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **4.026** for overall, which is a roughly **9% improvement** over LD46, and a roughly **18.5% improvement** since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.7077***.\n\nExcluding LD46, where my highest rating was Theme for some reason, Humor is on average my top category across all three games. I don\u2019t really think I have anything to specifically improve on for humor \u2013 I think the problem is that my low abilities in art, game design, music, and writing make it more difficult for me to express my sense of humor to an audience in a way that actually tickles one\u2019s fancy. Gun Nose had a lot of potentially to be a hilarious game if I\u2019d taken it in a different direction, but as is I think it\u2019s more of a 5-minute chuckle.\n\n### Mood\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.276** for overall, which is a roughly **8.5% improvement** over LD46, and a roughly **13.8% improvement** since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.0583***.\n\nMood\u2019s a tricky category to both analyze and rate \u2013 it\u2019s sort of the \u201ceverything else\u201d category. A game might not be moody in the brooding edgy Batman sense, yet still rate highly due to good atmosphere. Or the atmosphere might be poor, but the storyline is heavy and well-told enough to get a high rating. So, I guess I\u2019m improving, but by what metrics? Game world coherency? Overall aesthetics? Just general good vibes? Not too helpful of a category to learn from, but it is fun to look at.\n\n### The True Overall Rating\n\nNot content with the existing \u201cOverall\u201d category, here\u2019s my game\u2019s actual average score across all the categories (including that pesky Overall): **3.4675**\n\nAnd across all my LD entries, it seems my average star rating as a developer is **3.295625**. Harsh, but I feel that it\u2019s accurate \u2013 there\u2019s something the \u201cwinning\u201d games have, that professional games have, that I just haven\u2019t found out how to do in my games yet. Right now, I\u2019m a 25 year old man?bird?human?person?bagel? who makes games that seem to be designed by a (very talented) 5-year-old, for (not as talented) 5-year-olds. Yet at the same time, even classic Humongous Entertainment and Jumpstart games are more compelling than my works on here. Sure, Gun Nose is a funny concept, but it\u2019s no Freddi Fish or Putt-Putt or Pajama Sam, and those aren\u2019t even the target audiences I\u2019m going for! So, I\u2019m still looking for that elusive \u201cfun\u201d factor in my games\u2026 Game design is hard, and none of my \u201cintro to game design\u201d classes have actually taught me anything about how to design a good game. Not impressed with my \u201cAI, Computing & Robotics\u201d comp-sci concentration at Uni, that\u2019s for sure\u2026 Can\u2019t wait to graduate next semester so I can actually focus on improving my game design skills by studying with the real experts: YouTube content creators!\n\n## Looking Forward \u2013 What\u2019s Next for Me?\n\nBased on my ratings analysis section, my ratings from worst to best for this game were {Audio, Graphics, Mood, Overall, Fun, Innovation, Theme, Humor}; and my worst-to-best ratings for all my LD games combined are {Fun, Mood, Audio, Overall, Innovation, Graphics, Humor, Theme}. These two listings, I feel, accurately portray how I feel about my games: I\u2019m very funny, but all of my other skills are too weak to let my game ideas shine. Since \u201cAudio\u201d is my worst category this time and my top 3 worst categories across all three entries, I think learning how to write music is something I really need to focus on, possibly including lyrical songs as (spoilers) Flat Earth\u2019s OST REALLY got to me\u2026 (\/spoilers) After that, my plan is to deal with my artistic abilities followed by general game design, since general game design covers the \u201cMood, Overall, Innovation\u201d ones and graphics and audio are important in being able to express and implement my game designs effectively. What good is a song to tell you that you beat the level if the song sounds like your grandma just died? Your character jumps for joy but it looks like he just stepped on a landmine? So, Audio -> Graphics -> Game Design is my To Do list this winter\/upcoming summer post-graduation.\n\nOverall, it was great remembering that making games actually is fun \u2013 University has a way of making me hate every single hobby I had before I enrolled. Never, ever take classes about thinks you enjoy. Stick to Business and Science classes. Fiction writing? Art? Game design? Get outta here. Graphic design? Maybe. It\u2019s kind of pseudo-sciencey-businessy enough to be beneficial.\n\nGood luck in LD50, everyone! Not sure I\u2019ll be there while I work on my last semester, but I\u2019ll be rooting for all of you!","comments":0,"created":"2021-10-22T06:16:53Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":274948,"love":5,"love-timestamp":"2021-10-22T18:07:42Z","meta":[],"modified":"2021-10-24T22:31:11Z","name":"Gunsundheit! Post-Mortem (very long, some swears)","node-timestamp":"2021-10-24T22:31:11Z","parent":262138,"parents":[1,5,9,258323,262138],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/49\/gunsundheit\/gunsundheit-post-mortem-very-long-some-swears","published":"2021-10-22T06:21:28Z","scope":"public","slug":"gunsundheit-post-mortem-very-long-some-swears","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":851393},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"274948","n_urlkey":"385331","n_parent":"262138","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/49\/gunsundheit\/gunsundheit-post-mortem-very-long-some-swears","n_slug":"gunsundheit-post-mortem-very-lon","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"126880","n_created":"1634883413","n_modified":"1635114671","n_version":"851393","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/49\/gunsundheit\/gunsundheit-post-mortem-very-long-some-swears","text":"Looks like it\u2019s Post-Mortem Dare season again! Prepare for the world\u2019s longest post here, it\u2019s up to 5 pages in Microsoft Word\u2026\n\n### What went wrong:\n\nI came into this jam unenthusiastic on a spur-of-the-moment \u201cfuck it, may as well, I hate this semester and this might spark joy, I guess\u201d type of vibe. I didn\u2019t have nearly enough hype or creativity flowing through me since I missed all the theme slaughter stuff \u2013 that would have been great to do between classes, I\u2019ve got a LOT of on-campus wait time this semester.\n\nThen, we got the only theme I gave a downvote in the final round of theme voting\u2026 literally everything else was neutral or upvote, lol. That sucked for brainstorming, I really hate one-word themes. Much like everyone else with humorous minds, I started trying to think of horse-related games until I saw it was the popular interpretation from the funnyman side of the jammers; then I tried to really think outside of the box.\nOnce I did come up with an idea, I spent way too long thinking about it and how I wanted to approach it, what I wanted it to look like. Because of my low proficiency in art, I was afraid to start sketching ideas, and I was afraid of designing the game \u201cwrong\u201d, ruining its potential. On the other hand, waiting until real late on the first day did give me a great \u201cfuck it\u201d sketch of our friend Gun Nose. But ultimately? I think I failed him. I don\u2019t think I took the game in a compelling enough direction. It\u2019s okay, it\u2019s adequate, something you might put a little bit of time into at a waiting room as a throw-away time-waster you never come back to. But even then, although my ratings analysis says otherwise, I just don\u2019t think my game was that fun and I don\u2019t really understand why anyone said it was. Yet, I can\u2019t argue that empirically, it was enjoyed more than my previous games\u2026 Very baffling.\n\nDespite trying to veer away from previous gameplay designs I\u2019ve done, wherein being accessible & mobile friendly = 2-button resource management\/clicker, I think I\u2019ve only really created a more complicated sort of clicker. A little bit more fun that trying to keep a meter full, so there\u2019s more agency and a goal for the player, but still ultimately the same type of games I always design. Is it a fault of me as a designer, being unwilling to try classics like platformers and puzzles, or a fault of me as a person who cares about accessibility but struggles with the limitations of trying to make it available on all platforms + limited button controls? I\u2019ve seen a proper accessibility features list passed around this year, and actually having a list of things I could do next time is intimidating to say the least, they all sound pretty hard to do simultaneously\u2026\n\nAlso, I REALLY let myself down on the music. I just didn\u2019t have the time or mental capacity to make a song that had the feeling I wanted; I wanted a song that was a bop but absolutely made you feel like you were about to sneeze but keep not sneezing. What I made was something\u2026 not entirely ear murder, but not great, either. It\u2019s so bad it made me wish \u201cAudio\u201d was two separate categories; one for SFX and one for OST.\n\nA lot of people didn\u2019t seem to get that the title was a pun on \u201cgun\u201d + \u201cgesundheit\u201d, which is fair, because I think the fact America uses that as a loan word when people sneeze might not be common knowledge, and for those who it is common knowledge, I sure as hell didn\u2019t know how to spell \u201cgesundheit\u201d before this jam, so the pun might have just read as the correct spelling of the word. Or, it just wasn\u2019t that funny of a pun to them, which is fine.\n\n### What went right:\n\nI managed to come up with a great idea and day one and steadily work through it on time, while multitasking spending time with my parents and helping the love of my life with coding his game AND even doing some last minute stuff at Uni on the final few hours before the deadline! That goal bar on top of the screen??? Did it at school on my phone so I could convert the game real quickly into a high score game! (Note to self, I need to add both LMMS & Ibis Paint to my \u201ctools\u201d credits\u2026)\nThe sound effects I made with my mouth noises and Audacity editing were GREAT.\nI love the police car tween animation I programmed in Godot, as well as the overall aesthetics of the game.\nI assumed everyone would think my generic critters were bunnies, but they were surprisingly generic after all! I didn\u2019t expect to have succeeded on that front, it was a great time seeing what names everyone gave them. Cats, (teddy) bears, pedestrians, \u201cthe babies\u201d, \u201csqueakies\u201d\u2026\n\nIt was also fun seeing what lore various streamers would ask about; a lot of people thought that running past the critters is what raised the sneeze meter, which is funnily enough one of the mechanics I had originally considered.\nContrasting to the last paragraph of \u201cwhat went wrong\u201d, a lot of people really did enjoy the pun and complimented it, although it was my partner\u2019s pun to begin with. I probably would have just called the game \u201cGun Nose\u201d, because really, how do you come up with the perfect title for a game like this within 72 hours???\n\n### What I learned:\n\nIt\u2019s important to be motivated and enthusiastic for game jams, and also important to get enough sleep, and not be afraid to draw out sketches and little visual comic prototypes before development. Gun Nose could really have benefitted from having more thought put into his game, and I\u2019m disappointed I wasn\u2019t able to give him the game he deserves.\nI learned about a lot of built in things in Godot, and that it really is a lot better for me than Unity \u2013 I know for a fact that in Unity I\u2019d have to code the \u201clook at\u201d function myself and probably the pixel-perfect rotation interpolation too\u2026 Godot does a lot of good for being able to rotate a single sprite in a mostly pleasing manner, even if official rotation sprites would most likely look better, but that involves calculating angles to I know when to change the sprite and that\u2019s awful so absolutely not something I wanna do in a 48 to 72 hour jam.\nUltimately, sometimes it\u2019s the friends you make along the way \u2013 my dev logs made the team of the incredible Lovecrafting laugh while they made their game! And I really enjoyed just interacting with the feed people when I made that \u201cgoing to the store, want anything\u201d post mid-Jam.\n\n### Other:\n\nDid you know the craters on the moon are actually the LIGHT spots, not the DARK spots?\n\n## Ratings Analysis\n\nRankings wise, I didn\u2019t do quite so hot as my previous two entries for LD46 and LD43 \u2013 although I had the same humor rating at LD46, so there\u2019s that. However, that just goes to show that the rankings are a fun, competitive comparison of yourself to other people in a localized point of time \u2013 what really matters are your actual star rating averages, so that you can compare public opinion of your games against your other games in the past or future.\n\nAs such, I will provide a comparison to my past entries for me to learn and grow from, per category, as well as my average ratings across my three Ludum Dare entries. Prepare for some copy-pasting to fuel my ~~laziness~~ efficiency:\n\n### Overall\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.316** for overall, which is a roughly **3% improvement** over LD46, and a roughly **13.5% improvement** since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.1527***.\n\nI\u2019ve always found it funny that \u201cOverall\u201d is a separate category of ratings rather than an average of all the other ratings, which feels like it would more accurately reflect certain entries compared to ones that are ranked at like #7000 Overall, #2 Fun or whatever crazy imbalances you\u2019ve got.\n\n### Fun\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.342** for overall, which is a roughly **17% improvement** over LD46, and a roughly **22% improvement since LD43!** Between the three games, my average is ***2.981***.\n\nI\u2019m a big fan of these numbers \u2013 I feel like that means my games are, in fact, getting better; although I personally think my LD46 entry was more fun. Maybe it\u2019s because I didn\u2019t hate the music, but I think it\u2019s more to do that LD46 was a rapid-paced clicker that encouraged trying for high scores more, whereas Gunsundheit! is a more meandering game of being patient and having decent timing. It gives you, perhaps, too much time to stop and shoot the roses. (Note to self: Write that down, write that down! That\u2019s a great sequel title!)\n\n### Innovation\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.684** for overall, which is a roughly **36% improvement** over LD46, and a roughly **19.5%** improvement since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.1557***.\n\nAlongside Fun, I think Innovation is the category that shows my improvements as a game developer the most; and it also accurate reflects that my gameplay here was more innovative than my LD46 (which was a very simple clicker game since I was new to Godot) but only slightly more innovative than my first time LD entry.\n\n### Theme\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.75** for overall, which is a roughly **-10% decrease** over LD46, and a roughly **16% improvement** since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.721***.\n\nI feel like I don\u2019t really agree here \u2013 I think I fit the theme quite well! However, I think my poor abilities as a game designer skewed the gameplay itself towards being too balanced (not something you usually hear), so I can understand how it\u2019s worse than literally keeping your sourdough starter alive for Keep It Alive.\n\n### Graphics\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.197** for overall, which is a roughly **-14% decrease** over LD46, and a roughly **-12% decrease** since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.5047***.\n\nIt\u2019s a bit of a big oof to see that the overall opinion on my art this time went down compared to both previous, however I get it! Art is not my strong suit, and I strayed from my usual clean pixels into something a bit more Humongous Entertainment-y; some weird minimalist almost-pixels.\n\n### Audio\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.149** for overall, which is a roughly **-1.6% decrease** over LD46, and a roughly **8.5% improvement** since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.084***.\n\nI absolutely understand my audio being worse than last time I participated, because the background music for this game SUCKED. But better than Pawspel Choir? Now that\u2019s just sad, Pawspel Choir was pretty good for someone who\u2019s still very new to music\u2026\n\n### Humor\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **4.026** for overall, which is a roughly **9% improvement** over LD46, and a roughly **18.5% improvement** since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.7077***.\n\nExcluding LD46, where my highest rating was Theme for some reason, Humor is on average my top category across all three games. I don\u2019t really think I have anything to specifically improve on for humor \u2013 I think the problem is that my low abilities in art, game design, music, and writing make it more difficult for me to express my sense of humor to an audience in a way that actually tickles one\u2019s fancy. Gun Nose had a lot of potentially to be a hilarious game if I\u2019d taken it in a different direction, but as is I think it\u2019s more of a 5-minute chuckle.\n\n### Mood\n\nThis yeah, I got an average of **3.276** for overall, which is a roughly **8.5% improvement** over LD46, and a roughly **13.8% improvement** since LD43! Between the three games, my average is ***3.0583***.\n\nMood\u2019s a tricky category to both analyze and rate \u2013 it\u2019s sort of the \u201ceverything else\u201d category. A game might not be moody in the brooding edgy Batman sense, yet still rate highly due to good atmosphere. Or the atmosphere might be poor, but the storyline is heavy and well-told enough to get a high rating. So, I guess I\u2019m improving, but by what metrics? Game world coherency? Overall aesthetics? Just general good vibes? Not too helpful of a category to learn from, but it is fun to look at.\n\n### The True Overall Rating\n\nNot content with the existing \u201cOverall\u201d category, here\u2019s my game\u2019s actual average score across all the categories (including that pesky Overall): **3.4675**\n\nAnd across all my LD entries, it seems my average star rating as a developer is **3.295625**. Harsh, but I feel that it\u2019s accurate \u2013 there\u2019s something the \u201cwinning\u201d games have, that professional games have, that I just haven\u2019t found out how to do in my games yet. Right now, I\u2019m a 25 year old man?bird?human?person?bagel? who makes games that seem to be designed by a (very talented) 5-year-old, for (not as talented) 5-year-olds. Yet at the same time, even classic Humongous Entertainment and Jumpstart games are more compelling than my works on here. Sure, Gun Nose is a funny concept, but it\u2019s no Freddi Fish or Putt-Putt or Pajama Sam, and those aren\u2019t even the target audiences I\u2019m going for! So, I\u2019m still looking for that elusive \u201cfun\u201d factor in my games\u2026 Game design is hard, and none of my \u201cintro to game design\u201d classes have actually taught me anything about how to design a good game. Not impressed with my \u201cAI, Computing & Robotics\u201d comp-sci concentration at Uni, that\u2019s for sure\u2026 Can\u2019t wait to graduate next semester so I can actually focus on improving my game design skills by studying with the real experts: YouTube content creators!\n\n## Looking Forward \u2013 What\u2019s Next for Me?\n\nBased on my ratings analysis section, my ratings from worst to best for this game were {Audio, Graphics, Mood, Overall, Fun, Innovation, Theme, Humor}; and my worst-to-best ratings for all my LD games combined are {Fun, Mood, Audio, Overall, Innovation, Graphics, Humor, Theme}. These two listings, I feel, accurately portray how I feel about my games: I\u2019m very funny, but all of my other skills are too weak to let my game ideas shine. Since \u201cAudio\u201d is my worst category this time and my top 3 worst categories across all three entries, I think learning how to write music is something I really need to focus on, possibly including lyrical songs as (spoilers) Flat Earth\u2019s OST REALLY got to me\u2026 (\/spoilers) After that, my plan is to deal with my artistic abilities followed by general game design, since general game design covers the \u201cMood, Overall, Innovation\u201d ones and graphics and audio are important in being able to express and implement my game designs effectively. What good is a song to tell you that you beat the level if the song sounds like your grandma just died? Your character jumps for joy but it looks like he just stepped on a landmine? So, Audio -> Graphics -> Game Design is my To Do list this winter\/upcoming summer post-graduation.\n\nOverall, it was great remembering that making games actually is fun \u2013 University has a way of making me hate every single hobby I had before I enrolled. Never, ever take classes about thinks you enjoy. Stick to Business and Science classes. Fiction writing? Art? Game design? Get outta here. Graphic design? Maybe. It\u2019s kind of pseudo-sciencey-businessy enough to be beneficial.\n\nGood luck in LD50, everyone! Not sure I\u2019ll be there while I work on my last semester, but I\u2019ll be rooting for all of you!","title":"Gunsundheit! Post-Mortem (very long, some swears)","wayback_source":[]}