Hello everyone, i figured I'd write a little post-mortem about my Ludum Dare 49 experience. i want to speculate and ponder about what i did right, and figure out what i did wrong so i can improve for next time. I love looking back on reports like this as they always seem to become quite valuable down the line.

Firstly, I want to say I learned a lot and had lots of fun during this jam. As a very novice programmer, this was the first time i felt comfortable whilst working. Usually i wrestle with my scripts and my code just absolutely refuses to work, but this time things just kinda "flowed".

The first day, i had a really hard time figuring out what to make with this years theme. I spent way to long trying to decide what to do, but as soon as the idea of a gorilla on a pogostick popped into my head, i was sold and immediately began working on the character controls. I spent the entire first day just tweaking and getting the feel of the character perfect!

I really enjoy controller mechanic based games (think games with satisfying character controls where that is the foundation of the game, something like rocket league, superflight or the "Skate" games).

After the character control's where finished, the rest of the time was spent producing the level and player assets.

My time management could have been better, because i ended up crunching away making models like a madman until the very end of the time limit. Fun fact, the Coins in the game were added the last 15 minutes of the JAM.

here is the result of all that work and crunching, the finished product:

I was very pleased with the game, i had fun making it and really enjoyed playing it, but what was the public's opinion?

pretty mediocre. Overall 3.5 out of 5.

I wasn't surprised by the score, when i showed my game to my friends i got very mixed results, some loved the game and still play it randomly even to this day, whilst others immediately closed the game and hated it.

So what did i do wrong and what can be done better?

• in the beginning phase of development i locked the camera to make the game easier. I got a lot of comments complaining about this, and at first i disagreed but have now come to the conclusion they were right. My focus was mostly on the player character doing sick flips, and i had inadvertently taken away the players ability to explore the map. This is an aspect a lot of people enjoy, so it was a mistake to get in the way of their fun. I also missed an easy opportunity for more game content by hiding Easter-eggs and treasure around the map for the player to discover.

• i messed up and did some calculations based on framerate instead of time, so the game acts completely differently for lower end computers. This completely ruined the experience for some people, and made balancing the game incredibly hard.

• Although i am not unhappy with the graphics, it could be improved a lot. The "low poly" style i was going for felt cheap and wasn't applied correctly. There are lots of big flat spaces that feel boring and unfinished. This could be improved easily with some texture, tesselation or something else to break it up a little. Some grass, different light sources and a skybox would have gone a long way here.

• some people picked the game up and intuitively understood it. But others quit the game before they could master the character controls, unfortunately that is when the game begins to become fun and interesting. I understand this type of game isn't for everyone, but i think that if i eased new players into the game with a tutorial, it would improve the likelihood of new players learning the controls and enjoying the game.

• The UI needs to communicate better with the player. Most people don't realize you get a score multiple if you do multiple flips in a row, which is a disaster because it is an integral part of the game. Nobody and i mean NOBODY realized you you could level up based on your score and jump higher.

• An Online scoreboard would have increased the replayability and give players a goal to strive for. I didn't add this because i was running out of time and hadn't done it before, so i chose not do it.

I feel like these changes would have improved "unstable pogo" substantially and the game would have been better received. All of these points are very much doable in the timeframe of a gamejam. Hindsight is 20/20 and i had plenty of fun both making and playing the game. In the end, it was a valuable experience and i learned A LOT!

so for the closing statement, i want to say this has been my favorite Ludumdare so far! I really enjoyed playing people's games this year, and i am super proud of the entries me and my friends made. Unstable Pogo has become the best game i have made so far, and despite its shortcomings i still really enjoy playing it. I had fun, learned some stuff and got to hang out with my friends, what more can you wish for.

-Hengen