In keeping with tradition, I've hit 20 ratings so it's time to look at how things went/are going.

Preparation

I've recently been reading a lot of Game Design books, and some of the advice from "Game Design Theory: A New Philosophy for Understanding Games" has stuck with me. Long before the themes were announced, I knew I'd be trying to make something turn-based (to simplify balance), competitive (to simplify design of the win/lose condition) and based on ambiguous choices (for fun).

I drew up a short list of game ideas -- almost all related to chess :sweat_smile: -- for all themes in the final round, but I definitely got lucky; my idea for "Delay the inevitable" was the one I was most excited about.

Polish

My last few Jam entries have paired the pixel art of finalbossblues with the music of Eric Matyas and I think I've hit on a winning combination. As my familiarity with their assets has grown, I've become a little more confident in my ability to mix and build upon them.

I'm really proud of how Long Live the King looks, feels and sounds. It's exactly what I had in my head.

Humour & Mood

I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm really proud of the (short) story that I wrote for the game and how it ties into the game mechanics.

I wrote a bunch of different "endings" for the game and some lines that made me laugh. Unfortunately, the way that I structured the game almost guarantees that most people won't see them :face_palm:. Several people have pointed out that the characters should spew humorous dialogue throughout a game instead of just the end, which is the first thing I'll fix in a post-jam release.

Distraction: Controller Support

As usual, I only had about 6 hours of development time (aka "nap time") to work on the game. Things were going well until I noticed that I'd only implemented mouse controls, and that this could potentially prevent people from playing.

An hour later, I had alternative controls set up for keyboards and controllers, and button prompts that adapt automatically based on recent input. Should I have worked on adding more levels instead? Probably. :laughing:

The Post-Jam Release

This is the first Ludum Dare where I'm seriously considering a non-trivial post-jam release. I've had a few comments from people encouraging me to produce more levels, and I wish I'd had more time to explore the concept. I think there is a lot of scope for interesting mechanics (see: Chess), and a few different directions I could go in.

In addition to the regular ratings, I'm really hoping to get some constructive criticism to help me figure out where to go next and what to improve.

Thanks for reading this far. Back to rating!