{"author_name":"Omiya Games","cat":"LD #32","comments":[],"epoch":1431734400,"likes":1,"metadata":{"p_key":"17250","p_author":"Omiya Games","p_authorkey":"20557","p_urlkey":"52553","p_title":"The Ludum Dare 32 rating analysis","p_cat":"LD #32","p_event":"LD32","p_time":"1431734400","p_likes":"1","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"20557","us_name":"Omiya Games","us_username":"\/author\/taro\/","event_start":"1429228800","event_key":"27","event_name":"LD32"},"text":"

[Cross-posted from Omiya Games<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

So with Ludum Dare 32<\/a> judging results released, let’s take a look at our game’s ratings!<\/p>\n

First, how did Star Driller Ultra<\/strong><\/a>, a project I worked on solo for 48-hours, do?<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

2 categories that made it to the top 100, and 1 that made it to top 25? I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t good. Still, to be honest, I was a little disheartened by these ratings for a day or two. I should be a little more careful about my expectations next time.<\/p>\n

Given these ratings, it’s clear that I delivered with the overall presentation of the game, with graphics being the main highlight. As I have initially suspected in the post-mortem<\/a>, the fun factor was weaker than the presentation, a big problem for a space-combat action game. And I did pretty badly with innovation and theme, despite proudly proclaiming to be an experimental indie developer. It seems those need a little help.
\n <\/span>
\n As an aside, there were several things Star Driller Ultra<\/strong><\/a> achieved, including an IndieGames.com article<\/a>, and 3 different<\/a> Let’s<\/a> Plays<\/a>. It was pretty cool to see all these opinions and gameplays from different people.<\/p>\n

Next, let’s look over how these ratings compares to previous entries. The last Ludum Dare I received ratings was Ludum Dare 31’s Laundry Day<\/strong><\/a>. Here’s how my ratings seems to be trending.<\/p>\n

\"compo<\/a><\/p>\n

Almost universally positive! Although the comparison is pretty unfair: Laundry Day<\/strong><\/a> was supposed to be a satire of social games, and wasn’t intended to be rated highly. Additionally, it was the first time our team was learning Construct 2<\/a>, while for Star Driller Ultra<\/strong><\/a>, I already had 5 years of experience with Unity<\/a>. Regardless, the overall increase in ratings is certainly a positive sign. The only eye-catching exception is innovation dropping, which looks like something I need to improve on (I’m less concerned with humor and theme).<\/p>\n

I’ve also calculated how I compared to others, using percentiles (ranking divided by total number of entries).<\/p>\n

\"compo<\/a><\/p>\n

We see the same trend as ratings, so that indicates that ratings are a pretty good measure of performance.<\/p>\n

\n

How about the Unconventional Stick Swinging Simulator<\/strong><\/a>, another project I worked on solo, but this time within 12 hours?<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

The audio and graphics were removed since the music and the character animations were taken from pre-made sources. Still, the ratings doesn’t look good at all. To be honest, I’m not surprised: the game was deliberately designed to be poor, similar to the Goat Simulator<\/em><\/a> it was taking it’s inspiration from. At the time, I only had 12 hours, so the goal was simply to make something working and game-like. Even though I’m proud with what I’ve created within those limits, I fully agree with those polarizing comments: it is a bad game.<\/p>\n

So color me surprised when I managed to dig up a couple of Let’s Plays, mostly positive, despite having less promotional effort. There’s one that gave an honorable mention to his top 5 Ludum Dare game list<\/a>, another who loved it<\/a>, one that figured out the whole game is intended to be asexual innuendo<\/a>, and one that didn’t like it at all<\/a> (and ironically is my favorite Let’s Play of the bunch).<\/p>\n

Compared to Laundry Day<\/strong><\/a>, it looks like this:<\/p>\n

\"jam<\/a><\/p>\n

Yikes! It seemed either Laundry Day<\/strong><\/a> had some subtlety in its presentation that more people liked, or Unconventional Stick Swinging Simulator<\/strong><\/a> was just too slapstick. Or I didn’t rate other games using this account, and it simply got polarizing ratings. I can’t say for sure…<\/p>\n

Obviously, ranking percentile isn’t any better.<\/p>\n

\"jam<\/a><\/p>\n

But I had fun making it! That’s what counts the most.<\/p>","time":"May 15th, 2015 7:00 pm","title":"The Ludum Dare 32 rating analysis"}