{"author_name":"cgmorton","cat":"LD #32","comments":[],"epoch":1429763220,"likes":2,"metadata":{"p_key":"17762","p_author":"cgmorton","p_authorkey":"52622","p_urlkey":"53068","p_title":"Post-Mortem on a Game I Made","p_cat":"LD #32","p_event":"LD32","p_time":"1429763220","p_likes":"2","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"52622","us_name":"cgmorton","us_username":"cgmorton","event_start":"1429228800","event_key":"27","event_name":"LD32"},"text":"

I made a game, it’s called\u00a0Ants<\/a>. It’s a game where\u00a0you ‘convince’ some ants to eat your friend’s sandwich.<\/p>\n

Here’s a picture:<\/p>\n

\"Pictured<\/a>

Pictured here: some ants<\/p><\/div>\n

This game was born on Saturday evening when I happened upon a Twitch stream (Extra Credits Design Club Live to be precise) where the streamer was making a Ludum Dare game. I mentioned my idea for a game in chat, the streamer was like “go make it then” and POOF, there went my weekend.<\/p>\n

So let’s talk about it.<\/p>\n

What Worked:<\/p>\n

– The core mechanic came together really fast. My first attempt at simulating ants (a rudimentary simulation at that) ended up working pretty well. So I never really had to change it.<\/p>\n

– The sound effects somehow turned out okay. Sunday morning I sat on my porch and recorded two minutes of nature sounds on my Macbook Air’s internal microphone. I also recorded myself spraying a can of cooking oil, and overlaid that with myself going “PSSSHHHH”. Thank god for Audacity.<\/p>\n

– Probably the main reason I could finish this in a day is that the concept needed zero real art. I’ll probably continue with that tradition in future LD jams.<\/p>\n

What Didn’t Work So Well:<\/p>\n

– I had this idea that the game would be self-explanatory, but a lot of feedback suggests that people got confused about what was going on.<\/p>\n

– Similarly, some people are turned off by the apparent randomness, because they can’t see what’s going on under the hood. I think I could have done more with the level design to show the player the patterns the ants tend to follow.<\/p>\n

This isn’t just my first LD jam, it’s also my first Post-Mortem! Thanks for reading!<\/p>\n \n

Tags: ants<\/a>, postmortem<\/a>, puzzle<\/a>, simulation<\/a><\/p>","time":"April 22nd, 2015 11:27 pm","title":"Post-Mortem on a Game I Made"}