So, this is my second time competing in LD and this is also my second game. I feel like this game is significantly better than the first one I made, but I also had more time and less stress during the event this time. Overall, it seems people have enjoyed themselves when playing it, which is fantastic! I hope it means I did something right. Learning from my last game, I had the goals of making this game play longer than my previous game (you can rush through my previous game in under 1 min) and to have decent sound effects, especially since I’m a bit of an audio guy.

Anyway, what went right this time is that I was ready for this event from the get go. I got off of work at 6:30p and the theme was announced at 7:00p my time. I immediately went to a coffee shop with an idea already brewing in my head and started to jot down ideas and even levels.

I decided to try both themes this time, but one definitely had a bigger drive in the game than the other. Two-button controls was my main focus and the gameplay definitely shows this. In the game the character (named Zorc) cannot do anything. You have to manually select which mechanics he can do and assign them to the either the Z or the C key. The gameplay is tedious at times because of this, but what I tried to do to help alleviate this annoyance was add beautiful bell tones that play whenever Zorc moves or when you select mechanics from the menu. Add a drone-esque tone with a rhythmic recurring note and I built an audio atmosphere that I’m proud of. All the sound effects were stock sounds from Reason 7, with a little bit of synth editing and mastering the sound in Audacity.

Focusing on the audio was what helped pull this together. I originally planned about an hour or two for audio, but I spent about four hours (maybe five) working on it and implementing into the game. This is because part of what didn’t go right was the graphics. You can easily tell that I do not know what I’m doing with graphics. I still want to learn how to, and for the next jam that’ll be a goal I’ll strive for.

Another thing that didn’t go right was time management. There are several known bugs in the code and I spent way too much time trying to fix them. It wasn’t a good idea because the game as a whole suffered for it. I had to scrap levels, mechanics, and even art because I tried to fix bugs that would need more time and thought to fix than a 48/72 hour event can provide. Because of this, I was forced to submit my game to the Jam. I submitted my game to the jam last time, which is fine, but last time I had a better reason to. This time I was being stupid. I also tried new things that I have never done with code before (which is the reason for the bugs) and that only made things worse.

I also did not account for international keyboards. I’ve had several players from Europe mention that the ‘Z’ and ‘Y’ button are different from American keyboards, which drastically changes how the game is played (Z and C keys plus the mouse). This meant that the mouse was more of a hindrance for these players since they had to use two hands to Zorc instead of one. I will have to be less ignorant for my next game.

With that, I have my goals for LD35:

1. Focus more on art. It will probably be pixel art.

2. Don’t be too ambitious. Strive for an idea that fits the theme but is also something you have done before or will be easy to do.

3. Manage your time better.

4. Be wary of the controls for other people and who the controls will affect the game for them.

For the future, I would actually like to pursue an idea like this. I wouldn’t just have two button controls for an actual game, but I do like the idea of having a game with a very interactive audio atmosphere that the player can directly control and influence. That sounds neat to me. I originally thought I’d have to use Unity to make such a thing, and I’m still very new to programming. But I made THIS game in Game Maker. So I may just be able to pull off my idea in a program I’m already accustomed to, which is unbelievably exciting and reassuring.

Thanks for taking the time to read this if you made it this far. And if you haven’t had a chance to play my game, then here’s the link: BAM!