{"author_link":"\/users\/co5monaut","author_name":"CO5MONAUT","author_uid":"co5monaut","comments":[],"epoch":1728400813,"event":"LD56","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":405037,"likes":5,"metadata":{"p_key":"208570","p_author":"CO5MONAUT","p_authorkey":"1313760","p_urlkey":"446936","p_title":"Postmortem of smolBIZNASS","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD56","p_time":"1728400813","p_likes":"5","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1313760","us_name":"CO5MONAUT","us_username":"co5monaut","event_start":"1728000000","event_key":"115","event_name":"Ludum Dare 56"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD56","removed_author":false},"_superparent":395186,"_trust":1,"author":313760,"body":"![smolBIZNASS_black.png](\/\/\/raw\/0a9\/c4\/z\/67f1c.png)\n\nHello, Ludum Dare!\n\nThis is my fourth time participating in the jam, and I have to admit, it was a bit more challenging than usual. Honestly, I was expecting a different theme. I already had an idea for a game, which I was planning to adapt to any theme, but, as often happens in life, plans don\u2019t go as expected, haha\n\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wr3FVtEKIMA\n\nSo I spent the whole of Saturday thinking, trying to come up with a new idea. I know a lot of people recommend not spending more than a couple of hours on brainstorming and just going with the first idea that comes to mind. But that\u2019s not my case. It seems to me that the first ideas that come up are often too clich\u00e9 and uninspiring. I\u2019d rather do nothing than work on something I don't believe in or find interesting. If I don\u2019t believe in an idea myself, it\u2019s unlikely that the players will, either. I\u2019m just not one of those who do something for the sake of doing it.\n\nAlmost immediately after the theme was announced, I got an idea about gnomes\u2014garden gnomes, to be precise. Here\u2019s what my short list of ideas looked like:\n\n1. A stealth action game about a gnome stealing penises (part of internet folklore, haha).\n2. A game about an isekai protagonist reincarnated as a tiny creature.\n3. A horror game where you need to appease a little house spirit living in the hero\u2019s house. The main feature would be a second-person camera (from the house spirit\u2019s perspective). But I quickly realized it would be hard to make this game genuinely scary.\n4. A game where dwarves break into a wizard\u2019s house and start digging right in the apartment.\n\n![smol_biznass (64-bit Development PCD3D_SM6)  2024-10-08 00-48-52.mp4_snapshot_00.24.640.png](\/\/\/raw\/0a9\/c4\/z\/67f2f.png)\n\nNone of these ideas really grabbed me, but after combining the best elements from all of them, I ended up with what I have now. Since I\u2019m not much of a 3D artist or animator, I also had to work within the limits of the assets I had available. Here was the idea:\n\nThe main character accidentally signs a micro-contract, and micro-businessmen invade his home and start taking his belongings. However, there was still the issue of defining victory and defeat. What was the player supposed to do beyond just retrieving their things? So, Saturday was entirely spent thinking about the core idea.\n\nOn Sunday, I finally started working on the core mechanics. As it often happens with Unreal Engine, you spend more time tweaking settings and trying to optimize performance than actually working on gameplay, haha. The whole day was spent setting up AI for the gnomes and trying to add IK so they would amusingly raise their hands when carrying objects (sure, I could have just done a simple animation, but why do that?!).\n\n![smol_biznass (64-bit Development PCD3D_SM6)  2024-10-08 00-48-52.mp4_snapshot_01.40.739.png](\/\/\/raw\/0a9\/c4\/z\/67f30.png)\n\nI left the most exciting part\u2014retrieving items and the main character\u2019s \u201cwork\u201d mechanic\u2014for Monday. Initially, I wanted the player to constantly focus on the computer while tiny businessmen would slowly steal his belongings when he wasn\u2019t looking. The businessmen wouldn\u2019t steal while you\u2019re watching them, but the boss on the Zoom call would constantly demand your attention.\n\nHowever, time was running out, and I still hadn\u2019t worked out the win\/loss conditions. Then it hit me: the tiny businessmen are collectors! And the main character is a debtor who took out a micro-loan (a loan for a small sum with huge interest rates). This MICRO-loan fit the jam\u2019s theme \u201cTiny Creatures\u201d perfectly. It\u2019s just a small loan, but the consequences are enormous\u2014tiny businessmen invade the hero\u2019s life like an army of mini-collectors and start taking everything they can. To pay off the debt, the hero has to complete tasks on his computer. He\u2019s living in a tiny windowless apartment because he\u2019s hiding from the \u201cmicro\u201d collectors. It all came together!\n\n![smolBIZNASS-MiniTrailer-ezgif.com-optimize.gif](\/\/\/raw\/0a9\/c4\/z\/67f32.gif)\n\nThe thing I liked the most was the computer mechanic. It was my first time implementing text input, and it was really fun. I wanted to add more absurd tasks, but time was running short, so I had to stick with similar ones, though I did try to make them as varied as possible.\n\nThe sounds and effects, as usual, were added at the last minute, which is why they feel a bit rough. Sorry about that!\n\nIn the end, I\u2019m very happy with how it turned out. Big thanks to everyone participating in Ludum Dare! It\u2019s always a blast with you!\n\nhttps:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/56\/smol-biznass\n","comments":3,"comments-timestamp":"2024-10-08T18:28:24Z","created":"2024-10-08T15:02:18Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":405037,"love":5,"love-timestamp":"2024-10-08T18:15:33Z","meta":[],"modified":"2024-10-08T18:28:24Z","name":"Postmortem of smolBIZNASS","node-timestamp":"2024-10-08T16:13:35Z","parent":400512,"parents":[1,5,9,395186,400512],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/56\/smol-biznass\/postmortem-of-smolbiznass","published":"2024-10-08T15:20:13Z","scope":"public","slug":"postmortem-of-smolbiznass","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":1270771},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"405037","n_urlkey":"446936","n_parent":"400512","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/56\/smol-biznass\/postmortem-of-smolbiznass","n_slug":"postmortem-of-smolbiznass","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"313760","n_created":"1728399738","n_modified":"1728412104","n_version":"1270771","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/56\/smol-biznass\/postmortem-of-smolbiznass","text":"![smolBIZNASS_black.png](\/\/\/raw\/0a9\/c4\/z\/67f1c.png)\n\nHello, Ludum Dare!\n\nThis is my fourth time participating in the jam, and I have to admit, it was a bit more challenging than usual. Honestly, I was expecting a different theme. I already had an idea for a game, which I was planning to adapt to any theme, but, as often happens in life, plans don\u2019t go as expected, haha\n\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wr3FVtEKIMA\n\nSo I spent the whole of Saturday thinking, trying to come up with a new idea. I know a lot of people recommend not spending more than a couple of hours on brainstorming and just going with the first idea that comes to mind. But that\u2019s not my case. It seems to me that the first ideas that come up are often too clich\u00e9 and uninspiring. I\u2019d rather do nothing than work on something I don't believe in or find interesting. If I don\u2019t believe in an idea myself, it\u2019s unlikely that the players will, either. I\u2019m just not one of those who do something for the sake of doing it.\n\nAlmost immediately after the theme was announced, I got an idea about gnomes\u2014garden gnomes, to be precise. Here\u2019s what my short list of ideas looked like:\n\n1. A stealth action game about a gnome stealing penises (part of internet folklore, haha).\n2. A game about an isekai protagonist reincarnated as a tiny creature.\n3. A horror game where you need to appease a little house spirit living in the hero\u2019s house. The main feature would be a second-person camera (from the house spirit\u2019s perspective). But I quickly realized it would be hard to make this game genuinely scary.\n4. A game where dwarves break into a wizard\u2019s house and start digging right in the apartment.\n\n![smol_biznass (64-bit Development PCD3D_SM6)  2024-10-08 00-48-52.mp4_snapshot_00.24.640.png](\/\/\/raw\/0a9\/c4\/z\/67f2f.png)\n\nNone of these ideas really grabbed me, but after combining the best elements from all of them, I ended up with what I have now. Since I\u2019m not much of a 3D artist or animator, I also had to work within the limits of the assets I had available. Here was the idea:\n\nThe main character accidentally signs a micro-contract, and micro-businessmen invade his home and start taking his belongings. However, there was still the issue of defining victory and defeat. What was the player supposed to do beyond just retrieving their things? So, Saturday was entirely spent thinking about the core idea.\n\nOn Sunday, I finally started working on the core mechanics. As it often happens with Unreal Engine, you spend more time tweaking settings and trying to optimize performance than actually working on gameplay, haha. The whole day was spent setting up AI for the gnomes and trying to add IK so they would amusingly raise their hands when carrying objects (sure, I could have just done a simple animation, but why do that?!).\n\n![smol_biznass (64-bit Development PCD3D_SM6)  2024-10-08 00-48-52.mp4_snapshot_01.40.739.png](\/\/\/raw\/0a9\/c4\/z\/67f30.png)\n\nI left the most exciting part\u2014retrieving items and the main character\u2019s \u201cwork\u201d mechanic\u2014for Monday. Initially, I wanted the player to constantly focus on the computer while tiny businessmen would slowly steal his belongings when he wasn\u2019t looking. The businessmen wouldn\u2019t steal while you\u2019re watching them, but the boss on the Zoom call would constantly demand your attention.\n\nHowever, time was running out, and I still hadn\u2019t worked out the win\/loss conditions. Then it hit me: the tiny businessmen are collectors! And the main character is a debtor who took out a micro-loan (a loan for a small sum with huge interest rates). This MICRO-loan fit the jam\u2019s theme \u201cTiny Creatures\u201d perfectly. It\u2019s just a small loan, but the consequences are enormous\u2014tiny businessmen invade the hero\u2019s life like an army of mini-collectors and start taking everything they can. To pay off the debt, the hero has to complete tasks on his computer. He\u2019s living in a tiny windowless apartment because he\u2019s hiding from the \u201cmicro\u201d collectors. It all came together!\n\n![smolBIZNASS-MiniTrailer-ezgif.com-optimize.gif](\/\/\/raw\/0a9\/c4\/z\/67f32.gif)\n\nThe thing I liked the most was the computer mechanic. It was my first time implementing text input, and it was really fun. I wanted to add more absurd tasks, but time was running short, so I had to stick with similar ones, though I did try to make them as varied as possible.\n\nThe sounds and effects, as usual, were added at the last minute, which is why they feel a bit rough. Sorry about that!\n\nIn the end, I\u2019m very happy with how it turned out. Big thanks to everyone participating in Ludum Dare! It\u2019s always a blast with you!\n\nhttps:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/56\/smol-biznass\n","title":"Postmortem of smolBIZNASS","wayback_source":[]}