{"author_name": "Kitch", "cat": "LD #31", "comments": [{"author_name": "Teesquared", "time": "December 14, 2014 12:27 pm", "epoch": 1418578020, "text": "I went to check out the source and the rar is not opening in 7zip. Is the file corrupt?", "spam": "N"}, {"author_name": "", "time": "December 14, 2014 12:33 pm", "epoch": 1418578380, "text": "It was a RAR5.  Perhaps that&#8217;s what the issue was?  It&#8217;s a regular rar now.", "spam": "N"}], "epoch": 1418576820, "likes": 3, "metadata": {"p_key": "21976", "p_author": "Kitch", "p_authorkey": "7470", "p_urlkey": "57340", "p_title": "Kitch’s Postmortem", "p_cat": "LD #31", "p_event": "LD31", "p_time": "1418576820", "p_likes": "3", "p_comments": "2", "p_status": "UPD5", "us_key": "7470", "us_name": "Kitch", "us_username": "kitch", "event_start": "1417737600", "event_key": "26", "event_name": "LD31"}, "text": "<h2>The Game</h2>\n <p><a href=\"http://ludumdare.com/compo/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/bbdTitleBig1.gif\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-427310\" src=\"http://ludumdare.com/compo/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/bbdTitleBig1.gif\" alt=\"bbdTitleBig\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" /></a></p>\n <h1 style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-31/?action=preview&amp;uid=7470\" target=\"_blank\">PLAY ME NOW!</a></h1>\n <p>&nbsp;</p>\n <h2>The History</h2>\n <p>I guess I should start out by saying that is my fourth Ludum Dare. I haven&#8217;t been able to participate in a while, for reasons, but I got the opportunity to participate in Ludum Dare #31.</p>\n <p>If you are curious, my previous Ludum Dare entries were <a href=\"http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?uid=7470\" target=\"_blank\">Voxterium (LD22)</a>, <a href=\"http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&amp;uid=7470\" target=\"_blank\">Mage Duel (LD23)</a>, and <a href=\"http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&amp;uid=7470\" target=\"_blank\"># (LD26).</a></p>\n <h2>Preperation</h2>\n <p>My three previous Ludum Dare entries were all done in XNA. For my next &#8220;real&#8221; project, I wanted to get away from the XNA framework, and try something a little more&#8230; um&#8230; well&#8230; supported. Also, wanted to finally do a web game for this competition, to get rid of all the stigmas of running a windows only game that required a redistributable.</p>\n <p>I decided to give Haxe a run, as it seemed to be pretty straight forward, and of course it&#8217;s cross platform features are extremely interesting. And, hey, making a game in 48 hours is a good way to learn a new language, right?</p>\n <h2>The Build</h2>\n <p>When the theme was announced, my mind was blank. After like an hour of pacing my office and staring at a blank screen, this one just sort of popped in there.  No idea where it came from or why.</p>\n <p>Having done this compo three times before, I had a pretty good idea of what pacing should be&#8230; but like the other LD&#8217;s I threw that to the wind. Taking into account I was learning a new programming language, I allotted more time for programming. That being the case, when I got into the programming part, HaxeFlixel was sooo easy to use, and so well documented (for this sort of game), that I felt like I could spend more time on the audio and graphics, and I did. Overall, the process went really well and I actually finished a couple hours early.</p>\n <p>Targeting the web was kind of a cool experience as well. I was able to post early builds, and get feedback. This helped a lot with finding some glaring issues. One was a bad design decision with the second control (below), that would have been disastrous, had it not been pointed out to me early.</p>\n <p><a href=\"http://ludumdare.com/compo/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/bbd_play1.gif\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-417121\" src=\"http://ludumdare.com/compo/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/bbd_play1.gif\" alt=\"bbd_play\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" /></a></p>\n <h2>What went right</h2>\n <ul>\n <li>I think the game turned out pretty ok.</li>\n <li>I learned a lot about a new language.</li>\n <li>I made a web game!</li>\n </ul>\n <h2>What went wrong</h2>\n <ul>\n <li>Some of the controls are awkward. Some extra time could have been spent on making them more intuitive.</li>\n <li>Would have liked to spend more time on the music</li>\n </ul>\n <h2>Plans for the Future</h2>\n <p>I would like to spend some time on a post-compo version. It doesn&#8217;t feel complete right now. Some games just feel like they deserve to be fleshed out.</p>\n <p>I have received a number of good suggestions and insights on where this game could go, and I totally agree.  I also have a lot of ideas I would have liked to implement.. but you know&#8230; time&#8230; It will also help me to get even more familiar with Haxe, as I believe it can be a great platform for my next game project.</p>\n <h2>Conclusion</h2>\n <p>Had a blast last weekend making the game, and have had a great time playing your games. Can&#8217;t wait to play more! I wish you all a great Ludum Dare!</p>\n <p>Love,<br />\n <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KitchsTweets\" target=\"_blank\">Ross</a></p>\n \n <p>Tags: <a href=\"http://ludumdare.com/compo/tag/haxe/\" rel=\"tag\">haXe</a>, <a href=\"http://ludumdare.com/compo/tag/haxeflixel/\" rel=\"tag\">HaXeFlixel</a>, <a href=\"http://ludumdare.com/compo/tag/knobs-and-buttons-and-stuff/\" rel=\"tag\">knobs and buttons and stuff</a>, <a href=\"http://ludumdare.com/compo/tag/music-game/\" rel=\"tag\">Music Game</a>, <a href=\"http://ludumdare.com/compo/tag/postmortem/\" rel=\"tag\">postmortem</a></p>", "time": "December 14th, 2014 12:07 pm", "title": "Kitch’s Postmortem"}