{"author_name":"bitserum","cat":"LD #31","comments":[{"author_name":"christopf","time":"December 12, 2014 9:18 am","epoch":1418393880,"text":"You going to implement the missing stuff later?","spam":"N"}],"epoch":1418390700,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"22066","p_author":"bitserum","p_authorkey":"24347","p_urlkey":"57431","p_title":"20 Days at Sea \u2013 A postmortem","p_cat":"LD #31","p_event":"LD31","p_time":"1418390700","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"1","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"24347","us_name":"bitserum","us_username":"bitserum","event_start":"1417737600","event_key":"26","event_name":"LD31"},"text":"

The full (much longer) postmortem<\/a> with all the nuances, pictures and development progress can be read on our blog, so I’ll keep it short here. Even more-so as some of the gifs in the original article exceed the 2MB limit.<\/p>\n

An early mockup:<\/p>\n

\"20-days-at-sea-ludum-dare-31-first-mockup\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This was our 5th Ludum Dare and 4th successful one (after we gave up on the second day last time). The theme \u201cEntire game on one screen\u201d felt OK. It allowed me to explore a game idea I\u2019ve been pondering for a few weeks now; but haven\u2019t done anything about yet. A game about survival after being stranded at sea alone, heavily influenced by This War of Mine and Life of Pi (both of which I\u2019ve experienced not so long ago).<\/p>\n

This time around we didn\u2019t do any preparations before the LD officially started.<\/p>\n

Overall we\u2019re pretty happy with what we created, though it\u2019s not quite the fun experience we had in mind. It will serve us enough as a quick and dirty prototype before we revisit the idea again and build a more serious game around it.<\/p>\n

\"20-days-at-sea-after-the-storm\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PLAY THE GAME<\/a><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

What went Right:<\/strong>
\n \u2022 We finished on time, and it was a really complex project for us.
\n \u2022 We learned how to use the new, awesome Unity GUI system.
\n \u2022 I found the art style quickly and managed to pull off something decent with it.
\n \u2022 Managed to craft some decent mood with the art and choice of music.
\n \u2022 The game is fairly interesting for a single playthrough, which is great as we were fearing a totally boring experience.
\n \u2022 The ending still cracks us up\u2026 a bit<\/p>\n

What went Wrong:<\/strong>
\n \u2022 We had to cut out a lot of interesting mechanics (no crossbow, sob)
\n \u2022 The gameplay is quite grindy, and most of the things are completely unnecessary.
\n \u2022 The time speed control didn\u2019t serve a purpose apart from sleeping.
\n \u2022 Sleeping didn\u2019t serve a purpose.
\n \u2022 Most of the things that can be crafted serve no purpose.
\n \u2022 Half of Margaret\u2019s dialogues never made it into the game.
\n \u2022 Sharks never made it into the game.
\n \u2022 Didn\u2019t have time to dig around for sound effects and implement them.
\n \u2022 We slept and ate poorly and didn\u2019t take good care of ourselves during the jam.
\n \u2022 Still haven\u2019t learned to Keep It Simple.<\/p>\n

Read the full article >><\/a><\/p>","time":"December 12th, 2014 8:25 am","title":"20 Days at Sea \u2013 A postmortem"}