after two team entries (LD28 and LD29 with LeafThief whose great game from LD30 can be found here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=3923) it was time for a solo entry this time.

my goal was to focus on artwork as much as possible. coming from the programming/game design corner of the business, i knew that i had those two areas covered and it was time to improve my drawing skills. usually i use simple 2d/3d objects for my prototypes but this time i wanted to improve on the visual end of the game.

after i got the initial game design done and prototyped (see gif below) i started up pro motion and watched/read a couple of pixel art tutorials.

i decided on a style with not too many pixels/character because i thought that this might minimize the margin for error 😉

at first i created the two main characters (see image below) and afterwards i worked on the smaller army characters.

I did a livestream of this process at http://www.twitch.tv/ddrei/c/4993048 – the video shows that i am not really fast but i am quite happy with the result.

here are the smaller characters:

what went well (in my opinion)

• the graphics sure are an improvement to my usual programmer art “style”
• i read up on a bit of music theory cause i did not want to create something completely random. in combination with http://distractionware.com/blog/2013/08/bosca-ceoil/ that worked out well i think.
• the scope of the game was exactly as i planned. not too big, not too small.
• time management was good. i did get enough sleep, watched a movie and played some games during all the creation process. it was my most relaxed game jam in years (maybe due to the fact that i did not code all the time :p)

what did not work so well

• i completely forgot about sounds. i do not know why but i just realized it after i handed in the game.
• the overall art direction is not good. the characters themselves may be “ok” but when i look at the whole game i do not see a homogenous image. next time i try to use a reduced color palette for example.
• the tutorial was done too quick and does not feel very good. also the artwork does not fit into the picture.
• i was too scared of animations this time. i will work on that next time though!

all in all i am very pleased with the result and to quite some motivation out of it. i hope you enjoy the game at least a tiny bit!

you can check it out at http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=23131

please let me know what you did like and also what you did not like in the comments. see you next time! <3

if you are interested in my other game develop activities you can follow me on twitter: @iossif

Tags: LD30, slay, zone