{"author_name":"Alphish","cat":"LD #30","comments":[],"epoch":1409085480,"likes":2,"metadata":{"p_key":"26502","p_author":"Alphish","p_authorkey":"39564","p_urlkey":"61932","p_title":"Collision \u2013 post mortem","p_cat":"LD #30","p_event":"LD30","p_time":"1409085480","p_likes":"2","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"39564","us_name":"Alphish","us_username":"sunflower","event_start":"1408665600","event_key":"24","event_name":"LD30"},"text":"<p>Alright, having played some other games a little, I think I can write that thing somewhat menacingly called &#8220;post mortem&#8221;. For the reference, the game I made was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-30\/?action=preview&amp;uid=39564\" title=\"Collision\">Collision<\/a>. The tools I used were GameMaker: Studio for general engine (along with earlier declared PARADIGMOSIS framework in progress thing), OpenMPT for soundtrack and Audacity for OGG conversion, SFXR for sound effects (I admit, it really *is* an awesome tool, especially in such short jams). It was for the 48 hours competition, but in the end I feel it ended up better than my earlier games for other 72-hours competitions.<\/p>\n <p><strong>What went right:<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>first of all, I guess the preparations; I ended up using pretty much all features I made beforehand, one of them very much so, and I feel it really sped things up or allowed details that I probably couldn&#8217;t bother with otherwise; it seems the system I came up with works and is worth further development<\/li>\n <li>I decided not to bother with the interface too much, knowing that this beast takes too long to make compared to results (especially when time is much needed); instead, I focused on creating the core mechanics and ended up having them done by the end of the first day. The fact that these mechanics didn&#8217;t require elements like pop-up windows or anything similar helped a lot, too<\/li>\n <li>I managed to throw in some music (that people apparently like) and sounds, as well as their respective mute buttons; also, I even succeeded in making the twist with soundtrack changing, even though it kept desyncing for me (interestingly, no one else reported it so far; perhaps it&#8217;s something local? O.o&#8221;)<\/li>\n <li>I actually made a game that can be completed; sure, it&#8217;s very lacking and most areas are pretty empty, but still; I hope I made the ending screen rewarding enough ^^&#8221;<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p><strong>What went wrong:<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>my sleeping patterns&#8230; u_u&#8221;<\/li>\n <li>game&#8217;s source code (as expected for quick application coding)<\/li>\n <li>wasted some time trying to get audio right<\/li>\n <li>didn&#8217;t add other characters to talk to, or maybe obstacles to avoid<\/li>\n <li>ran out of time to add proper abilities rather than barrier keys; though I didn&#8217;t really had high hopes about that<\/li>\n <li>possibly the game doesn&#8217;t explain things properly, though reports about that aren&#8217;t very often so far? O.o&#8221;<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p><strong>What I&#8217;ve learned:<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>all ideas are equal, but some are more equal; and they might be faster to execution<\/li>\n <li>game development can be insanely quick indeed, especially with proper tools ^^&#8221;<\/li>\n <li>I really am a coder&#8230; I can&#8217;t do graphics nor music&#8230; I really am a coder&#8230; I can&#8217;t do graphics nor music&#8230;<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p>Overall, it was quite fun participating in that compo, though I guess the next time I&#8217;ll prefer to participate in the Jam instead; I&#8217;m not overly fond of sharing my entire general codebase with everyone else, and 72 hours is still longer than 48. Plus, I don&#8217;t like coding the same functionality over and over again. ^^&#8221;<\/p>\n <p>I&#8217;m curious about what the results will be&#8230; I guess I&#8217;ll need to wait quite a bit. Still, I probably will do some additional voting every now and then&#8230;<br \/>\n (on a side note, whoever came up with the coolness rating and it affecting the order of suggested games to play was a genius; it really seems to work!)<\/p>\n <p>I guess that&#8217;s it. Need to work in fixing my sleeping patterns&#8230; probably won&#8217;t touch the development itself for a little while&#8230; ^^&#8221;<\/p>","time":"August 26th, 2014 3:38 pm","title":"Collision \u2013 post mortem"}