{"author_name":"Waterman7","cat":"LD #30","comments":[],"epoch":1409056860,"likes":3,"metadata":{"p_key":"26543","p_author":"Waterman7","p_authorkey":"31692","p_urlkey":"61973","p_title":"Postmortem: Zeit","p_cat":"LD #30","p_event":"LD30","p_time":"1409056860","p_likes":"3","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"31692","us_name":"Waterman7","us_username":"_waterman7_","event_start":"1408665600","event_key":"24","event_name":"LD30"},"text":"

[Originally posted on my blog<\/a>]<\/p>\n

I participated in the 48h game jam Ludum Dare<\/a> again last weekend. The theme was “Connected Worlds” and I started making a game called Zeit<\/i> based on the multiple worlds interpretation, in which you are stuck in an endless time loop and have to fight off enemies and avoid a growing army of alternate versions of yourself. Sounds fun? Meh. I didn’t really like it, so I stopped working on it after 14 hours and left it half-finished. You can still check it out<\/a> if you’re interested.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Zeit<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n <\/tbody>\n <\/table>\n

The Good<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

So here’s some of what went well this time.<\/p>\n

– Livestreaming.<\/b> I did that, and a couple of people actually watched it. It’s great for two reasons:<\/p>\n

Firstly, I was way more focused on the task and way faster than I would have been otherwise. You don’t procrastinate when you know you’re being watched. Secondly, I now have all of my 14 hours of work on tape and can revise my workflow and do cool things like this time-lapse<\/a>. I’ll probably keep doing that in the future, and I can only recommend it to anyone who does anything remotely interesting.<\/p>\n

– Researching.<\/b> I did that for the first time. I didn’t have any idea what to make of the theme “Connected worlds” (at least none that would have been realistic given the time frame and my limited programming skills), so I googled anything related to “connected worlds”, “multiple worlds”, “other worlds”, etc. Eventually I got stuck on the many worlds interpretation<\/a>, which gave me some crazy gameplay ideas about alternate universes and time-loops. The stuff is actually really interesting, and you should totally do some research on it if you’re looking for gameplay inspiration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 
\n The Bad<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Here’s what didn’t work out so well.<\/p>\n

– Giving up.<\/b> I did that way too early. In retrospect, I really regret not finishing the project. Even if in my eyes it wouldn’t have been a good game in the end, someone else might have liked it. (And some people already do.) Game jams are not about making a great game, but about making a game. And the experience of that might be worth just as much. I guess I’ll still have to learn to from time to time finish a game just for the sake of it.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0Not making sounds. Again.<\/b>\u00a0I remember last Ludum Dare I wrote something along the lines of <\/span>“If everything works as planned, my next\u00a0LD entry will have at least some sort of noise in it. Promise!<\/a>“<\/i><\/span> Well. It doesn’t. It would have been a good exercise to implement audio into the game, too, but I didn’t even get to that stage. I’ll really try harder next time. Promise. For real now!<\/p>\n

 
\n The Takeaway<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

– Don’t give up next time. <\/b>As one commenter accurately pointed out in response to my game: “Some ideas are just worth exploring, even if there is no fun at the end.”<\/i> Maybe next time explore it some more before abandoning it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>","time":"August 26th, 2014 7:41 am","title":"Postmortem: Zeit"}