{"author_name":"Alan Masimba Walker","cat":"LD #30","comments":[],"epoch":1409008620,"likes":3,"metadata":{"p_key":"26644","p_author":"Alan Masimba Walker","p_authorkey":"501213","p_urlkey":"62076","p_title":"Post mortem \u2013 Macecraft","p_cat":"LD #30","p_event":"LD30","p_time":"1409008620","p_likes":"3","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"501213","us_name":"Alan Masimba Walker","us_username":"Alan Masimba Walker","event_start":"1408665600","event_key":"24","event_name":"LD30"},"text":"

Hey-ho guys!<\/p>\n

I’ve attempted LD Jams with friends a few times, but never finished either due to my own laziness or just plain running out of time to fix game breaking bugs. But this time I finished, not with a great finish but I did it. And to me, that’s an achievement in itself<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What went right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. So the drive & motivation for programming was sustained, even when I felt like I wasn’t ready for some of the tasks I was trying, I still gave it a go.<\/li>\n
  2. The guy who did music, a good friend, did a great job on the sound effects & music.<\/li>\n
  3. We lost a lot of time due to a few of us being out, but still ended up with something.<\/li>\n <\/ol>\n

    What went wrong?<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. A lot of the ideas that I wanted to try couldn’t come to fruition from just frustration of writing certain things for the first time and also not quite having a logical grasp on solving some of the problems that I had.<\/li>\n
    2. We lost time, that’s never a good thing in these cases but I guess 16 hours lost due to alcohol isn’t a good thing.<\/li>\n
    3. The artist dropped out. Leaving us with around about 3 images maybe 4… A lot of the placeholder stuff is just there still cause of no artist.<\/li>\n
    4. I didn’t plan enough. I really should have planned a lot of what I was doing. Sketched out some ideas and really thought about everything. A lot of classes were re-written 4 to 5 times because of changing or conflicting ideas. It’d have been easier to plan in stages.<\/li>\n <\/ol>\n

      What’s going to happen next?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

      I’d say this LD30 jam was a real learning curve for me, and has given me a few pointers on how to improve my code maintainability, handle ideas, plan for problems and how to deal with more than 6-7 classes in a game. How to really get to grips with how to deal with game developing on a deadline. I feel I’ve grown as a programmer, and have learnt a few design elements. Most likely, the game is going to be touched up. Fresh art added in by another friend, and the music kept. I’ll post it on my GameJolt (http:\/\/gamejolt.com\/profile\/mace-the-confused\/113974\/) \u00a0and hopefully it’ll be a fun process. This game isn’t really my thing, but I’ve learnt so much while making it, I think I’d like to give it a good send off.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Hope you all enjoyed yourselves this time, c’ya next time!<\/p>","time":"August 25th, 2014 6:17 pm","title":"Post mortem \u2013 Macecraft"}