http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=20788

It’s a glorified Lunar Lander.  Had to abandon original control scheme halfway through day 2, which was fun (!not), the final engine control is much more how I think the Apollo mission retro controls worked, setting power and time then firing a burn.

Of course you have to do it repeatedly for this, but it is a game…

I used Construct2 this.  Also spent far more time than usual on look and feel, which I think was a good decision, though as a typical programming-first developer I do find it tough to admit that visual polish is important and the ‘brilliant’ idea will just vanish into the murk without it (not that this is an original idea ofc.)  I found time spent was about 20% each for design, coding and testing/bug-fixing and 40% on graphics and polish.

All the planets are based on an iPhone photo I took of a weather windowsill tile out the back.  Gimp filters ftw!

Built with Construct2, Gimp, BXFR, Audacity and a (small this time…) amount of piano playing.

Testing with 4 hours to go late last night (UK timezone) found a few minor things – and I realised that the harder levels were fine on Touch devices, but bad on with Mouse control… so added keyboard shortcuts, updated the help & other pipeline stuff… sigh.  Three releases in final minutes, just one more thing Columbo.

As always thank you for the fun LD and see you next time!