I’m in for my second competition. My goal this time is to make a simple, fun, complete game with great art/animation.

Last Ludum Dare, number 29, was my first game jam. I learned some valuable lessons. Mainly restrict the complexity of the game design. Second have a better package (such as a proper title screen/main screenshot) and be right on top of the voting post-compo. Last entry I spent almost all of my time trying to massage the character movement controls while continuing to add unplanned movement states, and only started designing a level Sunday evening. I was unable to really deliver a complete game. As a conceptual prototype it was pretty solid, but the full effect of the theme, situational context, and (fairly tight if I say so myself) control mechanic was not delivered. Then I was so burned out that I didn’t do enough voting and between those two shortfalls my entry was a complete wash. I still enjoyed the hell out of the experience though. Consider this a belated post-mortem.

So this week one important task will be locking down a strict time budget ahead of the competition. One which allows plenty of time to create a level which fully delivers the intended experience. I will definitely rest up beforehand and eat well throughout the competition this time.

Tools will be Flash Pro and actionscript for the most part. If I go with a side scroller of any kind, there are some existing functions which I re-use from project to project. Aside from that it will be coded from scratch in AS2. I’m still not fluent enough with actual programming to use AS3 efficiently enough for a  jam compo.