First off, I’m not even quite sure what I’m supposed to write here; I’m just assuming it’s supposed to be a summary of the process and what I learned…

My entry, Invasion from Below (http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-29/?action=preview&uid=36095) was a 48-hour entry, which was actually completed in about 10 hours done live in my livesteam (www.livestream.com/stencyl).

As the livestream name indicates, the entire game was made with the game creator Stencyl. I’ve been using Stencyl almost since it came out (version 1.1), but there was a new API added in 3.1: the Image API. I guess it’s a pretty common thing in most game creation tools, but it’s brand new for Stencyl.

Thus, I decided that a 48-hour competition (in which I knew I’d only have a few hours of the 48) would be a great time to learn how to use it. Yeah, it was brilliant. I had many issues right from the start and actually drastically changed the game soon after starting (was originally going to use bullets, lasers, etc. from the buildings at the top of the screen instead of laying mini mines).

The idea for the game was born out of the desire to use the image API in a creative way. I originally thought of the enemies burrowing upwards and making tunnels behind them that would speed up enemies that followed after them. I quickly realized that was going to be too much with the time constraint, and the game you see is the result instead.

I also quickly realized that I was going to have to give up in certain areas in order to finish on time. Those areas were graphics and especially sound (there is no sound at all in the game).

In the end, I’m mostly pleased with the result. I do realize that I should have at least added sound effects (I REALLY suck at making music). Also, I really should have tried to take more time balancing the game. It’s really tough when you first play, but when you get down the system, it’s possible to get really far.

One thing I’m surprised with is the overall response from fellow LD players. I personally didn’t think my own game was that great in the end (for playing; the technical aspects behind it are pretty impressive since this is my first Image API application and got it all to work), but overall the comments have been decent. The lack of sound will definitely kill it in the end, but I’m glad that it seems like a lot of people are finding it to be a worthwhile game.

In the end, I only used three resources: Stencyl, Paint.NET, and, of course, some music to code to ;).

Will I ever do another LD? I tend to doubt it. This past weekend really wore me out; I’m still recovering from it. If the game does a lot better than I’m expecting it to though, I may just go ahead and try again, focusing on a simpler idea to pull off.

Thanks for reading!