Taking part in LD29 was really amazing. There was an astounding amount of community support fueled by a fervent passion to create. Following various events as they unfolded on Twitter was almost as fun as making my game. At one point someone posted a link to this Youtube video. It got retweeted various times but when I saw it I was inspired, not so much by the video, but by the various designers, coders, artists, and creators that were taking time out of their busy lives to not only make something over a weekend but to support each other as a collective. Some people did not even submit a game or design anything over the weekend but continued to post comments cheering everyone on. When I made a few comments about some of the problems I was running into some people even messaged me directly with their support. The support that everyone spurned out over the last few days has been heart-achingly beautiful.

While I did not finish my game I learned a lot of things that I am sure will help me, not only in future jams, but in my own personal design. One of the most important things I took away from this was to be prepared. While I had made sure to have a clean work space, food, and time, I had not tested the tools I was going to be using for this jam. That was not done out of a lack of foresight but it happened because I could not decide what tools I wanted to use for this jam. I flitted between Twine, sfxr, Dart, Game Maker Studio, and many more because I was unfamiliar with any of those development environments. The last time I designed a video game was years ago when I was studying C++ in college. Despite ardent desires to make more games for years I have always managed to put those wants on hold to chase after what I considered more pressing matters. Finally, more recently, I am making an effort to get into what appears to be an amazing culture.

This leads me to the next thing I am taking away from the past few days. Knowing my tools is important. Deciding what I want to do and what tools I will use for the job is not only a matter of choosing a tool to fit what I am doing but it is choosing something I am familiar with that will really help me get work done. Unfortunately, I was not familiar with any of the tools I wanted to use to make my game. Outside of working on designing my website recently with a heavy focus on HTML I have not managed to get into any game design. As great as leaping in to this challenge was, worrying that I was in over my head was a constant concern of mine. Regardless, I kept trying to remain focused on coming up with something that would be interesting.

I did not figure out what tool I wanted to use and what my game would actually be till several hours had passed from Ludum Dare’s start. I had interpreted “Beneath the Surface” as an allegory for the different personas a human invariably has and the desires that sometimes remain hidden beneath the surface of the masks humans wear. Trying to figure that into game design was very difficult, considering my skills and, again, familiarity with the tools I had available. At one point, while taking a break from fiddling about with Game Maker Studio and a few other tools, I saw Notch’s game that was posted significantly early and it spurned me into thinking that Dart would be an amazing choice to design my game with. Unfortunately, this foolishly led to more study and careful reading.

I began to panic as I realized that time was quickly running out and I had effectively wasted a full days worth of design through full-heartedly chasing after a tool that would assist me to make the best game I could in the amount of time I was allotted. I had no intention of entering the compo to begin with, but had thought it would be nice if I could manage it. At this point there was no way I was going to get my game done in time for the compo, much less the jam. Dejected, I started to lose focus.

What kept me going was various posts I had seen in the tips section of this website. When I first chose to get involved with Ludum Dare I read a few posts that mentioned that even if you do not finish your game to turn it in. To do something. To keep at it till the end but most importantly, I read, was to have fun. Fretting over time constraints and the way my lack of progress could be interpreted was not fun and realizing that not turning in anything would make me feel even worse I resolved to get back to work.

I completely changed my idea for the game and decided to focus on making something that reflected the theme through gameplay. I decided that my game would focus on looking at things beyond their form. Beneath the surface, a chair is not just an item used to suit its purpose. Chairs are used to sleep in, as a means to reach higher heights, as weapons, as a table, and much more. What really made me want to focus on this as the theme of my game was the idea of using the mere thought of light as a means to explore a dark cave. By having the player focus on objects more closely they would be able to discern great detail from those items, leading to more choices, options, or objects to examine even more closely. By examining even the faintest glimmer of light and gleaning knowledge from their surroundings the player could light up the darkness even without a torch, flashlight, bonfire, or light emitting entity. I wanted to represent this by having each death the player experiences give them more and more abilities in relation to their environment.

From here I chose to use Twine since it outputs a HTML file. Something I am familiar with! I could do this! Things started looking up. I started to use Twine and realized that it could use variables. I was elated at this point.

Then I realized I needed something to drive the player along. Simply having an interesting game mechanic is not going to make a game. Time was starting to get even shorter. I had almost a days worth of time left for the jam. Piecing together what I could and learning how to use Twine (sometimes fighting it as it overrode stylesheets I created) I started to build something I imagined I would be able to get done within the remaining time allotted me. Obviously, this did not work out. The need for sleep after jamming so much knowledge into my head throughout the day was overwhelming.

I awoke and realized I had six hours left in the jam. Six! After all this time I still did not have a game. Sure, there were choices to be made and consequences for the choices, but it was not going anywhere. There was no meaning. It was not what I wanted to make. With these thoughts in mind I began to polish what I had in time to get it turned in.

After everything I am not proud of what I designed, but I am happy that I kept at it. I think I will continue to work on this game more outside the jam and focus more on using elements in the environment at a more base level to advance the plot in what I consider to be an interesting way. “Don’t have a key to get into this room? Examine that keyhole more closely, know its form, become the keyhole, and get in there.” Something about playing with the metaphysical expectations of the player seems fun to me.

Whatever happens, I want to thank you, all of you, for continuing to be awesome, and making my first Ludum Dare jam a wonderful one. Without the amazing continued support of everyone I am unsure I would be able to smile like am right now, even after having submitted an incomplete game for my entry.