{"author_name":"kyyrma","cat":"LD #29","comments":[],"epoch":1398770160,"likes":1,"metadata":{"p_key":"30240","p_author":"kyyrma","p_authorkey":"8424","p_urlkey":"65712","p_title":"Into The Abyss: Post-mortem","p_cat":"LD #29","p_event":"LD29","p_time":"1398770160","p_likes":"1","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"8424","us_name":"kyyrma","us_username":"kyyrma","event_start":"1398384000","event_key":"22","event_name":"LD29"},"text":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-29\/?action=preview&amp;uid=8424\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-356857\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/shot0-550x414.png\" alt=\"shot0\" width=\"550\" height=\"414\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/shot0-300x226.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/shot0-550x414.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/shot0.png 637w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n <p>As promised yesterday, here are some collected thoughts on my LD29 entry Into the Abyss. This was my third time finishing Ludum Dare and first time in the 72-hour category.<\/p>\n <p><strong>What went right?<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li><strong>Graphics first: <\/strong>Unlike before, the very first thing I made was the graphics. I&#8217;ve always thought that its best to save that for last, but this time around I learned that making graphics early on can be very beneficial when facing a time limit. Not only do you get inspired by your own art, but having something tangible to look at early on helps you nail down your central gameplay as well.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <ul>\n <li><strong>Lay off the stress:\u00a0<\/strong>Before I have been very stringent with my use of time over the weekend, but this time around I didn&#8217;t pay much mind to the clock and took things at a leisurely pace. I went out with my friends, slept long in the morning and cooked and ate some fantastic dinners. Guess what happened? I actually put more work in the game than I have ever before. There is no point in sitting in front of your computer with a blank stare for the whole weekend, refreshing yourself will be much more beneficial in the long run!<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <ul>\n <li><strong>Taking the shortcut:\u00a0<\/strong>I&#8217;ve always tried to keep my code as tidy as possible in case that I would like to re-use parts of it in the future. This time I had none of that. The finished code is an uncommented mess that probably even I can&#8217;t comprehend after a few days. Every time I had a new idea I simply crammed it in the most crude way possible, and kept it as long as it worked. But it was all for the better, as this helped me have all the features that I wanted and make the game much more complete. And lets be honest &#8211; I&#8217;m never going to touch that code again.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p><strong>What went wrong?<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li><strong>Get on with the times:\u00a0<\/strong>This was my third LD and I&#8217;m still doing simple, retroish throwback games to the years of old. It&#8217;s getting stale real quick. With the advent of ever simpler game development platforms the influx of games just like the ones I like to make has been massive. People aren&#8217;t simply as interested in them anymore. 3D has become commonplace and low-poly is the new pixel. People are looking for unique and quirky games that can be played quickly, most often right in their in a web browser. If I wish to get more than bored sighs out of gamers I really need to step up my game.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <ul>\n <li><strong>Show, don&#8217;t tell:\u00a0<\/strong>So I thought taking photos of enemies would be a cool gimmick. I got the gimmick part right, but the actual execution is somewhat lacklustre. Worse yet, the camera is not explained at all in-game but only in the info dump on the download page. Guess how many people have read that so far? Zero. The comments are filling up with people confused about the camera, and they are fully right in that. If you decide to have an uncommon gameplay element do everyone a favor and explain it properly.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p><strong>And to finish this post off, here is a shout out to the best games I&#8217;ve played so far. Don&#8217;t miss them!<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-29\/?action=preview&amp;uid=3211\">Deep Diver<\/a> a superbly polished arcade game that would be right at home in a cabinet<\/li>\n <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-29\/?action=preview&amp;uid=7658\">The Westport Independent <\/a> a game about censorship in the vein of Papers, please!<\/li>\n <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-29\/?action=preview&amp;uid=35139\">The Monastery<\/a> a fantastic tribute to old SSI roleplaying games<\/li>\n <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-29\/?action=preview&amp;uid=12944\">Water Hazard<\/a> a horror game in the style of PS1-era tech<\/li>\n <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-29\/?action=preview&amp;uid=7658\">Sub Terraria Zero<\/a> a tidy and hard minimalistic 2D-platformer<\/li>\n <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-29\/?action=preview&amp;uid=3733\">console.enable(); <\/a>a platformer where you can tweak in-game variables<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>","time":"April 29th, 2014 6:16 am","title":"Into The Abyss: Post-mortem"}