{"author_name":"r2d2rigo","cat":"LD #36","comments":[],"epoch":1472809800,"likes":2,"metadata":{"p_key":"3253","p_author":"r2d2rigo","p_authorkey":"90767","p_urlkey":"38720","p_title":"Revenge of Tutankhamun, a Ludum Dare #36 post mortem","p_cat":"LD #36","p_event":"LD36","p_time":"1472809800","p_likes":"2","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"90767","us_name":"r2d2rigo","us_username":"r2d2rigo","event_start":"1472169600","event_key":"35","event_name":"LD36"},"text":"

Here is a post mortem written by Edu ‘@sodap_’ Alonso, the artist half that worked on our Ludum Dare 36 entry, Revenge of Tutankhamun. He writes about the overall experience teaming up for this Ludum Dare, and the right and wrong things learned on the experience. And if you haven’t tried or game yet, well, do it now<\/a> and provide feedback if you can!<\/p>\n

Enjoy!<\/p>\n

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REVENGE OF TUTANKHAMUN, A LUDUM DARE #36 POST MORTEM<\/b><\/p>\n

Revenge of Tutankhamun is an arcade-puzzle game inspired by Chu-Chu Rocket. It was created in an event hosted in Zaragoza, Spain for Ludum Dare 36. The theme for this Ludum Dare was \u2018Ancient Technology\u2019, which inspired us to make a game about traps in ancient tombs and we ended up making something similar to Sega\u2019s Chu-Chu Rocket, a classic for the Dreamcast and GBA.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In this game the player takes the role of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun, who needs to design the layout of the chambers in his pyramid in order to keep his treasure safe from any looters. These explorers will always walk forward and turn in a predetermined way unless given directions by a magic arrow placed by the player. The magic arrows wear out each time an explorer steps onto them so the player needs to keep replacing them until all explorers are dead.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The team was formed by a programmer, Rodrigo D\u00edaz (@r2d2rigo<\/a> on Twitter) and myself, Edu Alonso (@sodap_<\/a> on Twitter) as an artist. This was our first game working as a team.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Gameboss Jam Zaragoza<\/b><\/p>\n

Both of us are members of a small online community of Spanish-speaking indie devs called Indiecalipo in Telegram, where we figured out we should make a real-life gathering for LD36 because it would be cool to meet each other, have fun, and make games. Juan Castillo (@Acrimiens<\/a> on Twitter), from Zaragoza-based indie developer Mechanical Boss went ahead and started organizing the event.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The event turned out way better than we had pictured initially, as the jam was hosted in a community center for art and technology called Etopia where all the participants could stay for the whole weekend. We had a blast partying and doing gamedev battles on Friday before the theme was announced and then most of us went to bed to come up with an idea in the morning and start working. It was an amazing experience and it\u2019s safe to assume we all are looking forward to repeat as soon as we can, maybe in another place so Juan can concentrate on the fun and the game making while others take the hosting part off his shoulders.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Development process<\/b><\/p>\n

To be fair, the theme \u2018Ancient technology\u2019 wasn\u2019t really unexpected, as it had lots of votes in the preliminary rounds, and we had talked about possible directions to take in the jam if that turned out to be the actual theme, for example something like a Ghost \u2018n\u2019 Goblins with a caveman having to start a fire and make a spear. However in the morning we deemed that idea too unoriginal and played out so with the help from CremaGames\u2019 Guillermo Andrades (@xyaw<\/a> on Twitter), Rodrigo and I came up with a new one, a game about traps in a pyramid inspired by Chu-Chu Rocket.<\/span><\/p>\n

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From there, we started working. Rodrigo started implementing the mechanics and used Tiled Map Editor to create the levels, and I started doing some art. I intended to make a concept and then make everything in a pixel art style but people liked the concept so in the end I just made a higher res version of the assets that were present in the concept art. We didn\u2019t have any problems, it was pretty much smooth sailing for the whole process, which was a pleasant surprise for us.<\/span><\/p>\n

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On Sunday we realized we had some problems with UI\/UX, it was really hard to control the game and we tried to solve that with UI but in the end that didn\u2019t really help. Sunday night I stayed up until late as I searched for some free to use music and sounds. We still had some time left on Monday so on the train back home Rodrigo made a handful of new levels with a bigger challenge, made a build of the game and uploaded it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What went well<\/b><\/p>\n