To sum up my experiences completing my first miniLD  “me.X86“

Before Competition:

• I have wanted to try a programming competition for a long time
• miniLD #49’s theme of “non-human player” was really interesting
• I wanted to try and use the bare minimum tools to complete the competition
• I wanted to capture a Time Lapse of everything I did to  create the game

Start of Competition:

• Decided the game would only use HTML, JavaScript, & CSS
• Only use software that was freely available, shareware, or I had written
  • Bracket.io ( Code Editor )
  • svg-edit ( Browser based svg editor )
  • Chrome (google) & safari (apple) web browsers
  • Ghost TimeLapse (I wrote it)
• Write everything from scratch at time of competition

What went well:

Completed on time & Audio

• Game works and was completed in time. ( though I only managed to include the first level )
• Created all graphics from scratch during competition
• Audio created by Aart for the Menu, Level, and game outcome sounds fantastic (imp)
• Overall look of the Game
• Everything to complete the first level works
• Game engine is easy to include additional content and capabilities
• Released game can be played without having internet ( only 2 HTML files, and some media)

What went wrong:

Time Management & Expectations

• Spent too much time testing software tools during competition time
• Lost a lot of time trying “new” ways of reinventing the wheel
• Ended up using 1 JavaScript file I had created pre-competition
• Ran out of time to test final game on other web browsers
• Tried to include way to much from the beginning ( forgot the KISS principle )
• Did not include a description of how to play the game

What is next:

I like the game concept, and a lot of how the game plays, so I will be continuing on and adding more of my ideas to it. Overall I learned and enjoyed doing this competition, which should help me be better prepared in the future. Looking forward to the next competition.

Overall Experience:

Humbled. I learned a lot about myself, and my programming style. Though happy that I was able to complete as much as I have, wish I had spent more time polishing the user interface before I posted it.

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/minild-49/?action=preview&uid=33141

I would appreciate any feedback people have.