So it’s been more than a week since Ludum Dare Jam #28 ended, but what with the holiday period I’ve not had much chance to really sit down and write about LITH; my first Ludum Dare and first games jam. I had a huge amount of fun doing this game! As an archetype of the Perfectionist, it was cathartic to just plough on with things and it meant I got a huge amount done in a very short space of time.

What Went Right

• Mood/Theme – The game quickly snowballed from a concept I’d had in my mind in an embryonic form for quite some time, although it was the “You Only Get One” theme that gave it the characteristic bank-your-points twist. And I’ve had a lot of encouraging feedback about how genuinely creepy it is, which is just what I had in mind at the start. So big success there!
• Music & Sound – So often this is an element that gets overlooked even in professional games, but thanks to the musically talented Rich Webb, I feel LITH does well here. The feedback on this has been hugely positive, also!
• Engine – Not that I had any hesitation about using Unity, but I doubt I could have gotten this level of graphical sheen, immersion and usability; on both PC and Mac; using anything else. Well done, you guys! You should drink a smoothie or something.

What Went Wrong

• Coder Down! – Unfortunately, we lost a team member fairly early on, so I had to quickly re-arrange plans as I’d not intended to be coding. As a result, the code has committed more crimes than a recurring cartoon supervillain.
• Rushed Art – Sort of related to the above. Most of the art was draft quality or thrown together very hastily (I’d planned to make the Liths look more like stone monoliths with glyphs and all that; as it is, they actually just have their lighting map over flat grey and look too much like Daleks). Most of the time I simply didn’t get around to replacing it.
• Daft AI – The AI was mostly worked on last minute. To begin with, the Liths were like psychics and far too hard to evade. They also ping-ponged off walls very erratically. In my attempts to make them smoother and more believable, they’ve also become rather stupid and get stuck in rooms sometimes. AI is one of those things that can easily go backwards, especially with such tight timescales!

So there you have it! I aim to continue working on LITH after the Jam and see what we can make of it. Overall, I’m happy with how the game turned out, and look forward to the next…

About Novodantis:

Alexander Webb is a writer and professional game designer living in the UK. He currently works on strategy games for mobile.

Tags: LITH