{"author_name":"foumart","cat":"LD #28","comments":[],"epoch":1388068560,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"34096","p_author":"foumart","p_authorkey":"505213","p_urlkey":"69641","p_title":"Burning Fridges post mortem","p_cat":"LD #28","p_event":"LD28","p_time":"1388068560","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"505213","us_name":"foumart","us_username":"foumart","event_start":"1386892800","event_key":"20","event_name":"LD28"},"text":"

Hello all fellow devs and happy holidays!<\/p>\n

I’m writting my first post-mortem, let’s hope I’ll not get only this one ahead \":)\"<\/p>\n

This is my third submission in Ludum Dare, and the game is somewhat connected with my first LD26 game Atrakt<\/a>. Both using sliding puzzle mechanics and both telling story about the hostile alien race Litoxydes. (see image below)<\/p>\n

\"Example

Litoxyde. (example of richening a solid color vector animation with a few filters)<\/p><\/div>\n

What went right:<\/h3>\n

Game Concept<\/span>: As always I didn’t struggled with a game concept much and in one hour had the basics laid on paper, even the title (that i’m not quite proud of) was figured out.<\/p>\n

Theme<\/span>: I had some doubts about the theme implementation, moreover I tried to incorporate two themes at the same time. There was a Flash Game License competition in parallel to Ludum Dare with theme “Freezing”. So I decided to go Sci-Fi and use the cold space and the ultimate urgency needed in a spacecraft disaster to implement both themes. In my oppinion I used the theme well, as the player have only one chance to survive each stage, but it was not so obvious to others.<\/p>\n

(Next time I’ll name my submission by taking the theme string + some potatoe appending and voila : “You only get one … “, just kidding : )<\/p>\n

Engine<\/span>: I assembled a tiled display engine pretty fast and created almost all the tiles.\u00a0 At the end of the first day I had a moving character and an animated enemy.<\/p>\n

Enemy AI<\/span>: Not that it went so right, but at least without much efforts, there was alot of randomness in the early builts thought.<\/p>\n

Presentation<\/span>: Even in the current advanced post-compo version I’m still holding the ALERT screen and the spaceship that I drew for less that a minute with my mouse : D In the post-compo timeframe I decided to backup my storytelling with some 3d renders exported with swift3d but at the end left that screen intact. The spaceship renders became fairly good, with a ship composed of just one duplicated and stretched in different ways object – I leaved that for the level complete screen, but that’s not something that went right haha:) Anyway here is a full rotation gif for you:<\/p>\n

\"ship_small\"

360 rotation of the infiltrated spaceship<\/p><\/div>\n

What went the other direction:<\/h3>\n

Prototype<\/span>: Being proficient in design\/graphics aspect is a double edged sword. And it was difficult for me to postpone the art stuff for after the creation of the fully working prototype. So, instead of using some placeholder squares and figuring out the more important things of the gameplay in time, I spent too much efforts on the graphics the first day, which led to derailed rush at the end and not a complete game after all.<\/p>\n

Level Design<\/span>: started to think of levels too late and didn’t managed to create something interesting in time. My submission game is reeking of “this is just a demo with placeholder levels” notes.<\/p>\n

Intuitiveness<\/span>: The game is well handled by fans of Sokoban, but I observed that players which ware not familiar with Sokoban mechanics ware struggling to understand the objective. And obviously I failed to explain the game goal well enought. Will have to think of a better way for the tutorial.<\/p>\n

Sound<\/span>: Althought prepared a sound library prior to beginning I ran out of time even for the jam deadline to add sounds. I ended up using previously created sounds (from the Atrakt game) that I added just in the latest built (v0.6)\u00a0 But as I hear it now the sound became harsh in general. PS also in the latest built I added an awesome sci-fi-electro track called Shapeshifter by Clearside (CREDITS), to backup the atmosphere of the game.<\/p>\n

Score System<\/span>: Besides being still incomplete with 8 levels from 12 previsional, the game is lacking a proper level complete screen and a leaderboard. The player is not aware of how well he is doing.<\/p>\n

Community<\/span>: This post-mortem is my first community impact in this edition of Ludum Dare. I definitely need to expand in this section and will have to define some time to spend for that next compo. I’ll try either joining forces with others or trying a simpler game in the upcoming competition.<\/p>\n

And what is hurting your eyes now?<\/h3>\n