Here are a few postmorterm thoughts on my game, E pluribus unum:

The idea: Including the last two LD’s, this is the third game I’ve ever made. In my first two, the part I failed to accomplish was creating something that was fun to play (more specifically, something that resembled a game). So I needed something that was both simple, and had a clear game mechanic that was enjoyable to play. It took about two hours of staring at the screen until I roughed out the concept of the game where you match multiple patterns by clearing a grid.

The name: The hardest thing, by far, was coming up with a name. I knew that I did not want to use the word “one” in the title. I also wanted the name to communicate how I had integrated the theme. I then thought about the Latin phrase “Ludum Dare”, and then it clicked: I know a Latin phrase with the word one! The translation of E pluribus unum is “Out of many, one”, which fit in perfectly with my game mechanic of creating these patterns out of the one surface. I then immediately started doubting myself thinking that at least 20 other games would use the same name. Ultimately, it was a lot of worrying over nothing, as I’m the only one with that name.

Development: Unity. Despite Unity crashing on me about 50 times during the Jam, I love the program. There’s simply no way I could have made this game without it. I do c# dev for a living, which helped a ton with the scripting. Also, it’s free. Ridiculous. I used their 2D tooling for the first time, and for me it worked great.

Gameplay: Even with the stated goal of keeping it simple, I kept worrying that it was way too simple, both in mechanic and scope. One thing I focused a lot of time on was making sure that the act of clearing a tile from the grid felt satisfying. The random tones and the particle effects were tweaked until I felt they were just right. The interactions when matching a pattern or completing the level were important as well, as I wanted it to acknowledge the player accomplishment. I worried about the simplicity so much that I intentionally left out any tutorial or hints, beyond the level design. I knew quickly that a person’s ability to fully “get” the game would be if they could clear level 3. In my playtesting, some people got it immediately, and others took a few minutes.

The font: It’s not a font. I made every letter by hand in Photoshop. I’m dumb.

Reaction: I’ve been thrilled with the reaction. Some of the quotes in my comments look like paid endorsements: “a real winner and I’ve never seen anything like it. Bravo!” and “That’s how you design a goddamn game!”

My sincere thanks to everyone who has played so far, and if you haven’t, please take a moment to check it out!

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-28/?action=preview&uid=22624