You can play my game here:

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-28/?action=preview&uid=10767

This Ludum Dare went well for me compared to my previous one (LD24). I actually finished something. I think that I’m a lot better at programming than I was then. That might have something to do with it.

What went right:

• Programming: I’m a lot better at making decisions quickly when programming. I’ve also learnt not to get bogged down by details anymore and focus on the bigger picture.
• Screen shake is a very powerful effect that’s quite easy to implement. It made shooting feel brutal and manly.
• The muzzle effect of the gun is quite powerful as well.
• The sound effects for jumping and shooting give the game character.
• I made a basic editor quickly, which allowed me to spend very little time on designing the level.

What went wrong:

• I spent about an hour making a character sprite, but then realized that I wouldn’t be able to animate it quickly. So I decided to create a new sprite in a more simple style in order to animate it, effectively wasting that hour.
• I was indecisive about the art style of my game. When I finally did decide on pixel art, I realized that I wouldn’t be able to scale the images without increasing the screen size. As a result, my game has zoomed out (bad) pixel art which looks bad.
• I didn’t prioritize well and began to add unessential effects such as screen shake and the muzzle effect without having completed the core mechanics.
• My game doesn’t really incorporate the theme in a unique way. I couldn’t come up with anything really.
• I didn’t have enough time to make and add music to my game.
• There are some bugs in the game. Also, I didn’t create a game state machine as such, and thus the game just stops rendering the player when you win or die and shows the corresponding text, but you can still move around (and thus move the camera) and shoot.
• Due to the lack of a good state machine system, it was difficult for me to create multiple levels and switch between them, even though I had an editor that I could use to create these levels.

Hopefully, those who play my game will enjoy it. I definitely want to do the next Ludum Dare as well!