So I think this one was my all time favorite of the games I have made for Ludum Dare. During the voting I wanted castles to win, even though that wouldn’t be a good theme I still wanted to do something with castles. Decided that the best way to do this was to have something to do with castles that only takes 10 seconds.

What Went Right

The Castles- They are not perfect but I like how the castles looked, I didn’t get time to go back and make better textures but I think they look decent

Rigid Body Control- Making this game using a character controller just wasn’t going to cut it. So I programmed a character controller that uses the rigidbody add forces and velocity for movement. It needs work but it’s a good starting point for other games in the future.

Terrain- I spent too much time working on the Terrain of a few of the levels. I find them rather nice to look at.

Basic Catapult Launching- It launches you in a up direction…which is what its suppose to do.

Music- It’s simple, but I think it’s fun.

What Went So Wrong

Catapult- the model was a placeholder that I ended up not being able to redo. Main issue though is the power, in my sleep haze I decided that the catapult needed to be able to reach the castles on zero power…which meant that you never went over like 20 power on most maps. Also I didn’t have time to make a simple animation for it

The Super Jump- Because of the way I controlled the player with a ridged body you could run at the catapult and launch yourself much much further.

Moving Catapults- There were several glitches with this, you could get them stuck in the ground or flip them upside down if you are not careful

Terrain Size- I underestimated just how far and how high you would launch, so you can see outside the map, which is just not cool

The Correct Spelling of Trojan- I need spellcheck everywhere…at all times…

I learned a lot while making this, going to be able to use my new knowledge in a game I am working on. I am hoping to gather together a team before the next ludum dare, would really be helpful.

Here is a link if you have not played it.

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview&uid=13308

Tags: post-mortem