{"author_name":"sP0CkEr2","cat":"LD #27","comments":[{"author_name":"sP0CkEr2","time":"August 27, 2013 11:13 pm","epoch":1377663180,"text":"aaaack — thanks for that","spam":"N"}],"epoch":1377659220,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"38189","p_author":"sP0CkEr2","p_authorkey":"7135","p_urlkey":"73806","p_title":"LD27 \u2013 10 Second Dungeon Hero Post Morten","p_cat":"LD #27","p_event":"LD27","p_time":"1377659220","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"2","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"7135","us_name":"sP0CkEr2","us_username":"phocker","event_start":"1377216000","event_key":"18","event_name":"LD27"},"text":"

The following is a summary and post mortem for our new LD27 game 10 Second Dungeon Hero. We hope you enjoy playing it.<\/p>\n

Entry Information<\/a><\/p>\n

So I have never written one of these before so here it goes.<\/p>\n

This was our third, and when I say our, it is me and my three boys (6, 9, 11) and my wife. I usually do all of the coding, and the rest of the family helps with the artwork.<\/p>\n

This was the MOST challenging and the MOST satisfying LD yet. Why? Because I wanted to QUIT half way thru the contest. At one point on Sunday I had major bugs in the code and it seemed hopeless. But, something made me want to see this finished. So I took a break for a couple of hours, and came back with a clearer mind. It really helped and we have the results to show for it.<\/p>\n

This was by far the most ambitious game we have done. I had NO idea how much work it is to create a random dungeon crawler. Well, now I know.<\/p>\n

The Good<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Story — we had fun coming up with the story of Granny and her kids getting sent to another dimension. And having her BLAST their way back home.<\/li>\n
  2. Game — I am really proud of the game, not just for the reasons mentioned above, but also because it is a really large complex game that is “mostly” complete.<\/li>\n
  3. Hi Scoring — my goal for this LD was to use Scoreoid <\/a>for tracking the hiscores and playing of the game. Mission accomplished.<\/li>\n
  4. Theme — we really liked the theme and we had lots of ideas before coming up with the dungeon crawler. In hind sight, my wifes idea for a balloon popping game would have been MUCH EASIER. (note: play the game and you will see we still worked the balloons in)<\/li>\n
  5. Random Room Name Generator — eash room you enter has a unique name. By far one of my most favorite features of the game. I got the inspiration from this article <\/a>\u00a0that had a python random room generator, but I could not locate the code, so I rolled my own. I think it turned out nice.<\/li>\n <\/ol>\n

    The Bad<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Map — the random map TOOK FOREVER to program. I think the end results look good but the code has SO MANY magic numbers it makes my head spin. Lesson learned.<\/li>\n
    2. Graphics — don’t get me wrong. The kids did a great job. But to take our games to the next level we need to step it up a bit.<\/li>\n <\/ol>\n

      The Ugly<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Testing — once again last minute testing caused some delay near the deadline. Of course, I blame my children who were responsible for all Q&A. Its really hard to find good help these days.<\/li>\n
      2. Bugs — Grrr. Had some very nasty bugs in the shooting and level building that cost me many hours of programming.<\/li>\n <\/ol>\n

        Thats about it. Hope you enjoy it, and don’t forgot to play lots of games and rate them all.<\/p>\n

        Team Hocker<\/p>\n

        \"\"<\/p>\n

        \"\"<\/p>","time":"August 27th, 2013 10:07 pm","title":"LD27 \u2013 10 Second Dungeon Hero Post Morten"}