And ready to collapse.

With 5 hours sleep total during the 48 hour competition as well as an exhausting skydive and other distractions. I am quite pleased with what I managed to come out with.

I set out to challenge myself with this compo. Having a couple of ideas for games based on the theme lead me to try and make a mini collection of games. Certainly for myself, it was no mean feat to create not only 3 separate mini games but also the framework that combines them.

I was pleased initially at the pace I had; I managed to get the basic gameplay for two of the games down by the start of the second day. Although I was working through the night on it. I’m also impressed I managed to work for so long none stop; besides grabbing food and relieving myself, I was working solid from about 11pm on Saturday to 1.20am on Monday. I am rather worn out after it all.

It was most fun, naturally, when everything was going well. However, as I stated in an earlier post, as soon as the timer passed the comfort of an additional day value being displayed, I realised I was short on time. I worked bloody hard trying to get my platformer to work. It took ages but I thought I managed to get my platforms to work, I had a system in place that would move them around dynamically when changing levels – it would’ve been cool. But I then quickly learnt that the platforms did not in fact work. With 3 hours left, I didn’t have enough time to work through it, let alone actually create the levels. I had to think fast.

I decided to alter the gameplay. The concept was the same: you have to collect an object within 10 seconds and they’ll get harder to get as you collect more. However, instead of a intricate set of platforms, the player will fly about using a jetpack (similar to the game helicopter, or more recently jetpack joyride) although with the ability to strafe. I also wanted to add in obstacles that stop you flying straight for the objects (and thus make it harder to collect within the time). Unfortunately the obstacles were one of the things I wasn’t able to implement in time.

I also really wanted to get some sounds in, no just because that’s a whole category I’ve thrown away, but also because I had an idea for some of the sounds that would’ve enhanced the humour of the game. I also wanted to do a more dedicated pass on the art, not just touching up the art I currently have, but also add more details. I’m a sucker for details, so it’s upsetting knowing where I could’ve improved upon it. The most blindingly obvious vacancy are the clouds in the skydiving game. It just looks so sparse.

On the plus side, I have had moments of genuine fun playing the games. Given the haste that it was created, I was happy that there’s some fun to be had with the final game that I made too. It’s a shame however that I also didn’t have time to implement the save feature. It’s simply the addition of reading/writing from/to a text file to remember the scores. Still, when playing through the different games the cross score feature is quite good.

At the end of it, I’m glad that I returned to do another Ludum Dare, it’s a great way to motivate yourself to actually do something and highlights that you can create something in a short span of time.