It’s been almost a week after I’ve finished the game, so I’m posting on the things that I like and what I don’t like from making the game… Maybe out of boredom.

What went right:
1. Output of the audio
I really got surprised on the output of the audio, because while testing the game, I’m starting to like my own music made with FL Studio. Well, sounds made with SFXR are just easy but also awesome. To be honest, I really suck on composing music and this was the first (serious) music made by me to use in a game, and yeah… 4 short-loops that is. After years of using it and get frustrated on my past outputs, those music used for MinimalFive is a sign… And I’m seeing that a lot of people who played and heard the audio likes it too… I thank for those people who commented the game in terms of audio, because I never expect to have those kind of output even I’ve composed (and even modifying them) for just 2 days.

2. Effect of “Minimalism” theme
Before the theme was announced, this theme was one of my expectations… Because as I read the themes, I got a lot of ideas when I saw this theme… Not just because of simplicity, I also love trying different art movements for me to see my games in different looks… And it did worked out like how I expect at the execution of the game in terms of the graphics. The effect of the “Minimalism” theme also made me go random… It goes like some random gameplays and some random texts (Yes! This was out of boredom! xD), and I made them as simple as possible… And I was glad that some people get the game and also some even finished it until the end. Thanks to some simple instructions I’ve typed in the game.

What went wrong:
1. Laziness at the 1st day and summer class
I got some advantage when it comes to the time, since the theme announcement here in the Philippines is at 10am so I probably have a lot of time to think and sketch the ideas and somewhat far before I sleep so I stay awake for hours and hours until night. But unfortunately, laziness just hit me… I knew it when I keep on just looking around or just chilling for hours (well, I took breaks, including on eating, breakfast, lunch and dinner… for just an hour) which made me wasted a lot of time. And I also expect to finish the game before Monday because when it comes to my studies, I started to get even lazier on game development and instead doing my studies (as a Multimedia Arts Student at college)… All of this just caused me to cram and stay until somewhat 1am at the 2nd day… And yeah, I was sleepy when I was at class LOL…

2. Limitation of Construct 2 (Free Edition)
To be honest, I hate the 100 events limit on Construct 2 (I’ve used this to make the game)… And that’s the only con that I want to say on this game making software. Anyway, after finishing the 4th game, I only have a very few events (I think around 10) left before reaching the limit. And this made me think that I might not put that shooting part because of it but I don’t want that to happen because for me it will be a boring game all-in-all without it. So I’ve spent an hour to short some events so now I have around 15, and tried to do the shooting part. I wasn’t apart of my expectation of the output but I think I made it simpler than what I expect, but still… It’s wrong for me to change the idea because of the software’s limitation, even around the last hours before deadline…

Conclusion:
I therefore conclude, that I’ve made a simple game even some things gone wrong, I still learned to be conservative. It was still fun making the game and not to forget mentioning this, on the first day, I’ve worked this game outside my home… At Starbucks and at School (thank God the guards allowed me to get in because I just left Starbucks to eat lunch but when I get back all the seats were occupied), and that gave me an experience of a Ludum Dare outside home haha. It was fun after all… And, I also conclude to myself that I’m getting a hang on composing music, for that I’ll learn and practice more and more on it 😀

Oh yeah about the game, I’ve entitled it MinimalFive because it has a guy who thinks of 5 mini games to work on, and it was visualized in minimalism… Weird isn’t it?… xD

That’s all, oh and for those who want to try it… Here’s the link:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=2043

And I also uploaded the short-loops used in my game (I might make a longer version of those music, if I get more motivation) if you want to hear them:
http://toadietechnika.bandcamp.com/

Thanks for reading…

Tags: postmortem