This was my second Ludum Dare and I gotta say it went pretty well. I made the 48 hour mark and made something that I was pretty satisfied with.

Things that went right:

1. Scope: I decided I wanted to make a simple game with easy mechanics because they fit the theme. That allowed me to create a lot of levels and plan out the difficulty curve of the game. I was programming something I already knew how to do very easily. As the game went on the rules became more minimal – you can jump more, you can’t move left, you can only jump etc.

2. Art: I went with an artistic style of Piet Mondrian because it was the first thing I saw when I google minimalism. Also I really like his work. Making the art was SUPER easy because they were just basic blocks and lines. Creating the lines in the levels was almost therapeutic for me. It was nice to just listen to some music and draw out some lines.

3. Content: The game is pretty long and consists of 25 levels. This game has the most amount of levels of any game I’ve created which I’m pretty happy about.

4. Ending: At the end of the game you can create your own Mondrian style art by clicking anywhere on the stage. It will either spawn a line or a square. People really enjoyed this ending and it was cool to see what some of my friends made with it. If I knew how to I should’ve added a tweet your art button / feature.

5. Sound: People seem to really enjoy the simple beeps and boops of the game. I basically recorded C, E, G notes using garageband and the game randomly plays one. This fit the theme well because the sounds were pretty minimal, but enjoyable.

What went wrong:

1. Difficulty: Although the game has a lot of levels. Most people quit halfway through because of the game’s difficulty. This is probably because of the Level Design and lack of variable jumps. Also I really wanna make a game that my mom would be able to play and finish.

2. Programming: Ok so technically the game was easy to program which was good, but most of the code was copy+paste I could’ve written it a bit more efficiently. But maybe good code isn’t really the point of a game jam

3. Outside the Box: I could’ve pushed myself to do something different and in some ways I did (multiple levels). But I’ve worked with platformers before especially with flixel. Hopefully I’ll use Unity for the next LD which I’m definitely going to do!

4. Keep it simple: So the game is pretty simple, but I’ve realized I should’ve made it shorter so people are introduced to a new mechanic maybe every 3 to 4 levels instead of putting a bunch of filler levels in there. My next LD game should be clear and concise. Most people won’t spend more than 5 minutes playing some of these games so it’s best to convey the concept to the player as quick as possible.

5. Humor: The game isn’t funny at all…. My last LD game had some funny characters and text. I think humor really makes a game stand out.

Overall I’m glad I participated in Ludum Dare again. I was pretty apprehensive like I was the first time. But after about an hour I had a clear vision of what the game would be and executed it. Next time I really want to push myself creatively and try using Unity. I think I made something that was familiar with me because I wanted to make something that was well polished and doable. Hopefully next time I won’t be afraid to fail and try something risky. Well that’s all for now…I’m gonna go play and rate some more games. Oh and you should try out mine!

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=18047