I didn’t post any updates here during the compo, I didn’t feel like it. But you can check out my progress at my website. I’ll crosspost the post mortem.

Last Ludum Dare I had to drop out due to personal reasons. Thankfully nothing happened the past weekend. So that’s one of the things that went right. 😉

Things that went right

– libgdx, if you’re a Java developer, check it out. I used Slick2D during my four entries before this one and I was satisfied with it. But libgdx is so much cooler. I tried a quick tutorial on Friday eve and jumped right in on Saturday. It worked out great.

– once again, I kept the scope of my game small: infinite runner with minimal input

– Android, this goes with libgdx, but deserves its own point. Porting it to Android is so easy and it takes no extra work at all.

– Making the jar/apk. When I used Slick2D I had to add the dependencies in myself as well as the resources. I don’t know if it could be done differently, I guess Maven could come into play here, but libgdx does all that for you. So once again, in case you didn’t get it: LIBGDX

Things that went okay

– my code. I tried maintaining an as clean as possible codebase. But I dropped that notion. BUT contrary to the previous entries, the code I had written during the “clean” phase of my Ludum entry has saved me from entirely changing up the code when I added different enemies. Adding new enemies now isn’t a hassle, while with previous entries I… well, let’s not talk about it…

Things that went wrong

– The theme. I don’t know why anyone thinks Minimalism is a good theme, because it isn’t. I was really rooting for anything related to Death/Afterlife because I had an awesome idea that I really wanted to use. But there’s always next time right?

– Ludum Dare isn’t really a challenge anymore. I can comfortably finish up the game by Saturday night/Sunday morning and use Sunday afternoon to nag about how I have to do art and use the Sunday evening to create bad-to-mediocre art. This is either because the game I made now is reasonably easy to implement or because of the theme. But, for the next Ludum Dare, I am going to try to make a more interesting concept, a bit more difficult, so that there will be this tension to make the deadline.

Ideas for next Ludum

– make it more difficult for myself. Ludum is a self-imposed challenge. It can’t hurt to make it harder on myself.

– perhaps enter the Jam with some friends or fellow Ludum participants. (might be a good thing for the art)

– practice art (an ever returning item)

I look forward to rating more of your games. If you want me to rate yours, drop me a message or tweet at @MyMilkedEek