{"author_name":"ovenchips","cat":"LD #26","comments":[],"epoch":1367273940,"likes":3,"metadata":{"p_key":"43137","p_author":"ovenchips","p_authorkey":"19236","p_urlkey":"78772","p_title":"Post Mortem: \u2018Soldier of Yellowism\u2019","p_cat":"LD #26","p_event":"LD26","p_time":"1367273940","p_likes":"3","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"19236","us_name":"ovenchips","us_username":"ovenchips","event_start":"1366934400","event_key":"16","event_name":"LD26"},"text":"<p>This was my first solo entry for Ludum Dare having previously been on a couple of jam teams. The result was &#8216;Soldier of Yellowism&#8217; (click below image to play):<\/p>\n <p><a href=\"http:\/\/apps.playcanvas.com\/will\/mondrian\/ld48\"><img class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-251039\" alt=\"title\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/title2-550x309.jpg\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/title2-300x168.jpg 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/title2-550x309.jpg 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/title2.jpg 1489w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n <p>My key inspirations were Piet Mondrian, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibtimes.co.uk\/articles\/414769\/20121213\/vladimir-umanets-jailed-mark-rothko-painting-yellowism.htm\">Vladimir Umanets<\/a> and a BBC Micro game I used to play 30 years ago called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zXbJSQD8HuA\">Painter<\/a>. I had a few goals for the game:<\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>It should demonstrate a realtime physics simulation.<\/li>\n <li>It should be a well-rounded, balanced game with some level of uniqueness.<\/li>\n <li>It should challenge my weaknesses (UI construction, audio creation, for example).<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p>I certainly ran out of time (not helped by partying all night on Saturday and waking up at 2PM on Sunday!).\u00a0 However, I really believe that a carefully selected suite of tools saved my butt.\u00a0 I used:<\/p>\n <ul>\n <li><a href=\"http:\/\/playcanvas.com\">PlayCanvas<\/a>. All of my level editing, coding and publishing was done from here.\u00a0 This accounted for maybe 75% of my work time.<\/li>\n <li>Maya. I built the gallery model with Maya which took maybe an hour.<\/li>\n <li>TextEdit (Mac).\u00a0 You\u2019ll never guess why.\u00a0 Did you know you can select text in TextEdit and then export it as spoken audio to iTunes?\u00a0 All of the game\u2019s speech was synthesised \u2013 I liked the effect personally.<\/li>\n <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bfxr.net\/\">BFXR<\/a>.\u00a0 It just randomly generates bleepy-bloopy sounds \u2013 the mainstay of any quality videogame!<\/li>\n <li>Paint (Windows).\u00a0 For building my level (Mondrian painting) maps.<\/li>\n <li>Visual Studio 2008.\u00a0 To write a console application that read the pixel maps and spit out lines of JavaScript that I could copy into my scripts.\u00a0 Over the top?\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 It worked.<\/li>\n <li><a href=\"http:\/\/media.io\">media.io<\/a>.\u00a0 To convert all my audio files to the right formats.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p>Something to note is that the vast majority of my development was done in the browser, in the cloud.\u00a0 It was really handy to jump back and forth between my Mac and PC depending on what browser I was testing or what content I was building.<\/p>\n <p>Another awesome element of the game\u2019s development was how I broadcast my progress.\u00a0 Every few hours, I would hit publish in PlayCanvas and make the current snapshot live on a URL and then tweet it out.\u00a0 This meant I got regular feedback and I think people genuinely found it fascinating to see how the game evolved over such a short period.<\/p>\n <p>If I had to pick the thing that worked best, it was embedding what was effectively one game environment seamlessly within another. \u00a0I&#8217;ve loved that approach to design ever since I played a virtual arcade cabinet in Shenmue.<\/p>\n <p>So what went wrong:<\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>I, like most other people, ran out of time. There was so much more I wanted to do. Add power ups, add a server-hosted leaderboard, add fancy graphical effects, etc. Ludum Dare is cruel to us for only providing 48 hours, but to be fair, I probably would have keeled over if I had carried on past that.<\/li>\n <li>I spent way too long trying to figure out how to synthesise speech. I wasted about 2 hours until I came up with the solution above.\u00a0 2 hours is a lifetime when you\u2019re doing a Ludum Dare. That said, I think the speech really added atmosphere.<\/li>\n <li>I didn\u2019t compose any music.\u00a0 I probably should have but I am the least musical person you\u2019ll ever meet.\u00a0 There needs to be a solution for this for people like me.\u00a0 Some kind of procedural tune generator that tone deaf no-hopers like me can use.<\/li>\n <li>I wasted a lot of time coding up the movement of the little yellow ball (that moves around the \u2018maze\u2019).\u00a0 It\u2019s a classic Pacman style problem and I figured it would be super easy but, no, it took me a while to settle on a good solution.\u00a0 I should probably abstract the code into a library because lots of games require this kind of movement, like Bomberman say.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p>But ultimately, I\u2019m really happy with how the game turned out.\u00a0 Ludum Dare makes me a better person.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just about improving my own skills, it\u2019s about marvelling at other peoples\u2019.\u00a0 I feel like I\u2019ve just come out of a traumatic ordeal and I can identify with everyone else.\u00a0 That makes it all OK.\u00a0 Until next time!<\/p>","time":"April 29th, 2013 5:19 pm","title":"Post Mortem: \u2018Soldier of Yellowism\u2019"}