{"author_name":"sanderman","cat":"LD #25","comments":[],"epoch":1355728260,"likes":2,"metadata":{"p_key":"47765","p_author":"sanderman","p_authorkey":"18951","p_urlkey":"83430","p_title":"Postmortem \u2014 Epic Rampage","p_cat":"LD #25","p_event":"LD25","p_time":"1355728260","p_likes":"2","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"18951","us_name":"sanderman","us_username":"sanderman","event_start":"1355443200","event_key":"14","event_name":"LD25"},"text":"<div id=\"attachment_212022\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-25\/?action=preview&amp;uid=18951\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-212022 \" alt=\"Monster destroying buildings and wreaking havoc.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Screen32-550x447.png\" width=\"550\" height=\"447\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Screen32-300x244.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Screen32-550x447.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Screen32.png 1023w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Epic Rampage screenshot<\/p><\/div>\n <p><strong>Personal Goals<\/strong><\/p>\n <p>For this solo jam I had basically decided on two goals beforehand which I would work towards in any case.<\/p>\n <p>My first goal was to make game making fun again. Recently I&#8217;ve been very busy developing a sequel to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=U2DWyBM5xMo\" target=\"_blank\">this thing<\/a>, but development has been kinda slow so I&#8217;ve been feeling in rut. Entering jams like this one helps to feel that thrill again. There&#8217;s just nothing like pumping out a game under pressure to get the blood flowing. (pun intended)<\/p>\n <p>My second goal was to develop my artistic side. As I consider myself primarily a coder, I have noticed my lack of artistic skills often limits me in various ways. I wanted to remedy that, so I practised Aseprite and created some fine pixel art this time.<\/p>\n <p><strong>What Went Wrong<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li><strong>Sprites:<\/strong> Player character. Way too much time was spent perfecting these sprites. If I had instead spent more time on the code and on different enemies and buildings, the overall game might have been much better. Good thing that time was still useful as I have developed a bit of a feel for process. The player now looks a lot better than he looked at the beginning. (don&#8217;t laugh, check the time lapse)<\/li>\n <li><strong>Balance:<\/strong> This is a game design issue that I still need to grapple. What&#8221;s the best approach to designing systems that make sure NPCs behave in fun ways, levels look interesting, and enemies spawn in sensible amounts as the game progresses? I think only experience will solve this one, and maybe more thinking ahead of time.<\/li>\n <li><strong>Bugs:<\/strong> Some annoying Unity bug I had not encountered before. Somehow importing audio files ceased to work properly, meaning I could no longer mark them as 2d sounds. It is the reason some sound effects are barely audible.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p><strong>What Went Okay<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li><strong>Choice of engine: Unity3<\/strong><br \/>\n I had anticipated making a game in a style similar to Minecraft or Fex (pixel art on 3d geometry) which would suit Unity, my engine of preference. However, when I got my actual game idea, I dropped that in favor of going all-in 2d. Installing a different DE did not seem like a fun way to waste time, so I decided to keep using Unity. In retrospect it might have been slightly easier to work in a native 2d engine or something like Flash, but once you know the tricks, it&#8217;s not all that different or hard to use a 3d engine for pure 2d.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p><strong>What Went Right<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li><strong>Infrastructure: <\/strong>Implementing sprite animations was much easier than I thought it would be. As long as you think it out in advance, and don&#8217;t need too much optimization, it can be done in a very short time frame.<\/li>\n <li><strong>Sprites:<\/strong> Lots and lots of enemies. Each of them with his own 16&#215;16 sprites.<\/li>\n <li><strong>Sprites:<\/strong> Player character. That climbing animation looks good!<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p><strong>Time lapse<\/strong><\/p>\n <p>Recorded with Chronolapse at 1 frame per minute, over ~35 working hours. processed by VirtualDub and Hybrid.<\/p>\n <p><iframe width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bMVpVeAnBqE?fs=1&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n <p><strong>\u00a0Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n <p>This has turned out to be a great little game, with a lot of potential. I can&#8217;t wait to develop it further and see what else I can do with it. But first some optimization. Some of that haste-induced code is ugly! Then we&#8217;ll start the actual 99% the work on any game, namely of polish&#8230; polish&#8230; and more polish.<\/p>\n <p>Regardless of reception or overall success of this game, I&#8217;ve had a blast participating in this Ludum Dare for the first time. I think this is not the last time you&#8217;ll hear of me.<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n \n <p>Tags: <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/compo\/\" rel=\"tag\">compo<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/motivation\/\" rel=\"tag\">motivation<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/postmortem\/\" rel=\"tag\">postmortem<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/timelapse\/\" rel=\"tag\">timelapse<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/unity3d\/\" rel=\"tag\">unity3d<\/a><\/p>","time":"December 17th, 2012 2:11 am","title":"Postmortem \u2014 Epic Rampage"}