“Pre” because the game isn’t actually finished yet…

This was only the second LD I’ve made an attempt at, and as such I think I did fairly well even though I couldn’t produce a submission in time. I still really like my idea, and fully intend to finish it.

I suppose the biggest lesson learned is that I really should know my programming system BEFORE the timer starts ticking, instead of assuming I’ll pick it up fast enough as I go along. That’s a good lesson. Hope I remember it.

One excellent decision I made was to keep my basic idea small and relatively simple, something that actually had a hope of getting itself completed in the allotted time. That’s well worth remembering. Another thing worth remembering is to come up with a halfway decent idea as quickly as possible, and then stick with it, instead of wasting time waiting for a lightning bolt of supreme inspiration. (I need to apply that to my writing.)

I also learned quite a lot about AGS programming, so that was good too. The really biggest A-number-one thing I learned here was related to the reason I ran out of time. I was stuck — absolutely dead stuck — for a day and a half because of a programming error. It turned out to be a mistake so stupidly basic that I’m too embarrassed to say precisely what it was. Eventually some nice folks at the AGS technical forum pointed it out. (Thanks, guys!) But by then it was too late to put the rest of the game together in time. So that’s definitely one mistake I’ll never make again.

Thanks to all the great people here who posted such entertaining updates — and especially to the OVER 1400 PEOPLE (!!!) who managed to put together a whole working game and submit it in time! I doff my hat in humble awe.

Looking forward to trying my hand at the next Mini!