{"author_name":"DBRalir","cat":"LD #24","comments":[],"epoch":1346197980,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"51666","p_author":"DBRalir","p_authorkey":"10296","p_urlkey":"87361","p_title":"Tower Evolution \u2013 Postmortem","p_cat":"LD #24","p_event":"LD24","p_time":"1346197980","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"10296","us_name":"DBRalir","us_username":"dbralir","event_start":"1345766400","event_key":"12","event_name":"LD24"},"text":"

Had to fall back to the Jam, almost ran out of time. \u00a0Overall, very satisfied with the core game, just wish I had added more polish. \u00a0Play it here.<\/a><\/p>\n

What went right:<\/h3>\n

Level format and code<\/p>\n

I’ve never made a good tile engine before, but I’m very satisfied with this one. \u00a0Levels are stored in PNG format, each color corresponding to a certain tile type. \u00a0The entire level is rendered at once and trimmed, but the levels are small enough that there are no performance issues.<\/p>\n

Basic gameplay elements<\/strong><\/p>\n

I knew what I wanted to do within the first hour, and I mostly stuck to my ideas the whole time. \u00a0Having a solid base allowed me to focus on programming the engine instead of design.<\/p>\n

What went wrong:<\/h3>\n

Java<\/strong><\/p>\n

Java is awesome and all, but until two days ago, I had no idea how to use applets, canvases, or anything else in AWT. \u00a0It only took a few hours to learn, but that was valuable time.<\/p>\n

Balance<\/strong><\/p>\n

I didn’t put much thought into the damage rates or enemy attributes, and there is no resource system, so it’s very easy to overpower enemies by spamming everything.<\/p>\n \n

Tags: postmortem<\/a><\/p>","time":"August 28th, 2012 6:53 pm","title":"Tower Evolution \u2013 Postmortem"}