{"author_name":"Kitch","cat":"LD #23","comments":[],"epoch":1335461160,"likes":2,"metadata":{"p_key":"55935","p_author":"Kitch","p_authorkey":"7470","p_urlkey":"91654","p_title":"Mage Duel Postmortem","p_cat":"LD #23","p_event":"LD23","p_time":"1335461160","p_likes":"2","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"7470","us_name":"Kitch","us_username":"kitch","event_start":"1334880000","event_key":"10","event_name":"LD23"},"text":"

Mage duel is a game about playing with yourself.<\/p>\n

Play it here.<\/a><\/p>\n

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This was my second Ludum Dare.\u00a0 My last Ludum Darewas a 48 hour stress-fest.\u00a0 Although I had a blast and created a pretty cool little game out of it, and given the fact that I have a lot of other stuff going on right now, I really wanted this one to be more of a relaxing experience.\u00a0 Before I started, I took some inventory of my last experience to see what I could do this round to make things a little easier on me.\u00a0 First big thing that stuck out was scope.\u00a0 Voxterium was a simple game, but had a lot of hidden elements that greatly complicated it.\u00a0 Another big issue was experience.\u00a0 That first time, I really had no idea what I was doing time-wise… no real idea how long anything would take.<\/p>\n

With the knowledge that I could spit out a menu system and add music and sound in a fairly small amount of time, and I could cut down on rendering time (a big chunk of the first one) significantly by going 2d, I decided to go with a simple 2D game, with some simple basic mechanics, and use the remaining time to add in a few cool tiddlibits.<\/p>\n

The Concept<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had messed with the concept of \u201crecording\u201d playthroughs and playing them back as opponents a few years back for a completely unrelated game.\u00a0 I had that idea, plus a few others on my mind before the competition began.\u00a0 I had a rough idea of how to apply that to most of the themes on the final list, but didn\u2019t want to get too invested in planning on any one theme, as I made that mistake the last time.\u00a0 When the theme was announced, I was instantly drawn to the idea of an artillery game on a small map, an artillery game is one of those where the \u201cplayback\u201d mechanic would actually work out well.<\/p>\n

The Build<\/strong><\/p>\n

Overall, it went really smoothly.\u00a0 A few snags along the way, one involving a nasty gravity bug and another with particles, but all in all I had more than enough time.\u00a0 The map generation worked out well and was simple.\u00a0 The mage firing mechanics and collision were easy to implement.\u00a0 Art was simple.\u00a0 The playback mechanic turned out to be really easy to implement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then I changed my mind.\u00a0\u00a0 Originally, the game was turn based like Scorched Earth.\u00a0 (Sorry to all the kids in the room for the \u201cScorched Earth\u201d references, maybe put in \u201cWorms\u201d where you see that title.\u00a0 I never played Worms, but it looks similar ). \u00a0\u00a0So, blue mage would fire, bullets would fly, collisions would occur, gravity processed, Red mage\u2019s turn.\u00a0\u00a0 It was true to the genre, and really easy for the playback mechanic.\u00a0 But it was slow, and really didn\u2019t hit the actiony feel that the game was telling me it needed.\u00a0 I then decided to switch everything to real time.\u00a0 Was a little worried at first, but turned out to not be so bad, and I really think it added a lot.<\/p>\n

The Polish<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two mages were fighting… why?\u00a0\u00a0 Mages just seem like the types to disagree a lot and get into long and boring discussions, so I came up with the idea that these fights were over a way for these mages to settle these little disagreements.\u00a0 I added a list of little petty things that they could disagree over.\u00a0 Wish I could have come up with more and better, but you know… the whole time thing…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Menu system, sound and music is now pretty much second nature for me,\u00a0 and so many nifty tools are available, that that part was\u00a0 cinch.\u00a0 Spent some time balancing, but not nearly enough.\u00a0 It could have used a lot more, but I believe it checks the \u2018acceptable\u2019 box.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What went wrong<\/strong><\/p>\n

Early refactoring of my terrain generation code introduced a bug that made tiles fall through the bottom of the map.\u00a0 Seemed simple enough, but was a real pain to find and kill.\u00a0 Wasted a good hour on that one.\u00a0 An hour that I could have been better used somewhere else.<\/p>\n

I made the mistake of assuming rendering 2D in XNA would be a lot like an easier 3D render.\u00a0 It\u2019s not.\u00a0 Should have done some additive blended particle practice before this all started.\u00a0\u00a0 A 48 hour deadline is not the best time to learn something new. \u00a0Eventually, using multiple render targets, I was able to get a result that was close to what I wanted… but in the end, it was not what I wanted and it took up waaaaay to much time.<\/p>\n

I was hoping to work out a way to introduce the \u201cplay yourself\u201d mechanic organically in the game.\u00a0 I could have used the time wasted above to actually do that.\u00a0 I considered leaving as it is was and not pasting warnings over the place. \u00a0However, since most people spend like what?\u00a0 30 seconds with each game, I figured players not getting to the core concept was more damaging than players feeling that I gave them a \u201cspoiler\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wish I could have spent a lot more time balancing the spells.<\/p>\n

What went right<\/strong><\/p>\n

You never have enough time to do everything you want, so even with the hiccups above I believe my time management was great.\u00a0 Although I didn\u2019t get to everything I wanted.. I got to everything I needed.<\/p>\n

The \u201cplay against yourself\u201d mechanic turned out way better than I expected.\u00a0\u00a0 It blends in well I believe, and builds in a natural difficulty curve.\u00a0\u00a0 As you get better, it gets harder.<\/p>\n

The art and sound are great (For me).\u00a0 I\u2019m particularly pleased with the spell icons.<\/p>\n

I liked the way the terrain generator turned out.\u00a0 Not all matches are great, but you always have the option of blasting it away.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another great Ludum Dare.\u00a0 Many thanks go to everyone involved.\u00a0 I really can\u2019t think of a better way to spend the weekend.\u00a0 I\u2019m very pleased with the way the game turned out, and left the weekend knowing a little more than when I started.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-23\/?action=preview&uid=7470<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n \n

Tags: Mage Duel<\/a>, postmortem<\/a>, xna<\/a><\/p>","time":"April 26th, 2012 12:26 pm","title":"Mage Duel Postmortem"}