{"author_name":"QualityCatGames","cat":"LD #35","comments":[],"epoch":1461272940,"likes":1,"metadata":{"p_key":"5946","p_author":"QualityCatGames","p_authorkey":"91339","p_urlkey":"41392","p_title":"Post-Mortem of my Game","p_cat":"LD #35","p_event":"LD35","p_time":"1461272940","p_likes":"1","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"91339","us_name":"QualityCatGames","us_username":"\/author\/qualitycatgames\/","event_start":"1460678400","event_key":"33","event_name":"LD35"},"text":"

I’ll be honest, this is my first time writing such a thing. Nonetheless, I’ll give it a shot…<\/p>\n

So, what went wrong:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Scope Creep. -I planned a lot more than I probably could have implemented, especially with my poor time management skills.<\/li>\n
  2. Incomplete (and somewhat buggy) Game Library -This one ultimately ties back to me not managing the weeks, and even months of time I had to get my game library to a useful state.<\/li>\n
  3. Level Data -Overall, I wouldn’t say my usage of level data in itself was a mistake, but rather the methods by which were implemented to edit it. It takes way to long to manually edit a 38 x 25 tile map!<\/li>\n
  4. Time Management , Late Start, Interruptions – I got started late because of dinner with my family. Several other interruptions occurred after I had started. Lastly, my time management could have been better, I often found myself getting distracted with either the irc chat, or with private chats with my online friends. I also may have taken a few breaks that were longer than necessary.<\/li>\n
  5. Bugs – The last feature I implemented, the first mobile type of enemy, has some major collision bugs. I suspect this was related to the copy-and-paste coding I did. By the time I just through in the towel with coding and decided to finalize some graphics, I had an enemy with only 1\/3 of its collision active, and that part still was horribly wrong.<\/li>\n
  6. Loading Issues – the .json files for the “web” version weren’t being re-downloaded, causing errors in some cases.<\/li>\n <\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    And what went right:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Well, I did actually get a game made. Not a very complete game, but I got more done that I was expecting to, after the numerous problems and delays that occurred during development.<\/li>\n
    2. I would say that this was a great learning experience.<\/li>\n <\/ol>\n

      Overall, while I do consider this game a catastrophic failure, I am proud of what I did manage to accomplish, and I look forward to what the future may bring, including LD36, if my schedule permits. I shall take into consideration the lessons learned from this experience in all of my future game or software design endeavors. Also, I’m not done with this game just yet. I really want to see this game completed as I originally had originally envisioned it, so I might set some time aside to complete it, hopefully with help on the graphics.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Play\/rate\/review my game here (feedback is welcome and encouraged): http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-35\/?action=preview&uid=91339<\/p>\n

      My library: https:\/\/github.com\/Brian151\/UnNamed-html5-Game-Library<\/p>\n

      My Game (github) : https:\/\/github.com\/Brian151\/LD35-UnNamedShapeshiftingGame-<\/p>\n

      my library declaration and “I’m in!” post: http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/2016\/04\/14\/declaring-stuff-first-ld-for-me\/<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>","time":"April 21st, 2016 4:09 pm","title":"Post-Mortem of my Game"}