{"author_name":"Henry McLaughlin","cat":"LD #23","comments":[],"epoch":1333225860,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"59758","p_author":"Henry McLaughlin","p_authorkey":"979","p_urlkey":"95510","p_title":"Mini-LD 33 \u2013 Here\u2019s What I Have\u2026","p_cat":"LD #23","p_event":"LD23","p_time":"1333225860","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"979","us_name":"Henry Mclaughlin","us_username":"pycron","event_start":"1334880000","event_key":"10","event_name":"LD23"},"text":"<p>I got buried under a mountain of base code. I have an executable that runs some silent tests in the background and exits successfully. That&#8217;s not really a game, so I didn&#8217;t bother submitting.<\/p>\n <p>Here&#8217;s what I <em>do<\/em> have to show for this exercise.<\/p>\n <p>I have burdened myself with several major issues:<\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>Indecisiveness<\/li>\n <li>Extra work<\/li>\n <li>Poor time management<\/li>\n <li>Lack of focus<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p>So&#8230; I&#8217;m going to talk about these a bit. I&#8217;m putting a break here for folks who don&#8217;t necessarily want to read all of this. If you&#8217;re curious about why I think I&#8217;ve failed, go ahead and read after the break. <img src=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/simple-smile.png\" alt=\":)\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" \/><\/p>\n <p><span id=\"more-109729\"><\/span><\/p>\n <p>Still reading? Cool. <img src=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/simple-smile.png\" alt=\":)\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" \/><\/p>\n <h2>Indecisiveness<\/h2>\n <p>Here&#8217;s the biggest issue that I have. I get an idea and then drop it when it&#8217;s already too late to change ideas. This has caused problems for me in lots of ways, including in game jams.<\/p>\n <p>I have to get it together and actually pick something to work on.<\/p>\n <h2>Extra Work<\/h2>\n <p>Oh yes, extra work. I enjoy C++ and low-level libraries. I have enjoyed Love2D, which provides very&#8230; limited&#8230; data format support (like, it only supports media and plaintext). Perl+SDL was an interesting choice for me and certainly a learning experience, but Perl makes it hard to do anything big due to being poorly suited to organized code.<\/p>\n <p>I will have to find some way to save myself work. I&#8217;m thinking of biting the bullet and using Python+Pygame for LD like I do for PyWeek.<\/p>\n <h2>Poor Time Management<\/h2>\n <p>I have a tendency to spend my time unwisely. I get caught up in high-level stuff (XML content, high-level classes I don&#8217;t need yet) while ignoring what I actually need to make the game work. I also tend to work non-stop during the day and wind up exhausted, making me less effective as I go.<\/p>\n <p>From here on, I&#8217;ll probably use Pomodoro to manage my time more effectively.<\/p>\n <h2>Lack of Focus<\/h2>\n <p>I, like many here, spend too much time on IRC during the compo. I also get distracted by other things, like cooking or drawing. It&#8217;s really embarassing. <img src=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/frownie.png\" alt=\":(\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" \/><\/p>\n <p>So I&#8217;ll have to develop some focus. That&#8217;s not a matter of strategy, just discipline. I can manage it, though.<\/p>\n <h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n <p>So&#8230; I <em>did<\/em> have something to show. A really good lesson about my problems as a game developer. These things don&#8217;t just happen in jams, but all throughout my life. I&#8217;m going to need to take steps to correct them.<\/p>\n <p>Also&#8230; Sorry about posting late. I&#8217;ve been working on something and forgot to post here. That something&#8230; well, I&#8217;ll post about it later.<\/p>\n <p>Peace, love, and determination,<\/p>\n <p>&#8211; Henry<\/p>","time":"March 31st, 2012 3:31 pm","title":"Mini-LD 33 \u2013 Here\u2019s What I Have\u2026"}