My entry: http://code.kevinworkman.com/EscapeFromMonsterCity/index.html
Timelapse: http://code.kevinworkman.com/EscapeFromMonsterCity/timelapse.html

I only worked for about 12 hours, so instead of making a video, I took screenshots as the program changed. You can check them out if you feel like it!

This was my first Ludum Dare, and I’m pretty pleased with how everything turned out, especially considering that I had never used Processing prior to the contest- learning it was half the fun!

I stuck with the bare minimum considering the time constraints, but I’m surprised to see how many other entries were pretty similar. I guess that’s the nature of working around a theme, but I think next time I’ll work at coming up with something a little more different.

There is one bug left in the final version that causes the program to freeze occasionally- this is due to logic I attempted to write to prevent monsters from spawning inside buildings, which doesn’t work anyway. Lesson learned, next time I’ll stick with something that definitely works instead of trying to implement algorithms I know might break things.

Also, I didn’t have time to implement a goal, or score, or an ending, which I think hurts replayability. I did manage to throw in a title and game over screen, which goes a long way to making the game feel more legitimate.

However, I think I came pretty close to my original goal of capturing a creepy mood, so I’m happy with the outcome. I wanted to create a spooky feeling as the player rounds a building and almost runs into a monster, and I think I came pretty close to that. Yay!

I’m also satisfied that I met the theme, which is extra awesome because I wasn’t really thrilled when it was revealed (I was hoping for evolution or adaptation). The main focus of the game is to escape the city, with the added terrifying mini-games of escaping monsters that wake up. Yay again!

All in all, I had a bunch of fun, and I love the Ludum Dare community. Awesome job to everybody who managed to put together something in 48 (or 72) hours! You guys are all rock stars.