{"author_name":"brandoncash","cat":"LD #20 - It's Dangerous to go Alone! Take This!","comments":[{"author_name":"","time":"May 16, 2011 9:44 pm","epoch":1305600240,"text":"Hey what did you use for the text to speech? I liked the voice, good call on the audio. SFXR is awesome but can be extremely ear-shattering if not used with moderation.","spam":"N"}],"epoch":1305560940,"likes":1,"metadata":{"p_key":"65680","p_author":"brandoncash","p_authorkey":"2012","p_urlkey":"101476","p_title":"Elidia \u2013 Post Mortem","p_cat":"LD #20 - It's Dangerous to go Alone! Take This!","p_event":"LD20","p_time":"1305560940","p_likes":"1","p_comments":"1","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"2012","us_name":"brandoncash","us_username":"brandoncash","event_start":"1304035200","event_key":"6","event_name":"LD20"},"text":"<p>With only a week left of voting time, I figured it&#8217;s high time I get around to writing a post mortem for my game, Elidia. \u00a0Elidia is a game of survival, where your goal is to avoid the enemies for as long as possible. \u00a0The theme came into play by certain weapons which help you to destroy the enemies.<\/p>\n <div id=\"attachment_54016\" style=\"width: 378px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-20\/?action=rate&amp;uid=2012\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-54016\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/screenshot4.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"368\" height=\"296\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/screenshot4-300x241.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/screenshot4.png 368w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 368px) 100vw, 368px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click to rate Elidia<\/p><\/div>\n <p style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>What went right:<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>Choosing an extremely simple concept. \u00a0In the past, I have bitten off a bit more than I can chew in just 48 hours&#8211;I have always made something playable, but it hasn&#8217;t been for very long. \u00a0Elidia is as complete as my original concept. \u00a0Obviously it can use some refinement and expansion, but I am very happy with what I got done. \u00a0All-in-all, the whole thing really took me about 16 hours of work.<\/li>\n <li>Having a game that doesn&#8217;t need a story. \u00a0I&#8217;m a big fan of story-driven games, but they&#8217;re almost certainly too much work for a Ludum Dare. \u00a0I opted to have a game which didn&#8217;t need a story to be played. \u00a0That being said, I&#8217;d like to think that there is a bit of a story told through the narrative. \u00a0Speaking of&#8230;<\/li>\n <li>Using audio. \u00a0In the past, I have only really ever used SFXR or BFXR to make sound effects. \u00a0I opted for a text-to-speech program this time around, since I thought it would work out better than generic &#8220;pew pew&#8221; sounds. \u00a0I also figured I could work a bit of humor into the speech, since it doesn&#8217;t really fit anywhere else.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p><strong>What went wrong:<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>Not adding enough variation. \u00a0There is only one type of enemy, but ideally there will be many more&#8211;each with something different about them. \u00a0I will also add a lot more variation to the audio so it will be less repetitive.<\/li>\n <li>Figuring out the best graphical style. \u00a0I wanted the game to be a lot like Geometry Wars, but didn&#8217;t want it to be a copy. \u00a0While the game play is actually very different, the style is like a very simple version of Geometry Wars. \u00a0I plan on coming up with a style which is unique to Elidia, while still keeping its influences.<\/li>\n <li>Not changing the size of the bounding boxes. \u00a0This is easily the most hated part of Elidia. \u00a0Each enemy is a triangle, but the bounding box is a square which encompasses the entire triangle&#8211;so you can still die even if you&#8217;re pretty far away. \u00a0I knew this was an issue, but never got around to resolving it before the competition was over.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p>In the end, this is my most successful Ludum Dare yet. \u00a0I managed to complete the game I set out to in the alotted time, and it seems to be getting good feedback. \u00a0Obviously I don&#8217;t know how it&#8217;s doing vote-wise, but it&#8217;s still a big success to me. \u00a0If you haven&#8217;t played it or rated it yet, <a title=\"Play Elidia\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-20\/?action=rate&amp;uid=2012\" target=\"_blank\">what&#8217;re you waiting for<\/a>?! \u00a0Good luck to everyone in the competition! \u00a0<img src=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/simple-smile.png\" alt=\":)\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" \/><\/p>","time":"May 16th, 2011 10:49 am","title":"Elidia \u2013 Post Mortem"}