{"author_name":"Petzi","cat":"LD #20 - It's Dangerous to go Alone! Take This!","comments":[],"epoch":1305049440,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"65693","p_author":"Petzi","p_authorkey":"1477","p_urlkey":"101489","p_title":"Take this! (and everything else)","p_cat":"LD #20 - It's Dangerous to go Alone! Take This!","p_event":"LD20","p_time":"1305049440","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"1477","us_name":"Petzi","us_username":"petzi","event_start":"1304035200","event_key":"6","event_name":"LD20"},"text":"<p>Well, my game didn\u2019t turn out too bad! I\u2019ve received some encouraging  comments on it, and hopefully some generous ratings. If you haven\u2019t  played it yet, here\u2019s the link and a screenshot to catch your attention:<\/p>\n <p><strong><a href=\"..\/ludum-dare-20\/?action=preview&amp;uid=1477\">Take this! (and everything else)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/45257\/1477-shot2.PNG\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/45257\/1477-shot2.PNG\" alt=\"\" width=\"331\" height=\"256\" \/><\/a> I have to say, making this game in 48 hours was <strong>really<\/strong> fun. Hadn\u2019t I been busy after the weekend, I would have pounced on  my other project(s), and started working on them like I was on a 48 hour  deadline, from all the adrenaline pumped in my veins. I probably had more fun making it than I had playing it! So after hearing the  feedback on my game, here\u2019s my own judging of it:<\/p>\n <p>When I was thinking about what my game would be like, I tried to  design something that would be easy to implement, easy to learn, but  challenging. It worked more or less. It was simple, but because of the  time limit, I wasn\u2019t able to make difficulty settings or levels or game  modes. This, like I was afraid it would, made the game hard to balance  in terms of different player skill. It works if you only play it one or  two times, as it becomes \u201chard\u201d pretty fast. However, once you get the  hang of it, when you reach the maximum difficulty (which you will, very  fast) all the challenge disappears. I myself got to over 800 points and  then stopped because I was so terribly bored. Players who played it once  or twice reported between 102 and 60-something, but I\u2019m sure they would have  gotten the same score as I did if they kept on playing. I was only able  to face this issue by the very end, since I had been making the engine  up till then, and I was pretty tired.<\/p>\n <p>So that was the main issue: The game  advanced too quickly in the beginning and didn\u2019t advance enough at the  end. I think it would have helped to have more than 6 characters (I found that having a lot of items really spiced it up, especially after there were more items that fingers on your hand. Besides that, about the graphics, in terms of prettiness, they are simplistic and overall look like they were made by a child, but in terms of being practical, they&#8217;re very informative and really helped the players learn and play the game without becoming confused about what&#8217;s happening (one could expect this to become an issue in a timed reflex game about a crowd barging into your home). The sounds and music are non-existent due to the deadline, but like someone noted, it&#8217;s &#8220;Better than bad sounds&#8221;. Like the same person said, &#8220;the lack of polish is obvious&#8221;. So I&#8217;d like to apologize once again for the default Game Maker message box and highscore table. It was added right at the end. It was late, I was tired and realized that I needed something like that. Sorry! But I was very happy with the initial splash screen, which was also added at the very end.<\/p>\n <p>After this very long reflection on an insane weekend of game developing, I&#8217;d like to end by saying that I&#8217;ll probably be polishing and expanding this game a fair bit after the competition. Hopefully I&#8217;ll fix the difficulty issue by adding more characters\/levels, add some more gameplay mechanics (restoring health), giving it audio content and polishing it a bit (at least remove the default Game Maker stuff). Maybe I&#8217;ll include it as a mini-game in the main game I&#8217;m making.<\/p>\n <p>Thanks for reading, thanks for playing and thanks for the feedback!<\/p>","time":"May 10th, 2011 12:44 pm","title":"Take this! (and everything else)"}