{"author_name":"mitch","cat":"LD #20 - It's Dangerous to go Alone! Take This!","comments":[],"epoch":1304326260,"likes":1,"metadata":{"p_key":"65833","p_author":"mitch","p_authorkey":"3094","p_urlkey":"101629","p_title":"Isolation \u2013 Post Mortem","p_cat":"LD #20 - It's Dangerous to go Alone! Take This!","p_event":"LD20","p_time":"1304326260","p_likes":"1","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"3094","us_name":"mitch","us_username":"mitch","event_start":"1304035200","event_key":"6","event_name":"LD20"},"text":"

Firstly:<\/strong> I’ve uploaded all of my notes that I wrote during the competition to here<\/a>, and added a link to them on my submission page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What Worked<\/h2>\n

No Framework<\/strong><\/p>\n

From what I have gathered from it, not having a massive framework to use helped me get what I wanted done more quickly, as I wasn\u2019t spending time trying to get the code to work with the framework. Also, not using a framework meant that I\u2019d often just write something that was basic and worked (GUI Especially) or use existing code without writing a class for it, instead of going overboard.<\/p>\n

Modular Code<\/strong><\/p>\n

This time around, I think I\u2019ve gone for a more modular approach to the code. Which made me reuse the core much more than what I did in the last submission (The player and enemies use the same movement logic, except that the input for the player is controlled by actual keys). This made it somewhat easy to fix any issues that arose, as all I would have to do is change one file instead of multiple files.<\/p>\n

What Didn\u2019t Work<\/h2>\n

No Framework<\/strong><\/p>\n

The only downside to not using a framework was that if I needed anything, I\u2019d have to spend time implementing it. I think the solution here is to find a point at which the framework doesn\u2019t impede code development, while at the same time providing useful tools that can be reused through each project.<\/p>\n

Too Big of Idea<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the core idea for this game was quite simple, I (once again) decided to go slightly overboard with the ideas that went on top of it, which resulted in majority of the features not getting implemented, or quickly tacked onto the game to make it playable.<\/p>\n

Basically: Next time, keep it even more simpler \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

What Could Be Improved<\/h2>\n

Cross Platform Development<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once again, I chose to use C#, which effectively limits playing to people who have a Windows machine. A better alternative would be to use Java or Flash so that people from multiple platforms can play the game. This is something that I will look into before the next LD.<\/p>\n

But once again, I had fun working on this game! Bring on LD #21!<\/p>","time":"May 2nd, 2011 3:51 am","title":"Isolation \u2013 Post Mortem"}