VOXTERIUM<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n My Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n Before the competition started, I had designs in mind, wrote some stuff down, and was testing out a million 2D platform game mechanics.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been doing primarily 3d stuff over the last year, so I began to question why I was entering a realm I wasn\u2019t comfortable with for a 48 hour competition. \u00a0\u00a0At the last minute I decided to switch to a 3D approach.<\/p>\n The whole process was really organic, I let the game design itself.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t take time to write out a plan or design document.\u00a0 Design documents are great, and serve their purpose\u2026 but they are no fun to play and I can use that time to add cat powered mega bullets.<\/p>\n What went right\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I got the full support of my wonderful and loving family.\u00a0 Every minute I wanted to work on the game, I had, distraction free.\u00a0 Can\u2019t express the importance and appreciation of that small fact.<\/p>\n I completed the game.\u00a0 By using a definition of \u2018complete\u2019 that really only applies to games made in 48 hours.\u00a0 There is a hint of a story.\u00a0 Win\/Loss conditions, mechanics, sound\u2026\u00a0 The basics are there.<\/p>\n The game is fun.\u00a0 I enjoy it at least.\u00a0 Once I turned it in last night and the LD website went kaput, I spent\u00a0 a while playing it\u2026 not play testing it, but playing it. \u00a0It was nice.<\/p>\n I believe I did a really good job with my coding time management.\u00a0 I worked a short time on each mechanic then really took a step back and decided if it \u201cjust didn\u2019t feel right\u201d, or flat out just didn\u2019t work. \u00a0Rather than beat a dead horse, I was able to drop them and move on to the stuff that did work.\u00a0 What I was most concerned about, generation of the antagonist and controlling it\u2019s growth actually just worked out with minimal issues. \u00a0 In the beginning, it reproduced so fast it would kill the framerate after a minute or two playing\u2026 I ended up calling that \u201chardcore\u201d mode, with a warning, but\u00a0optimizations and balancing added later killed the fun in that The hardcore mode \u201cbloom attack\u201d. \u00a0The visual and sound\u2026 It just works for me.<\/p>\n What could have gone a lot better<\/strong><\/p>\n I resorted to lazy coding a bit too quick.\u00a0 Played the \u201cpublic\u201d and \u201cstatic\u201d cards way too early.\u00a0 Some last minute bug fixes were a challenge, (and there are still a few minor ones lurking that I believe are tied into the above).<\/p>\n I got in a good chunk of time in to work on balancing and difficulty levels but it\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0nearly enough. \u00a0 A few more hours to work on balancing would have helped a lot.<\/p>\n The \u201cart\u201d, if you can call it that needed some more love.\u00a0 Some may find the color shifting thing a bit obnoxious\u2026 but then again, others will want more.\u00a0 All the modeling was done in code and consists solely of cubes.\u00a0 Some more interesting powerup and bullet shapes would have been nice.<\/p>\n Some of the sounds just don\u2019t work for me. Except for the \u201cbloom\u201d\u2026 did I mention the bloom?\u00a0 I like the bloom.<\/p>\n Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n The jealous side of me is trying to decide if next time I should go for a web game.\u00a0 Probably going to lose a lot of plays and votes for being a Windows-only application.\u00a0 Lose several more for XNA\u2019s outside requirements. \u00a0It may not be right, but it is what it is.<\/p>\n In the end though.. I didn\u2019t do it for votes\u2026\u00a0 I did it for the fun and the experience.\u00a0 \u00a0And by those measures, I already won Ludum Dare.<\/p>\n Tags: LD22<\/a>, postmortem<\/a>, voxterium<\/a>, xna<\/a><\/p>","time":"December 19th, 2011 3:20 pm","title":"VOXTERIUM \u2013 Postmortem","title_was_empty":false}![\"\"](\"\/data\/posts\/2011\/12\/7c9aaaf2a4f93fe325334f53fd0a9883.png\")
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