{"assets":[{"original":"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/genesis-550x397.png","local":"\/data\/posts\/2012\/04\/857deaa373d81b532bb1c48285e28ed0.png"}],"author_link":"author\/tyruspeace\/","author_name":"TyrusPeace","cat":"LD #23","categories":["LD #23"],"comments":[],"epoch":1335131400,"event":"LD23","likes":4,"metadata":{"p_key":"77679","p_author":"TyrusPeace","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"286531","p_title":"Genesis: Post Mortem","p_cat":"LD #23","p_event":"LD23","p_time":"1335131400","p_likes":"4","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":null,"us_name":null,"us_username":null,"event_start":"1334880000","event_key":"10","event_name":"LD23"},"source_url":"2012\/04\/22\/genesis-post-mortem\/","text":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It appears I\u2019ve made a grass growing simulator disguised as a game.<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m okay with that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Day 0:<\/strong><\/p>\n

This LD was announced at 6PM my time, which gave me just enough time to stew about how I wanted things to look and feel in game. \u00a0I\u2019ve spent a lot of time working on tiny planetoid games<\/a>. \u00a0I didn\u2019t really want to do that again.<\/p>\n

I had some friends over for DnD. \u00a0I didn\u2019t have enough of an idea of what I wanted to do to go at it full time and was bushed from work anyhow; I doubt it hurt my schedule much. \u00a0I did my first art test with player animations and got some basic movement code working this night and that was all. \u00a0My concept work looked very game-like, but I hoped a more solid game idea would come to me after sleeping on it.<\/p>\n

Day 1:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I spent a ton of time working on details this time around, which is a pretty weird thing to do in a 48 hour competition. \u00a0My first day of work was mostly art.<\/p>\n

I animated flying cars zooming around skyscrapers and ant people handling deliveries in my cities. \u00a0Cities ended up doing little more than being bullet sponges in game. \u00a0Everything wobbles and rattles and it looks a bit silly. \u00a0I\u2019m very happy with that part of things.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I gluttoned out on some deliciously catered barbecue\u00a0at a picnic my wife organized for her math department colleagues. \u00a0I got food from an ice cream truck for the first time in years. \u00a0Bubblegum eyes are still troubling.<\/p>\n

By the end of this day I only had my plants coded, but I\u2019d arrived at a design I liked a lot: farm\/protect plants, using the energy to heal and upgrade your cities, which in turn gave you classic shooter-style powerups.<\/p>\n

Day 2:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I modeled and coded my enemies this morning and it quickly became obvious that I\u2019d need to cut a lot. \u00a0I spent what time I could polishing the basics (movement, flying, respawning with a god ray that annihilates your enemies) since I figured that was about all I\u2019d have by the end of the compo. \u00a0With three hours left I gave up on doing anything fancy with cities and turned things into a shooter where you got bombs by farming plants. \u00a0The bombs kind of suck and the plants end up giving you a ton of them. \u00a0In this case two wrongs kinda make a right.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I wish I had more time to tune things, but without the more complicated powerups I\u2019d planned on from the outset I\u2019d have a hard time balancing this in any meaningful fashion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thanks for the inspiration, everyone! \u00a0LD was a blast, as usual. \u00a0Happy 10th birthday, Ludum Dare \":)\" .<\/p>\n

You can check out Genesis\u2019s Ludum Dare contest page here.<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThis entry was posted\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ton Sunday, April 22nd, 2012 at 9:50 pm\t\t\t\t\t\tand is filed under LD #23<\/a>.\n\t\t\t\t\t\tYou can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0<\/a> feed.\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYou can leave a response<\/a>, or trackback<\/a> from your own site.\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/small>\n<\/p>","time":"April 22nd, 2012 9:50 pm","title":"Genesis: Post Mortem","title_was_empty":false}