{"assets":[{"original":"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/melted1-300x199.jpg","local":"\/data\/posts\/2012\/05\/af2ce931fb096803c0302f6a851ada40.jpg"}],"author_link":"author\/deejorg\/","author_name":"deejorg","cat":"LD #23","categories":["LD #23"],"comments":[],"epoch":1336752180,"event":"LD23","likes":6,"metadata":{"p_key":"77750","p_author":"deejorg","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"286601","p_title":"Phobius post-mortem","p_cat":"LD #23","p_event":"LD23","p_time":"1336752180","p_likes":"6","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\/05\/11\/phobius-post-mortem\/","text":"

Hey there jammers! It took a while but we finally found some time to sit down a bit and reflect on all that went down during the LD jam. It was our very first attempt. We had no idea what to expect from ourselves or the community and we couldn\u2019t be happier with the experience. That being said let\u2019s get down to the matter!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Check him out here<\/a>!<\/p>\n

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

IDEA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since we basically had no experience making games, we tried to aim for a platformer which seemed, at the time, the simplest way to make something viable in 72 hours. Looking back, not so sure it was the brightest idea. Although we defined this early on, ideas went crazy and at some point we had to stop and settle for the one that fit our skills best. Luckily enough it was one of the favorites almost from the start of the brainstorm.<\/p>\n

Regarding the theme we thought of the most obvious topics and discarded them right away to try and make something different. By thinking about various interpretations of world, we came to the inner world of a being or how he perceives it. And so, Phobius deMelt was born!\u00a0 An overly phobic boy who sees his world close on him as he gradually panics from claustrophobia. It seemed to fit the theme just right and also provide room for a cool mechanic. It would also be very dependent on the audio to set the mood for the character which was a plus.<\/p>\n

Pretty fast a story formed around phobius. He\u2019d be going on some kind of a tour to a building with his family but fearing closed spaces he gets scared at the entrance and is left behind. The rest of the time he\u2019ll spend trying to catch up to his family growing ever more phobic with the fact he\u2019s now also alone.<\/p>\n

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

<\/span><\/p>\n

WHAT WENT RIGHT<\/strong><\/p>\n

We managed to have a team where each member was focused on each main area of the development which went pretty smooth and also granted a really fun working atmosphere.<\/p>\n

audio<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\u2013 Using as3sfxr generator<\/a> for some of the simpler sound effects<\/p>\n

<\/strong>\u2013 The music<\/a> ended up reflecting the character\u2019s anxiety, his psychological fragile world and at the same time setting a steady pace for gameplay.<\/p>\n

\u2013 A mixture of jazz and rock beats along with an 8-bit sampled atari melody was ideal because of the pixel art direction of the game.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Recording our own voices<\/a> for the sound effects.<\/p>\n

art \/ game design<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\u2013 The animations contributed a lot to set his personality.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The resolution seems right for the puzzles we\u2019d be designing.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The panic meter\/mechanic was a nice feature.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The overall weirdness \/ humor of the character.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The funny ending to a short game.<\/p>\n

programming<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 Picking up flashpunk which turned out to be great.<\/p>\n

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

WHAT WENT WRONG<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not saving some time to polish what we had.<\/p>\n

audio<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\u2013 Spending some time trying royalty free sfx that in the end were eliminated because they wouldn\u2019t fit the mood we wanted.<\/p>\n

art \/ game design<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\u2013 Too much animation, too little level design \u2013\u00a0 it was my first time doing animations and i got carried away because i was loving it. I think I\u2019d get away with the character\u2019s, but the pill, the key, the intro letters melting were just small details and the time spent on them could have gone to level design which came short of what we imagined.<\/p>\n

\u2013 We couldn\u2019t include the losing condition \u2013 The idea was that, once the panic bar reached max the screen would go nuts and start flashing or something to make it really hard to progress and express his burst of panic. You\u2019d have to play with the melting \/ unmelting (pills) mechanic to be in the melted state just enough time to get through some platform and then transform back before you lost total control.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Lack of experimenting with sprite sheets \u2013 This turned out to be one of the major issues that we encountered later with the hitboxes, since his normal and melted state vary in width and are not quite centered. I used an iPad app for the sprite work (Sprite Something) and it was kind of hard to center every frame out. Had i done it on the pc it probably wouldn\u2019t have been an issue.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Not experimenting with level editors since we had already decided to aim for a platformer.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The character\u2019s relaxed state color was too similar to the normal one making it harder to understand he could jump higher.<\/p>\n

\u2013 We forgot to explicitly say that the \u2018R\u2019 key goes for restart which might have made some give up before the end<\/p>\n

programming<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 Not learning about flashpunk prior to the competition weekend<\/p>\n

\u2013 Lack of polish \u2013 There are some nasty bugs in there and some sweet details got cut out.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The collisions when the level changes can get him stuck more often than not \u2013 Again we kept pushing this problem to the later hours and it was left unsolved.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bottom line, we loved the experience and learned an awful lot! And let me just say this community is really great, we got a lot of constructive feedback \":)\"<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll be sure to come back for more next time!<\/p>\n

And if you can spare a minute go meet phobius<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Tags: jam<\/a>, ld23<\/a>, post-mortem<\/a>, tiny world<\/a><\/p>","time":"May 11th, 2012 4:03 pm","title":"Phobius post-mortem","title_was_empty":false}