{"assets":[],"author_link":"author\/travischen\/","author_name":"TravisChen","cat":"LD #24","categories":["LD #24"],"comments":[],"epoch":1347459900,"event":"LD24","likes":8,"metadata":{"p_key":"78428","p_author":"TravisChen","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"287439","p_title":"FOR THE darWIN! Post-Mortem","p_cat":"LD #24","p_event":"LD24","p_time":"1347459900","p_likes":"8","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":null,"us_name":null,"us_username":null,"event_start":"1345766400","event_key":"12","event_name":"LD24"},"source_url":"2012\/09\/12\/for-the-darwin-post-mortem\/","text":"

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FOR THE darWIN \u2013\u00a0Jam Entry<\/em><\/a><\/h3>\n

The Idea<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before starting to come up with ideas, we sat down and wrote a list of what we were NOT going to do. By determining early on, what we were not going to do, it greatly helped narrow the scope of the idea. The biggest things we decided was that we would not do anything\u00a0related\u00a0to character evolution (leveling up, gaining powers, etc). That threw out a ton of ideas we were spitballing. Over a bowl of ramen, Nolan and I started brainstorming a game where you played Darwin, and had to discover evidence of evolution. As soon as we connected this idea to fast paced Match-3 style mechanics, we were set.<\/p>\n

Code,\u00a0Travis Chen (@TravisChen<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most important thing here is to use what you\u2019re comfortable with. For me, that\u2019s Flixel. When I\u2019m making game jam games, I dedicate more than half of my time to tuning and polishing the gameplay and user\u00a0experience. Being comfortable is key so you can get to polishing and refining the\u00a0experience as quickly as possible. Below is the code and also a game jam template I\u2019ve created for future games:<\/p>\n

The code for the project can be found here: Github: FOR THE darWIN!<\/a><\/p>\n

Template project, I\u2019ll continue to refine this:\u00a0Github: Flixel Game Jam Template<\/a><\/p>\n

Art,\u00a0Nolan Fabricius (@ShiftlessHobo<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to point out a couple of things that may not be obvious upon one\u2019s first play through. Firstly, the preist has Gout, That\u2019s why he winces when he walks. He spends every waking moment in total misery. Secondly, Darwin\u2019s jumping ability is historically accurate and not exaggerated at all. In sumation, I \u00a0regret the lack of weather effects, I feel like setting the game during a hurricane would\u2019ve \u201ctotally flipped the script\u201d so to speak.<\/p>\n

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User Learning<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wish we made the skull sequences for the game more clear and gave a little more instruction on what the player is supposed to do. While people seem to love the game, I think a number of people are missing some of the experience\u00a0because of not understanding the sequences. So here\u2019s a hint!<\/p>\n

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Play and rate FOR THE darWIN here!<\/a><\/p>\n

And play our other jame games here!<\/a><\/p>\n

Hope you all enjoyed playing our game as much as we\u2019ve enjoyed playing all of yours! We\u2019ve played over 100 games and are continueing to play more each day.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Until Next Ludum!<\/p>\n

Travis & Nolan<\/p>","time":"September 12th, 2012 2:25 pm","title":"FOR THE darWIN! Post-Mortem","title_was_empty":false}