{"assets":[],"author_link":"author\/dr_soda\/","author_name":"recursive frog","cat":"LD #24","categories":["LD #24"],"comments":[],"epoch":1346105100,"event":"LD24","likes":4,"metadata":{"p_key":"78514","p_author":"recursive frog","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"287523","p_title":"What went right and wrong","p_cat":"LD #24","p_event":"LD24","p_time":"1346105100","p_likes":"4","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\/08\/27\/what-went-right-and-wrong\/","text":"<p><strong>Perils abound down the Ribbit Hole.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-24\/?action=preview&amp;uid=8342\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-177566\" height=\"343\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Screenshot_2012-08-27-21-22-43-550x343.png\" width=\"550\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This was by far the craziest of my three Ludum Dare experiences, and the first time I\u2019ve jammed with a team.  On the one hand, we\u2019re all ridiculously happy with what we\u2019ve managed to do, in terms of the game mechanic and the quality of the art production, and the potential for a much larger game built on top of what we\u2019ve got here.<\/p>\n<p> On the other hand, there\u2019s no getting around the fact that the amount of content and story in the actual official jam build is painfully small\u2026 just one scenario.  It\u2019s really short, and it doesn\u2019t even really have an \u201cending\u201d screen. <\/p>\n<p><b>What went right?<\/b><br\/>\n  The theme :<br\/>\n      I admit that I didn\u2019t like the theme when it was announced.  We all struggled to come up with an idea that wouldn\u2019t be derivative or play into the whole eat-or-be-eaten trope.  After spending two hours brainstorming we felt like we\u2019d hit a brilliant twist by making a game about the evolution of a relationship, or rather correcting the de-evolution of one via time-manipulation.<\/p>\n<p>   The team :<br\/>\n       The textures are gorgeous.  Jordan rocks scene lighting and ambience like nobody\u2019s business.  You see how alive the scenery in that apartment looks?  It\u2019s all in the lighting.  Ray on the modeling and the UI took one look at the little frog pictures I\u2019d taken during LD23 and decided to just run with them.  The scenery and the model have a certain charm and warmth that there\u2019s no way I alone could capture.  <\/p>\n<p>    The tooling :<br\/>\n       I\u2019m no stranger to using Unity, but the tool really made the job of rapidly testing and building very easy.  <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/2012\/08\/27\/what-went-right-and-wrong\/screenshot_2012-08-27-21-22-18\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-177568\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-177568\" height=\"343\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Screenshot_2012-08-27-21-22-18-550x343.png\" width=\"550\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>What went wrong?<\/b><\/p>\n<p> <b>SCOPE \u2013 <\/b><br\/>\n           Everything that went wrong in this project, and the reason why the game really isn\u2019t very complete, is all down to how ambitious we were in our ideas.  In order to really sell our take on the theme, here\u2019s a short list of things we had to build out, in ascending order of OMG levels of work:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A fake smartphone operating system<\/li>\n<li>Translation of raycasting from the user\u2019s physical screen to the virtual \u201cphone\u201d screen<\/li>\n<li>A convincing script with relatable characters<\/li>\n<li>A conversation engine that ranks your responses to questions, including timeouts that are interpreted as you ignoring the questioner<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Did I mention we didn\u2019t have any of that stuff just laying around?<\/p>\n<p>And how much time did it take us to concept out these ideas?  I feel confident in saying that we spent almost a total of 10 \u2013 15 hours doing nothing but writing up scenarios, playing with dialog options, running through things you could pick up and use in the phone world.  <\/p>\n<p>All this is to say that the idea was big.  It was really big.  It\u2019s way bigger than a game jam game should be, but it felt like too good an idea not to pursue.  It\u2019s still astonishing to me just how much we did accomplish even with a game idea that required such heavy investment in nothing more than script writing and screenplay.  <\/p>\n<p>  PRIORITIES \u2013<br\/>\n One thing I think I as the programmer really should have done was to actually flesh out <b>why that force close screen happens<\/b>.  It\u2019s actually part of the story and intended to signify that you\u2019ve completed the scenario\u2026 but without some messaging or apparent effect after it happens, it just leaves people confused.  It didn\u2019t have to be that way.  I could have diverted some effort away from things like making the textures all import at the best quality level, or fiddling around with dialogue during the encounter, or adding in the pickup items, and I could have used that time to just give the player a clue that \u201chey, you did it!  But there\u2019s a mystery afoot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>  Next steps?<\/p>\n<p>     To finish this story.  The idea is too good not to follow through on, and it deserves more than what it\u2019s got as of 6pm Monday evening.  <\/p>","time":"August 27th, 2012 10:05 pm","title":"What went right and wrong","title_was_empty":false}