{"assets":[],"author_link":"author\/ratking\/","author_name":"ratking","cat":"LD #25","categories":["LD #25"],"comments":[],"epoch":1356360720,"event":"LD25","likes":25,"metadata":{"p_key":"78752","p_author":"ratking","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"287762","p_title":"Tale of Scale \u2013 Post Mortem","p_cat":"LD #25","p_event":"LD25","p_time":"1356360720","p_likes":"25","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":null,"us_name":null,"us_username":null,"event_start":"1355443200","event_key":"14","event_name":"LD25"},"source_url":"2012\/12\/24\/tale-of-scale-post-mortem\/","text":"

This article is a copy from my blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

On December 15th, Ludum Dare 25\u00a0started. As usual, this was an interesting experience, as exciting and awesome as it was soul-crushing. But this might be just me.<\/p>\n

Like before, I didn\u2019t have the right idea for the theme. This time it was \u201cYou are the Villain\u201d<\/strong>, which was a better theme than usual, but unfortunately it only triggered gameplay concepts for me which all belong into the \u201cthat was already made before\u201d category. So the first thing coming into my mind was \u201cDungeon Keeper\u201d<\/em>, and as much as I\u2019d like to do a game similar to this awesome piece of gaming history, it just would be a clone without the right amount of innovation (or would it?). Among the other ideas I had were a \u201cPirates!\u201d<\/em>\u00a0roguelike, a game where you control four bandits at once (robbing innocents and wandering around) and a board game creator where you\u2019re the dungeon master placing the monsters (think \u201cHeroQuest\u201d<\/em> or so).<\/p>\n

\"1\"<\/p>\n

None of these ideas were the incentive for me to actually start developing (although I still like them). In my mind, I combined them, added features and the result got bigger and bigger, and after finally deciding that it would be too much of a hassle, I started at zero again. Then I came back to a thought I had days before, namely the thought that often, good ideas for games (mostly puzzle platformers) are those which are inspired by childrens\u2019 fantasies. So I imagined a bit what a child could think, and being able to grab the moon with the fingertips and move it around just like that, well, that seemed like a good candidate. At this point, the theme was still in the back of my head, but I tried to ignore it mostly as it obviously would just hinder me to actually develop anything. I never was good in the \u201cTheme\u201d category, and for that I\u2019m sorry, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the category I want to shine, really.<\/p>\n

I tried to create a Unity3D prototype out of that idea with the moon. Of course, prototypes become the real game eventually when doing a game jam, but first I wanted to see if I could actually create something like that. The main problem to begin with was the scale of the object currently grabbed, as it always has to be the same size for the player, no matter how far or near it would be away. I read something about the focal length of a camera before and I thought I had to factor this in in any case. I experimented (using some basecode I already announced in my \u201cI\u2019m in!\u201d post) and searched on the internet, but it just wouldn\u2019t work right. The object\u2019s subjective size didn\u2019t stay constant, and being very frustrated, I stopped after a while.<\/p>\n

Thus, I re-evaluated the idea of the four bandits. This one would follow the theme and I\u2019d really like being able to control a group of (evil) adventurers \u2013 in first person perspective! In order to make it easier for myself, I started programming the movement (again in Unity3D), which would be along the cardinal directions only and also on a grid. Just like those age old games you might know, \u201cDungeon Master\u201d<\/em>, \u201cEye of the Beholder\u201d<\/em> or \u201cLegend of Grimrock\u201d<\/em>. In the end, the movement worked somehow, and you could add NPCs to your party, and press a button to see all four viewports at once. Probably I could have made a more or less full game out of it, but at this point I didn\u2019t see how I could add \u201cfun\u201d easily and I stopped yet again.<\/p>\n

\"prototypesecond prototype, no fun<\/em><\/p>\n

With the thought of fun being the most important part of it and without really expecting any results for this Ludum Dare anymore, I got back to the first prototype, and suddenly, the old problem was gone. Thinking about the focal length was a dead-end, and just getting rid of it was the way to get it work. The only problem now was the collision detection of an object that would get bigger the further it goes. Using Unity3D\u2019s SphereCast()<\/a>\u00a0was the wrong direction, because the size of the collision sphere would be always the same. So now CheckSphere()<\/a>\u00a0gets called with a gradually increasing size of the radius parameter, and it does that a lot of times every frame \u2013 because of the simple nature of the rest of the game, this was possible without any noticable performance hits (at least on my computer). Of course, this means that every object basically has an additional bounding sphere, and that\u2019s why most objects sometimes don\u2019t behave as expected, especially those which don\u2019t have uniform dimensions.<\/p>\n

\"prototypefirst prototype, working<\/em><\/p>\n

I uploaded the first prototype of the game \u2013 just a simple demonstration of the gameplay \u2013 late in the night, and those who actually started it and \u201cgot it\u201d, said it could be awesome. Yay, motivation! Also, I earned myself some sleep. The next day I \u201conly\u201d had to make levels and fix any occuring bug. Also, story. Also, sound. Also, \u2026<\/p>\n

I planned five levels at the beginning, and because of some very sad events before Ludum Dare, I didn\u2019t think about it too long when I realized that I wouldn\u2019t have time for all of them \u2013 as one of the levels would had have a kindergarten setting. So, three levels were made (in 3dsmax), and they describe how the protagonist is a kid with just an overly active imagination, and how this leads to an unfortunate outcome. I didn\u2019t have time for more, and the ones I made aren\u2019t really balanced\/tested, so I am sorry for that. On the other side I am just relieved that the main gameplay works and can maybe be the foundation of a cool game; the Ludum Dare version of the finally named game \u201cTale of Scale\u201d is mainly a sandbox game which happens to have a subtly communicated goal in each level.<\/p>\n

\"2\"the end result: Tale of Scale<\/em><\/p>\n

A short summarization of What-Went-Bad<\/strong>:<\/p>\n