{"assets":[{"original":"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/essense_banner.png","local":"\/data\/posts\/2013\/05\/75ff1a9d9caf0e070fbbb763c491df33.png"},{"original":"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/mad.png","local":"\/data\/posts\/2013\/05\/16855771bf8539a94b50f23ab44b2959.png"},{"original":"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/2013-05-02_224235-273x300.png","local":"\/data\/posts\/2013\/05\/fd2919709077e8d532298eecc6ff8747.png"}],"author_link":"author\/jorjon\/","author_name":"Jorjon","cat":"LD #26","categories":["LD #26"],"comments":[],"epoch":1367520960,"event":"LD26","likes":8,"metadata":{"p_key":"79247","p_author":"Jorjon","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"288257","p_title":"Essense Post Mortem","p_cat":"LD #26","p_event":"LD26","p_time":"1367520960","p_likes":"8","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":null,"us_name":null,"us_username":null,"event_start":"1366934400","event_key":"16","event_name":"LD26"},"source_url":"2013\/05\/02\/essense-post-mortem\/","text":"<h2><img alt=\"essense\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-254577\" height=\"235\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" src=\"\/data\/posts\/2013\/05\/75ff1a9d9caf0e070fbbb763c491df33.png\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/essense_banner-300x128.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/essense_banner.png 550w\" width=\"550\"\/><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jorjon.com\/games\/essense\/\"><br\/>\nPLAY<\/a><\/strong><strong>\u00a0::\u00a0<\/strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-26\/?action=preview&amp;uid=5268\">RATE<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>::\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/piQvF5T1NxI\">TIMELAPSE<\/a>\u00a0::\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-wqzDOSd_Yw\">WALKTHROUGH<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;color: #999\"><em>Minimalism exposes the essence of a subject, through eliminating all non-essential forms\u2026<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Essense<\/strong> is an atmospheric serene first person \u201cpuzzle\u201d. Really cool for a relaxing moment before going to bed.<\/p>\n<p>In this post-mortem, I\u2019ll try to explain what things of the development process made me <strong>mad<\/strong>, what made me <strong>sad<\/strong>, and what made me <strong>glad<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img alt=\"mad\" height=\"50\" src=\"\/data\/posts\/2013\/05\/16855771bf8539a94b50f23ab44b2959.png\" width=\"550\"\/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><i>I Suck At Making Levels<\/i><\/h2>\n<p>Yeah, now I know. Usually <b>I don\u2019t play<\/b> puzzles, so it was a real challenge making one. I was trying to figure out good puzzles to include in the game, levels that would be fun to play. I guess I didn\u2019t chose well, because\u2026<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><em>Levels Are Really Hard<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I think it\u2019s a problem of\u00a0<strong>communication<\/strong>. I wasn\u2019t able to find an effective way to communicate what the puzzle was about. Sure, you have to grab the red cube, but what\u2019s the mechanic of the level? That and some difficult controls (which I modified now), has led my game to be almost unbeatable.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><em>Power Outages And Plain Bad Luck<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I guess the world didn\u2019t want me to participate in <strong>Ludum Dare<\/strong>. I have gathered a list of things that happened to me this weekend:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 13px\">3 power outages of about 2\/3 hours each.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Computer broke the first 3 hours. I had to waste 2 hours fixing it.<\/li>\n<li>Laptop has temperature issues and I couldn\u2019t use it to develop at all.<\/li>\n<li>Internet went down for about 3 hours.<\/li>\n<li>One of the outages corrupted my Unity project so I had to start again.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"text-align: center\"> <img alt=\"sad\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-255100\" height=\"50\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/sad.png\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/sad-300x27.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/sad.png 550w\" width=\"550\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><i>Lot Of Time Testing<\/i><\/h2>\n<p><em><\/em>If you watch my <a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/piQvF5T1NxI\">timelapse<\/a>, you will find that I was spending lot of time testing my game. That surely was one of the reasons why my game is <strong>difficult<\/strong>: the more I tested my game, the easier it was for me, so the more I increased the difficulty.<\/p>\n<p>But why I tested it so much? Well because the atmosphere was really cool so I played lot of time to hear the music, read the messages, etc. That\u2019s because I was\u2026<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><em>Not Organized At All<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>So I had to make lots of things, but I couldn\u2019t make a <strong>list<\/strong> like my previous Ludum Dare. I don\u2019t know why, I just didn\u2019t think it was necessary. So I wasted a lot of time working on the <strong>atmosphere<\/strong> first (I had the music very early on), and not much time in the <strong>mechanics<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img alt=\"glad\" height=\"50\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/glad.png\" width=\"550\"\/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><i>Unity3D Editor<\/i><\/h2>\n<p><em><\/em>So one of the wonderful things about Unity3D is that you can extend your editor to make custom tools. I created tools for the\u00a0<strong>logic<\/strong> puzzle and the\u00a0<strong>jumping<\/strong> puzzle, which allowed me to modify them quickly.<\/p>\n<h3>Parser<\/h3>\n<p>For creating the blocks in the dodge level, I made a parser that reads a simple script, describing how the level should be created. Then\u00a0<strong>Generate<\/strong> creates all the blocks in the corresponding positions.<\/p>\n<p>The first letter correspond of where the block will be coming from,\u00a0<strong>N<\/strong>orth,\u00a0<strong>E<\/strong>ast or\u00a0<strong>W<\/strong>est. The second letter correspond of what position the block will have,\u00a0<strong>L<\/strong>eft, <strong>C<\/strong>enter or <strong>R<\/strong>ight. If there\u2019s an\u00a0<strong>X<\/strong> at the end, then a Checkpoint is created instead. The special letter\u00a0<b>S<\/b> is speed, and\u00a0<strong>O<\/strong> is offset, both followed by a number.<\/p>\n<div class=\"aligncenter\"><img alt=\"2013-05-02_213016\" height=\"352\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/2013-05-02_213016.png\" width=\"177\"\/><img alt=\"2013-05-02_224235\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-255150\" height=\"300\" sizes=\"(max-width: 273px) 100vw, 273px\" src=\"\/data\/posts\/2013\/05\/fd2919709077e8d532298eecc6ff8747.png\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/2013-05-02_224235-273x300.png 273w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/2013-05-02_224235.png 423w\" width=\"273\"\/><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"aligncenter\">Visual Handlers<\/h3>\n<p>For the logic puzzle, I needed something to tell me how was the level being connected. I figured I could do it using the <a href=\"http:\/\/docs.unity3d.com\/Documentation\/ScriptReference\/Handles.html\">Handles<\/a> class, using a white arrow indicating a floor that turns on another, and a black arrow indicating a floor that turns off another.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_255123\" style=\"width: 310px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/2013-05-02_213141.png\"><img alt=\"Visual clues helped me know what's happening. Click to enlarge.\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-255123\" height=\"196\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/2013-05-02_213141-300x196.png\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/2013-05-02_213141-300x196.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/2013-05-02_213141-550x359.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/2013-05-02_213141.png 769w\" width=\"300\"\/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Visual clues helped me know what\u2019s happening. Click to enlarge.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;clear: both\"><i>Unity3D Pro Effects<\/i><\/h2>\n<p>So with Unity Pro it is really simple to add fancy post-process effects. I added <strong>vignetting<\/strong> and <strong>reflection<\/strong>, which lot of people told me it was really cool looking. I was about to add more effects, but that wouldn\u2019t be\u00a0<strong>minimal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><em>Easy Way To Make Music<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I used <a href=\"http:\/\/hypermammut.sourceforge.net\/paulstretch\/\">Paul Stretch<\/a> along with Audacity to remix a version of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GRxofEmo3HA\">Four Seasons of Vivaldi<\/a>.\u00a0It was an easy and hacky way to have a beautiful dreamy music. I also was worried that it would be against the rules to remix a song, but I asked in #ludumdare and it was ok.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"2013-05-02_225504\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-255159\" height=\"130\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/2013-05-02_225504.png\" width=\"550\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Tags: <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/3d\/\" rel=\"tag\">3D<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/final\/\" rel=\"tag\">final<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/ld26\/\" rel=\"tag\">LD#26<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/post-mortem\/\" rel=\"tag\">post-mortem<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/postmortem\/\" rel=\"tag\">postmortem<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/unity3d\/\" rel=\"tag\">unity3d<\/a><\/p>","time":"May 2nd, 2013 6:56 pm","title":"Essense Post Mortem","title_was_empty":false}