{"assets":[],"author_link":"author\/orni\/","author_name":"Orni","cat":"LD #26","categories":["LD #26"],"comments":[],"epoch":1368364320,"event":"LD26","likes":6,"metadata":{"p_key":"79357","p_author":"Orni","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"288367","p_title":"Post Mortem: \u2018Super 1-Bit Space Arena\u2019","p_cat":"LD #26","p_event":"LD26","p_time":"1368364320","p_likes":"6","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\/12\/postmortemld2\/","text":"

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

Play \u2018Super 1-Bit Space Arena\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, here\u2019s my post mortem I wanted to write for quite some time now.\nLD#26 was my third time participating and it was the first time everything worked more or less as I planned to.<\/p>\n

I started by thinking something up that would fit the theme and chose to interpret it in a visual way, in terms of color depth, so it ended up being a 1-bit game \u2013 the most minimalistic color depth. Since this isn\u2019t limiting genre wise I had to decide that next. Although I\u2019d really liked to make a RPG but that\u2019s something I simply can\u2019t do within 48 hours (yet). The only other genres I have experience making games of are platformers and generic action games \u2013 so I decided to choose one of those. For some reason unknown to me (it might be because I was re-watching Star Trek Enterprise and Firefly at the time) I wanted to put my game into space, which fits action more than platformer \u2013 and what\u2019s more fun than an arena shooter? yes, nothing, so this was settled then \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

What went right!<\/span><\/h3>\n
    \n
  • I love Flashpunk!<\/span>\nBy now my workflow\u00a0is tuned almost to perfection \u2013 I can make art, code and implement content at a fast pace for\/with it. I already decided to use something else next time \u2013 but for this time it simply felt like the obvious right choice \u2013 and it was.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • 1-Bit graphics rock!\nIt\u2019s both very hard and very easy to work with very minimal graphical possibilities \u2013 like in this case, only two colors \u2013 since the art can be produced very fast and efficiently, yet it\u2019s hard to get those few pixels right. However, by now I\u2019m not too shabby as a pixel artist so this was a lot of fun for me and suited my skillset<\/li>\n
  • time management is key!\nI made a lot of breaks and was able to get everything done nonetheless. the biggest reason being that my workflow didn\u2019t let me down and I didn\u2019t stumbled over significant hurdles along the way<\/li>\n
  • I\u2019ve implemented everything I planned!\nyes \u2013 this is a first for me. The game you can play is exactly what I imagined when I started making it (except for 2 gameplay thingies I\u2019ll explain later). Having a to-do list and getting everything done in time is such a great feeling<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    What didn\u2019t!<\/span><\/h3>\n
      \n
    • Although I\u2019m quite pleased with the audio of my game \u2013 it\u2019s far from great. I\u2019d really like to get a less\u00a0repetitive, more funky music track but simply wasn\u2019t able to achieve that. mainly because I suck at music. I\u2019ve known for a long time that the first person I\u2019d hire for a dev team of my own would be a music guy.<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Sound effect variations are incredibly awesome \u2013 yet I didn\u2019t implement them. As many comments pointed out the weapon fire sounds are very\u00a0repetitive\u00a0and although this \u00a0leads to a nice retro feel \u2013 it also doesn\u2019t sound that great after a while. One of the things I learned this LD is to always produce slightly mutated sound effect variations and play them randomly.<\/span><\/li>\n
    • I\u2019m not happy with the AI \u2013 but I implementing some nice A* pathfinding seemed\u00a0unnecessary\u00a0at first \u2013 yet as my game progressed it became clear it would improve it a lot. So I started hacking it together but couldn\u2019t get it to work without screwing up my time schedule \u2013 so I dropped it<\/li>\n
    • I should have introduced the different monsters step by step instead more or less all of them at once (although there\u2019s some nifty background algorithm going on determining the quantity and quality of monsters to spawn), but didn\u2019t think of it until it was to late to implement<\/li>\n
    • my original idea was to get exp points for \u201ckilling\u201d monsters to level up the currently used weapon (in terms of knockback and frequency) but I somehow changed that plan \u2013 that\u2019s the reason why you already start with those 3 weapons. I should have stuck to that plan \u2013 since I feel it would have improved my game (never ever cut a feature if you\u2019re not completely sure it would make the game worse or would cost too much\u00a0resources)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      \u00a0<\/p>\n

      So \u2013 what now?<\/p>\n

      I don\u2019t know.\nMaybe I\u2019ll eventually make a post-compo version but chances are I won\u2019t. However, I had a lot of fun and am proud of my game and it\u2019s a delight to see what you guys have come up with and play your games. being part of LD is a wonderful experience, every time \":)\"<\/p>","time":"May 12th, 2013 1:12 pm","title":"Post Mortem: \u2018Super 1-Bit Space Arena\u2019","title_was_empty":false}