{"assets":[],"author_link":"author\/van-merwan\/","author_name":"VanMerwan","cat":"LD #26","categories":["LD #26"],"comments":[],"epoch":1369103700,"event":"LD26","likes":4,"metadata":{"p_key":"79376","p_author":"VanMerwan","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"288386","p_title":"How I made X=3-1 (Jam Theme winner)","p_cat":"LD #26","p_event":"LD26","p_time":"1369103700","p_likes":"4","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\/21\/making_a_minimalist_theme_winner\/","text":"<p>The first thing I said to myself before the start of the Jam was this : \u201c<em>I will do my best to respect the theme in every aspect of interpretation or development.<\/em>\u201d Then the theme was announced : \u201c<em>Minimalism<\/em>\u201c. I was very frustrated because I knew that <em>obeying<\/em> THAT theme would kill almost every fragment of creativity I have could put into it <em>my<\/em> game. I wasn\u2019t creating a personal game anymore, but a thing resulting of the maximum extrapolation of an invasive theme.<\/p>\n<p>My thoughts are a battlefield with Conformism (C) against Anticonformism (A).<br\/>\nI do hate the C part, but it\u2019s keeping me sane. This is how I proceed, talking to myself :<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A : <em>What is the Minimal in a Game?<\/em><br\/>\nC : <strong>Interactivity<\/strong>. Without interactivity, it\u2019s just a show.<br\/>\nA : But is a show a real game with unconscious inputs and inexplicit outputs?<br\/>\nC : Don\u2019t mix show and game or people won\u2019t understand.<\/li>\n<li>A :<em> What is the Minimal in Interactivity?<\/em><br\/>\nC : An <strong>input<\/strong>, an <strong>output<\/strong>.<br\/>\nA : It seems to be true with 2 people (considering Player and Game).<\/li>\n<li>A :<em> What is the Minimal Input or Output?<\/em><br\/>\nC : A click and displaying a pixel I think.<br\/>\nA : Where are your arguments?<br\/>\nC : In common games you just have to <strong>click<\/strong> and <strong>pixels<\/strong> are small and light.<br\/>\nC : Remember, people need to understand.<br\/>\nA : MAN, stop attacking your liberty of thinking by using\u00a0<em>understandability<\/em> as a filter.<br\/>\nC : Do a game for your yourself if you want BUT UNDERSTAND that <strong>shareability<\/strong> is primordial in LD.<br\/>\n<del>A : Go **** ******** C!<\/del><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2014 Cerebral Meltdown \u2014<br\/>\nI\u2019m not going to show you everything, because it took hours.<br\/>\nAnd my head hurts.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A : <em>So\u2026 what\u2019s the minimal game engine?<\/em><br\/>\nC : Notepad.<br\/>\nA : LOL, are you trying to mimic me? You\u2019re bad at this, you know.C : It was a serious answer.<br\/>\nA : It was <em>unoriginal originality<\/em>, around 10 people will have the same idea.<br\/>\nC : So what\u2019s your idea?<br\/>\nA : <strong>No game engine.<\/strong><br\/>\nC : WHAT???!! We are NOT going to make a game??<br\/>\nC : GOOD JOB, YOU\u2019RE RIGHT : 0 octets, that\u2019s Minimal!<br\/>\nC : Who won? Everyone who did NOT submit a game.<br\/>\nC : You\u2019re going to be hated for that.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u2014 Conformism ragequit \u2014 Long wait \u2014 Conformism comeback \u2014<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A : Bro, try to understand me,<br\/>\nA : I was saying : no \u201cstandard\u201d game engine.<br\/>\nA : Let\u2019s use <strong>Ludum Dare website as a game engine<\/strong>.<br\/>\nA : One possibility : <strong>Title = Question<\/strong> ; <strong>Download links = Answers<\/strong>.<br\/>\nA : Let\u2019s minimize everything<br\/>\nC : Wow, you\u2019re a genius, no kiddin, but can we?<br\/>\nA : It\u2019s not forbidden, I think. Let\u2019s submit in \u201cJam\u201d. In case of.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>C : So, what\u2019s the minimal question for you?A : \u201c<em>How are you<\/em>?\u201d<br\/>\nC : Answer links : \u201cFine, thank you\u201d and \u201cNot so well\u201d?<br\/>\nA : I don\u2019t like this, the question must be more challenging.<br\/>\nA : What about \u201c<em><strong>X = 3 \u2013 1<\/strong><\/em>\u201c, btw : weird name, easy to see.<br\/>\nC : That\u2019s not challenging at all.<br\/>\nA : Well, it <strong>looks challenging<\/strong> so people UNDERSTAND where the game is.<br\/>\nA : Remember, there\u2019s no downloadable game, no Flash, no HTML5!<br\/>\nC : Why not \u201c<em>48\u00f72(9+3) = ?<\/em>\u201c, we will get more points in fun.<br\/>\nA : Too hard, and minimalism has a difficulty interpretation.<br\/>\nA : Note : We must do <em>minimalism in the most diverse field of interpretations!<\/em><\/li>\n<li>C : Where the \u201cdownload\u201d links are going to redirect?<br\/>\nA : Maybe to wikipedia, to the <strong>true<\/strong> or <strong>false<\/strong> page.<br\/>\nC : I like the \u201ctrue\u201d or \u201cfalse\u201d idea, it\u2019s very \u201cgame-like\u201d.<br\/>\nC : However, some people will not understand that wikipedia is a part of the game.<br\/>\nC : They will say \u201cthe link is broken\u201d or something else.<br\/>\nC : I will write \u201c<strong>you need a web browser<\/strong>\u201d so people don\u2019t search a \u201cphysical\u201d game.<br\/>\nC : And it\u2019s funny at the same time.<\/li>\n<li>A : Good idea, hhmm, for the links I will write true or false in images.<br\/>\nA : I will then upload the images and use their direct links.<br\/>\nA : It\u2019s important to lure people into thinking <em>we spent minimal time and skill<\/em>.<br\/>\nC : I think you\u2019re right.<br\/>\nA : Haha.<br\/>\nC : Be careful, some people will look at the URL, so upload the false image several times.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And that\u2019s roughly how <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-26\/?action=preview&amp;uid=17310\">I got this<\/a> :<\/p>\n<table cellpadding=\"5\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\"><img align=\"absmiddle\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/plugins\/compo2\/images\/igold.gif\"\/><\/td>\n<td>Theme(Jam)<\/td>\n<td align=\"right\">4.65<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\"><img align=\"absmiddle\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/plugins\/compo2\/images\/ibronze.gif\"\/><\/td>\n<td>Humor(Jam)<\/td>\n<td align=\"right\">4.40<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tags: <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/bipolar\/\" rel=\"tag\">bipolar<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/bronze\/\" rel=\"tag\">bronze<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/disorder\/\" rel=\"tag\">disorder<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/gold\/\" rel=\"tag\">gold<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/humor\/\" rel=\"tag\">humor<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/jam\/\" rel=\"tag\">jam<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/ludum26\/\" rel=\"tag\">ludum26<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/postmortem\/\" rel=\"tag\">postmortem<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/theme\/\" rel=\"tag\">theme<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/x3-1\/\" rel=\"tag\">x=3-1<\/a><\/p>","time":"May 21st, 2013 2:35 am","title":"How I made X=3-1 (Jam Theme winner)","title_was_empty":false}