{"assets":[],"author_link":"author\/jaj\/","author_name":"JaJ","cat":"LD #25","categories":["LD #25"],"comments":[],"epoch":1357453080,"event":"LD25","likes":4,"metadata":{"p_key":"79972","p_author":"JaJ","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"288982","p_title":"Critter criminal, Post-mortem","p_cat":"LD #25","p_event":"LD25","p_time":"1357453080","p_likes":"4","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":"2013\/01\/06\/critter-criminal-post-mortem\/","text":"

I already made a post<\/a> the day after LD ended about how ambitious my LD concepts should be. When coming up with a concept for LD I like it when that concept borders on the impossible of what I can make in only 48 hours. Of course it\u2019s easy to venture into \u201cway impossible\u201d territory, and that\u2019s what usually happens. It happened this time.<\/p>\n

I never did a propper post-mortem however, so here it is.<\/p>\n

What went right:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Graphics:\u00a0<\/strong>I had very little problem finding the right style and keeping it consistent. It didn\u2019t take long for me to create a nice palette and start pixeling. This was important, because I had a lot of programming ahead of me.<\/p>\n

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

Music:\u00a0<\/strong>Music came naturally as well. I had only 2 pieces planned (battle and overworld) but I missed a town piece, which was finished in no more than an hour. I didn\u2019t end up spending a lot of time on either audio or graphics and I went on to programming sooner then I would normally have. The best thing is I don\u2019t think it actually shows.<\/p>\n

Programming:\u00a0<\/strong>Making an RPG, I knew programming was going to be long and difficult, but I never really got stuck anywhere.<\/p>\n

Unintentional humor:\u00a0<\/strong>I never set out to make a funny game, and I think most people who do set out to do that usually fail. What ended up happening is that a lot of test messages, initial dialogue and one second decisions ended up staying in the final version, somehow giving the game a cohesive humorous character, that people have seemed to like.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

What went wrong:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Programming:\u00a0<\/strong>While I didn\u2019t run into any mayor problems, there was simply too much to do. The battle system took up so much time, and after that I still had to program breeding, which I had already carefully planned out before making the battle system so it would take less time. I\u2019m actually happy I managed to finish those two things at all.<\/p>\n

\"2\"<\/p>\n

Feedback:<\/strong>\u00a0A lot of players commented that it wasn\u2019t clear to them why they died. The game doesn\u2019t really give good feedback on how much damage something does and why. If elements align up in the opponents favor that quickly ends up in an instant kill. In the end one of the more important skills for a player to learn was knowing when to run away.<\/p>\n

Enemy design:\u00a0<\/strong>By the time everything was in place and I could start designing the world and enemies, there was almost no time left. What should have happpened was that I had a number of enemies that increased in difficulty, forcing the player to breed bit by bit to create better and better critters. In the end I only had three enemies. The difficulty gap between those enemies was so large that I don\u2019t think many players felt motivated to breed better critters.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conclusion:<\/b><\/p>\n

Yes, I did end up choosing a concept that was way too ambitious. But in the end I did have fun trying to do the undoable. I\u2019m proud of what I did manage to do, and I will probably try to do something insane like this again next time.<\/p>\n

Some things you just never learn.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\nPlay the game here<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

4<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n

\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThis entry was posted\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ton Sunday, January 6th, 2013 at 6:18 am\t\t\t\t\t\tand is filed under LD #25<\/a>.\n\t\t\t\t\t\tYou can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0<\/a> feed.\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYou can leave a response<\/a>, or trackback<\/a> from your own site.\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/small>\n<\/p>","time":"January 6th, 2013 6:18 am","title":"Critter criminal, Post-mortem","title_was_empty":false}