I wanted to post some technical stuff about how our jam entry, Dango Rush, was developed, but it has been hard finding a time to do so while we have so many interesting games to play and rate! But, I finally decided to take a break and write down some development notes! So, let’s start!

PLAY AND RATE!

The game’s title screen! =D

Tools we used

I started out using FlashDevelop and the Flixel library to code, but ended up using the FlashPunk library instead because of some helpful stuff it has already implemented. Also, because I was completely new to Flixel but had already read a lot on FlashPunk and found it more comfortable to go on a weekend-long project.

Aline used a Bamboo Capture drawing tablet, along with Adobe Sketchbook Express (that comes with it), to draw all the graphics. I also used it a little to draw some sketches. Paint.NET was used for editing (adapting) the drawings to a format acceptable by Flash/FlashPunk.

For the audio, PxTone was used by Carvalho to compose the music for the game and I used sfxr for the sound effects (as usual).

Early sketch of the game’s ideas.

First intentions and end result

Initially we decided to make a mix between The Binding of Isaac and Mii Force. The player would have to explore randomly generated dungeons while collecting and equipping different power ups, each one providing a different type of bullets you could shoot at enemies, while avoiding being hit by their bullets as well. These initial mechanics turned out very difficult to implement and we decided to simplify the game.

Aline suggested that we used “dangos” as characters in the game because they are very simple to draw (she’s not a pro artist) and very cute. The title “Dango Rush” was immediately adopted. =p

In the end, we removed a lot of stuff we wanted to put in the game, simply because we wouldn’t have the time to implement. It turned out to be more of an Isaac-like game than Mii Force-like. But we were very satisfied by the results, nonetheless. Of course we knew the game had problems (I’m glad people pointed out some of them while rating the game) and we plan on releasing a post-jam version pretty soon, fixing some stuff we couldn’t because we didn’t have the time, and adding some stuff people are pointing us to on the comments! So that’s your chance do play and rate, and contribute to the post-jam version of our game! =D

In-game screenshot.

Final regards

This is the fourth time I participate on a Ludum Dare event, second time on the jam and first time actually finishing the game on a LD jam. The first time we had some problems, maybe because we were too large a group or because we lacked intimacy with each other as game developers, and ended up giving up. This time I went for a more decentralized approach. While we had some specific ideas and goals, everyone on the team had a significant amount of freedom to do whatever they wanted. I think that’s a good way to work on a game jam. We also worked in different things in parallel (programming, drawing, composing), while the previous time we tried to focus on having a working prototype instead of focusing on different aspects to create a good synergy.

That said, I believe LD28 Jam is confirmed for me and whoever wants to take a role in my team. LD27 was definitely a good experience and we are loving to read all the feedback we are receiving! =D