{"assets":[],"author_link":"author\/sheepolution\/","author_name":"Sheepolution","cat":"LD #29","categories":["LD #29"],"comments":[],"epoch":1398772860,"event":"LD29","likes":4,"metadata":{"p_key":"80423","p_author":"Sheepolution","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"289433","p_title":"In Hiding: Post-Mortem","p_cat":"LD #29","p_event":"LD29","p_time":"1398772860","p_likes":"4","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":null,"us_name":null,"us_username":null,"event_start":"1398384000","event_key":"22","event_name":"LD29"},"source_url":"2014\/04\/29\/in-hiding-post-mortem\/","text":"<p>I recommend playing the game before reading this:<\/p>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-29\/?action=preview&amp;uid=5959\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"In Hiding\">Play the game<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-29\/?action=preview&amp;uid=5959\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"alignnone\" height=\"391\" src=\"http:\/\/i.imgur.com\/qdDU3Ik.png\" width=\"587\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Information<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Start: 11:30 AM (5:30 AM EST)<\/li>\n<li>End: 3 AM (9 PM EST)<\/li>\n<li>Time spend sleeping: 11 hours<\/li>\n<li>Software used: Sublime Text, L\u00d6VE, Aseprite, Pixitracker, bfxr<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>The idea<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I had to think for a long time before finally coming up with an idea. But then it suddenly popped into my mind. I thought back to a flower parade float. You can take a look at it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_TqwiSS9eXU#t=2471\">here on Youtube.<\/a>\u00a0When I was standing in the audience looking at it, I felt fear. They made the mood so strong, that I feared\u00a0for them being captured. I took that as inspiration and started making my game.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>The good<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Art<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It was the first time I used Aseprite for Ludum Dare, and it is such a great tool. It does exactly what I want. So making the art, although it\u2019s not the best, went alright.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The idea<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I personally think I succeeded again in coming up with an innovative, and fun concept. The idea had room for potential that I could come up with while making the game.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Programming<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I don\u2019t think there was any bug that cost me more than 15 minutes of my time. Although the source code is one big mess, I managed to find my way through it. Luckily you only have to look at it for 2 days straight.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>The bad<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gameplay<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You could hug your daughter, and feed the baby, that was it. I needed a reason for you to walk from left to right and back. But with everything I could come up with, I had this argument for myself: \u201cThen why wouldn\u2019t the daughter stand on the right side?\u201d. I solved it by adding the lights coming from the floor, which you weren\u2019t allowed to be seen by (although this is actually not in the game, people still think it\u2019s dangerous so they sort of added that feature by themselves). The \u2018getting food\u2019 was a perfect solution. You take the risk of the guy coming while you\u2019re taking food, you need to let your daughter hold the baby, you need to feed your daughter. It added a lot of gameplay. So even though it sounds as if that all went right, it was something I had a lot of trouble with making the game.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Balancing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Never had I so much trouble with balancing a game. It kept being too hard, I kept lowering the speed of how fast the baby or daughter cries, and upped the time of how fast the man comes to inspect. In the end I think I made it too easy, but that might be because I made the game. Most still seem to have trouble finishing the game their first or second try. Balancing cost me quite some time, and it\u2019s the reason why the intro and menu are so shitty.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Audio<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I can\u2019t make music or sound effects, and I felt that 8-bit sounds wouldn\u2019t do its justice. In the end my brother told me to do a heartbeat, which worked out pretty nicely. It reminded me Eniko\u2019s game from previous Ludum Dare, No way out. I felt like stealing it even though I\u00a0didn\u2019t took it from there. But if a single feature of another game makes your game at its best, then why not use it? In the end I think the audio gives some nice mood.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>The ugly<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The baby<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you\u2019ve played the game, you might have seen what can happen to the baby. Now you might think: Sheepolution, what were you thinking in your sick mind while you decided to put that in your game? Well, I got it from the movie The Pianist. In the movie a woman cries. A man explain she\u2019s crying because the police was searching their house when they baby started crying, she suffocated the baby, but it was too late, they were already caught. I thought this would fit perfectly in my game. I hoped it would make people skip a heartbeat when they suddenly see the option in the menu. The scene of the movie can be found here: <a href=\"http:\/\/ffilms.org\/the-pianist-2002\/\">At 0:45:40<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I hope you enjoy(ed) playing In Hiding. I think it\u2019s a kind of game I won\u2019t be making again soon.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cheers!<\/p>","time":"April 29th, 2014 12:01 pm","title":"In Hiding: Post-Mortem","title_was_empty":false}