This time, my game is like Harvest Moon, which is mainly because I played SNES Harvest Moon some days before Ludum Dare and I really wanted to do something with the farming gameplay. As the theme was announced, I considered at first the “you only get one day”, because days (and time in general) plays a major role in the Harvest Moon games. Later then, I focused more on the “you only get one tool at once”. I also tried to change the setting to something fresh and in the end, it’s a Harvest Moon on a space station where you farm vegetables for producing biofuel. It sounds a bit awkward, and of course, it is.

Biofuel

What Went Right

It’s really awesome to have a weekend making games with buddies, because I always get very useful feedback. I’m also satisfied with XNA and my little framework on top. I can do a lot of things very fast and can concentrate on making the visuals or tinkering around with the gameplay. The game got what I wanted it to be, so I’m happy with that.

It was also the first time I made a walking animation, which doesn’t look like…. it’s still strange, but it looks somehow funny.

Walking Animation

I also tried to make a holo-like effect for choosing the current tool at the computer.

Holographic

Since last Ludum Dare, I fleshed out my particle emitter system, allowing me to define particle emitters fast and easy.

Dirt Particles

(ffffzzzzzuuunnn… ffffzuuuunnnnn… looks like a dirt-digger going mad)

What Went Wrong

While XNA and my framework allow me to do things fast, there are a lot of stuff which I didn’t made accessible yet, like proper interfaces management (menus out of the box) and easy handling of tile-based games. But what I really miss are shaders. For the next Ludum Dare, I want to get more familiar with shaders and perhaps I have some money to buy a laptop, which is not that weak like my current one.

I’m also not sure if I make games which are too complicated, given the time everyone can and wants to spend for playing. But then, I don’t want to make minimalistic games all the time and I see Ludum Dare primary as a way to learn and to improve (and to have fun).

If you want to dig some dirt, plant vegetables, water them through their different states and then harvest them…

…sell your computer and buy some seeds!

And if you don’t know in which direction a shovel must point for digging dirt, you can get some practical tips in my game, which you can play here.