Hello everyone!

Just one week left before LD33 judging ends, I’m back from vacation and finally have a chance to play some games and look back at what I’ve made for my very first Ludum Dare (and the very first gamejam at all).

You can try my game here

The idea

I’ve never been good at original ideas or revolutionary gameplay mechanics. I really like simplicity in games but with good execution. So I decided to make something maybe ordinary, but make it as good as I can (taking into account my lack of gamedev experience).

Soo… You’re the monster. Okay, let it be a game about zombies. Why? Well, zombies are funny. Yes, I don’t think about them as about creepy scary monsters trying to eat your brains. They’re actually funny because of enormous amout of games/movies/etc made about them.

First hours

I was sitting with a pen and a pile of paper sheets trying to make something from a simple idea of “game about zombies” for about two hours. Or maybe more. The biggest problem was to not try to make something too complex. It’s only 48 hours and only me with no experience in commercial gamedev.

Finally the vision was formed. A game about running around with a horde of zombies, making more zombies, dying and playing as another zombie.

But I was so scared about “what if I just can’t do it?” so I was sitting with zero lines of code fore another couple of hours. I also didn’t knew how will I do art (I’m not good at it), would it be 3D (I know nothing about making 3D models) or 2D (I can draw something simple at least). But then suddenly the “programmer flow” started and I can remember only one thing – me sitting with a pile of code and art about 36 hours (or so) later. Exhausted but proud of myself. I did it – the game was finished =)

What went right

The art

It was very good decision to combine 3D with 2D. 3D for environment (simple and cubic without textures) and 2D for characters with super-simple art style. I’ve recently watched some Super Bros games letsplays and thought I could make something with the similar style.

Unity

I don’t have a lot of experience making games at all, but I was messing around with Unity for the past year, so it was enough for me to not suck with it completely.

AI

AI is super simple. And it fits the setting and game style completely. Zombies are stupid. Scared people are stupid. And military have guns – so no one will call them stupid even if they are =)

Horde mechanics

I didn’t expect this tiny little feature about playing as another zombie when your zombie dies will get so much impact on gameplay. It was really good idea and I’m glad I’ve come to it.

Dat cat

My girlfriend asked me to add a cat into the game. And I added it =) Some people found it pretty funny how the cats watching a zombie apocalypse without giving a f… =)

What went wrong

Unity + Pixelart = Pain

Everyone knows it =) Now I know it too. But my game not a completely pixel-artish, so I just decided I can sacrifice pixel-perfectness.

Goal

There is no goal except of getting score points for killing people. It’s kind of boring, I know. I wanted to make something like growing your horde -> breaking through military base. But I wasn’t sure if I can make it in time, so I decided to make it in post-compo version a couple months later.

Sound

The sound in game is awful, I know =) I messed with it, made some mistakes about tuning it properly in Unity. Sorry about that =)

In the end

I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got. I never thought I’m able to make a game in 48 hours, but I am. I’ve got a lot of positive feedback about my game, so it’s a perfect motivation for me to go on.

Thank you all!

You can try my game here