{"assets":[],"author_link":"author\/lastleaf\/","author_name":"LastLeaf","cat":"LD #33","categories":["LD #33"],"comments":[],"epoch":1440928800,"event":"LD33","likes":6,"metadata":{"p_key":"84326","p_author":"LastLeaf","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"295070","p_title":"My First 48 Hours Experience with Ludum Dare","p_cat":"LD #33","p_event":"LD33","p_time":"1440928800","p_likes":"6","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":null,"us_name":null,"us_username":null,"event_start":"1440115200","event_key":"29","event_name":"LD33"},"source_url":"2015\/08\/30\/my-first-48-hours-experience-with-ludum-dare\/","text":"

It is my first Ludum Dare (not my first game jam though). I made my game Birdy Bridge<\/a>. I could never imagine I finished a game with such completeness in 48 hours. Graphical and musical effects are out of my expectation. It is a game with new ideas for the gameplay and fairy-tale-style art.<\/p>\n

This game is inspired by Chinese folktale The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd<\/em><\/a>, but the ending is totally different because you are the monster<\/em>. Acturally it doesn\u2019t matter if you have no idea about the story itself.<\/p>\n

Now here is what I\u2019ve done in 48 hours (originally written in Chinese<\/a>). I hope my English is good enough to express.<\/p>\n

Theme<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am mostly a front-end developer, so I was prepared with HTML5\/JavaScript with CreateJS. CreateJS is a good framework for prototyping games, though not perfect. I have used it before. It could decrease my coding time and solve some browser compatibility issues for me.<\/p>\n

I voted for all candidate themes and gave -1 for you are the monster<\/em>. I do not like this theme at all. I do not want players to act as monsters, and I\u2019ve never drawn monsters before \":(\"<\/p>\n

But I had to make it. I was considering a game \u201cfinally find that I am the monster\u201d, something like \u201cprincess finally find the prince and eat him\u201d. Later, the folktale came into my mind (because Qixi Festival in China just passed two day before). Then I designed a game \u201cprevent lovers from reunion\u201d.<\/p>\n

Originally in the final level, players should act as the boss. However, I gave up this idea for I thought it bad for overall gameplay, so it was somewhat away from the theme. Sorry.<\/p>\n

Graphics<\/strong><\/p>\n

40 minutes passed when I finished thinking about the theme. I thought I should hurry up. I had to do the following myself: graphics, programming, level design, texts, music, and final fixes.<\/p>\n

I started from graphics. Here I made an important decision: using vector graphics. Vector graphics would meet the folktale, and could save me lots of time! I did not wasted much time in graphics, and improved overall quality and completeness.<\/p>\n

In the next 1 hour, I drew a girl in pink and a bird that not moving. Both of them are replaced by better sprite sheets later. Then I spent another hour to structure basic code. Before lunch (LD started at 9 a.m. for me), I could see a girl stand on a bird.<\/p>\n

Programming and Level Design<\/strong><\/p>\n

Coding went well for me. I met a bug about path detection and fixed it soon. Some gameplay details were decided while coding. Stars were drawn. Before dinner, 3 levels and a simple game cover were done.<\/p>\n

Then it took me a whole night to design levels, play, and fix bugs. Code were always changing. After the first day, I could see<\/p>\n