{"assets":[{"original":"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/char1-550x154.png","local":"\/data\/posts\/2015\/12\/002538f4bcf4730be3eae6b29e0ed831.png"},{"original":"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/char1.png","local":"\/data\/posts\/2015\/12\/9252f6a21e5d29c5fdd8bf199d294dc2.png"}],"author_link":"author\/wan\/","author_name":"Wan","cat":"LD #34","categories":["LD #34"],"comments":[],"epoch":1450840500,"event":"LD34","likes":6,"metadata":{"p_key":"84828","p_author":"Wan","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"295586","p_title":"Squ\u2019s time management in a graph","p_cat":"LD #34","p_event":"LD34","p_time":"1450840500","p_likes":"6","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":null,"us_name":null,"us_username":null,"event_start":"1449792000","event_key":"31","event_name":"LD34"},"source_url":"2015\/12\/23\/squs-time-management-in-a-graph\/","text":"<p>Here\u2019s how our time management looks like for the <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-34\/?action=preview&amp;uid=9172\"><strong>Squ<\/strong><\/a> Jam entry!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-34\/?action=preview&amp;uid=9172\"><img alt=\"timeman\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-529612\" height=\"772\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" src=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/timeman-550x772.png\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/timeman-214x300.png 214w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/timeman-550x772.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/timeman.png 565w\" width=\"550\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a quick list of lessons learnt:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Art takes time<\/strong> \u2013 for the first time, I (Wan) planned to focus on art rather than code, and unexpectedly I ended quite happy with the results, given my average drawing skills. The hard part instead was that I\u2019m not used to spend that much time squeezing out assets, and for a rushed coder like me it certainly was a good lesson in patience.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Review your technical bottlenecks *before* the jam<\/strong> \u2013 Every other LD we end up making a platformer, and every. single. time. We spend ages on issues with collisions management and the integration of TilEd (our map editor). The main reason, in the end, is just that we\u2019re not very experienced with physics engines, and it shows: a large part of our time &amp; energy was spent on it, instead of happier things such as level design.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Spend more time on level design<\/strong> \u2013 Of the total 5.5h logged as \u201cLevel design\u201d, maybe 3h max was spent on the final levels. It\u2019s still more than our previous entries, but we do seem to procrastinate that task\u2026 Too bad because that\u2019s where you get to show that cool gameplay mechanic, and overall, for a platformer, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">good or bad level design make or break the fun of a game<\/span> (emphasized for future me :P).<\/li>\n<li><strong>With good hardware, audio is easy<\/strong> \u2013 It\u2019s a more advanced lesson targeted at musicians, but I just discovered how important a good audio interface is. I bought one right before the jam, and not only I was finally able to record noise-free voices, but also the overall mixing and sound-picking for the music felt much easier. The game features no less than 6 \u2013 short \u2013 music pieces, yet I managed to wrap up satisfying tracks in less than 4 hours.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" id=\"attachment_529614\" style=\"width: 560px\"><a href=\"\/data\/posts\/2015\/12\/9252f6a21e5d29c5fdd8bf199d294dc2.png\"><img alt=\"The making of Squ's art probably deserves its own post :P\" class=\"size-large wp-image-529614\" height=\"154\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" src=\"\/data\/posts\/2015\/12\/002538f4bcf4730be3eae6b29e0ed831.png\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/char1-300x84.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/char1-550x154.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/char1.png 1188w\" width=\"550\"\/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>\u201cHow to make art as a s***ty artist\u201d<\/em>. The making of Squ\u2019s assets probably deserves its own post :P<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Overall we still made a great deal of progress in time management since our last entry together, learnt a lot of things and had a huge amount of fun as usual. Thanks for reading! Now <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-34\/?action=preview&amp;uid=9172\">go play and rate our game<\/a> \ud83d\ude09<\/p>","time":"December 23rd, 2015 3:15 am","title":"Squ\u2019s time management in a graph","title_was_empty":false}