So, it's been a while since I've participated in a LD, life just seems to get in the way.. This time I decided to put aside some hours to do something and I'm really glad I did! Sure, I didn't get a lot done, but I also didn't have any high ambitions, if I could make something I'd enjoy playing for a few minutes myself, I'd be happy. I've played for some hours now, it's somehow intriguing, and I can't find out why.. Is it just because it's my own creation? I've made games before and never enjoyed them as much as this one (OSGG excepted, that's till my favorite). Anyway, this is turning into a rant, so.. back on track we must!

What went well

I managed to turn 200 lines of boiler place C++ into a working and subjectively entertaining game (https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/bounceball) in about 6 hours. I was just super lucky that the right idea popped into my head when it did. I didn't struggle with stability issues or performance. The game actually plays well.

What went bad

I did have the chance to set aside more time than I did, and clearly missed out on creating something even better. Maybe the fear that I'd bite of more than I can chew held me back. I know how quickly flipping a single bit can eat half a day, if it's the wrong bit you're trying to flip... No bits stuck, I could have done a lot more. I didn't have a build system set up, so I'm asking Linux users (usually, that's me, but I'm stuck with a Windows laptop because long story) to compile them selves, I know they can, they're clever and I inclded a build script, so that's as good as a binary release anyway. But yeah, I'd have liked to engange my CI installation, but it's not quite setup to handle it at the moment. Next time, hopefully, I have a docker image prepared so that I can cross compile for all the platforms I want to support (sorry OSX, but I've yet to find a nice way to cross-compile from Linux to OSX, you'll still need to build from source, that's what you get for chosing to live in a walled garden).

What I've learned

That sometimes, a lot can spring from a little, that adding just one idea at a time can work much better than a design document.

The future

I think I'm actually going to put some time into morphing my entry into a full game, and I'll demand! money for it! That's a first too.