{"author_link":"\/users\/la-mecanique-du-plastique","author_name":"La mecanique du plastique","author_uid":"la-mecanique-du-plastique","comments":[],"epoch":1493594203,"event":"LD38","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":27933,"likes":8,"metadata":{"p_key":"91160","p_author":"La mecanique du plastique","p_authorkey":"1022081","p_urlkey":"304053","p_title":"Den postmortem # 2 : environment and ambiance","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD38","p_time":"1493594203","p_likes":"8","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1022081","us_name":"La mecanique du plastique","us_username":"la-mecanique-du-plastique","event_start":"1492732800","event_key":"69","event_name":"LD 38"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD38","removed_author":false},"_superparent":9405,"_trust":2,"author":22081,"body":"Even before starting on creating [Den](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den), from the [first day of brainstorming](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\/den-postmortem-1), we choose to step away from our 3D habits and go for pixel art. By lack of a game workflow routine, after a quick moodboard we jumped straight ahead into drawing a complete single illustration of the whole game, without much thinking about props and reusable assets for building the LD. \n\n|![moodboard_decor_02.png](\/\/\/raw\/146\/5\/z\/2e07.png)|![timelapsedecoropti.gif](\/\/\/raw\/146\/5\/z\/2e09.gif)|\n|:--:|:--:|\n||\n\nWhen came the time of integrating in Unity, we realized that this method would be pretty risky. Mainly because it meant that the level design wasn't flexible and wouldn't be tested before long. So we stepped back and switched to a LD made in Unity by using spritesheets of rocks with different scales and shapes, used as material to create the paths for the tunnels. It allowed us to allocate tasks more easily to multiple people on the team (that's obvious, but someone could change all the rocks in once by working on the spritesheets while others would work on integrating).\n\n|![cave_rocks_big_round.png](\/\/\/raw\/146\/5\/z\/2e0a.png)|![ezgif-3-2a1be6bd7e.gif](\/\/\/raw\/146\/5\/z\/2e0b.gif)|\n|:--:|:--:|\n||\n\nSo **something went wrong here**, as we were a bit lost on how to manage the balance between fully controlled illustrations and flexible integration, and we lost some time in the process of figuring it out (we still didn't had a practicable LD on the beginning of the last day). It led us in the end to a lack of time to take a second look to the LD, that would have revealed an issue with the clarity of the last puzzle.\n\nBut despite this difficulty we were all along able to produce graphic assets without so much trouble and in the end creating the visual atmosphere **went pretty right**.\n\n[![carton_titre_256.png](\/\/\/raw\/146\/5\/z\/2e04.png)](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den)\n\n- Den : https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\n- Postmortem :\n  - [#1 : about themes and lack of game designers](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\/den-postmortem-1)\n  - [#3 : pixel art animations](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\/den-postmortem-3-pixel-art-animations)\n  - [#4 : the beast, the music and the sound effects](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\/den-postmortem-4-the-beast-the-music-and-the-sound-effects)\n  - [#5 : Development](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\/den-postmortem-5-the-beast-the-music-and-the-sound-effects)\n","comments":0,"created":"2017-04-25T02:08:35Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":27933,"love":8,"love-timestamp":"2018-11-11T02:38:23Z","meta":[],"modified":"2018-11-11T02:38:23Z","name":"Den postmortem # 2 : environment and ambiance","node-timestamp":"2017-05-02T08:55:29Z","parent":22088,"parents":[1,5,9,9405,22088],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\/den-postmortem-2-environment-and-ambiance","published":"2017-04-30T23:16:43Z","scope":"public","slug":"den-postmortem-2-environment-and-ambiance","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":76156},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"27933","n_urlkey":"304053","n_parent":"22088","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\/den-postmortem-2-environment-and-ambiance","n_slug":"den-postmortem-2-environment-and","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"22081","n_created":"1493086115","n_modified":"1541903903","n_version":"76156","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\/den-postmortem-2-environment-and-ambiance","text":"Even before starting on creating [Den](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den), from the [first day of brainstorming](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\/den-postmortem-1), we choose to step away from our 3D habits and go for pixel art. By lack of a game workflow routine, after a quick moodboard we jumped straight ahead into drawing a complete single illustration of the whole game, without much thinking about props and reusable assets for building the LD. \n\n|![moodboard_decor_02.png](\/\/\/raw\/146\/5\/z\/2e07.png)|![timelapsedecoropti.gif](\/\/\/raw\/146\/5\/z\/2e09.gif)|\n|:--:|:--:|\n||\n\nWhen came the time of integrating in Unity, we realized that this method would be pretty risky. Mainly because it meant that the level design wasn't flexible and wouldn't be tested before long. So we stepped back and switched to a LD made in Unity by using spritesheets of rocks with different scales and shapes, used as material to create the paths for the tunnels. It allowed us to allocate tasks more easily to multiple people on the team (that's obvious, but someone could change all the rocks in once by working on the spritesheets while others would work on integrating).\n\n|![cave_rocks_big_round.png](\/\/\/raw\/146\/5\/z\/2e0a.png)|![ezgif-3-2a1be6bd7e.gif](\/\/\/raw\/146\/5\/z\/2e0b.gif)|\n|:--:|:--:|\n||\n\nSo **something went wrong here**, as we were a bit lost on how to manage the balance between fully controlled illustrations and flexible integration, and we lost some time in the process of figuring it out (we still didn't had a practicable LD on the beginning of the last day). It led us in the end to a lack of time to take a second look to the LD, that would have revealed an issue with the clarity of the last puzzle.\n\nBut despite this difficulty we were all along able to produce graphic assets without so much trouble and in the end creating the visual atmosphere **went pretty right**.\n\n[![carton_titre_256.png](\/\/\/raw\/146\/5\/z\/2e04.png)](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den)\n\n- Den : https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\n- Postmortem :\n  - [#1 : about themes and lack of game designers](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\/den-postmortem-1)\n  - [#3 : pixel art animations](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\/den-postmortem-3-pixel-art-animations)\n  - [#4 : the beast, the music and the sound effects](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\/den-postmortem-4-the-beast-the-music-and-the-sound-effects)\n  - [#5 : Development](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/den\/den-postmortem-5-the-beast-the-music-and-the-sound-effects)\n","title":"Den postmortem # 2 : environment and ambiance","wayback_source":[]}