{"author_link":"\/users\/silkworm-sweatshop","author_name":"silkworm_sweatshop","author_uid":"silkworm-sweatshop","comments":[],"epoch":1493853629,"event":"LD38","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":30077,"likes":1,"metadata":{"p_key":"92713","p_author":"silkworm_sweatshop","p_authorkey":"1005318","p_urlkey":"305631","p_title":"The Spoiled Prince: Post Mortem","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD38","p_time":"1493853629","p_likes":"1","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1005318","us_name":"silkworm_sweatshop","us_username":"silkworm-sweatshop","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":11,"author":5318,"body":"![spoiled title.png](\/\/\/raw\/6c4\/1\/z\/3d2f.png)\n\n**Play it here: https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/the-spoiled-prince**\n\nI never wrote a post-mortem for any other of my entries so I thought I should do it for this one. I think I\u2019ll go over my general workflow as it has been pretty similar for all my entries.\n\n## The Idea\n\nWhere I live it\u2019s 03:00 AM when the theme gets released so all I really want is to decide on an idea and then it\u2019s off to sleep. I\u2019m usually already in my bed with a block and pencil jotting down possible ideas. I spend an hour at the most on this but I always decide on something then because when I wake up, I want to get going right away and not worry about an idea anymore. \n\n![IMG_20170503_193328.jpg](\/\/\/raw\/6c4\/1\/z\/3d13.jpg)\n\nFor this LD my first thought was **\u201cinsects\u201d** which I ultimately went with. I also had an idea for something involving the phrase **\u201cIt\u2019s a small world\u201d** but it was just too abstract and I never want to start making something that\u2019s not clear in my head. That circle was a **tiny planet** idea I had. I was thinking of the Raphael Raven fight from Yoshi\u2019s island but I couldn\u2019t think of a creative spin on it. \n\n![raphael raven.png](\/\/\/raw\/6c4\/1\/z\/3d14.png)\n\nSince my mind was on Yoshi\u2019s island I got the idea of carrying an insect larva \u201cBaby Mario\u201d style and went with it.\nMaking another platformer wasn\u2019t the most exciting since I\u2019m quite familiar with it but I could see some puzzles involving having to carry the larva so I felt it was interesting enough.\n\n## First day\n\nI usually stay awake around 20 hours and do probably 80% of the game the first day. I prefer it that way and having the second day be pretty chill and stress free. My goals for the first day are\n\n1)All graphics\n\n2)All mechanics\n\n3)Most of the design.\n\nThe first thing I do is basic graphics and animation (yes, before a single line of code). For a platformer it\u2019s usually the player character. I don\u2019t know, I just can\u2019t stand just having the classic placeholder square for a player, it just demotivates me. Anyway, then it\u2019s time for core mechanics and getting something playable. \n\n![spoiled1.gif](\/\/\/raw\/6c4\/1\/z\/3d16.gif)\n\nWhen I\u2019m done with player I move on to the other objects of the game, enemies and such in the same way (graphics first then coding). I usually also finish up the rest of the graphics (background\/tiles). I made mushrooms to serve both as \u201cfloating\u201d platforms and to cover up the edges on the ground tiles (so I wouldn\u2019t have to do additional graphics for the edges :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:). The spike plants are also used to cover these edges as well as being a hazard. I also added a random rotation angle to the spike plants when they spawn to give visual variety with just a single sprite. LD-schedule leads to some interesting cheating.\n\n![edges.png](\/\/\/raw\/6c4\/1\/z\/3d17.png)\n\n## Second day\n\nSecond day is preferably spent just on sound and polish but for this LD I spent more time on the graphics and had to push the design to the second day.\nSecond day goals are:\n\n1)Finish off what\u2019s left of the design (In this case all of it)\n\n2)Music and sound\n\n3)Polish   \n\nSince it was a platformer I felt pretty confident even without having any levels yet. For a game jam you don\u2019t need too many levels since even if you make 10+ levels most people won\u2019t play that far. I decided a tutorial level and two regular ones were plenty. You can do pretty much with just the core mechanics and death spikes but I added some chickens for variety and because.. chickens! Chicken animation was just some simple rotation code on the neck and wings, quick and easy and looks alright.\n\n![spoiled3.gif](\/\/\/raw\/6c4\/1\/z\/3d21.gif)\n\nI usually spend about about 2 hours on music, wanted something upbeat to match the visuals. For sound effects I normally use sfxr to quickly generate some. For this LD however I made most of the sounds with my own mouth. Yes, everything from the baby whining to the bee buzzing to the chicken cluckin\u2019. It was a good time :grin:. I made sure to **NOT** follow Yoshi\u2019s Island\u2019s lead and instead make the baby whining pretty subtle instead of traumatically annoying. I think this has been appreciated! \nWith music and sound done I do some last polish, add a title screen and end to the game, maybe a cutscene. Then I get all submission stuff in order and usually submit a few hours before the deadline.  \n\n## Final thoughts\nSomehow during Ludum Dare there is like a switch in my head into LD-mode, where I\u2019m suddenly 1000% more efficient with my time than otherwise. I wish it could always be switched on but I guess that would fry my brain. \nStill, I have a pretty relaxed attitude towards LD. I think pretty much all my previous entries could\u2019ve benefited by some more polishing but I just never want to stress in the final hours and usually come to a point where I say \u201ceh, it\u2019s good enough\u201d and just submit. With this entry though, even with the design pushed to the second day it was pretty much smooth sailing all the way and there is not much I would want to change really. \n\nI did thread familiar ground and it\u2019s probably my strongest entry yet as far as general polish is concerned because of it. I do like it and think it turned out good but I am thinking of putting a personal restriction not to make a platformer for the next LD (unless I have a really really good reason to).    \n","comments":1,"comments-timestamp":"2017-05-04T07:50:29Z","created":"2017-05-03T20:49:43Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":30077,"love":1,"love-timestamp":"2017-05-04T07:48:28Z","meta":[],"modified":"2017-05-04T07:50:29Z","name":"The Spoiled Prince: Post Mortem","node-timestamp":"2017-05-03T23:20:29Z","parent":17327,"parents":[1,5,9,9405,17327],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/the-spoiled-prince\/the-spoiled-prince-post-mortem","published":"2017-05-03T23:20:29Z","scope":"public","slug":"the-spoiled-prince-post-mortem","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":78237},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"30077","n_urlkey":"305631","n_parent":"17327","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/the-spoiled-prince\/the-spoiled-prince-post-mortem","n_slug":"the-spoiled-prince-post-mortem","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"5318","n_created":"1493844583","n_modified":"1493884229","n_version":"78237","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/the-spoiled-prince\/the-spoiled-prince-post-mortem","text":"![spoiled title.png](\/\/\/raw\/6c4\/1\/z\/3d2f.png)\n\n**Play it here: https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/the-spoiled-prince**\n\nI never wrote a post-mortem for any other of my entries so I thought I should do it for this one. I think I\u2019ll go over my general workflow as it has been pretty similar for all my entries.\n\n## The Idea\n\nWhere I live it\u2019s 03:00 AM when the theme gets released so all I really want is to decide on an idea and then it\u2019s off to sleep. I\u2019m usually already in my bed with a block and pencil jotting down possible ideas. I spend an hour at the most on this but I always decide on something then because when I wake up, I want to get going right away and not worry about an idea anymore. \n\n![IMG_20170503_193328.jpg](\/\/\/raw\/6c4\/1\/z\/3d13.jpg)\n\nFor this LD my first thought was **\u201cinsects\u201d** which I ultimately went with. I also had an idea for something involving the phrase **\u201cIt\u2019s a small world\u201d** but it was just too abstract and I never want to start making something that\u2019s not clear in my head. That circle was a **tiny planet** idea I had. I was thinking of the Raphael Raven fight from Yoshi\u2019s island but I couldn\u2019t think of a creative spin on it. \n\n![raphael raven.png](\/\/\/raw\/6c4\/1\/z\/3d14.png)\n\nSince my mind was on Yoshi\u2019s island I got the idea of carrying an insect larva \u201cBaby Mario\u201d style and went with it.\nMaking another platformer wasn\u2019t the most exciting since I\u2019m quite familiar with it but I could see some puzzles involving having to carry the larva so I felt it was interesting enough.\n\n## First day\n\nI usually stay awake around 20 hours and do probably 80% of the game the first day. I prefer it that way and having the second day be pretty chill and stress free. My goals for the first day are\n\n1)All graphics\n\n2)All mechanics\n\n3)Most of the design.\n\nThe first thing I do is basic graphics and animation (yes, before a single line of code). For a platformer it\u2019s usually the player character. I don\u2019t know, I just can\u2019t stand just having the classic placeholder square for a player, it just demotivates me. Anyway, then it\u2019s time for core mechanics and getting something playable. \n\n![spoiled1.gif](\/\/\/raw\/6c4\/1\/z\/3d16.gif)\n\nWhen I\u2019m done with player I move on to the other objects of the game, enemies and such in the same way (graphics first then coding). I usually also finish up the rest of the graphics (background\/tiles). I made mushrooms to serve both as \u201cfloating\u201d platforms and to cover up the edges on the ground tiles (so I wouldn\u2019t have to do additional graphics for the edges :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:). The spike plants are also used to cover these edges as well as being a hazard. I also added a random rotation angle to the spike plants when they spawn to give visual variety with just a single sprite. LD-schedule leads to some interesting cheating.\n\n![edges.png](\/\/\/raw\/6c4\/1\/z\/3d17.png)\n\n## Second day\n\nSecond day is preferably spent just on sound and polish but for this LD I spent more time on the graphics and had to push the design to the second day.\nSecond day goals are:\n\n1)Finish off what\u2019s left of the design (In this case all of it)\n\n2)Music and sound\n\n3)Polish   \n\nSince it was a platformer I felt pretty confident even without having any levels yet. For a game jam you don\u2019t need too many levels since even if you make 10+ levels most people won\u2019t play that far. I decided a tutorial level and two regular ones were plenty. You can do pretty much with just the core mechanics and death spikes but I added some chickens for variety and because.. chickens! Chicken animation was just some simple rotation code on the neck and wings, quick and easy and looks alright.\n\n![spoiled3.gif](\/\/\/raw\/6c4\/1\/z\/3d21.gif)\n\nI usually spend about about 2 hours on music, wanted something upbeat to match the visuals. For sound effects I normally use sfxr to quickly generate some. For this LD however I made most of the sounds with my own mouth. Yes, everything from the baby whining to the bee buzzing to the chicken cluckin\u2019. It was a good time :grin:. I made sure to **NOT** follow Yoshi\u2019s Island\u2019s lead and instead make the baby whining pretty subtle instead of traumatically annoying. I think this has been appreciated! \nWith music and sound done I do some last polish, add a title screen and end to the game, maybe a cutscene. Then I get all submission stuff in order and usually submit a few hours before the deadline.  \n\n## Final thoughts\nSomehow during Ludum Dare there is like a switch in my head into LD-mode, where I\u2019m suddenly 1000% more efficient with my time than otherwise. I wish it could always be switched on but I guess that would fry my brain. \nStill, I have a pretty relaxed attitude towards LD. I think pretty much all my previous entries could\u2019ve benefited by some more polishing but I just never want to stress in the final hours and usually come to a point where I say \u201ceh, it\u2019s good enough\u201d and just submit. With this entry though, even with the design pushed to the second day it was pretty much smooth sailing all the way and there is not much I would want to change really. \n\nI did thread familiar ground and it\u2019s probably my strongest entry yet as far as general polish is concerned because of it. I do like it and think it turned out good but I am thinking of putting a personal restriction not to make a platformer for the next LD (unless I have a really really good reason to).    \n","title":"The Spoiled Prince: Post Mortem","wayback_source":[]}