{"author_link":"\/users\/ghodan","author_name":"ghodan","author_uid":"ghodan","comments":[],"epoch":1495574542,"event":"LD38","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":32048,"likes":4,"metadata":{"p_key":"94317","p_author":"ghodan","p_authorkey":"1012137","p_urlkey":"307235","p_title":"LD 38: Miskro, a Post-Mortem","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD38","p_time":"1495574542","p_likes":"4","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1012137","us_name":"ghodan","us_username":"ghodan","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":1,"author":12137,"body":"![neVzbY.jpg](\/\/\/raw\/96f\/2\/z\/4943.jpg)\n\nFirst, a thank you. There\u2019s a big part of me that feels I don\u2019t quite deserve even this much; I probably relaxed a lot more than I should\u2019ve, and in the end felt I didn\u2019t contribute enough overall to the event, but it means a lot to place as high as I did regardless of my activity. I often tell myself I don\u2019t care if I ever get noticed for my games, I have more fun making them than I do reading the comments\u2026 but that\u2019s a lie. I loved reading everyone\u2019s feedback and took all of it to heart (yeah, all of it) and for my very first Ludum Dare I can\u2019t believe how well I scored. Truth is I feel pretty guilty about that, I got swept up in other work and life and honestly kept telling myself to play more LD games, but it just didn\u2019t happen. I\u2019m happy with what I got and hope everyone who got to play Miskro enjoyed it. I still hope to play quite a few more that I downloaded before voting ended. Hopefully next LD I\u2019ll be a little more on the ball. \n\n![Clipboard01.png](\/\/\/raw\/96f\/2\/z\/4942.png)\n\n\tSecond, this jam.  Easily the weirdest experience I\u2019ve ever had. Everything went way too smoothly, everything came out way better than I expected, I slept a good amount each night and came out the other end with something presentable. I\u2019m still not sure how. Miskro started with an idea based on growing and shrinking, but that idea was centered on a shooter, where you have a beam and would use it to make objects grow and shrink to solve puzzles. I started playing off that, somewhere in there I had the idea to turn the gun on yourself and shrink and grow to explore a rat map, and during all this (because it\u2019s a jam) I\u2019m already prototyping. I had a test map mocked up already and implementing the grow\/shrink powers was simple, then jumping in that, pressing a button, and watching the world perspective change around you was the feeling I immediately felt I was going for. Something kind of magical about it, akin to Alice in Wonderland. \n\nFrom then my process is horribly unorganized. I work on art, design, and code almost all at the same time as ideas come up. I decided I wanted the first power on a cliff in the first island, so I started morphing terrain to create that cliff. I wanted foliage so I modeled grass and trees. At one point I decide the player needs more feedback for drowning so I spend an hour tweaking an underwater shader to give that information. I just hop from moment to moment, coming up with it as I go, and building what\u2019s needed as it comes up. It\u2019s not a super concise or efficient process. When I felt I had built enough moments for it to be called a complete game, I came up with an ending and stuck it at the end of the most logical path I assumed a player would take. This being somewhere around the 30-hour mark, I started polishing, adding fail states, making sure puzzles couldn\u2019t be broken (they still can be), tweaking my art direction and within the final few hours I decide I want a better win state than just reaching the end. This birthed the medal collecting and eventually, the god character, who I figured was necessary as a teaching tool and a bit of charm. His systems and the dialogue widget were simple, but it left little room for testing cramming that in towards the 48-hour mark, and I was packaged and uploading before running any more tests. \n\n![Clipboard02.jpg](\/\/\/raw\/96f\/2\/z\/4944.jpg)\n\nI\u2019m used to Global Game Jam and others where you don\u2019t have a lot of extra time to get projects ready to upload and I think towards the end I may have panicked a bit. I left quite a few bugs in, but now that judging is over, I\u2019d love to go back and iron them out. Miskro isn\u2019t a very complex game, but adjusting physics volumes in real time will almost always cause unforeseen issues. Kill volumes for growing in small spaces exist but don\u2019t seem to work. They did at one point I think? I didn\u2019t feel like it was necessary to test much further and now they don\u2019t. The house crumbles when you\u2019re at any size but it\u2019s only supposed to when you\u2019re giant. It\u2019s little things like that. I\u2019m incredibly humbled, proud, and thankful that it got as far as it did, but it could definitely use some more time.  This was a rewarding experience for learning what having a community for your little projects is and means. I\u2019ve never reached out to a streamer before, I\u2019ve never had my game let\u2019s-played, and all that happened within weeks of wrapping up. This is almost too cool for words, and I guess that\u2019s what I want to get out there with this post. Ludum Dare feels pretty special right now. I have nothing but thanks to say for that. \n\nFinal note, I\u2019ve been asked a few times; Miskro was my poor attempt at combing the Greek words for \u2018small\u2019 (micro) and \u2018island\u2019 (nisi). Hastily translated gibberish has been my go-to for most game jams, it tends to help the game stand out when googling too. :upside_down:\n","comments":0,"created":"2017-05-23T20:55:12Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":32048,"love":4,"love-timestamp":"2017-12-04T19:53:38Z","meta":[],"modified":"2017-12-04T19:53:38Z","name":"LD 38: Miskro, a Post-Mortem","node-timestamp":"2017-05-23T21:22:22Z","parent":23186,"parents":[1,5,9,9405,23186],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/niskro\/ld-38-miskro-a-post-mortem","published":"2017-05-23T21:22:22Z","scope":"public","slug":"ld-38-miskro-a-post-mortem","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":86503},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"32048","n_urlkey":"307235","n_parent":"23186","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/niskro\/ld-38-miskro-a-post-mortem","n_slug":"ld-38-miskro-a-post-mortem","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"12137","n_created":"1495572912","n_modified":"1512417218","n_version":"86503","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/38\/niskro\/ld-38-miskro-a-post-mortem","text":"![neVzbY.jpg](\/\/\/raw\/96f\/2\/z\/4943.jpg)\n\nFirst, a thank you. There\u2019s a big part of me that feels I don\u2019t quite deserve even this much; I probably relaxed a lot more than I should\u2019ve, and in the end felt I didn\u2019t contribute enough overall to the event, but it means a lot to place as high as I did regardless of my activity. I often tell myself I don\u2019t care if I ever get noticed for my games, I have more fun making them than I do reading the comments\u2026 but that\u2019s a lie. I loved reading everyone\u2019s feedback and took all of it to heart (yeah, all of it) and for my very first Ludum Dare I can\u2019t believe how well I scored. Truth is I feel pretty guilty about that, I got swept up in other work and life and honestly kept telling myself to play more LD games, but it just didn\u2019t happen. I\u2019m happy with what I got and hope everyone who got to play Miskro enjoyed it. I still hope to play quite a few more that I downloaded before voting ended. Hopefully next LD I\u2019ll be a little more on the ball. \n\n![Clipboard01.png](\/\/\/raw\/96f\/2\/z\/4942.png)\n\n\tSecond, this jam.  Easily the weirdest experience I\u2019ve ever had. Everything went way too smoothly, everything came out way better than I expected, I slept a good amount each night and came out the other end with something presentable. I\u2019m still not sure how. Miskro started with an idea based on growing and shrinking, but that idea was centered on a shooter, where you have a beam and would use it to make objects grow and shrink to solve puzzles. I started playing off that, somewhere in there I had the idea to turn the gun on yourself and shrink and grow to explore a rat map, and during all this (because it\u2019s a jam) I\u2019m already prototyping. I had a test map mocked up already and implementing the grow\/shrink powers was simple, then jumping in that, pressing a button, and watching the world perspective change around you was the feeling I immediately felt I was going for. Something kind of magical about it, akin to Alice in Wonderland. \n\nFrom then my process is horribly unorganized. I work on art, design, and code almost all at the same time as ideas come up. I decided I wanted the first power on a cliff in the first island, so I started morphing terrain to create that cliff. I wanted foliage so I modeled grass and trees. At one point I decide the player needs more feedback for drowning so I spend an hour tweaking an underwater shader to give that information. I just hop from moment to moment, coming up with it as I go, and building what\u2019s needed as it comes up. It\u2019s not a super concise or efficient process. When I felt I had built enough moments for it to be called a complete game, I came up with an ending and stuck it at the end of the most logical path I assumed a player would take. This being somewhere around the 30-hour mark, I started polishing, adding fail states, making sure puzzles couldn\u2019t be broken (they still can be), tweaking my art direction and within the final few hours I decide I want a better win state than just reaching the end. This birthed the medal collecting and eventually, the god character, who I figured was necessary as a teaching tool and a bit of charm. His systems and the dialogue widget were simple, but it left little room for testing cramming that in towards the 48-hour mark, and I was packaged and uploading before running any more tests. \n\n![Clipboard02.jpg](\/\/\/raw\/96f\/2\/z\/4944.jpg)\n\nI\u2019m used to Global Game Jam and others where you don\u2019t have a lot of extra time to get projects ready to upload and I think towards the end I may have panicked a bit. I left quite a few bugs in, but now that judging is over, I\u2019d love to go back and iron them out. Miskro isn\u2019t a very complex game, but adjusting physics volumes in real time will almost always cause unforeseen issues. Kill volumes for growing in small spaces exist but don\u2019t seem to work. They did at one point I think? I didn\u2019t feel like it was necessary to test much further and now they don\u2019t. The house crumbles when you\u2019re at any size but it\u2019s only supposed to when you\u2019re giant. It\u2019s little things like that. I\u2019m incredibly humbled, proud, and thankful that it got as far as it did, but it could definitely use some more time.  This was a rewarding experience for learning what having a community for your little projects is and means. I\u2019ve never reached out to a streamer before, I\u2019ve never had my game let\u2019s-played, and all that happened within weeks of wrapping up. This is almost too cool for words, and I guess that\u2019s what I want to get out there with this post. Ludum Dare feels pretty special right now. I have nothing but thanks to say for that. \n\nFinal note, I\u2019ve been asked a few times; Miskro was my poor attempt at combing the Greek words for \u2018small\u2019 (micro) and \u2018island\u2019 (nisi). Hastily translated gibberish has been my go-to for most game jams, it tends to help the game stand out when googling too. :upside_down:\n","title":"LD 38: Miskro, a Post-Mortem","wayback_source":[]}