{"author_name":"conrad123","cat":"LD #37","comments":[],"epoch":1481894400,"likes":1,"metadata":{"p_key":"966","p_author":"conrad123","p_authorkey":"57984","p_urlkey":"35813","p_title":"Ludum Dare Rewind: I Have No Idea What I\u2019m Doing","p_cat":"LD #37","p_event":"LD37","p_time":"1481894400","p_likes":"1","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"57984","us_name":"conrad123","us_username":"\/author\/conrad123\/","event_start":"1481241600","event_key":"81","event_name":"Ludum Dare 37"},"text":"

Before the Competition<\/p>\n

I chose not to use Khan Academy for this Ludum Dare for obvious technical reasons. So, for the first time in my short LD history, I made my game using Love2D, Problem was,\u00a0I had never coded in Lua before.\u00a0<\/em>I made a simple platformer the day before, but that was all my prep. So I knew it was going to be a little difficult.<\/p>\n

When I saw the final themes, I knew that I would have like the theme to be Simplicity. It wouldn’t be very difficult for my first time using Love, and I had a great idea. The last theme I wanted? One Room. So small, and not abstract. So when the theme came out, I knew I wasn’t ready.<\/p>\n

Oh boy.<\/p>\n

\"Ludum<\/p>\n

The First Hour<\/p>\n

I found a bunch of sticky notes, and I made it my goal to use as many of them as possible during the first hour. I had no idea what to do. I wrote down the words One and Room and defined each of them. Not really sure why. Then I wrote down questions, such as “Story?” and “Obstacles?”. I had no answers to these.<\/p>\n

It took me a while to realize that:<\/p>\n

1. I would need a big room and a small character to complete a game with any sort of character movement.<\/p>\n

2. I should probably make something without lots of crazy movement.<\/p>\n

I decided to make a game where the speedy user had to dodge the fast enemies and bullets. I was putting my head right up against the problem and taking it on. I thought that it would be cute to have a mouse as the main character, running away from cats and humans. That’s pretty original, right?<\/p>\n

I spent the rest of my evening creating the mouse character. I had an idea of what it should look like, so I chose to sketch it out using MS Paint.<\/p>\n

Not a good idea.<\/p>\n

MS Paint is not good software for making arcs, and basically all of my artwork includes arcs. Even if it was going to be a placeholder, it still wasn’t smart. So I went to Khan Academy and drew out my character in code. I then removed the background in Word and pasted it in the program. I did the same thing with my background. It was time for me to sleep after an unproductive evening; I wasn’t going to stay up all night.<\/p>\n

\"Ludum<\/p>\n

The Next Day<\/p>\n

I wanted to get most of my entry completed this day, so when I woke up, I nearly ran for my computer. I spent the early morning adding player movements (how do I make if statements again?) and adding collisions (wait, which one’s the comment command?). After breakfast, I designed my cat graphic, which I was unsatisfied with, while watching my Cherries lose away at Burnley. By then it was time for an early lunch, which I coded the human character through.<\/p>\n

After lunch, I added movements for the the cat and humans. I originally wanted the cats to slowly rotate towards the player when looking away, but I forgot to uncomment one line of code, and by the time I discovered it, I already implemented the easier movements for the cats.<\/p>\n

I almost wanted the humans to look bad, just so the player could have something to laugh at. I think I did a good job. They’re not too smart, and when you get too close, the throwing movement messes up.<\/p>\n

It was around the evening when I finally got the name Mouse House, which I thought would be original, but was not, because two other games share my name. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

During the night I added cheeses and their boosts.<\/p>\n

\"ludum<\/p>\n

Final Day and Submission<\/p>\n

I didn’t have a lot of time to finish on the final day, so I woke up early and added dying mechanics and the win\/lose screen. My background was simply a placeholder, so I worked on a new one when I could throughout the busy day. I spent the last hour refining the level and making sure that it wasn’t too easy or too hard.<\/p>\n

When the contest finally ended I had to make my file an executable, which I had yet to do, and I had to post it on itch.io, which I had never used before. The Love2D instructions were unclear, and I had to watch and rewind a youtube video to show me how. By the time I had my program in an executable, there were 10 minutes left! I quickly downloaded my game onto itch.io (which is why I forgot to publish it) and I attached it to my Ludum Dare entry. I pressed submit one minute before time.<\/p>\n

When I was in bed, I realized that I forgot to attach the source code! So I made a Khan Academy program and copy-pasted it into the program. It wasn’t pro, but it would work.<\/p>\n

Ideas for Next Time<\/p>\n

\"Ludum<\/p>\n

This LD was actually pretty fun. I wasn’t happy with the theme, but I still made a solid game. However, I need to use a new graphics program. I’m gonna try Paint.net, which should make things easier. If you have any other ideas just let me know by commenting on my game\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","time":"December 16th, 2016 8:20 am","title":"Ludum Dare Rewind: I Have No Idea What I\u2019m Doing"}