{"author_link":"\/users\/klowner","author_name":"Klowner","author_uid":"klowner","comments":[],"epoch":1501615814,"event":"LD39","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":47348,"likes":3,"metadata":{"p_key":"99856","p_author":"Klowner","p_authorkey":"1009843","p_urlkey":"315566","p_title":"My first Ludum Dare was a blast!","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD39","p_time":"1501615814","p_likes":"3","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1009843","us_name":"Klowner","us_username":"klowner","event_start":"1501200000","event_key":"74","event_name":"LD 39"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD39","removed_author":false},"_superparent":32802,"_trust":2,"author":9843,"body":"![7e6f.png](\/\/\/raw\/376\/2\/z\/8385.png)\n\nI'm so glad I was finally able to participate in a Ludum Dare! This past weekend was an incredible time and I'm so glad I took the repeated suggestions to participate in a game jam. It was one of the most fun times I've had with a computer in years and was a fantastic reminder of why I taught myself programming in the first place so many years ago.\n\nI took a short break on Sunday afternoon to have lunch with my mom. I explained to her the concept of a game jam and why I was acting half crazy and hyper focused, she said \"so you haven't left your house at all?\" and \"I hope some good can come of all this.\" :laughing::thumbsup:\n\nI'm going to get some rest today, but I'm excited to play and vote on some other entries.\n\nAnyway, here's my entry! **[Escape Velocity](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/39\/escape-velocity)**\n\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3hIfousEnJY\n\n**Personal takeaways**\n\n - Writing terrible hackjob code can still work just fine.\n - I'm glad I cut myself off while making animations too early on\n - Task triage! I categorized features into groups, \"nice to have\" stuff got deferred until the game mostly worked. If I hadn't done this I would have probably spent 6 hours just drawing sprite animations.\n - I really enjoy this stuff, and the people who told me I'd grow out of wanting to make games can shove it.\n\n**Things I wish I had done**\n\n - Been able to sleep more -- I was enjoying myself so much and I was so excited that I was only able to pull about 5 hours of sleep each night because as soon as I became self-aware I'd immediately launch myself from bed and start guzzling coffee. If I had managed my full 7-8 hours I wouldn't have spent the entirety of Sunday unable to perform simple maths.\n - Categorize game mechanics -- The game as it is now, only has a few of the core mechanics that I originally planned. Lots of ideas were left on the cutting room floor due to time constraints. I think if I had identified specific game mechanics earlier on I could have prioritized my time better. But, dreaming big left me with a ton of exciting ideas that I want to add to a post-jam version.\n - Write some Gimp plugins ahead of time for working with dithered gradients -- I don't do much pixel art, but this would have made my life much easier.\n\nAnyway, that's all for now! I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did :smile:\n\n   -- Mark [@klowner](http:\/\/twitter.com\/klowner)\n","comments":0,"created":"2017-08-01T18:55:59Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":47348,"love":3,"love-timestamp":"2017-08-01T22:14:49Z","meta":[],"modified":"2017-08-01T22:14:49Z","name":"My first Ludum Dare was a blast!","node-timestamp":"2017-08-01T19:30:14Z","parent":38177,"parents":[1,5,9,32802,38177],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/39\/escape-velocity\/my-first-ludum-dare-was-a-blast","published":"2017-08-01T19:30:14Z","scope":"public","slug":"my-first-ludum-dare-was-a-blast","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":131224},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"47348","n_urlkey":"315566","n_parent":"38177","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/39\/escape-velocity\/my-first-ludum-dare-was-a-blast","n_slug":"my-first-ludum-dare-was-a-blast","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"9843","n_created":"1501613759","n_modified":"1501625689","n_version":"131224","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/39\/escape-velocity\/my-first-ludum-dare-was-a-blast","text":"![7e6f.png](\/\/\/raw\/376\/2\/z\/8385.png)\n\nI'm so glad I was finally able to participate in a Ludum Dare! This past weekend was an incredible time and I'm so glad I took the repeated suggestions to participate in a game jam. It was one of the most fun times I've had with a computer in years and was a fantastic reminder of why I taught myself programming in the first place so many years ago.\n\nI took a short break on Sunday afternoon to have lunch with my mom. I explained to her the concept of a game jam and why I was acting half crazy and hyper focused, she said \"so you haven't left your house at all?\" and \"I hope some good can come of all this.\" :laughing::thumbsup:\n\nI'm going to get some rest today, but I'm excited to play and vote on some other entries.\n\nAnyway, here's my entry! **[Escape Velocity](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/39\/escape-velocity)**\n\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3hIfousEnJY\n\n**Personal takeaways**\n\n - Writing terrible hackjob code can still work just fine.\n - I'm glad I cut myself off while making animations too early on\n - Task triage! I categorized features into groups, \"nice to have\" stuff got deferred until the game mostly worked. If I hadn't done this I would have probably spent 6 hours just drawing sprite animations.\n - I really enjoy this stuff, and the people who told me I'd grow out of wanting to make games can shove it.\n\n**Things I wish I had done**\n\n - Been able to sleep more -- I was enjoying myself so much and I was so excited that I was only able to pull about 5 hours of sleep each night because as soon as I became self-aware I'd immediately launch myself from bed and start guzzling coffee. If I had managed my full 7-8 hours I wouldn't have spent the entirety of Sunday unable to perform simple maths.\n - Categorize game mechanics -- The game as it is now, only has a few of the core mechanics that I originally planned. Lots of ideas were left on the cutting room floor due to time constraints. I think if I had identified specific game mechanics earlier on I could have prioritized my time better. But, dreaming big left me with a ton of exciting ideas that I want to add to a post-jam version.\n - Write some Gimp plugins ahead of time for working with dithered gradients -- I don't do much pixel art, but this would have made my life much easier.\n\nAnyway, that's all for now! I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did :smile:\n\n   -- Mark [@klowner](http:\/\/twitter.com\/klowner)\n","title":"My first Ludum Dare was a blast!","wayback_source":[]}