It's Post-Mortem time again! This time, I'll be talking about my 6th LD game Runstable, a 3D platformer with elements of parkour where you must find a precious gem in the depths of a treacherous cave.

This game was conceived using the following tools: - IDE : Visual Studio 19 - Game Engine : Unity 2020 - 2D Graphics : Krita - 3D Graphics : Blender - Audio : Audacity, Fruity Loops 20

Previous LDs

Before I talk about this edition of Ludum Dare, I figured it could be nice to talk about previous editions I have participated in. More specifically, the takeaways of those previous editions. After all, Post mortems are theoretically here to list some lessons so that we can keep doing what is good and stop doing what isn't. Here's a short list of lessons I have learned (which may or may not have been applied): - FPS Controllers can be a pain when poorly done. This seems to be amplified in WebGL versions. - Taking the time to explain game mechanics in-game can be a huge UX booster. - Use prefabs! When you don't changes to level design can be a huge pain. - Taking some time on the Sound Design makes the game look more polished. - I should spend more time on my Level Design. - 48 hour isn't a long time. It's best to settle for a simple but fun game loop. - Procedural generation can save some time.

What went well

So now that I have listed some lessons from previous editions, let's see what went well this time. - First of all, I'm glad that making levels was easy. Both in design and in testing. This was greatly allowed thanks to the use of prefabs for each section of the cave. As such, to build a level, all I had to do was put together a sequence of cave sections. - Secondly, I'm happy to have though of using *procedural generation* to decorate the levels. Rather than placing manually hundreds on props in the levels, I made a script that would randomly place props at predefined positions. As such, to decorate levels, I only had to specify those specific positions on the prefabs. So I guess I've learned my lesson on more Level Design and procedural generation. :wink: - Finally, I'm mostly satisfied with the Sound Design of the game. There are of course a bunch of sound effects that feel out of place. But for the rest, I feel that the audio improves the game experience.

What didn't go so well

Of course, game jams aren't just fun and rainbows. So what didn't go so well this time around? - Firstly, I should have learned my lesson the previous time. On some computers/browsers FPS Controllers can be a pain when running in WebGL (or at least the poorly coded ones :wink:). This makes the game harder to play. - Secondly, I've noticed that the game has many bugs. Most of which are due to the FPS Controller and the collision detection, but there are also a few related to weird UI animations. - Finally, even though I am satisfied with the level design, I still feel that it isn't hugely diverse. Initially, I had planned to have some biomes and some vistas. I sadly had to cut those to submit in time.

Next time

So with all of that in mind, be it good or bad, what lessons have I learned? What lessons do I already know but really should consider applying? - Being highly opposed to crunch time in gamedev, my biggest pet peeve is that I spend way too much time making the game during game jams. This time, I spent a bit more than 12 hours per day on the game. In the future, I should aim to make simpler games or use more procedural generation. - Going for a simpler idea should also allow more time to polish the game. That means more time to detect and fix bugs, but also to implement some quality of life features. - And finally, I want to experiment even more with procedural generation. This time around, it was mostly used for level decoration, but given how I'd organized my prefabs, I could easily fully generate the levels by randomly selecting sequences of level sections.

Overall, it seems I've remembered a few lessons from previous game jams, but there still are a few I have yet to apply. :laughing: Anyway, I hope you’ve had as much fun making games as I have! See you next time! :wink:

My first time working on a game jam, had a lot of fun with a team of friends

Hello, come play our game :)

It seems like I am going to need to rate at least like 25 or 30 games in total just to be able to get 20 ratings: I don't know, it seems like there must be something going wrong with the algorithm here. I've seen other games that have a similar number of 'ratings given' and 'karma for feedback' as me (and more 'ratings received'!), that have a much larger smart balance. Is there something I'm missing?

For example, compare my scores to another game's scores:

They have drastically more smart balance, even though they have less ratings given, less karma, and more ratings received. (Not a knock on them, of course, I'm just confused about the algorithm here...)

Edited to add: I'm not particularly interested in how to get more ratings--I'm more interested in why is this smart balance so low. Lots of people do have nice advice on getting more ratings, but it doesn't really solve my problem.

I am still accepting submissions.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScMVdSTPufz6ycW3qwiIeaM4fRPI5vtnAsr3rGPrDQj4eW-uQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

I will go live tomorrow

win / webGL please

Be safe out there kids!

Hi guys!!! First of all, thanks to all people that have taken the time to write feedback for our game. It means a lot to us. If you haven't played our game please do so and write some feedback (the good, the bad, the ugly :D). Thank you!!!

Link to the game: 1000 Shells

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy0tQTUh5v4

RATE MY GAME Жми на кнопку, что такой ПУСЯ!

Game link : https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/oudo

You are a depress power Ranger

Play and rate in https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/$263413

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/the-butterfly-effect https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/the-butterfly-effect

Jenry Javelina (pronounced "Henry Havelina for you english speakers) is my first real-deal 3D game! I made this in a fairly new framework called LOVR, which I HIGHLY recommend for anyone who wants to make small 3D experiences in a browser or VR with just a few lines of lua: https://lovr.org/

Thanks to everyone who has played so far!!

Anyways, I am hoping that this is just the start of many more 3d games for me, since I am finally getting the hang of putting them together in a timely fashion. Give Jenry a try and let me know what you think! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/jenry-javelina

I've been so busy with other stuff that it took me until now to take some additional screenshots of the different levels in our game, Chickie Catchers:

I'd like to thank everyone for their feedback so far! We're really glad that people have been enjoying the game, and we're especially happy to see that some people have had the opportunity to enjoy it together with a friend.

I'm off to go rate a bunch more games! In the meantime, if you'd like to check out our balancing game, you can do so at https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/chicky-catchers

We are halfway from the final countdown. I appreciate if you have a minutes to play and rate Sanity Check.

A floaty platformer where your goal it help Mike organize his thoughts into the right emotions, so he can power through a very tough first week at his new job. How do you organize his ideas? Simple grab them and throw them to where they belong.

Play+Rate: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/sanity-check

Looking forward for your feedback and games!

Thanks to everyone who played and rated Nukaloid, helping us make it to 20 ratings! We literally couldn't have made it there without you!

As always, that doesn't mean you're not welcome to come play it too and see what all the fuss is about! :wink: Just don't forget to help some of the other games in the danger zone get their rates too!

Since launching Crazy Cauldron for LD49, we have gotten a lot of wonderful feature suggestions for a post-jam release, and here are some of our favorites: - Releasing Crazy Cauldron on mobile - A career mode - Colorblindness accessibility features - Chill timerless mode

If you have any ideas or want to chat with us (the cool game devs 😎) come join our Discord!

Thank you for all the support and we're hoping to bring you more updates soon on a post-jam version of Crazy Cauldron!

My first compo deliver achieved 20 rating points, and I really have to say thanks for everyone who's play and give me a feedback. For those who haven't played yet, come play and have some fun! All feedbacks are welcome!

This is part of a 5 part Dev Log where I will be talking about the process I took through implementing 2nd Law, a short, adventure-style game about cause and effect. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/2nd-law

0 - Lessons | 1 - Design | 2 - Development | 3 - Music | 4 - Artwork

Where to Start?

The music is often a part that I enjoy the most for creating jam games (when I can fit it in). It's usually a creative break from debugging code or fighting with Unity. I usually already have an idea of the mood or aesthetic that I'd like to bring. This goes as well for any sound effects, as I typically want the whole "sonic-scape" to integrate well together.

The Tools

• Audacity - If I am just editing sound clips for effects, I like the simplicity of Audacity.
• Ableton - For creating music, I use Ableton Lite as my Digital Audio Workspace. It might sometimes be a bit overkill, and it has a learning curve, but I'm comfortable enough at this point to create what I want out of it.
• AKAI MPK mini - This is my MIDI controller.

My Process

The quickest way for me to create a track for a jam is to build a simple foundation (e.g., drum loop or pad or melody), then add elements on top of that as they come to my brain. I ultimately want a track that's long enough to not get overly repetitive, but loops well. I usually start with the controller as I'm drafting or improvising to find the right sequence, and then tweak notes with the mouse or over-dubs as needed to refine.

Music for 2nd Law

I began with a basic track that I had started earlier in the week when I was practicing--just a pad and a rough melody. I cleaned up the melody with some quantization, and then I basically had my track. Since I knew that I was going to have multiple environments, I wanted to emphasize that to the player by altering the voice of the melody when switching. For the Forest scene, I chose something halfway between pizzicato strings and flutes. It kind of reminded me of the music from the Lost Woods in Ocarina of Time, which I thought was totally appropriate!

In order to switch tracks between scenes, the music had to remain seamless. The way I implemented that was taking the current time sample when exiting a scene, and starting the new track at that time sample. Since the two tracks are virtually the same, this achieves what appears to be a seamless transition!

The full track is on my soundcloud, if you're interested in hearing it outside of the game!

SFX for 2nd Law

While I will sometimes create SFX myself for simple things, I often find it easier to get the exact sound or tone I want from freesounds.org. It's important to me to find the right mood (like the wind in the meadow, or the birds in the forest)--again, I wanted to sonically separate the environments as well as visually separate them.

I put hooks into the Environment Manager to advance music or ambiance tracks as the game progressed into chaos, which you might notice after tipping the boulder over! I really was excited to do more with this, but time is always the issue.

One thing that I always seem to run out of time for is implementing volume controls. I previously mentioned my Game Overly starter, which includes support for a mute button ... I just didn't get around to adding it this time. These little features are small, but I feel like they contribute to a more personalized experience for the player.

What’s next?

I’m excited to talk about more aspects of my experience. If you’d like, please follow along!

• Artwork

- Hawkin

Thank you very much for playing and rating my game :smile: !

I'd play and rate more games myself if only my PC could handle them. Nonetheless, I'm going to wait the end result from reaching 20+ ratings for my game