After restarting multiple times, I have successfully finished my game for Ludum Dare Jam! I am going to share the development process, and explain my choices for the final game.
First Idea
At first, I wanted to make a first-person game where you play as a wizard that can only summon around four different objects. It was up to the player to use these objects together to defeat enemies, primarily using a kick function. I had three ideas for objects before I switched gears:
- A Dodgeball
- A Banana Peel
- A set of double doors, closed.
So I was thinking that the dodgeball could spawn in front of you and bounce, giving you time to decide on your angle. It can bounce off of multiple enemies before is disappears, but it can also hit you.
The banana peel was to cause enemies to fling into the air momentarily, giving you some breathing room to decide what to do next, or to use their momentum to throw them off ledges or into traps.
The double doors are my favorite; You can spawn them and use them as a makeshift shield, but their durability is very low. You could also optionally use it as a melee weapon, spawning the doors in so you could kick them open and knock anyone behind it down to the ground. Finally, it could be used to force enemies to take a different path, as the doors are locked and you have the keys. You could also use the doors to boost enemies through that had slipped on the banana peel, and the dodgeball could force a kick-function on the door at a distance. I was thinking about having enemies occasionally try to open the door, giving the small illusion that they alive and are not trapped in a video game.
But as I dug more into the game, I realized I was way WAY overscoping what I was capable of, and scrapped the idea.
Second Idea
My next plan was a PICO-8 game where you are a medic summoned to help someone at the top of a perilous mountain. You would platform around deadly hazards and such until you get to the top. When you ask them if they are okay, they say that they are having a rough time and feel down. I would then do a double fake out by having the medic give them a Ludum Dare game, made specifically for them as a gift, cheering them up.
So it turns out making solid platforming controls is very hard. I feel like the limitations of the PICO-8 could have given me some leeway (Pixel push out of walls etc) but I still had trouble. I couldn't roll out a nice Swept AABB algorithm either because that would take far too long. I tried to do everything in Godot instead, but the technical setup of that was also going to be a while. I am realizing now that I don't really have the luxury of making a more traditional game now, considering I'm halfway through the contest. I have to get super minimalist with my ideas to complete on time.
Final Idea
I had decided to make an exam-style game, based around a world I have been building since... Uh hold on [Checks Calandar] 2012.
The world started out as a high-school project for media communications; where we had to make a 45-minute radio broadcast that included music, commercials, and interstitial commentary. Me being super extra decided to make a story-focused radio broadcast that took place in the future. The story is completely different now 12 years later, but some core aspects haven't changed that much. Me and a dear online friend voiced everything, and my final grade was something to the effect of 107/109.
The idea was that you were being summoned to help in a place called South City. Naturally the player has very limited knowledge on these questions, much like the character coming in from what would probably be a small community nestled in somewhere.
The exam does not bar entry when failed. Instead it acts as a guide to the knowledge the player/character currently has, giving them an idea of where they need some education. The others working in South City also vote on your final placement a bit later; a lot of different areas of work need every person they can get, and there's a lot of competition on talent. You will most likely be placed where help is needed the most first, followed by areas that need your skillset. This is why you can't 'fail' the exam, and why you're not given a final result at the end. This is kind of a blue-balling for the player but it makes the most sense story wise, which isn't very good game design :L
I managed to submit my game with ten minutes left on the competition timer, but I submitted for the Jam due to the use of modified music from Kevin Macleod; a slowed down version of River Fire that is supposed to go down in pitch the further in the exam you go.
Final Thoughts
I let the little feature-creep goblins get me! awdauwdhuahs
I need to be more careful about how I scale my ideas. But I am VERY happy with the final result. I've been wanting to make something using this world for a long time, and it feels really nice to get some ideas out there. I'm hoping to make more things and share the full story, but that will take a lot of time.
You can play the final game down below. Thank you for reading my post-mortem! I hope you all enjoyed Ludum Dare and are having fun playing other peoples games! :heart:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/south-city-worker-exam
