So! I, like the thousand-odd other people who’ve slid their games under the door at the last moment, just participated in Ludum Dare. No kidding! It’s not like I’d be writing a post on this site for any other reason! But it’s still true. This was my first Ludum Dare, but not my first GameJam in general. I’ve been doing them all year, so I’m pretty gosh-darned familiar with the whole idea of making a game in 48 hours.
Not so familiar with the whole idea of do it all yourself, though! I’ve had artists, musicians, and sometimes other programmers, working with me on every GameJam I’ve done so far. So…this time was a little nerve-wracking! Combine that with the fact that I was out at a family get together for the first six or so hours of LD, and I was feeling pretty friggin nervous when I started!
But it all came together in the end 
Once I learned that the topic was “You’re The Villain”, thanks to a swift text from a pal, I got my brainstorm on. The first dozen ideas I came up with were all super complex: what if you’ve just stolen a priceless jewel from a millionaire, and accidentally triggered the security, and now you have to escape his booby-trapped mansion! Sounds like fun! …To play. You expect me to a) build a mansion (already out of the question, let’s be real. I like to think I’m okay at 2d art. I draw cute stuff! but 3d is not exactly my area of expertise. Yet. I’ll get there one day!), b) come up with a bunch of mini game ideas (probably not too hard! time consuming, though), and c) code all the mini games? Oh, and it was going to be a visual novel? So I’d have to dust off my python skills?
Yeah, no.
After another few dozen terrible ideas, I decided this one wasn’t too bad. I have kind of an addiction to those games where you have to get the couple to sneakily kiss, without anyone seeing. They’re pretty fun! And very, very simple. So what if I built a game like that, but instead of staying in one place, you’re sneaking towards treasure? And when you let go of the mouse, you transform into a ridiculous disguise? Perfect GameJam fodder, imo. I like to make really simple games for this kind of thing, so that I can relax and gossip with everyone else doing the jam, and just… have fun! Why bother getting stressed out over something that I signed up for?
So I was pretty happy with this idea. I spent like, honestly, probably only an hour or two actually coding. hold down mouse: lerp towards treasure. let go of mouse: change material. guard’s looking and you’re moving? oops, you just lost a life. It wasn’t exactly rocket science. I got to spend most of my time with paint tool sai, doodlin sprites and backgrounds and stuff. I kind of regret deciding to build this in Unity, as honestly it probably would have been better in flash or something, but…I have never done a flash game before. Maybe it’s something to check out before next LD?
(Also, omg. I spent way too much time with FL Studio open, trying to remember how to use it. “I used to be good at this,” I said to myself. “Come on, Megan! You can make a cute, atmospheric violin-y loop! Even just something mediocre for the menu will be fine!”. That’s when I found the folder of my old FL projects. Um, it turns out…I was never good at this program? Resolution for next LD: become good at music! I’m sad I couldn’t pull that part of Heist! together, but there’s always next time.)
So anyway, I had a lot of fun! I wasn’t even really planning on participating, but I’m glad I changed my mind My idea was really simple, and it let me just hang out with some cool devs over twitter, and make some friends, and tool around in Unity for a couple of days…which, let’s be honest here, is pretty much my favourite thing to do.
Anyway: I hope you give Heist! a try, and I hope you enjoy playing it. I certainly enjoyed making it
(Play & Rate Heist! HERE)
Tags: post-mortem, postmortem, screenshot, SuccessStory, unity
Luckily these weren’t hard to add.
