Hi everyone,

first of all I want to apologize for not having introduced myself before… I had ambitions to participate since I first heard of Ludum Dare a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn’t sure if I would actually do it until the last minute.

My idea

So anyway, I ended up doing it and decided to make a platform game using JavaScript and HTML5. My idea was to have kind of an “inverse super mario”… meaning that the player was normally a giant, but after collecting a power up (mushroom) could temporarily shrink in size. Then you would have parts in the levels where you had to be small to fit through tight spaces to progress. You would need to be quick enough or else you would start to grow in a tight spot and be crushed to death.

I think the idea is not bad, but I failed at executing it…

How far did I get?

Well, I made the “engine” and a couple of sprites/tiles. It controls quite nicely, actually… But I’m not happy with it. Problem number one is the graphics: While most of the images are decent, they don’t really fit together… the problem, I think, is that they lack a theme. I have different ground tiles, trees, a background with mountains and trees, soldiers or whatever they are, a house, and my main character who is supposed to resemble mario but lacks detail (that I was planning to add later)… so basically I made random objects from all over the place.

Problem number two is that I suck at designing levels. I don’t know why, but I always find my levels lackluster… I don’t know if it is just my perception or if I really just suck at it more that most people. Also, because I find my own levels boring, I tend to tune them forever, which results in me getting more frustrated because I’m staring at the same level for hours and feel like I’m not moving forward at all.

Ludum Dare – Recap

The first day was exhausting but fun.

During the second day I realized that the game was not shaping up as I had planned. And now, at the end of the second day, I have to admit, I’m pretty frustrated… especially looking at all the awesome games that others have made. It’s really amazing what some of you can get done in just 48 hours.

I guess the good thing about this extremely short time period is that you don’t waste too much effort if you end up discarding your game like I did.

I’m not sure if I will do this again…  right now I can’t imagine it due to lack of motivation, but this feeling will probably change once I take a step back.

Just wanted to get this off my chest. I hope I’ll do better next time (if I decide to participate)…