A post-mortem for Minimal Force. Barely wrote it.

LD #22: 174 jam entries LD #23: 1072 compo entries Tiny Planet Shipwrecked #252 Coolness 0,47 #1 Coolness 1 #87(50%) Audio(Jam) 2,4 #555(48%) Audio 2,16 #94(46%) Humor(Jam) 1,67 #628(41%) Humor 1,85 #99(43%) Fun(Jam) 2,2 #795(26%) Fun 2,02 #84(52%) Mood(Jam) 2,14 #453(58%) Mood 2,65 #123(29%) Overall(Jam) 2,27 #803(25%) Overall 2,3 #123(29%) Innovation(Jam) 1,86 #549(49%) Innovation 2,67 #68(61%) Theme(Jam) 2,57 #524(51%) Theme 2,85 #169(3%) Graphics(Jam) 1,29 #821(23%) Graphics 2 LD #25: 902 compo entries LD #26: 1610 compo entries A Villain By A Chance Minimal Force #3 Coolness 0,72 #1 Coolness 1 #329(64%) Audio 2,53 #357(78%) Audio 3,03(++) #378(58%) Humor 2,48 #434(73%) Humor 2,41(+) #716(21%) Fun 1,89 #618(62%) Fun 2,92(++) #580(36%) Mood 2,36 #651(60%) Mood 2,78(++) #596(34%) Overall 2,57 #721(55%) Overall 3(++) #199(78%) Innovation 3,22 #855(47%) Innovation 2,73(+) #538(40%) Theme 2,81 #937(42%) Theme 3,12(++) #620(31%) Graphics 2,22 #1080(33%) Graphics 2,32(++)

Another success! I`ve improved in 6 categories, and didn`t go down in another 2. I have 3 categories with not less than 3 points, and no categories with less than 2 points. Only 3 categories are worse than average.

• Audio: I`ve beaten 78% entries without making lots of effort. I used sfxr for sounds and Abundant Music for music, both are generators :P.
• Humor: Well, I didn`t involve much humor, but got a good rating. It seems average humor is very low (indeed).
• Fun: My first entry that`s actually fun. I just used a simple idea, and people enjoyed my game.
• Mood: I think most mood was caused by music, but I also made some story.
• Overall: 3 overall? Great job! I think I this time I succeeded.
• Innovation: I had to sacrifice innovation to gain fun. And I didn`t regret it.
• Theme: I think I could do better. I just quickly took the best idea I had, though I wanted to think some more.
• Graphics: Though graphics are low, it`s better than  previous LDs. I think I learned how to draw on computer.

Well… I feel kinda squeezed now. I already started making a game for MiniLD, because I think I won`t do it in one weekend. And I need to make sure I`ll make a game this month.

Sunday is ending, and I am at a very early point!

I’m making a bullet hell game, but with a twist: you have 3 keys (up, down, shoot), and you must keep at least 2 pressed, otherwise you lose health. So, if you want to go up, you release the down key, if you want to shoot, you have to repeatedly press the shoot key, while holding two others.

So… I had no inspiration until today. I only made an engine. Tomorrow, and maybe next days, I’ll be making levels, graphics, etc…

If I won’t have time for much features, I will definitely make a post-compo.

Just like the previous August, I’m not in. I’ll be away. But don’t worry! I’ll skip only three Augusts more, and then I’ll be able to participate!

Oh, if you’ll open the warmup a little early, I’ll participate in the warmup.

It’s been a while since I made a game. I didn’t make since summer… And the December LD is coming!

So, I’m going to get back into making games. And I’m participating in MiniLD #47.

Let’s begin!

————— Relearning planning —————

Hmm… The first game I ever made? I remember my old games surprisingly well, but I can’t remember my first one. They were written with Delphi 7 and they are short. I think I remember one very old game… I don’t think it’s the oldest one, but I’ll pick it. Let’s see if I’ll find it.

I’ve changed a computer since then, but I backed up some data from it. Searching didn’t take long. So, I found a folder of my old Delphi games. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the game I was looking for. OK, I remember it quiet well.

Also, I found out that I don’t have Delphi on my computer. Well, I’ll have to use another program then.

A rough restoration of the original game.

The game is simple: you have a stickman, you move it around. You only see 4 adjanced tiles, and, well, ones you already saw. You need to reach the chest. Once you do it, you go to the next level and control another stickman. There are doors, which need to be opened with levers.

But I didn’t use an individual screen for each level. So, in the picture above, there are 3 levels. It allowed me to make a twist: communicating beween levels. So, the switch in level 3 doesn’t open the door in level 3, but it opens the door in level 2. And behind that door is the switch that opens the door in level 3.

After some time, I created a map for my future game.

A map for the game

I designed it so (I hope) characters never meet each other. (Oh, they actually do. Well, nvm.) Also, switches can’t be switched back once used. And wires are just for understanding, I won’t include them in the game.

So, the planning part is done. Then I started programming.

————— Relearning programming —————

Well, not really relearning. I’ve been programming though I haven’t been programming games. I decided to use PhYard Builder, that I usually use for games.

The first problem is: how to store the map data. I planned to make undoing for my game, so I should make the map loading flexible, but not containing too much data. Each tile has up to two values:

1. Is it explored or not. Unexplored tiles are inactive and and black.
2. Is it changed or not. Used for appearing/disappearing platforms and switches turned on/off.

So, basically, there are two things to store: the level itself and the state of tiles.

The second problem is switches. I usualy store the level in a string, with each char representing a tile. But switches need more information, because they need to know what tile(s) to switch. So, I decided to mark switches with letters A-Z and describe the behaviour for each one individually.

The ends of the level also need more data: the beginning of the next level. But I can just make them switches those change not the state of tile, but is it explored or not. And mark them with letters a-z.

So, I converted the level to the text form:

[stextbox id="grey"]................
 .@.@...@..A.##B.
 .#.#.#.#.C......
 .#.#.#.#..D#@a@.
 .b.E.c.#.d...F#.
 .......#.G..#H..
 .@.I.J.#.#.#.K#.
 .#.#...#.L.M....
 .###.N##........
 ...........##.e.
 ..f..@.@####O...
 .....#..........
 .g.###.##P.#Q.R.
 ...S...#...##.#.
 .....T###U......
 ................[/stextbox]

After about four hours, I finally got to test the game. I could move the player anywhere by clicking, and I couldn’t change players. Also, switches weren’t working. Oh, I just forgot making them work.

The first play

After a lot of debugging, I managed to make it work. Unfortunately, I found out that I also have to remember player positions. So I decided to make undoing remembering the level. So, I failed at planning. I hope that won’t happen in an actual LD.

I wiped off the “changing” of tiles surprisingly easy. So, I managed to make everything excepting the undoing.

The final version of the day

Finally, I finished the undoing. The programming part is complete!!!

————— Results —————

What went good:

• I made it!
• I remembered how to program.
• I planned well. At least the level design.

What went bad:

• Time. I think it took me longer that I thought.
• Code. The thing that went the wrongest is the undoing. I didn’t do it before, but I think you remember the action, and trace them back to undo. But I remembered the whole level…(

This time it’s not really recovering. Because I’ll make graphics, and I can’t say I could make good graphics before. So,

————— Relearning graphics —————

At first, I made a to-do list for graphics:

• Color scheme. I thought about making gray platforms, black void as walls, and gray fog for undiscovered territories. Quiet moody.
• Make player. You see it at 45 degrees, it can rotate in 4 directions.
• If possible, make walking anomation for player.
• Switches. It shouldn’t be difficult.
• Orbs (aka exits). Little black balls with smaller white balls orbiting them.
• Fog. Grey tiles which fade away as you discover them.
• Make some kind of tutorial. Text messages that will appear as you play.
• Main menu and stuff.

(Hey, where did the spelling check button go?)

The color scheme looked nice, but the fog was kinda bad, so I started from the fog. I decided to make the fog like that: initially, all undiscovered tiles are gray. But when I discover them, as I can’t just interpolate then to whatever I want, I switch them instatly and at the same time add a new fog tile, which will fade away with time.

Here comes the fog!

Wow, it looks cool. Well, let’s go on.

Next things I made were switches and orbs. I made both of them animated, and it was very interesting to do.

I like those animations)

Let’s make a player then! I imagine him knida squared (cubed?). After several minutes I managed to finish him. (Finish him!).

The player

Why does he look like that? Idk, I just wanted so.

I didn’t animate him. Because my code is like cuonmoppltiicmaitzeedd. So, I finished graphics. Yay! Have a screenshot:

Done!

I decided to leave music for now and make some menus. And come up with a name of the game! So, here is an another to-do list I made:

• Make a tutorial.
• Come up with a name.
• Make a menu.
• Make an “you win” screen.

Eventually, I didn’t make an “you win” screen. But I made some cool effects, and discovered some in the program I use. Nice!

By the way, the name I chose is “By the Void”.

Now the game is pretty much complete. Except it’s missing some atmospheric music.

————— Relearning composing —————

Abundant Music still doesn’t have any export excepting to midi. Sad…

*Lookes (Listens?) through previously generated music* Bad luck… Nothing suitable…

Well, actually, there is some a bit suitable music, but generating is too easy! And I’m here to warm up my skills! So, let’s compose some music ourselves!

It didn’t took me long, but hey, I just made a 16-second loop!

And then, an usual problem: converting WAV to MP3. I use Audacity, and when it converts, it leave a little pause at the begining. Eek! It ruines the rhythm when looped! Well, the solution I know is to chop off the end of the track, so the length remains the same. But you can still feel the bump. If anyone knows a solution, please tell me.

————— Results —————

What went good:

• I finished it in time!
• I made some good graphics!
• I made (I think) the game moody.

What went wrong:

• Code. I even had some problems with it’s entanglement.
• I spent 48 hours, but made only one level. Well, I wasn’t really trying, but I need some serious warm-up to make it in time in December!
• The game isn’t very challenging. Well, the idea is years old.

Go play it!

Oops, I forgot to make an “I’m in” post.

I’m in!

It will be an interesting LD, because I haven’t made games for a while. Let’s see if I’ll do worse or better.

I won’t participate in warmup, I participated in the last MiniLD.

Tools:

• Coding: PhYard Builder
• Graphics: Paint, Gimp, maybe Inkscape
• Music: Guitar Pro 6
• Timelapse: Chronolapse

I recenlt woke up, and just begun making my game! “You Only Get One”? Well, that was expectable.

I came up with an idea (yesterday, actually): there is a war, and, well, who knows when will it end. You, however, don’t want the war. So you disguise youself as an opposite team member, and try to stop the war by yourself. So, you get only one man to finish the war.

Here is what are you going to do:

• You are not an assassin, as you might think. #NoKill
• You use politics to solve the conflict without violence. So, you have to speak with people, find out things about them, persuade them e.t.c.
• Each conversation is a mini-game. The type of mini-game depends on what are you going to do. So, you might want to find out about somebody’s interests, or persuade somebody to do something. You have different options.

Well, that’s everything. I’m not sure if it fits if 48 hours, but I’ll try! If possible, there will be multiple endings, like making peace or starting a rebellion.

My stream: http://www.twitch.tv/Rodzos.

Journal: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53633853/LD28.txt.

So, I have planned the game. Not like “the game will be like that”, but fully. You can read my previous post to see what’s going on.

There are several important people you can speak with. I planned every dialogue, but I won’t tell it.

For each person you have two or three options: ask, persuade, and give information. The last one is not guaranteed. The first two options start a mini-game. I made a scheme that explains them.

click to zoom

So, discovering only makes persuading simpler. But persuading is more important, it changes your relationships or gives you information (which you can tell with the third option).

The game has two endings.

Okay, enough planning for now, let’s code!

My stream: http://www.twitch.tv/Rodzos.

Journal: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53633853/LD28.txt.

I have been making my game for 7 hours already, and here is what I’ve got:

This is the main view of the world. The world is divided into locations. There may be or not be a character in it. Here you can see a character. I know some of his likings: he likes yellow and dislikes blue, and I don’t know two other likings. It’s used in the second minigame (look at my previous posts). I can ask him about his likings. I didn’t make the persuading yet.

When I decide to ask him, this minigame appears. I click at some position, and half of the filed gets cut, with a border passing where I clicked. Only one circle is correct, and it’s one that never gets cut off.

Here is my plan:

Today:

• Make the second mini-game.
• Make locations, place characters.
• Make random dialogues.

Tomorrow:

• Make graphics.
• Make music.

My stream: http://www.twitch.tv/Rodzos.

Journal: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53633853/LD28.txt.

*sigh*

Ouch, I mustn’t sigh. I don’t want to lose oxygen.

So, in my game there are two mini-games. And I just finished the second one!

So, it’s a conversation. You interlocuter asks you a thing by placing a pin on the board. You need to pick one of answers and place them on board, so you cover the pin. Then, a pin moves to another place on your tetramino, and you get score depending on what tiles you have covered. You can see a liking scale to the right: from favourite to hated. In the screenshot, I only know 2. So, blue gives 2 points, red takes 2 points, green and yellow give or take 1 point, I don’t know exactly.

Now, it’s time to make some level design. (This game actually has levels?)

My stream: http://www.twitch.tv/Rodzos.

Journal: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53633853/LD28.txt.

While everybody makes the game nice-looking, I made the game nice-working. I might say I finised the gameplay. It’s fully playable! But, erm, it’s very confusing to play.

Here is what I’ve got so far:

• All map.
• All characters. But no phrases or names yet.
• Saving and loading. Take a nap to save.

Here is what I might do soon:

• Names.
• Short phrases.
• Random dialogues.

Here is what I will do tomorrow:

• Graphics.
• Cutscenes.
• Music.

My stream: http://www.twitch.tv/Rodzos.

Journal: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53633853/LD28.txt.

Graphics are as crappy as before, but I’ve finished all the characters! They don’t only have a name, but a personality as well. So we have an acute general’s mistress, a freedom-loving lieutenant, a caring vice-minister. They spit out phrases sometimes. It was very interesting coming up with them. If you are eager, you can assemble a picture of life in that period.

I’ve playtested it and found it fully functioning. Now, the only gameplay feature left is random dialogues.

Oh, and since I get only one night, I have to sleep. Bye!

My stream: http://www.twitch.tv/Rodzos.

Journal: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53633853/LD28.txt.

For me, day 2 has begun! I already finished random dialogues I planned yesterday. They are combinations of random phrases, like “- Do you go hiking? – If there is nothing to do.” or “- Do you like watching stars? – Not really, I think it’s boring.”. I’m kinda proud.

So, the thing I have left: graphics! I have about 10 hours to make graphics for my game. I am not an artist, but sometimes I look at pictures by other LDers, and think “That’s so simple! Why won’t I draw as good?”. I’m going to use Inkscape this time.

My stream: http://www.twitch.tv/Rodzos.

Journal: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53633853/LD28.txt.

I am an artist!

It took… let’s see… about one hour.

Well, that’s because it’s first. I’ll be faster next time! Oh, and also, Inkscape is pretty good.

My stream: http://www.twitch.tv/Rodzos.

Journal: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53633853/LD28.txt.

Drawing characters was very fun. Now I finished graphics (wow!), and I have only a little left: cutscenes, tutorials, music… wait, did I just say “a little”?

My stream: http://www.twitch.tv/Rodzos.

Journal: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53633853/LD28.txt.

I just though I will upload a demo: http://www.phyard.com/design/Madball/37. It doesn’t have any tutorials at all, but I hope you’ll understand it. Give feedback!

I think I finished my game! (Actually, I’m missing music)

You only get one man to bring the peace.

Now I want some feedback! Play the game.

My stream: http://www.twitch.tv/Rodzos.

Journal: http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53633853/LD28.txt.

*yawn* -_-So tired.
A post-mortem, huh?

So… In these… 48 hours… *yawn* I made a game “Maverick”…

Hmm… I should *yawn* put a link to it…

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-28/?action=preview&uid=8370

Here’s the link… Enjoy playing…zzzzzz…

That’s how do I feel

Actually, it’s been a good time.

Here’s how did I spend it.

Actually, I have drawn 14 big images for this game. I only did it once for LD#25. And I’m proud! Well, let’s see how will it turn out.

The problem I have is that some people don’t understand everything. Well, it applies for many of my games, but this time it’s more unforgivable. I have made a better game (I think), and I don’t want it to be spoiled.

I left the music for the end, and didn’t have time to write it. So I grabbed Abundant Music (it still doesn’t have any  export but .midi? Sad.) and quickly made some music. I didn’t even loop it properly.

The another factor I liked is the story. Not only story, more likely the world. I tried to make people with their own personality, and I think I did it. They reflect a state of the whole kingdom.

Mini-games were interesting to make and come up with. They were inspired by Oblivion, and I tried to make them look like a real speech, only abstract. So, when you ask to find out a trait of personality, you have several assumptions, and you narrow down them by asking questions. (Ouch! I forgot telling about the 3-question limit! Not a big problem, anyway.) The second minigame looks much more like Oblivion’s talking, where you have 4 techniques, and your interlocutor likes 2 and dislikes 2. As you talk, the theme slowly changes, and if you want, you can go from e.g. music (e.g. bottom right corner) to e.g. politics (e.g. top left corner).

The thing I wanted to implement the most were random dialogues. I played a game, when you write several questions and put them in one bag, then you write several answers and put them in another bag. Then you pick a random answer and a randow question, and everybody has fun. I made the same thing here. And sometimes it picks some really fun dialogues! I made 25 questions for asking; 25 questions, 25 answers and 5 excuses for persuading. My favourite is “Are you listening?” question.

tl;dr:

What went good:

• Time-management. I thought I want too much, but I had time to do everything.
• Planning. Never had a contradiction with what I planned.
• Graphics. I am not an artist, but I tried hard, and I succeded.

What went bad:

• Music. I thought that it’s not the most important part. Let’s see if I was right.
• Simplicity. Should I make games simpler? Or am I just that kind of game designer that likes complicated games?

What did I learn:

• Fast-drawing with Inkscape.

My game

My journal

Oh, it’s my 16th game in LD!

Here is the timelapse I made for my game Maverick:

Hello, LD folks! This is a post-mortem of everything I’ve made in 2013. I just feel like I must write one. We don’t end years often, do we?

This year started with the end of Ludum Dare 25. Results weren’t high, but they were higher than anything I’ve got then. Let’s call it a beginning of a beginning.

Also, I joined One Game A Month. In the first month, however, I almost failed. I managed to make a very short game about 2 days before the month’s end.

Then, MiniLD 40 came, so I made a game. Actually, I’ve made 2 games in February. The second one was, perhaps, my first serious game. I found out that I can make games.

I didn’t participate in MiniLD 41. I think I went somewhere then. I managed to make a game for 1GAM though, so I can’t say I wasted March.

April came next. And LD 26. I participated in it, and I did better. I was making several other games, I still didn’t finish them. Well, it was a very productive time. I had been on some kind of peak then… until I fell.

Yep, I fell. It was summer, but (so?) I didn’t participate in MiniLDs. I made 2 games for 1GAM, but eventually I broke my own combo. I missed the LD 27. It wasn’t because of my lack of motivation, but who knows if it could bump me up?However, I didn’t lose fully. Since the September, I was programming. Not really making any games, just programming. So, I didn’t really do anything during the autumn.

But then, in November, MiniLD 47 came. And that was the first time I pulled a game from beginning to end since April. And results were great! I put effort into everything. Even graphics, though before I thought graphics isn’t my thing.

Now, Ludum Dare 28 passed. I’m glad with what I’m done. And it’s only the beginning.

 

Here is what do I want to tell. Imagine yourself playing a game, where you fight against armies of enemies. And if you get killed, you lose absolutely nothing. What will you do? You will bravely attack them, won’t you? That’s Ludum Dare. What do you lose if you do something wrong? Nothing. So why won’t you put all your efforts to it?

So far, in 2013 I:

• Participated in 2 Ludum Dares, 2 Mini Ludum Dares
• Made 8 games (out of 12) for 1GAM
• Made 10 games total.
• Left 3 games unfinished.
• Made 48 posts in LD.
• Made 14 500×500 images, 8 nice little sprites.
• Composed 3 pieces of music for games.
• Made 17072 screenshots for timelapses.

 

I don’t rate a lot of games. Well, who rates games on the New Year’s Eve? Anyway, here are several good games with little rating I’ve noticed:

• Batteries Not Included by Photon
• First Hour Superpower by tayl1r
• John Power by Anoarith

And you might want to rate my game: Maverick.

Happy New Year everybody! I wish you to do everything you can and aim for the best!

Tags: postmortem

It’s been… A year! I guess I lost a lot of my skills, and I don’t really think I had gotten any more.

Tools:

• PhYard builder, the same one every time. Maybe I should stick to something else, but I’m so used to it!
• Chronolapse.

That’s pretty much all the stuff I’ll use for sure. But I might use this:

Graphics: GIMP or Inkscape. Not good in either.Audio: more likely Abundant Music. Maybe Guitar Pro or some other stuff. Found Sonant Live recently, might use it as well.XSplit for streaming.

I got a bit busier, but I’ll hope I won’t be affected much. If it goes wrong, I might just join jam instead of the compo.

What can I say about the themes… I don’t like the ☃. If it wins, there’ll be 90% white-blue games with a snowman protagonist… From the voting rounds I participated in, I liked themes “End Where You Started”: good for interesting storylines, and not restraining; “Love”: I haven’t seen this wonderful theme before, did it took so long to realize it can be used? and “The Red Button”: a bit cliche, but promises some fun games.