It's been a few years since I entered, but this LD I'll be all in streaming the whole jam at http://twitch.tv/adamcyounis

I've been working on the same game for the last 36 months, let's see what I can do in 48 hours.

GLHF, pals.

Hey,

I thought it might be a good idea to process some of my thoughts about this last weekend in a blog so I can process what I've learned from the experience and share that with you.

A bit of background on me, I've been doing game dev in Unity for over 5 years at this point, which started with ludum dare 30 in August 2014. I entered with the game Big Fish Little Fish which, at the time, was the best I could do. The game was horribly broken, and had a lot of design issues that I never got around to resolving because of how much I struggled with the tools. Somehow I still scored pretty highly for graphics, so I had something to feel good about.

Comparing that entry to my most recent, Contraband, I think there are a lot of obvious things that have changed. The game is winnable, the graphics and sound are much cleaner and have purpose, the mechanics unfold carefully and lead the player through the systems without bogging them down with tutorials. The game is punishing, but I think it reaches that point in a meaningful way rather than by accident. It's hard where it's hard because I wanted it to be that way. It mostly plays exactly how I wanted it to, which I'm proud of.

This said, I don't think I've really managed to create something that met my overall goals for this competition. Firstly, I remember deciding that I wanted to produce an asset pack for other devs (tiles, animations) with the work I created for this jam. I don't think that's something that I achieved in the 48 hours. The graphics work for the game I made, but they fell by the wayside in favour of tuning the mechanics and tacking on an ending. I want to do better next time. Secondly, when I reflect on the game I made and how my choices unfolded, it's really clear that I put myself under too much pressure with the scope of work. The game has physics with jumping, wall sliding, combat mechanics with a 3-hit ground combo and aerial combo, two npc / enemy types with various animations each (the rabbit has 4 idle animations, which you'll never see considering how fast you have to play that section), animated hazards, a dialogue engine, top-down and side-scrolling sequences... The main character alone has 30 or so frames of animation.

Why did I choose to create a game with so many moving parts? I think I could have created something more beautiful and with more focus without sacrificing fun, and I might have finished with some time to spare. I've been reflecting recently about how we sometimes make choices, or absence of choices, without even realising. We rely on certain axioms to stand-in for actual decision making, and I think this was an example of that. When I look at the game I work on full-time, Insignia, the pressure of scope creep is something I really struggle with. Partly because of how difficult it is to actually estimate scope, but also for the following reason:

Adding things always feels easier than taking them away and, when I get anxious, I lose discipline, so I add things.

Working hard on things added for bad reasons means the work might be bad, even if you're working hard. I feel kind of ashamed to admit that I'm guilty of that, because it seems like a really obvious truth. It's important to design with confidence and intent, and I think doing so actually shows in the work you make.

Playing other games entered in LD45 has really opened my eyes to how good a simple experience can be. I want to highlight three games that fit this description: Last Goodbyes, A Field of Flowers and World Collector. I think these are all excellent examples of games that started with a clear concept, and were developed solely with the direction of serving that concept, no more no less. No matter what your technical skill is, if you think clearly about what you want to make and apply focus to making it a reality, you'll make something that communicates itself clearly to players, and that's better than forcing as many things in your game as possible.

I had a blast entering LD45 this weekend. There was so much support from twitch and other devs while I worked on my game, and I can't thank everyone enough for being there for me. I'm very proud of what I made and I think Contraband is a fun game that I hope you take the time to play. I've played it a bunch of times just because I wanted to, which makes it hard to hold onto the feeling of being an impostor. So I'm happy with the result, no matter how well it ranks.

I have a lot to learn, and I'm really excited about applying those lessons for next time. Thanks for reading!

-Adam

If you're interested in what I do outside of LD, check out my twitter page or my twitch channel

So it's the 22nd of April, and I've had a few days to process my thoughts on my LD46 entry, Remember, Apollo.

The first thing I want to say is how much more positively this compo went, following LD45 last year. I made a point of setting some ground rules about how I wanted to run the compo, and what I would be focusing on. I watched footage of my last effort (I had VODs from streaming the whole thing) and made a list of pitfalls to avoid that I knew I'd be guilty of if i wasn't careful. I also decided to make a point of listing the things I wanted to excel at: goals that I could specifically work towards that would help me make something that I'd be proud of having made later. It feels really positive to have been able to be specific about what I thought I needed to change, and then have the results reflect that so clearly. Already I've had so much positive feedback about the game, and I'm really proud of it no matter what happens with the final scores.

I made some big calls about how I'd run the project, and I did my best to stick to them. I promised myself that the core mechanics of the game would be done in 6 hours, and that the game would be finishable at 24 hours (there were 7 hours of sleep in there). I wanted to allow myself to showcase my animation and art skills, which I never got to capitalise on last year, and I wanted to tell a story that had a memorable moment in it. Something people would think back to that defined what the game is. I'm proud to say I think I hit those points pretty well, and it made for a very smooth 48 hours.

Those who know me know how neurotic I am. I really am a mess of nerves most of the time. When under high pressure, I can be a pretty rough person to be around, and I really wanted to change that this year. Setting clear, achievable goals and sticking to them made me far more tolerable (I hope?), because I knew for the most part that the game was on track. Every aspect of the game was built on things that I knew that I knew how to do. LD is a lot easier if you're not learning how to make a game while making your game. I finished on time and submitted with no stress, even after corrupting an entire external hard drive and also separately corrupting the game's music after I finished it, forcing me to re-compose it from scratch. So I want to say thanks to Danii and Pat for being patient and supportive of me while I worked on the game this time. I hope I was easier to be around.

I'm confident this is the best entry I've ever made. It's not perfect, there are things I know I can fix. I've played other games I think should win LD46, and I'm going to learn from those games to be a better developer for next time.

I think what I wanted to say in this post was that I'm really glad I entered LD46. I don't have any regrets and I owe that to the time that I spent staring past failures in the face and making a conscious choice not to make those mistakes again. I've been reviewing games a lot on stream this week, and I've been thinking about what it must feel like to receive the criticism that I've been giving. It hurts to read negative feedback, and I'm sure it hurts more to hear someone give it in person. But this process is so valuable. Getting feedback on your work is the thing that makes the next work better, and Remember, Apollo would be a worse game if my previous game Contraband didn't receive the mixed criticism that it did.

So thank you to the people who had pointy words to say about my work. Thanks to the people who spent the time playing my game this year and said nice things. If I ever make a career out of this, I have you to thank for making me believe it's worth doing. And if not, I blame you for inflating my ego :P

I might write up some more after the voting is over. Until then, thanks for reading!

Adam

Big Announcement! So I've decided to continue work on my Ludum Dare game "Remember, Apollo" as Project Apollo (title TBD), to be released as a new mobile title for Android and iOS! I'm really excited for this one, which will be a bit of a different take on the formula. Much more mechanics driven, rather than story. (For those of you who have played Jump King, you'll understand what I'm going for). Check out the full update and announcement in the link above.

Thanks for those who left feedback on Remember, Apollo, and for those who tuned into the stream over the course of LD. Best of luck with your own projects, I hope to hear about other post-LD games being released soon :)

See you soon!