I just woke up, man was I tired!!
This was my first Ludum Dare and the first time I’ve started and completed (to my own meager satisfaction anyway) such an ambitious project. Originally I was going to write my own tech in C++ based around libcinder but luckily last weekend I ran a mock trial using Experimental Gameplay Project theme “Drawing” and realized that I would rather spend my time working on a game – not technology. To that end I decided to use Unity, and had spent the last week learning the ins and outs of this extremely impressive technology. Usually I’m not a fan of these out of the box engines, but I have to admit I am very pleased.
I started out strong, the first night I got the basic level generation working, as well as moving around the world. I had assumed that this would be the lions share of the work – how is it that no matter how much time we spend making games, we always underestimate the little things??
I wanted to add combat immediately, but felt that since the theme was “discovery” I should make sure to have all the mechanics involving that aspect of the game first. I quickly got the mini-map and mineral scanner working. The next key was victory conditions, I felt strongly the most important part of the game was making the player decide between self improvement and repairing the ship, so the next step was getting repairing the mothership and modules working.
This came together surprisingly fast, so much so that I took two hours off for a long lunch and re-watch some Rurouni Kenshin – I regret that now.
At this point it was Saturday night, and I felt I could start working on combat and making the game polished and feel like a real 3d rouge-like. I was quickly hit with a series of frustrations, all of which I now attribute to having gone about 30 hours without any sleep and my brain was addled. I passed out at 9 Sunday morning and woke up at 12.
Sunday was a mad scramble, I was constantly switching between MIDI sequencer trying to make sound effects (which never got in ), fixing and hacking a combat system (which I hate now, I really loathe it. I almost wish I didn’t put it in and just let it be pure exploration.) And putting polish elements like the ghost of a story I had imagined.
The title-screen, in case you didn’t realize, was supposed to be this dramatic slow motion re-enactment of the mothership crash landing haha. (Hint: I just put a spring on the ship and camera, randomly generated a map, and then dropped it slowly =p) I wanted to build particle effects, and fires, and have a red warning light … I swear it was all way cooler in my head!!
I wanted to track how many levels deep you went, make about a billion more modules, fix the combat system, make more enemies, make a texture or two =p, sound effects and more music, I also want to build a bunch of different floor and wall tiles to make the worlds feel more organic. Also, I have an idea for randomly generated height maps as planet side, and then you find randomly generated dungeons and then … and then …
.lol. ^^;
In any event, I AM proud, for a first time try I hope to have not made a complete fool of myself, even if I bit off more than I could chew, and even if I didn’t get to where I wanted to be – when do you ever? I look around at some of the other entries and feel a real sense of community, I’ve been making game for a long time in lots of environments, but I have to say that this has been one of the most rewarding experiences.
I know I’ve said this lots of times, in lots of places, but I hope the repetition doesn’t dull it’s intention. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute, and I am humbled and honored to have my game sit along side so many other projects of such creativity and quality.
