but then I started making a game anyway.

I barely even know what’s going on I’m just playing this by ear

It is called Scary Ugly Face.  Title may or may not be relevant.

May the going of nuts commence.

Someone posted their favorite Ludum Dare #29 entries after playing 65 of them.  I like being exposed to what other people like, so I thought I’d blatantly copy that post idea and shout-out my top five compo entries so far after playing about 50 games.

1. Water Golf

2. Balancitos

3. Scratch

4. Jetpack Caverns

5. Temple of RA

and then this game has made me laugh the most.

This doesn’t necessarily reflect what my five favorite games will be by the end of the three-week judgment period, but hey, I think these are good entries and I wanted to share them with anyone who hasn’t seen them yet.  I haven’t gotten around to playing many of the Jam games but I intend to play a lot more soon enough.

This has been your friendly neighborhood blog post.

So, here’s how my first Ludum Dare went and how I feel about Scary Ugly Face.

The Good:
– My game turned out pretty much how I wanted it.
– I had a great time planning it out and throwing it together.
– The response so far has been more encouraging than I could have imagined!

The Bad:
– I made Scary Ugly Face in 24 hours and slept only 1.5 of those hours because I had no clue how to manage my time, and then I was burnt out and did nothing for the next 24 hours.
– The people who say it isn’t much of a game are right.  There aren’t many interactive elements because I’m not great at programming. To be fair, it’s a story-focused game, so all the gameplay needed to do was put you into the shoes of the characters, but if I were to change anything about Scary Ugly Face, I’d try to make it feel more like a game.

The Ugly:

I don’t know if I’ve “learned” much from this experience (aside from how Ludum Dare is pronounced), but I’ve been reminded of just how awesome, creative, talented, and inspiring the game dev community is.

Tags: postmortem