A puzzle for a change
I always made action games, so this time I decided to make a puzzle.
The result is really challenging for the players.
Just click in the image to go to the page.
Rodrigo Robles
LD27
An uncommon category?
My interpretation of the theme led me to a puzzle theme. I have made platform, shooters, pac-man-like and 3d games, but I never made a puzzle game before. The experience was better that I could think.
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview&uid=24602
Now I’m getting fun playing the other games. And I surprised that I found no one other puzzle! Maybe this is the most uncommon game category?
Comments
30. Aug 2013 · 01:44 UTC
There’s usually a few puzzle games, the theme may have inspired people to go with other genres. Great take on the theme.
And the multiplatformity won!
I’ve been playing the Ludum Dare games and I feel happy that the majority of the games was made with multiplatform tools.
I’m a Linux user and it’s horrible when the games have versions only to commercial OSs. Linux is the choice if you don’t like to be owned by some huge corporation. And under Linux you are free from the CIA spies 
Many Unity developers are exporting the games to Linux and it’s working very well. And web/javascript games are naturally multiplatform.
I see a paradigm shift here. Now we have a world where monoplatform development is not acceptable anymore.
P.S. – Play my (multiplatform) puzzle game entry!
Comments
Aslai
31. Aug 2013 · 12:14 UTC
A large chunk of the time, WINE has no problems dealing with Windows games written with cross platform libraries, and even some Windows specific libraries. You’re out of luck with XNA though, but who plays those games anyways? :3
Rodrigo Robles
31. Aug 2013 · 12:31 UTC
Aslai, it’s true that wine performs well the majority of the old win32 games, but when Ludum Dare developers makes something windows-only, they usually working with last versions of visual studio and using xna and .NET 4.5, making the game unplayable under wine… Fortunately this ingenuous kind of people is minority nowadays
Aslai
01. Sep 2013 · 20:45 UTC
Well, I’ve tested all software I’ve ever written in WINE, and it all runs without issue. That includes:
SDL 1.2 with many aux libraries
sfml
DirectX 8-9
Game Maker 5-7
Anything using WinMM/GDI
C# 4.0 with heavy use of the Windows API (In conjunction with mono)
To all those people using bleeding edge technology: Screw you guys!
SDL 1.2 with many aux libraries
sfml
DirectX 8-9
Game Maker 5-7
Anything using WinMM/GDI
C# 4.0 with heavy use of the Windows API (In conjunction with mono)
To all those people using bleeding edge technology: Screw you guys!
Finally! A puzzle game post-mortem!
Yeah! It’s a rare genre. Did you ever seen a puzzle game post-mortem? So let’s do this!
BEFORE LUDUM DARE – PREPARATION
You must prepare yourself to the event. Sharp your tools. Prepare a code template. Training in your coding IDE, graphic editor, music and sound editors is also a good idea.
I did nothing of these things.
But I did one important thing: Warn my wife weeks before the event, and repeat the warning time from time. Otherwise she surely would ruin my plans.
FIRST – THE DESIGN
When I first saw the theme, I did think that 10 seconds was the countdown approaching to zero. I hit F5, and again, and the 10 second remains. I though “Man, it’s locked in 10 seconds!” Finally I realized that 10 seconds was the theme. Holy crap!
So I hated the theme. The first and obvious interpretation should be a 10 seconds time limit. You should never take the obvious interpretation. Later I was shocked that everyone took the obvious interpretation.
I spend the night thinking about a different take on the theme. After a while I had the idea about the ordinal second. The second one things. Finally I get rid from the damn time limit.
So I needed a design. And that night I thought in no one. Then I went to sleep.
In the next morning I woke up without an idea. I took a breakfast and start to work. After half an hour I made the design of the game. Probably my subconscious worked during the sleep.
THE CODING
I had planned to use Construct 2. But after finish the design, I realized that for this kind of puzzle game pure Javascript would be more productive. I didn’t need collision, physics or other things that Construct 2 usually help you.
The next step was coding. At the end of the day I had the first prototype, with scratch graphics. At night I started to draw the final graphics.
Testing was a serious problem. Finish the first stage could spend five to ten minutes. I could run just a few cycles of testing.
At sunday morning I continued making graphics and some testing/debugging. After the lunch I
had a problem. I had planned to go to the Escher’s expo at the city museum. That was the final day to the expo.
The game was almost finished, so I went to the museum. I expected to spent just a couple of hors but I spent six. It was a huge expo!
So I returned to home lasting only some hours to the timeline. I rushed to finish the graphics, add basic sound and make some testing. 15 minutes before the timeline the game was finished.
WHAT WENT WRONG:
- Graphics are poor. It’s not the worst, but certainly is not the best graphics. I need drawing lessons.
- Sound are poor. The last thing I did of course.
- No music. No time to think about it.
WHAT WENT RIGHT:
- The design was very appreciated. An uncommon mechanics.
- Javascript is great. I’m really amateur in Javascript. But the language was so productive that I made the game easily. The source went very short: just 296 lines.
THE BALANCE
I really enjoyed the experience. Now I know my weak points and I will train hard to the next battle. See you soon guys!
NOW PLAY THE GAME!
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview&uid=24602