Possibly taking the Minimalism too far, but I’m making a SimCity style game in the theme of Piet Mondrian using Javascript and Canvas. Shame it doesn’t have any logic behind it yet.

If you want to see some ugly code you can look https://github.com/ToastyAbraham/MiniCity

Tags: MiniCity, mondrian, SimCity

Got areas subdividing when you add roads. Totally time to grab some lunch and take a break (UK time)!

Then all I need to do is support adding areas around roads, oh and write the actual game bit…

Tags: MiniCity, mondrian, SimCity

First Ludum Dare over! It was fun but just a little bit tiring. On the plus side I’ve created sometime I’m quiet happy with considering the time restrains. It has a reasonable simulation running and a few disasters to keep people amused.

Web version and github source code are all in the entry below! I’m sure I’ll get around to a Post-Mortem tomorrow morning.

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=21311

Tags: MiniCity, SimCity

What Went Right?

• To be honest the idea of SimCity is nice and self contained and fitted will with the minimalism theme and the 2 day time limit. I was thinking about a hide and seek style game based on the london tube map but I think this went better.
• Adding disasters! It was quick to implement (once bulldozing was added) and was less than 200 lines of code all told.
• Arkazon pushing me into doing Ludum Dare 26!

What Went Wrong?

• Getting the simulation right(ish) took longer than I thought and involved re-writing it a couple of times. It’s still far from perfect but I have a much better appreciation for the developers at Maxis.
• No time for balancing was a shame, I didn’t think it was too hard but apparently I was wrong. But the only way to balancing is to get people to play test – maybe next time.
• Not being good at Javascript was a let down, I know enough to get me by but my lack of fundamental understanding for prototypical inheritance and never having any idea if I was getting references or pointers to the data annoyed me (I’m a C++ programmer by day)

If I had more time?

• Sound and music would have been good to add, but I’m no sound designer. I did throw in a creative commons mp3 towards the end but took it out because it didn’t feel right having not created the music myself.
• Randomly generated names for the areas was something I would have added if things went more smoothly with some humour or media references in them like Meteor Street from Spaced.

Data Box

Number of Commits – 21

Tools – Sublime Text 2, Chrome and Firefox

Source code – https://github.com/ToastyAbraham/MiniCity

Ludum Dare Entry – http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=21311

Tags: MiniCity, SimCity