{"author_name":"AlariSilver","cat":"LD #33","comments":[],"epoch":1440530280,"likes":3,"metadata":{"p_key":"13459","p_author":"AlariSilver","p_authorkey":"57432","p_urlkey":"48716","p_title":"St. George\u2019s Post-Mortem for Ludum Dare Compo-ers","p_cat":"LD #33","p_event":"LD33","p_time":"1440530280","p_likes":"3","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"57432","us_name":"AlariSilver","us_username":"alarisilver","event_start":"1440115200","event_key":"29","event_name":"LD33"},"text":"

St. George’s Academy for Monster-Slaying Lasses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Because I had forgotten Ludum Dare was happening, I went cycling pretty much right at the start and came back to a message from killthealias<\/a> saying “Friendly reminder, Ludum Dare starts in 10 minutes!”<\/p>\n

The message was sent two hours ago.<\/p>\n

Everything’s a bit more complicated than what went wrong and what went right, so instead of saying that, I’ll cover each section individually.<\/p>\n

Art<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Characters<\/strong><\/p>\n

If I had a tablet, I would have drawn my characters with one. But I didn’t, and pixel art really doesn’t fit the visual novel category. So, I drew them on paper… and then I figured ‘if I don’t make any attempt to make them look like they’re not on paper, and continue that theme consistently, it’s not a flaw! It’s an art style!’<\/p>\n

\"hoodedfight\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"torineutral\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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So, I did. And people seemed to like it. So I’d say this part was pretty good, though in a perfect world I’d have taken higher resolution pictures of the characters. But since that world is perfect… I’d have a tablet. \":)\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Backgrounds<\/strong><\/p>\n

I made my backgrounds mainly by taking photos and processing them to hell. Here’s an example of what I mean.<\/p>\n

Before<\/em><\/p>\n

\"b-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After<\/em><\/p>\n

\"dorm\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And some of them, like the dorm, turned out great. I’m actually really happy with the library and hallway backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\"hallwaynight\"<\/a> \"darkbooks\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Others… I didn’t have time to get a new, better, photo, and I don’t like them as much. The problem with these is that if I used someone else’s picture, it wouldn’t be a good enough derivative… so I had to use my own.<\/p>\n

\"Commons\"<\/a> \"cafeteria\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Code<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ren’Py<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I love Ren’Py. It’s an amazing, flexible framework for building visual novels in. It’s also the highest-level scripting language you will ever use in your life. It’s built on Python… which is already very high-level. So, yeah. I didn’t really have to program much of anything: it was all scripting.<\/p>\n

Ren’Py Battle Framework<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"ludumPOINTER\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It turned out well, I guess. I didn’t have the time or knowledge to create a battle engine myself, but I’m going to make my own face-to-face battle engine soon, because it honestly wasn’t completely suited for the situation and I think I can make a lighter version. It didn’t seem very flexible, but I suppose it did the trick.<\/p>\n

Sound<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Music<\/strong><\/p>\n

There isn’t so much to say here! I made two songs, but… there were going to be more. Six songs, in the least. But music takes way longer than you’d expect (if you aren’t auto-generating it), and I didn’t have time for that in the end. The two that did make it into the game were apparently really catchy, though. So at least that’s good! \":)\"<\/p>\n

SFX<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is pretty much the audio equivalent of backgrounds: find a sound, record it, process it to hell. It worked.<\/p>\n

Story<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

I honestly think that this part went great. I spent most of my time writing. I went into this LD with the idea of a multi-path storyline… and I came out of it with a multi-path story line. There were a few elements (no spoilers here) that I foreshadowed and went over so. many. times. testing them, I thought “Nobody will be surprised.” And then everyone was surprised. It was great.<\/p>\n

\"end\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My one wish with the storyline is that I’d had a chance to draft it. All of the dialogue is a first draft: I’d write a section, then abandon it to the wolves. Write another section, abandon it. So it isn’t polished, and a lot of the writing is not-so-subtle. But I think it turned out pretty well! \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

And that’s it for my post-mortem. \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>","time":"August 25th, 2015 2:18 pm","title":"St. George\u2019s Post-Mortem for Ludum Dare Compo-ers"}