{"author_link":"\/users\/marudziik","author_name":"marudziik","author_uid":"marudziik","comments":[],"epoch":1760288369,"event":"LD58","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":422997,"likes":14,"metadata":{"p_key":"197578","p_author":"marudziik","p_authorkey":"1008541","p_urlkey":"429504","p_title":"Corpse Collector Postmortem and afterthoughts","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD58","p_time":"1760288369","p_likes":"14","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1008541","us_name":"marudziik","us_username":"marudziik","event_start":"1759449600","event_key":"112","event_name":"Ludum Dare 58"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD58","removed_author":false},"_superparent":415614,"_trust":1,"author":8541,"body":"Hey, you can still play & rate my entry here!: https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/58\/corpse-collector\n\nThere's a timelapse of me coding here: `https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SgIf1-PTLZA`\n\nThere's also a gameplay video here: `https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DHk8INuGsBI`\n\n![Gameplay](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f518.gif)\n\n## Corpse Collector Postmortem\n\nSo basically, here's a post-mortem of sorts of my recent LD entry [Corpse Collector](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/58\/corpse-collector). I try to write these type of posts after finishing a project because they allow me to reflect on things and grow. Or sometimes it's just funny to read how I make [the same mistakes](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/57\/hyperspacedive\/hyperspacedive-postmortem-and-afterthoughts), all over again. \ud83d\ude05 Read on, maybe you'll have some thoughts about the issues I faced as well, or similar experiences.\n\n## Idea\n\n\"Collector\" was not my favorite theme.\n\n![Collector voting](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f519.png)\n\nI usually google the theme to find some inspiration, but I didn't really want any AI (showing up in google answers) to do my creative work for me so uhh... yeah, the idea of collecting corpse parts is mostly from my head. I guess recently I did watch some horror movies and listen to crime podcasts... \ud83d\ude48 So yeah, I'm otherwise a normal person, I promise.\n\n## Compo timeline\n\nI fully intended to finish the game before Compo timeline ends. After all, I did make time arrangements (sent nowife and kid on a short trip, ordered food in, wasn't really available during the weekend), prepared some music playlists, basically tried to remove all possible distractions.\n\nBut yeah, I already knew on Saturday it's going to be tough, because after couple of months away from Lua, I just forgot a lot of nuances (and basics) related to the language. Not the best setup for attempting to do a puzzle game which I hadn't tried before. And on Sunday when I fought with a particularly stupid bug (i.e. I was the stupid one) I was about to give up - fortunately, I decided to push through. I made whatever time I could on Monday, and I am so glad I did...\n\n## What went well\n\nI am pretty satisfied with the *progress* I made, comparing to my previous entry, which used the same engine. Whereas my previous entry was more like an experiment than a game, this current one feels a little bit more game'y, yet still was an experiment for me.\n\nI'm going to stick with PICO-8 for a while, I think. I love it. It's simple - but can be complex. It's easy - but not trivial. IMHO there's a great value in its limitations, and although the spirit of Lua wasn't really on my side during the competition, most of the problems I've encountered I must attribute generally to myself. I hope that next time I'll prepare a little bit more, a little bit better.\n\nI think the graphics went quite well. The level generation - even if it doesn't show, is done in a robust way and I could easily generate bunch of any-size, any-shape \"stashes\" for players to go through. It's basically a string-encoded map and I was very glad when I finally was done with it. It did took unreasonable amount of time though.\n\n![Stash representation](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f51a.png)\n\nI am extremely glad I did not resign, even though on Monday it still wasn't clear if I would submit under the \"unfinished\" (I decided I'd do that if I'm not satisfied with my entry enough). This was somewhat similar to my previous LD. I really think the last 4 hours of work (on Monday evening) were extremely productive, though. I'd like to find a way to channel this effectiveness next time into the full Compo timeline.\n\n## What should be improved\n\nMost important things that I view problematic are related to the core gameplay:\n\n- it should be clearer to the player that I did not intend them to be able to fill each stash in 100%; it's an *optimization* game and I thought this wasn't necessary when generating levels - this was also the reason to provide more \/ different shapes than player actually needs; while this was a conscious decision on my part, it probably isn't visible to most players because the game does not convey that in any way\n- because I decided on the above, and didn't support shape rotation, and decided to penalize carelessness (through removing points \/ bodyparts with *purge mechanic*) - I could have done presentation of the available shapes in a better way, because when there's a lot of them, it's hard to figure out which one is actually being picked\n- there's too many levels and not enough game mechanics to make the game a \"fun\" experience; I started producing levels in the last 3 hours of the Jam, and the lack of time was mostly behind the decision to drop the intention for the player to be able to do a 100% fill on each stash - which I view as a mistake on my part\n- I considered this when planning, but decided to not do mouse support, because I wanted to stay more true to the PICO-8 experience; maybe that's a purist thing - but even without the mouse, I should have made the cursor move a little bit faster\n\nHonestly there are many things that I noticed only after finishing up - some of which were pointed out in the comments, and I acknowledge most of these are true. I think all of them boil down to lack of playtesting on my side. I just didn't have time to actually play through the game couple of times. If I did, I definitely would notice some of the issues above.\n\n## Some additional remarks\n\nLudum Dare is a special event for me, because I rarely have time to write games, and to play truly indie, often experimental stuff. I enjoy pushing myself and experience the creativity of others. I think it's just *fun* to see what people came up with - I still remember some games which made a big impression on me during earlier LDs - they're part of my memories now. It's great that I can still find some entries like that.\n\nBut LD is an event having a time and place. And sometimes I'd remember real-life events that just happened.\n\n### Coffee-spill and foreshadowing\n\nI made a cappuccino on Saturday morning. I was ready to start coding.\n\n![Cappuccino](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f51c.jpg)\n\nI usually drink espressos - but nah, I wanted to indulge myself a little bit... Why not drink it in front of the monitor? Surely nothing wrong with that?\n\n![Cappuccino spilled](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f51d.jpg)\n\nUhh, yep. Talk about bad luck - it spilled before I even started it. It was everywhere. It took me like 30 mins to handle the damage. It was sort of foreshadowing, because whole Saturday was just... well, bad. I've had problems coding, thinking, fixing bugs - not the usual me, really.\n\n### Timelapse and videos\n\nI am glad to have prepared a timelapse setup for this Ludum Dare. I always enjoy watching how other people code - but this time I also included the camera view. It's a first time, and a big step for me because I'm generally a very private person by nature - yet I feel there's some value in preserving the whole process as a video.\n\nWhile I'm not that fond of watching myself, I really do enjoy watching timelapses of my old projects (especially the ones which don't run anymore), and that applies to ones of other people as well. It also adds to my original LD experience, from many years ago, when I did it with `chronolapse`.\n\n![Me](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f51e.jpg)\n\nI used `OBS` to record (2 FPS), `ffmpeg` to speed up. I've had this soft light for photography so I used it for night captures. And I did have a `Sony Vegas Pro 18` bought from one of the Humble Bundles. Wasn't too complicated to use.\n\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SgIf1-PTLZA\n\n### Statistics and itch.io\n\nOh yeah, I have set it up. People can still play through LD site, but e.g. mobile experience is just better on itch.io. I also have some better real-life stats there because I've attached Google Analytics.\n\n![Itch.io analytics](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f525.png)\n![Google analytics](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f526.png)\n\nVery cool. If it were a commercial project, that would be extremely useful.\n\n## Conclusion\n\nAs always, the LD is awesome, frantic and crazy experience, and I really enjoyed myself. \ud83e\udd4a Now I go through a lot of the games submitted to review them and \u00a0I enjoy observing the creativity of others, and having a blast! \ud83d\udd25\n\n![Game view](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f51f.png)\n\nAs usual, thank you all for being here! \u2764\ufe0f\n","comments":0,"created":"2025-10-12T16:24:12Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":422997,"love":14,"love-timestamp":"2025-10-18T15:46:16Z","meta":[],"modified":"2025-10-18T15:46:16Z","name":"Corpse Collector Postmortem and afterthoughts","node-timestamp":"2025-10-12T18:43:34Z","parent":419270,"parents":[1,5,9,415614,419270],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/58\/corpse-collector\/corpse-collector-postmortem-and-afterthoughts","published":"2025-10-12T16:59:29Z","scope":"public","slug":"corpse-collector-postmortem-and-afterthoughts","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":1340059},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"422997","n_urlkey":"429504","n_parent":"419270","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/58\/corpse-collector\/corpse-collector-postmortem-and-afterthoughts","n_slug":"corpse-collector-postmortem-and-","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"8541","n_created":"1760286252","n_modified":"1760802376","n_version":"1340059","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/58\/corpse-collector\/corpse-collector-postmortem-and-afterthoughts","text":"Hey, you can still play & rate my entry here!: https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/58\/corpse-collector\n\nThere's a timelapse of me coding here: `https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SgIf1-PTLZA`\n\nThere's also a gameplay video here: `https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DHk8INuGsBI`\n\n![Gameplay](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f518.gif)\n\n## Corpse Collector Postmortem\n\nSo basically, here's a post-mortem of sorts of my recent LD entry [Corpse Collector](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/58\/corpse-collector). I try to write these type of posts after finishing a project because they allow me to reflect on things and grow. Or sometimes it's just funny to read how I make [the same mistakes](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/57\/hyperspacedive\/hyperspacedive-postmortem-and-afterthoughts), all over again. \ud83d\ude05 Read on, maybe you'll have some thoughts about the issues I faced as well, or similar experiences.\n\n## Idea\n\n\"Collector\" was not my favorite theme.\n\n![Collector voting](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f519.png)\n\nI usually google the theme to find some inspiration, but I didn't really want any AI (showing up in google answers) to do my creative work for me so uhh... yeah, the idea of collecting corpse parts is mostly from my head. I guess recently I did watch some horror movies and listen to crime podcasts... \ud83d\ude48 So yeah, I'm otherwise a normal person, I promise.\n\n## Compo timeline\n\nI fully intended to finish the game before Compo timeline ends. After all, I did make time arrangements (sent nowife and kid on a short trip, ordered food in, wasn't really available during the weekend), prepared some music playlists, basically tried to remove all possible distractions.\n\nBut yeah, I already knew on Saturday it's going to be tough, because after couple of months away from Lua, I just forgot a lot of nuances (and basics) related to the language. Not the best setup for attempting to do a puzzle game which I hadn't tried before. And on Sunday when I fought with a particularly stupid bug (i.e. I was the stupid one) I was about to give up - fortunately, I decided to push through. I made whatever time I could on Monday, and I am so glad I did...\n\n## What went well\n\nI am pretty satisfied with the *progress* I made, comparing to my previous entry, which used the same engine. Whereas my previous entry was more like an experiment than a game, this current one feels a little bit more game'y, yet still was an experiment for me.\n\nI'm going to stick with PICO-8 for a while, I think. I love it. It's simple - but can be complex. It's easy - but not trivial. IMHO there's a great value in its limitations, and although the spirit of Lua wasn't really on my side during the competition, most of the problems I've encountered I must attribute generally to myself. I hope that next time I'll prepare a little bit more, a little bit better.\n\nI think the graphics went quite well. The level generation - even if it doesn't show, is done in a robust way and I could easily generate bunch of any-size, any-shape \"stashes\" for players to go through. It's basically a string-encoded map and I was very glad when I finally was done with it. It did took unreasonable amount of time though.\n\n![Stash representation](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f51a.png)\n\nI am extremely glad I did not resign, even though on Monday it still wasn't clear if I would submit under the \"unfinished\" (I decided I'd do that if I'm not satisfied with my entry enough). This was somewhat similar to my previous LD. I really think the last 4 hours of work (on Monday evening) were extremely productive, though. I'd like to find a way to channel this effectiveness next time into the full Compo timeline.\n\n## What should be improved\n\nMost important things that I view problematic are related to the core gameplay:\n\n- it should be clearer to the player that I did not intend them to be able to fill each stash in 100%; it's an *optimization* game and I thought this wasn't necessary when generating levels - this was also the reason to provide more \/ different shapes than player actually needs; while this was a conscious decision on my part, it probably isn't visible to most players because the game does not convey that in any way\n- because I decided on the above, and didn't support shape rotation, and decided to penalize carelessness (through removing points \/ bodyparts with *purge mechanic*) - I could have done presentation of the available shapes in a better way, because when there's a lot of them, it's hard to figure out which one is actually being picked\n- there's too many levels and not enough game mechanics to make the game a \"fun\" experience; I started producing levels in the last 3 hours of the Jam, and the lack of time was mostly behind the decision to drop the intention for the player to be able to do a 100% fill on each stash - which I view as a mistake on my part\n- I considered this when planning, but decided to not do mouse support, because I wanted to stay more true to the PICO-8 experience; maybe that's a purist thing - but even without the mouse, I should have made the cursor move a little bit faster\n\nHonestly there are many things that I noticed only after finishing up - some of which were pointed out in the comments, and I acknowledge most of these are true. I think all of them boil down to lack of playtesting on my side. I just didn't have time to actually play through the game couple of times. If I did, I definitely would notice some of the issues above.\n\n## Some additional remarks\n\nLudum Dare is a special event for me, because I rarely have time to write games, and to play truly indie, often experimental stuff. I enjoy pushing myself and experience the creativity of others. I think it's just *fun* to see what people came up with - I still remember some games which made a big impression on me during earlier LDs - they're part of my memories now. It's great that I can still find some entries like that.\n\nBut LD is an event having a time and place. And sometimes I'd remember real-life events that just happened.\n\n### Coffee-spill and foreshadowing\n\nI made a cappuccino on Saturday morning. I was ready to start coding.\n\n![Cappuccino](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f51c.jpg)\n\nI usually drink espressos - but nah, I wanted to indulge myself a little bit... Why not drink it in front of the monitor? Surely nothing wrong with that?\n\n![Cappuccino spilled](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f51d.jpg)\n\nUhh, yep. Talk about bad luck - it spilled before I even started it. It was everywhere. It took me like 30 mins to handle the damage. It was sort of foreshadowing, because whole Saturday was just... well, bad. I've had problems coding, thinking, fixing bugs - not the usual me, really.\n\n### Timelapse and videos\n\nI am glad to have prepared a timelapse setup for this Ludum Dare. I always enjoy watching how other people code - but this time I also included the camera view. It's a first time, and a big step for me because I'm generally a very private person by nature - yet I feel there's some value in preserving the whole process as a video.\n\nWhile I'm not that fond of watching myself, I really do enjoy watching timelapses of my old projects (especially the ones which don't run anymore), and that applies to ones of other people as well. It also adds to my original LD experience, from many years ago, when I did it with `chronolapse`.\n\n![Me](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f51e.jpg)\n\nI used `OBS` to record (2 FPS), `ffmpeg` to speed up. I've had this soft light for photography so I used it for night captures. And I did have a `Sony Vegas Pro 18` bought from one of the Humble Bundles. Wasn't too complicated to use.\n\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SgIf1-PTLZA\n\n### Statistics and itch.io\n\nOh yeah, I have set it up. People can still play through LD site, but e.g. mobile experience is just better on itch.io. I also have some better real-life stats there because I've attached Google Analytics.\n\n![Itch.io analytics](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f525.png)\n![Google analytics](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f526.png)\n\nVery cool. If it were a commercial project, that would be extremely useful.\n\n## Conclusion\n\nAs always, the LD is awesome, frantic and crazy experience, and I really enjoyed myself. \ud83e\udd4a Now I go through a lot of the games submitted to review them and \u00a0I enjoy observing the creativity of others, and having a blast! \ud83d\udd25\n\n![Game view](\/\/\/raw\/d51\/2\/z\/6f51f.png)\n\nAs usual, thank you all for being here! \u2764\ufe0f\n","title":"Corpse Collector Postmortem and afterthoughts","wayback_source":[]}