{"author_link":"\/users\/alpacalypse","author_name":"alpacalypse","author_uid":"alpacalypse","comments":[],"epoch":1729727169,"event":"LD56","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":406376,"likes":12,"metadata":{"p_key":"209391","p_author":"alpacalypse","p_authorkey":"1221245","p_urlkey":"447766","p_title":"Beams","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD56","p_time":"1729727169","p_likes":"12","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1221245","us_name":"alpacalypse","us_username":"alpacalypse","event_start":"1728000000","event_key":"115","event_name":"Ludum Dare 56"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD56","removed_author":false},"_superparent":395186,"_trust":5,"author":221245,"body":"Way back in LD47, as we were making Express Without Remorse, our first game, @ruruie made a request: could we have a beam?\n\nWe could not. We had no idea what we were doing, we barely (but successfully) made a game at all. Multiple shot types were right out.\n\nTwo years ago as we were making Witch Contractor, our fifth game, @ruruie made a request: could we have a beam?\n\nWe could not. We had to build out complex map logic and multiple enemy types to create some depths for the players to plumb and that took all of our dev capacity. We had different bullet types but they all behaved the same. We couldn\u2019t introduce a whole new way for enemies, or the player, to interact with one another.\n\nIs it really a shmup, if you don\u2019t have a beam? We had to say \u2018yes\u2019. We had to compromise. You don\u2019t *need* a beam, we lied to ourselves.\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s LD56. We are making a game. It\u2019s a shooter. Ruruie doesn\u2019t even have to request the beam. We both know about the beam. It hangs over us. It is the shadow, the creeping death, the cold laughter in the back of the mind. We build out bullets. Change how bullets work. Develop enemy types. But something is missing, something is always missing. We need to cut features. There\u2019s no bombs, no background variation, no procedural infinity. We need to get an MVP out. We can\u2019t have another disaster like LD54. But we can\u2019t cut everything. We have to push to make the jam worth it, to develop our powers and beyond what we've made before.\n\n![whence.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690ed.png)\n\nBare hours before deadline. We\u2019re in panic feature-completion mode. It\u2019s a shmup. It needs a boss. We make a boss. It has spread fire, circle fire, a hypervelocity orange, the standards. But. The boss is a witch. *It\u2019s a shmup with a witch boss in it.*\n\n![mob-witch.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690ee.png)\n\nThe time has come, it's now or never. We need a beam.\n\nIt turns out the mechanical logic for a beam is very straightforward with the systems we already have. It\u2019s just a bullet with a different hitbox and movement logic. But that\u2019s not enough. You can\u2019t have a beam if you don\u2019t have the actual beam. With a bare 80 minutes to go I ask @ruruie: **Can we have a beam?**\n\n(read bottom to top)\n![right.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690f7.png)\n\nAll we need is a rectangle with a rounded end and some gradient, right? Nothing too fancy, I've given our artist a tall order but it's doable if we keep it simple.\n\nThe beam produced is not a rectangle with a rounded end and a little colour gradient.\n\n![beam1b.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690f3.png)\n![beam2b.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690f4.png)\n![beam3b.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690f5.png)\n\nIn the middle of final crunch time @ruruie produces not just a beam but a **beam**, a fully-featured piece of firepower with a complete charge and fire animation, more spectacular than any of our other bullets. In the last hour of the last day of the jam where we *had* to do it, the dream of long years becomes real.\n\nOur game has a beam in it.\n\n![beam4.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690f6.png)\n\n(play it here:)\n\nhttps:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/56\/magical-girl-danmaku-dandelina","comments":5,"comments-timestamp":"2024-10-24T06:42:22Z","created":"2024-10-23T23:07:30Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":406376,"love":12,"love-timestamp":"2024-10-25T09:56:59Z","meta":[],"modified":"2024-10-25T09:56:59Z","name":"Beams","node-timestamp":"2024-10-23T23:46:09Z","parent":397075,"parents":[1,5,9,395186,397075],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/56\/magical-girl-danmaku-dandelina\/beams","published":"2024-10-23T23:46:09Z","scope":"public","slug":"beams","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":1278363},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"406376","n_urlkey":"447766","n_parent":"397075","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/56\/magical-girl-danmaku-dandelina\/beams","n_slug":"beams","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"221245","n_created":"1729724850","n_modified":"1729850219","n_version":"1278363","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/56\/magical-girl-danmaku-dandelina\/beams","text":"Way back in LD47, as we were making Express Without Remorse, our first game, @ruruie made a request: could we have a beam?\n\nWe could not. We had no idea what we were doing, we barely (but successfully) made a game at all. Multiple shot types were right out.\n\nTwo years ago as we were making Witch Contractor, our fifth game, @ruruie made a request: could we have a beam?\n\nWe could not. We had to build out complex map logic and multiple enemy types to create some depths for the players to plumb and that took all of our dev capacity. We had different bullet types but they all behaved the same. We couldn\u2019t introduce a whole new way for enemies, or the player, to interact with one another.\n\nIs it really a shmup, if you don\u2019t have a beam? We had to say \u2018yes\u2019. We had to compromise. You don\u2019t *need* a beam, we lied to ourselves.\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s LD56. We are making a game. It\u2019s a shooter. Ruruie doesn\u2019t even have to request the beam. We both know about the beam. It hangs over us. It is the shadow, the creeping death, the cold laughter in the back of the mind. We build out bullets. Change how bullets work. Develop enemy types. But something is missing, something is always missing. We need to cut features. There\u2019s no bombs, no background variation, no procedural infinity. We need to get an MVP out. We can\u2019t have another disaster like LD54. But we can\u2019t cut everything. We have to push to make the jam worth it, to develop our powers and beyond what we've made before.\n\n![whence.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690ed.png)\n\nBare hours before deadline. We\u2019re in panic feature-completion mode. It\u2019s a shmup. It needs a boss. We make a boss. It has spread fire, circle fire, a hypervelocity orange, the standards. But. The boss is a witch. *It\u2019s a shmup with a witch boss in it.*\n\n![mob-witch.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690ee.png)\n\nThe time has come, it's now or never. We need a beam.\n\nIt turns out the mechanical logic for a beam is very straightforward with the systems we already have. It\u2019s just a bullet with a different hitbox and movement logic. But that\u2019s not enough. You can\u2019t have a beam if you don\u2019t have the actual beam. With a bare 80 minutes to go I ask @ruruie: **Can we have a beam?**\n\n(read bottom to top)\n![right.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690f7.png)\n\nAll we need is a rectangle with a rounded end and some gradient, right? Nothing too fancy, I've given our artist a tall order but it's doable if we keep it simple.\n\nThe beam produced is not a rectangle with a rounded end and a little colour gradient.\n\n![beam1b.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690f3.png)\n![beam2b.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690f4.png)\n![beam3b.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690f5.png)\n\nIn the middle of final crunch time @ruruie produces not just a beam but a **beam**, a fully-featured piece of firepower with a complete charge and fire animation, more spectacular than any of our other bullets. In the last hour of the last day of the jam where we *had* to do it, the dream of long years becomes real.\n\nOur game has a beam in it.\n\n![beam4.png](\/\/\/raw\/d30\/63\/z\/690f6.png)\n\n(play it here:)\n\nhttps:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/56\/magical-girl-danmaku-dandelina","title":"Beams","wayback_source":[]}