{"author_name":"thecolorhacker","cat":"LD #30","comments":[],"epoch":1409257920,"likes":2,"metadata":{"p_key":"26397","p_author":"thecolorhacker","p_authorkey":"40333","p_urlkey":"61827","p_title":"\u201cPress space to start\u201d from the inside","p_cat":"LD #30","p_event":"LD30","p_time":"1409257920","p_likes":"2","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"40333","us_name":"thecolorhacker","us_username":"thecolorhacker","event_start":"1408665600","event_key":"24","event_name":"LD30"},"text":"

“Press space to start<\/a>“<\/strong> is my first entry in Ludum Dare. I thought at first that it would impossible to finish it, as I had less than 15 hours of real coding time to steal from real life. I gave myself two hours to find an idea that met the theme. As an starting point I defined these objectives to the game to follow:<\/p>\n

– Easy to understand mechanic. Easy to code. Easy to play but difficult to master.<\/p>\n

– Maximum attachement to the theme (my interpretation of the theme).<\/p>\n

– Finish.<\/p>\n

My tools were: GameMaker, Inkscape and swfmill.<\/p>\n

After the muses’ time, I spent about three hours in character design and coding. Other three hours were spent in a “dead end alley”, and involved trying to do things that were unneeded and let me to have more problems than solutions. End of day one. Second day I tried to be more productive. I centered on level design and story. The most difficult moment came two hours before deadline. I had no idea of how to submit a game. Luckily, people in irc channel helped me enough to learn that I had to store the game somewhere, then link it. And 30 minutes passed until I found the submitting button.<\/p>\n

\"PSTS2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What went ok<\/strong><\/p>\n

– Game mechanics are simple enough to understand them in 5 seconds, and controls can’t be easier to understand. Gameplay is interesting enough to keep players\u00a0 attention turned on during the 10 minutes that lasts. Levels are difficult but not impossible.<\/p>\n

– I looked for an strong interaction between text and gameplay. Rooms are divided into story and game spaces, like a very simple book with playable illustrations. The gameplay of a room reflects the story being told, and the story explains what is happening in the game.<\/p>\n

The game is short and linear. That allows the player live the story without getting lost in an obscure branch. I don’t expect anyone to give a second chance to my game. Aren’t there more than 2500 entries to try and rate?<\/p>\n

Finishing and having lot of fun in the process.<\/p>\n

What went meh or wrong<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lack of more detailed graphics, as I centered in the game mechanics.<\/p>\n

Lack of sountrack and audio effects. People like them and is something to be rated too.<\/p>\n

Lot of ideas that I had no time to develop.<\/p>\n

Controls: decision to add momentum to the character speed has raised most of the critics, joined with a very restrictive wall crash system that perhaps raises the difficulty unnecessarily.<\/p>\n

Losing a fourth of my time trying to try to do things that worked in a different manner, to return to a solution that worked in the first place.<\/p>\n

In conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even without all the gameplay elements I wanted to implement, I got a finished story, a flexible mechanic that fit well the story and few but (in my opinion) well designed rooms. So within the limitations of the game, I’m very happy with the result.<\/p>","time":"August 28th, 2014 3:32 pm","title":"\u201cPress space to start\u201d from the inside"}