I had a lot of fun making my LD29 entry, “Seed“.  For once I decided to make a game that wasn’t tense, scary, or overly monochromatic; I think I did it that way just to prove that I could.  This also gave me a chance to write some pleasant music for a change.

Things that went well:

1.  I was worried that the method I was using to draw the plant (spawning multiple objects) would cause massive slowdown, but it turns out Unity handled it well.

2.  I was actually done after only 24 hours, but there were still a few minor bugs (the flower would sometimes grow out at an angle at the surface), and I wanted the plant itself to look better as it was growing.  I’m glad I took the extra time to draw the little roots that come out of the side of the plant randomly; it really looked cool in the end.  On a similar note, my script for it worked right on the first try (save for a few number tweaks).

3.  The four layers of music fading in and out at different times made the music feel dynamic and was worth the extra effort to get it all to sync up.  (For reference, the cello part always plays, the medium piano part plays only when the bud is moving, the high piano part gradually fades in as you get closer to the surface, and the low piano part gradually fades in as you start running out of water.)

Things that needed improvement:

1.  First, the “endless” method of adding additional rocks and bugs works as a short game, but doesn’t offer much variety.  If I go back and revisit this at all, I’ll probably add additional things to find underground (like worms, for example).

2.  It looks fine on my monitor and is supposed to be dark as you’re underground, but the darkness was a common complaint.  If I had time, I probably should have put some kind of brightness adjuster.

3.  As much as I like how the music came out, a much longer piece would offer a lot more variety and be less repetitive.

Overall:

I had fun, and I hope other people did as well!  Bring on LD30!