{"author_name":"udo","cat":"LD #29","comments":[],"epoch":1399910160,"likes":2,"metadata":{"p_key":"29870","p_author":"udo","p_authorkey":"6821","p_urlkey":"65336","p_title":"(Somewhat) Literally Post Mortem","p_cat":"LD #29","p_event":"LD29","p_time":"1399910160","p_likes":"2","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"6821","us_name":"udo","us_username":"udo","event_start":"1398384000","event_key":"22","event_name":"LD29"},"text":"<p>Some say failure is the best teacher, and if that&#8217;s true I do have a lot that can be learned from this LD \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n <h2>Slime Lord<\/h2>\n <p>I was pretty excited about the theme. Pretty much immediately I had the idea for a 2D defense game where you play the role of a subterranean horror, a Slime Lord, who lives under a fragile little hut. The twist is that the Slime Lord wants to protect the lonely hut from the myriad of dangers that continue to befall it. <\/p>\n <p>I thought this dynamic might be a good opportunity to tell a story about a monster living underground, having an emotional attachment to the puny and helpless humans living above ground.<\/p>\n <p>However, by late Sunday I realized it wasn&#8217;t working out. Some gameplay aspects depended on ideas that just weren&#8217;t coming to me, and time was also running out in general. One thing I liked about Slime Lords is the graphics &#8211; and that could be the reason I might return for a second take on the thing. But by Sunday the game was dead as far as Ludum Dare was concerned.<\/p>\n <p>Here, have a time lapse regardless:<\/p>\n <p><iframe width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gssj5kaiAEM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n <h2>Planet Improver<\/h2>\n <p>On Monday, I fought against the urge to give up altogether &#8211; but I didn&#8217;t. What do you do when you have no time and not a lot of energy left? Well, you might make a text mode game. Enter: Planet Improver.<\/p>\n <p>it consists of two parts: the first part is an economy simulation where you play the role of a terraforming machine that&#8217;s been dropped on some forsaken planet to mine it for resources. For the second part, I reused some code I had written for the Warmup Weekend, it&#8217;s a minimal rogue-like game that I adapted for the Planet Improver setting. In it, the Killbot character (of <a href=\"http:\/\/direct.openfu.com\/ld27\/robots-day2\/\">LD27 fame<\/a>) made a reappearance, doing the bidding of Planet Improver by ridding the planet&#8217;s crust of xeno organisms.<\/p>\n <p>Here&#8217;s a quick walkthrough of Planet Improver:<\/p>\n <p><iframe width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JzM8yzOrArs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n <h2>After Completion<\/h2>\n <p>The good thing is, Planet Improver got finished on time. I posted it as my entry and went to bed. The next day, I began to have serious doubts about the viability of this minimalistic game. So I left it sitting there for some weeks, which also resulted in a critical bug not getting fixed until yesterday.<\/p>\n <p>Now that I&#8217;ve come back to rate some games, I&#8217;m actually at peace with Planet Improver. <\/p>\n <p>So what&#8217;s left? Well, to do better next time of course! <img src=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-includes\/images\/smilies\/simple-smile.png\" alt=\":)\" class=\"wp-smiley\" style=\"height: 1em; max-height: 1em;\" \/><\/p>","time":"May 12th, 2014 10:56 am","title":"(Somewhat) Literally Post Mortem"}