It’s about time to write my Postmortem. Some users prefer to write only a list of what went right and what went wrong, I also do that but I like to add a reflection about the experience and what it means to me (the kind of thing you had to do for papers in school).

My game is called “The hero’s Journey (or get the treasure and run!)”. It was made to introduce Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth to some people. It’s a rotary platformer where you must repeat the “cycle of the Hero” a few times. It’s a metaphor of how you go through a challenge, come back from it and you keep repeating the process again and again, because that’s what we do everyday.

Let’s start with the traditional right/wrong list.

What went right:

• I had less than 8 hours and managed to finish, I could have used a few more hours to fix the issues but that’s ok.
• Some of the mechanics I used were completely new to me and I was able to implement them easily.
• Added detailed instructions
• 3 game modes

What went wrong:

• Collision system, the thing everyone complains about. It’s easy to die not because it’s hard but because there are many unfair deaths due to crappy collisions, my bad.
• Music and sounds. I really need to improve this field for the next edition. Music is almost random and there are no sounds, I made the assets but in the last moment decided not to include them because I found them too annoying (don’t ask me why). It was a mistake, they gave feedback to the player when performing actions and that’s necessary.

How I felt during Ludum Dare #27

First of all I spent more time on twitter than the first time (always keeping in mind that I couldn’t waste time).  I sent a couple of tweets to the developers I kept in touch with last time; it felt like revisiting some old friends. I also got to know more developers ,and even when everyone is in a different part of the world, and working on a different project, you feel like you’re working together, showing the others what you are doing and giving feedback.

Another good thing of being more social is that you get inspired by other’s people work.  It’s not like going to devianART and searching for random stuff, you are also creating something, being part of the process at your own level and the experience is more valuable.

And finally there’s panic time, it usually comes during the last hours, you feel your work is pointless and think about quitting. You must work really hard and  give the best of you to succeed, once it’s over it feels great; it’s a huge moral/confidence booster.

This has been my second Ludum Dare, I’ve been in some other jams but this is the one that I like the most. I always learn a lot in just 48 hours and it helps me maturing as a game developer. Ludum Dare makes me love game designing and being part of this community of developers.

So that’s all I had to say, I can’t wait to check the entries, there’s too much I want to play. Thanks to the jam creators and to everyone who participated.

click here to check my entry

P.D.: I’m seriously considering organizing a real world gathering in Madrid for the next edition, all I need is a group of interested local developers.