{"author_name":"Anheurystics","cat":"LD #27","comments":[],"epoch":1377513780,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"38598","p_author":"Anheurystics","p_authorkey":"26198","p_urlkey":"74216","p_title":"shoot o\u2019 clock \u2013 Postmortem","p_cat":"LD #27","p_event":"LD27","p_time":"1377513780","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"26198","us_name":"Anheurystics","us_username":"blindferret","event_start":"1377216000","event_key":"18","event_name":"LD27"},"text":"<p>My first ever \u00a0Ludum Dare (and game jam in general) experience is coming to a close. What can I say about it?<\/p>\n <p>Well, first, the theme. The theme is actually pretty okay. In fact, if it were any other theme then I would&#8217;ve most likely had a harder time in thinking of a game.<\/p>\n <p>Next, the game. It was originally called &#8220;Shoot The Clock&#8221;, but then for some strange reason I thought &#8220;hey, it might be a lot cooler if it was named\u00a0<em>shoot o&#8217; clock,\u00a0<\/em>with no capitalization whatsoever!&#8221;.<\/p>\n <p>The concept came to be in a minute or so, since I already had past experiences in playing games with an &#8220;increase the timer&#8221; kind of mechanic. My idea wasn&#8217;t really that innovative.<\/p>\n <p><strong>What (miraculously) went right:<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li><strong>Theme &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong>I managed to follow it pretty nicely, squeezing in every last bit of the &#8220;10 seconds&#8221; mechanic I could in the game.<\/li>\n <li><strong><\/strong><strong>Music\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; I learned how to use PixiTracker, and make various mediocre tracks with it! Only two were included in the game, though, with at least one of them being incredibly annoying.<\/li>\n <li><b>Save System &#8211;\u00a0<\/b>I managed to squeeze in a basic save system. I just reused the code I used way back then for a school project (which is why I entered the Jam<\/li>\n <li><strong>Finishing\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; Hey, I finished it on time! That&#8217;s pretty damn good already<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p><strong>What went kind of wrong:<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li><strong>Overthinking\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; Once again, I was able to think of too much possible mechanics to the game. This really slowed me down, as my dozen or so ideas conflicted with each other.<\/li>\n <li><strong><\/strong><strong>Graphical Existential Crisis &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong>&#8220;Should I change my sprites? Ugh&#8230;&#8221;, and other similar gripes. Also, the graphics are extremely simple bordering on mediocre.<\/li>\n <li><strong><\/strong><strong>Horrible code\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; I recall some parts being poorly put together. An optimization nightmare.<\/li>\n <li><strong>Lack of timelapse\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; I wasn&#8217;t able to prepare a timelapse video.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>I&#8217;m pretty sure there are a lot more (especially on the wrong side), but that&#8217;s all I can think of for now. Anyway, it has been fun making my first LD game. It taught me a lot of things, and I did more in the first day than I did in a week or so (during my early days in making a game). I also learned how to balance the mechanics, and to consider that what might&#8217;ve been easy or hard for me might not be the same for the player.<\/p>\n <p>Also, my BGM creation skills suck.<\/p>\n \n <p>Tags: <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/jam\/\" rel=\"tag\">jam<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/tag\/postmortem\/\" rel=\"tag\">postmortem<\/a><\/p>","time":"August 26th, 2013 5:43 am","title":"shoot o\u2019 clock \u2013 Postmortem"}