{"author_name":"swizzcheez","cat":"LD #26","comments":[],"epoch":1368922860,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"42573","p_author":"swizzcheez","p_authorkey":"16129","p_urlkey":"78208","p_title":"My personal post-mortem","p_cat":"LD #26","p_event":"LD26","p_time":"1368922860","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"16129","us_name":"swizzcheez","us_username":"swizzcheez","event_start":"1366934400","event_key":"16","event_name":"LD26"},"text":"<p>Well, this has been a great ride. \u00a0<a title=\"Pixel Dust\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-26\/?action=preview&amp;uid=16129\" target=\"_blank\">Pixel Dust<\/a>\u00a0was a great first (complete-able) LD and the following are some notes, especially to myself, for the next round:<\/p>\n <ul>\n <li><span style=\"line-height: 13px\"><strong>Do not bother with an editor<\/strong> (yes, there is one, but it&#8217;s obfuscated). \u00a0Use static, static, static files or better yet internal data structures instead. \u00a0PD started with internal data only but ended up wasting time with an editor half-way through &#8212; though it reused a lot of the code from the player.<br \/>\n <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Screenshot-from-2013-05-18-221451.png\"><img class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-259596\" alt=\"Screenshot from 2013-05-18 22:14:51\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Screenshot-from-2013-05-18-221451-300x208.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"208\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Screenshot-from-2013-05-18-221451-300x208.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Screenshot-from-2013-05-18-221451-550x381.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Screenshot-from-2013-05-18-221451.png 859w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n <\/span><\/li>\n <li><strong>Focus on instructions and user hand-holding more.<\/strong> \u00a0PD has them, but they could have used a lot more attention. \u00a0In fact, in future make sure to write them as early on as possible (after getting some prototype working) as a test of the game design.<\/li>\n <li><strong>Don&#8217;t add scoring\/win condition stuff too close to the end of the project.<\/strong> \u00a0One reason PD is so unbeatable on some screens is partially due to a bug whose fix I&#8217;m holding until after the LD compo. \u00a0That bug stems from trying to add a scoring mechanic right at the end of development. \u00a0Try to get all game-mechanic related stuff done by the mid-way checkpoint.<\/li>\n <li><strong>More UI drawings should be made immediately following basic analysis.<\/strong><\/li>\n <li><strong><\/strong><strong>Save more time for &#8220;flair&#8221;. \u00a0<\/strong>A\u00a0simple score update animation would have made a world of difference &#8212; we&#8217;ll see after the post-compo update. \u00a0also animations relating to the &#8220;dust&#8221; in Pixel Dust might have been good.<\/li>\n <li><strong>Spend more time on the release message<\/strong>. \u00a0Just copying the journal doesn&#8217;t cut it.<\/li>\n <li>Possibly be more willing to adjust issues after the compo. \u00a0The rules for this are a bit hazy, but I&#8217;m thinking I could have fixed my scoring bug following submission.<\/li>\n <li>Get all hosting\/repo stuff out of the way ahead of time.<\/li>\n <li>Need to add a place to gather issues right on the web interface (even if a link back to github).<\/li>\n <li>GAE was a mixed bag. \u00a0Got things going quickly, but did have to spend a little time working through GAE issues\/idiosyncrasies as well (especially in the process of storing\/retrieving boards from the DB &#8212; see point 1 though).<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p>Some things that worked well:<\/p>\n <ul>\n <li><strong>Brainstorming\/analysis phase<\/strong> &#8212; that first 1-2 hours of analyzing the options was a clear help.<\/li>\n <li><strong>HTML<\/strong> &#8212; worked fine for this type of project and make most of it cross-compatible. \u00a0I suspect that faster games might require too much tuning though to keep fast.<\/li>\n <li><strong>Web server from the start<\/strong> &#8212; if using HTML, why not?<\/li>\n <li><span style=\"line-height: 13px\"><strong>Use of TODO file instead of standard bug\/issue tracker<\/strong> to develop initial features. \u00a0This ties the results nicely with the version control and is very quick to manage. \u00a0Consider adding a trigger to make sure the file changes on every merge, especially to master.<\/span><\/li>\n <li><strong>Avoiding graphics saved a lot of time<\/strong>, but that was partially because of the theme. \u00a0May not be so lucky next time, but definitely avoiding making pictures is a time saver.<\/li>\n <li>Making the site look and feel flow reasonably well with the game.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p>And most importantly &#8212; <em><strong>make sure to have fun; if you don&#8217;t, likely no one else will either!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <p><em><strong><\/strong><\/em>And I did with Pixel Dust. \u00a0Hopefully others will too as the post-compo updates are deployed.<\/p>","time":"May 18th, 2013 7:21 pm","title":"My personal post-mortem"}