{"author_name":"vargonian","cat":"LD #22","comments":[],"epoch":1324988940,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"60002","p_author":"vargonian","p_authorkey":"7872","p_urlkey":"95754","p_title":"Ludum Dare 23 \u2013 \u201cLoner Jetman\u201d postmortem","p_cat":"LD #22","p_event":"LD22","p_time":"1324988940","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"7872","us_name":"vargonian","us_username":"vargonian","event_start":"1323993600","event_key":"8","event_name":"LD22"},"text":"

You can find my entry here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Loner Jetman
\n \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have to admit that I wanted to shoehorn one of my existing ideas into the theme, and by pure chance a Solar Jetman<\/a>-style game was a perfect fit. \u00a0I’ve always loved that game for the NES and think it deserves a remake. \u00a0I wanted to create it in Unity since I’ve been working with Unity for a while now and love it, and wanted some practice trying new things without worrying about consequences.<\/p>\n


\n The bad<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was unfortunately really tired coming into this competition, having just begun a well-needed vacation, so in total I probably only spent about 10 hours on this game. \u00a0As such it’s lacking in polish, has some annoying physics glitches and doesn’t have any real threat to the player. \u00a0I needed to hand-hold the player via GUI messages since I didn’t take the time to make things more discoverable.<\/p>\n

I would love to release a more polished version of this game but realistically I will be too busy working on my other Unity projects.<\/p>\n


\n The good<\/strong><\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the main mechanic is (in my opinion) fun, and reminiscent of the original Solar Jetman. \u00a0I can only imagine how much longer it must have taken Rare to get even basic physics working without the benefit of a modern game engine. \u00a0I am personally a fan of mechanics that involve a struggle toward a reward with steady progress along the way which doesn’t get undone. \u00a0I like games that start out as hard as they’re going to be, and get easier and easier as you progress toward the goal, whittling away at obstacles.<\/p>\n

In the short amount of time that I worked on this game, I learned a lot more about Unity since I wasn’t afraid to try new features to get the job done, without getting stuck in “analysis paralysis”, questioning whether or not I was approaching things the best way.<\/p>\n

Having a forum for people to comment\/critique the game really gives me motivation to do better for the next Ludum Dare. \u00a0It’s one thing to know what I did wrong; it’s another thing to see this reflected in player feedback.<\/p>","time":"December 27th, 2011 7:29 am","title":"Ludum Dare 23 \u2013 \u201cLoner Jetman\u201d postmortem"}