I guess I’ll write a little bit here about how my game turned out. Here is a screenshot as a reference.

Entry: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?action=rate&uid=4628

This was my first Ludum Dare and I’m glad I participated. My game was originally intended to be a reverse tower defense game but it didn’t really work out exactly like I would have liked it to. I wanted it to be a frantic run through a bunch of randomly put together rooms with a bunch of towers shooting at you. I had that working about 24 hours in, but I came to the realization that it wasn’t fun at all. I contemplated quitting at that point because I was frustrated and a little angry that my game wasn’t fun. I ended up salvaging my game by reducing the number of followers the character has and trying to make the player be strategic with the way he navigates through the rooms in order to protect his followers. I’ll be honest that my game still wasn’t very fun, but I’m glad that I stuck it out and finished.

What went right:

• I finished!
• I liked the follower mechanic.
• I think my in-air spinning knife animation was pretty awesome.
• I tried something different. (As opposed to the type of game I would normally make)

What went wrong:

• Music. I have no musical talent at all, but sometimes I manage to get lucky and make a good track. I tried, but I failed.
• Game wasn’t fun.
• Lots of the code was poorly written.

Takeaways

• Awesome knife animation…
• Various future game ideas
• Motivation
• Experience

I really enjoyed participating and I definitely plan on participating in future Ludum Dares. The community here is awesome and I am very thankful for the people who work hard to organize this and keep everything running smoothly. You are doing an awesome job!

Tags: escape, LD21, postmortem