{"author_name":"initials","cat":"October Challenge 2010","comments":[],"epoch":1286436360,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"69151","p_author":"initials","p_authorkey":"2840","p_urlkey":"104954","p_title":"Picking Up Chicks is Hard When Your Car is a BMX","p_cat":"October Challenge 2010","p_event":"LD18","p_time":"1286436360","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"0","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"2840","us_name":"initials","us_username":"initials","event_start":"1282262400","event_key":"4","event_name":"LD18"},"text":"

This was my first entry into a Ludum dare and I’ve got to say I had a blast, and most of all I learned a lot.<\/p>\n

It started with a Friday afternoon pixel sketch of a guy on a BMX. And with that I went full steam ahead and created a game with a wry sense of humour. The game has generally been panned as not being fun, and I have to agree. It’s hard to take creative criticism seriously, even harder when it comes from 4chan, but the fans will be your harshest critics, so you should listen when they speak.<\/p>\n

Hit the jump for the specifics and nitty gritty of the game.<\/p>\n

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To make this game I went with Flixel and FlashDevelop. Firstly, I’m a huge Canabalt and Gravity Hook fan, so it made sense to use what they use. I’m still pretty astounded that Flash gives away their whole deal for free! You can make Flash games without paying Adobe a cent. I chose to take advantage of this.<\/p>\n

I used Photoshop CS5 at work to make some of the pixel art, and they have made some great improvements if you are a pixel artist. If you zoom in the pixels are shown with grid lines automatically. I thought that was a great move by Adobe.<\/p>\n

I coded using Actionscript, and I highly recommend the book Flash Game University by Gary Rosenweig if you’ve never coded games in Actionscript before. Or if you are a pro, dive right in, it’s not hard at all, and Flixel has made it super easy.<\/p>\n

High scores and ads are by MochiMedia. These weren’t as easy to implement using FlashDevelop as it was when I did earlier games using Flash CS3. But I got them working. I am thinking of doing a tutorial for getting them working, but I want to try out getting Social elements of Mochi’s API first. If anyone really wants these tutorials let me know.<\/p>\n

And now the game!<\/p>\n

Picking Up Chicks is Hard When Your Car is a BMX<\/a><\/p>\n

I tried to troll 4chan with my own advertising campaign but no one took the bait.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And yes, I did earn a dollar! $2.04 so far, making a grand total of $55.05 over my game making career at Mochi.<\/p>","time":"October 7th, 2010 2:26 am","title":"Picking Up Chicks is Hard When Your Car is a BMX"}