{"assets":[{"original":"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/idea-300x232.jpg","local":"\/data\/posts\/2012\/10\/e7ad18e8a4bc05768c42ae51630ae8a5.jpg"},{"original":"http:\/\/www.ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/screen_big-550x411.png","local":"\/data\/posts\/2012\/10\/35b99031040fa1792ea71fd686e4b307.png"}],"author_link":"author\/mortalwombat\/","author_name":"MortalWombat","cat":"October Challenge 2012","categories":["October Challenge 2012"],"comments":[],"epoch":1349267940,"event":"","likes":4,"metadata":{"p_key":"78252","p_author":"MortalWombat","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"287262","p_title":"Diving into the horrible code mess I left","p_cat":"October Challenge 2012","p_event":"LD24","p_time":"1349267940","p_likes":"4","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":null,"us_name":null,"us_username":null,"event_start":"1345766400","event_key":"12","event_name":"LD24"},"source_url":"2012\/10\/03\/diving-into-the-horrible-code-mess-i-left\/","text":"

Greetings everyone!<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m in for the OctoberChallenge and I\u2019m really curious to see what I will be able to come up with.<\/p>\n

Here is my plan:<\/h4>\n

I will take my game \u201eIdeas\u201c which I made for Ludum Dare 24 and turn it into something which I hope will be commercially viable.<\/p>\n

For everyone who missed out on my LD entry:<\/p>\n

Ludum Dare 24: Ideas<\/a><\/p>\n

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

It also received quite the favourable rankings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

#4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Fun<\/td>\n\n

4.12<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

#20<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Overall<\/td>\n\n

3.92<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

#23<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

Mood<\/td>\n\n

3.81<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Nevertheless, I feel that I can still improve on it pretty greatly.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The name \u201eIdeas\u201c will only be a working title from now on as I have come up with a new story. It will still take place inside a persons mind, but with a drastically more serious tone to it. I don\u2019t want to give everything away right now so I\u2019ll just tell you this much: I want to hit some Inception-Fight Club\u2019esque emotions here!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty confident that i can pull this off, even though the time is really short. Time shortage also partially has to do with me starting to study Computer Science at the university this month.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

To better manage my workload I started to actually make 3 different TODO-lists:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • One for the entire month in which I drop everything that needs to be done at some point and then forget about it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \n
    • One for the upcoming week. I put about one weeks worth of stuff from the bigger list in here.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        \n
      • And then \u2013 you might have guessed it \u2013 one for the next day. In here I put one or two items from the weeks list.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        I hope this system will help to relieve the feeling of \u201eoh jolly good f**k \u2013 this project is (too) huge!!\u201c, as the smaller lists really break it down into more managable chunks and help beat the procrastinating demon lurking inside of me.<\/p>\n

        \u00a0<\/p>\n

        Back to the game.<\/p>\n

        I aim for 1-3 hours worth of playtime in the end so there is a lot of content to be created (comparing to the 2-20 minutes of the original entry\u2026 depending on how great or sucky your platformer skills are). There will definitely need to be a handful of new game mechanics to make the journey stay fresh and interesting the whole time.<\/p>\n

        \u00a0<\/p>\n

        Today I finally took a leap of faith and jumped right into the horrible mess of code I left after the LD. 8 hours worth of digging and I refactored most of it and scratched some parts (\u201eUI\u201c and the simple scripting) which need to be redone.<\/p>\n

        Gosh, that was scary! But now I can happily start on some new features and improvements which are desperately needed for a product that eventually shall sale.<\/p>\n

        \u00a0<\/p>\n

        There are of course a lot more things to consider, including a simple but hopefully effective business and marketing plan. I will try to update you about my progress at least every couple of days. Until then, take this screenshot which practically still looks just like my LD entry:<\/p>\n