{"assets":[],"author_link":"author\/jeremias\/","author_name":"Jeremias","cat":"LD #26","categories":["LD #26"],"comments":[],"epoch":1368417420,"event":"LD26","likes":3,"metadata":{"p_key":"78949","p_author":"Jeremias","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"287959","p_title":"The Prospector (Post-Mortem)","p_cat":"LD #26","p_event":"LD26","p_time":"1368417420","p_likes":"3","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":null,"us_name":null,"us_username":null,"event_start":"1366934400","event_key":"16","event_name":"LD26"},"source_url":"2013\/05\/13\/the-prospector-post-mortem\/","text":"

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

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I know, a lot of people propose to start with a playable prototype and set up proper gameplay as fast as possible, but I noticed something during the last jams\u2026\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026the longer the time advances, the more tired I am, lacking in concentration (obviously). Additional, starting with gameplay always led to overestimate myself and therefore coding and bugfixing until the end, rushing some graphics here and there. So as the timer expired, I always had a game which was, respective gameplay, not finished, and had not that art I wanted to make.<\/span><\/p>\n

So this time I made it the other way around \u2013 and (I think) it worked in terms of \u201cI am satisfied what I made\u201d. If it plays or looks good, is truly a different kettle of fish (wow, the dictionary spits some funny things out\u2026 \u201cthis is a different kettle of fish\u201d is in german something like \u201cthis is written on another paper\u201d\u00a0 : D).<\/span><\/p>\n

At first, I made the background and the different areas where the player can walk on and implemented the generation of the map, the highlighting of areas where the cursor is on as well as other (graphical\/interface) stuff, but no resource management or the player\u2019s movement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Grasslands, forests, mountains, lakes and snowy landscapes.<\/p><\/div>\n

Afterwards, icons and tooltips were made and implemented, showing some dummy values in the game. The graphics and interface as well as some very basic programming stuff took the first day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Hunt for food, draw water, chop wood, stay warm and find the resources (fishing grounds, herbage and ores).<\/p><\/div>\n

The fear of not finishing the game and the case, that I have actually only one day to make the programming of the gameplay, forced me to decrease the graphical amount which therefore limited the complexity and amount of the gameplay. I did not changed graphics or added some during the second day, so I totally could focus on making a game based on the graphics. The result was a lot of time for bugfixing, playtesting, balancing and such stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, there are some things in my framework (on top of XNA) which need too much time to program (implementing the interface, the areas for click and hover events etc.). Additional, I really need a particle library\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, this post mortem was somehow short, as I focused only on one aspect. Did you have a jam where you started with the graphics at first? Worked it or was it a fail? Let me know!\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can play my game right here!<\/span><\/a><\/span>\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Tags: post-mortem<\/a><\/p>