Day 0 \u2013 Friday night<\/strong><\/p>\nAfter work we head out for dinner as a group to brainstorm ideas based on the newly announced theme.\u00a0 We continue to brainstorm afterwards, listing concepts, themes, mechanics, etc. that we all like, but we have trouble nailing it down to a single idea.<\/p>\n
We agree on a basic underwater setting \u2013 from there, to gather further inspiration, we each split to work on our own prototypes\/concepts to see where our imaginations can take us.\u00a0 We reconvene a couple of hours later \u2013 we have the beginnings of our character and some very rough swim controls\u2026things slowly start to take shape.<\/p>\n
By the end of the night we have a good idea of how we want the swim mechanic to work, the look of our new character, and a comp for direction on the environment.\u00a0 We split for the night \u2013 sleep is important and we wanted to let the new ideas simmer over night.<\/p>\n
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Day 1 \u2013 Go time<\/strong><\/p>\nSaturday morning (or afternoon for some of us ;)) we reconvene and continue work:\u00a0 finalize the swim mechanics, flush our character design\/monster design, begin animation, stub out the level.\u00a0 From there we worked out the mechanics one step at a time \u2013 collectables that level up the character, two gained abilities chosen from a brainstormed list, etc.\u00a0 By Saturday night we knew what we were building and where we wanted it to go \u2013 but there was still so much to do.<\/p>\n
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Day 2 \u2013 Is it Sunday already?<\/strong><\/p>\nSunday is a bit of the blur (despite sleep being important it was proving more elusive than planned).\u00a0 The game was starting to look great, but the gameplay was lacking.\u00a0 Improvements to the monster fish made the game start to feel like a game.\u00a0 Later in the day the shockwave ability went in and things started to come together.\u00a0 When audio went in, it made the game a whole new experience \u2013 adding that creepy vibe and really selling it.\u00a0 We worked until 3am Monday morning frantically polishing every last bit we could.\u00a0 We were able to stub out a rough intro sequence and a finale sequence by the end, and we wired up the UI for a more polished experience.<\/p>\n
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Day 3 \u2013 Game day<\/strong><\/p>\nWe all work full time, and Monday was a work day.\u00a0 We fixed a couple of minor bugs before work and then a few more at lunch.\u00a0 Send the game out to the office for feedback, spend an hour fixing major problems, and then submit.\u00a0 We\u2019re done!<\/p>\n
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Lessons Learned<\/strong><\/p>\nFirst, if at all possible work in the same location.\u00a0 We all work in the same office and we were able to gather and work there for the majority of the project.\u00a0 It is impossible to overstate how much of an impact this had on the project.\u00a0 We were immediately able to hash out new ideas or brainstorm to solve challenges as they arose.\u00a0 It was a great way to work and I highly recommend it when possible.<\/p>\n
That said, the biggest take away from this experience for me was that you don\u2019t really need a fully flushed out idea to begin game development.\u00a0 When we started working Friday night the only bit we had figured out was that the game would be underwater.\u00a0 The rest came throughout the process, little pieces at a time.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until late Saturday that we really had most of the idea figured out.\u00a0 Don\u2019t wait until you have the perfect idea to make a game\u2026start making one and see where it takes you.\u00a0 Often the most fun and enjoyable parts of a game were mistakes or accidents that happened along the way.<\/p>\n
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Summary<\/strong><\/p>\nMonday evening and all day Tuesday I had this really strange feeling overcome me \u2013 it almost felt like we had been working for months on this project and were just now resurfacing.\u00a0 Another team member described the feeling as almost like being hung over.\u00a0 Ludum Dare was an amazing experience, and one I hope to repeat someday.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>","time":"May 3rd, 2014 12:56 am","title":"Diary of a Game Dev","title_was_empty":false}
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