{"assets":[{"original":"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/map21-550x345.png","local":"\/data\/posts\/2014\/12\/81cda3cb79dd3fb5912f98a126a50183.png"},{"original":"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-17-at-12.23.33-AM-550x363.png","local":"\/data\/posts\/2014\/12\/621e2fd796e8f80751db71e01469f4ad.png"},{"original":"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-10-at-11.17.43-PM-550x343.png","local":"\/data\/posts\/2014\/12\/f47819d8f1d0b01be7ec9339d5a7a294.png"}],"author_link":"author\/pixlexia\/","author_name":"Supernaught","cat":"LD #31","categories":["LD #31"],"comments":[],"epoch":1418805360,"event":"LD31","likes":11,"metadata":{"p_key":"82553","p_author":"Supernaught","p_authorkey":"0","p_urlkey":"293285","p_title":"Adrift Postmortem","p_cat":"LD #31","p_event":"LD31","p_time":"1418805360","p_likes":"11","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":null,"us_name":null,"us_username":null,"event_start":"1417737600","event_key":"26","event_name":"LD31"},"source_url":"2014\/12\/17\/adrift-postmortem\/","text":"<p>LD31 is our 6th Ludum Dare. And after our failed attempt last August where both of us got sick on the last day (and later quit on the last few hours of the jam), we had one goal this LD: to make sure we finish the game this time.<\/p>\n<p>And, long story short: finish a game we did!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-31\/?action=preview&amp;uid=25961\"><img alt=\"map2\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-427910 size-large\" height=\"345\" src=\"\/data\/posts\/2014\/12\/81cda3cb79dd3fb5912f98a126a50183.png\" width=\"550\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Here\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-31\/?action=preview&amp;uid=25961\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Adrift\">Adrift<\/a>, a game about making friends, solving puzzles and teamwork.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>What went well<\/h2>\n<p><img alt=\"Screen Shot 2014-12-17 at 12.23.33 AM\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-427923\" height=\"363\" src=\"\/data\/posts\/2014\/12\/621e2fd796e8f80751db71e01469f4ad.png\" width=\"550\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Pretty much everything in the Art department went well.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u00a0Characters.<\/strong> We always wanted to make a game with dorky adorable characters. The candy-ish color palette also went well with the cute character design.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Story<\/strong>. The last 3 Ludum Dare games we made were fast-paced action games, so we thought<em> hey why not give puzzle-y story-based games a shot?<\/em>\u00a0Our initial idea was to let the\u00a0players\u00a0get\u00a0attached to the main character(s) and maybe leave them with an emotional ending. Which leads us to the\u2026<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ending.\u00a0<\/strong>We don\u2019t want to spoil this to you guys so just check out the game and make sure to get to the ending scene! But basically we think\u00a0we made a pretty decent\u00a0ending for the really short game.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>What\u00a0didn\u2019t go so\u00a0well<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-10-at-11.17.43-PM.png\"><img alt=\"Screen Shot 2014-12-10 at 11.17.43 PM\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-427919\" height=\"343\" src=\"\/data\/posts\/2014\/12\/f47819d8f1d0b01be7ec9339d5a7a294.png\" width=\"550\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Level design and mechanics.<\/strong>\u00a0During the first two days we made lots of different puzzle element mechanics such as stepping on switches to activate\/deactivate traps or\u00a0open doors. We planned to make lots of different \u201cmini levels\u201d and compile everything (the whole map, the entire game) on the 3rd day. While we were able to do this, some mechanics weren\u2019t included in the final \u201cmaster level\u201d due to time constraints, so a lot of hours spent\u00a0into implementing those unused mechanics were wasted. As a result, the \u201cmini puzzle levels\u201d in the game were pretty repetitive (Blue always pushing boxes) and the new mechanics introduced later into the game weren\u2019t utilized as\u00a0much.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gameplay.\u00a0<\/strong>We had lots of interesting puzzles when making the mini levels, but based on past experiences with the previous LD\u2019s, people don\u2019t want to invest a lot of time on your game. So we intended the game\u2019s puzzle-y parts\u00a0to be not so complex and frustrating to solve. This backfired a lot though because now I think the game isn\u2019t really\u00a0much fun to play and the puzzles not satisfying to solve. The upside though is most players can easily finish the whole game and see the end scene. And we\u00a0<em>badly<\/em> want the players to see the end scene!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Theme.\u00a0<\/strong>Halfway through the jam and we still couldn\u2019t come up with a concrete connection to the theme other than that the whole game is played in one whole\u00a0level\u00a0(or one Unity scene). But hey, finishing a game not related to the theme is better than not finishing a game related to the theme!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>TL;DR:<\/strong>\u00a0Overall,<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>we think we made a pretty solid and adorable\u00a0game. Although the resulting gameplay wasn\u2019t as fun to play as we thought\u00a0it would be, everything we planned from the start went right, and the feedback has been really great so far and nothing we didn\u2019t expect.<\/p>\n<p>If you reached this point, thank you for reading and we hope you enjoy Adrift! See you next Ludum Dare!<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Pixlexia<br\/>\n(Follow us on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/TeamPixlexia\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>!)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-31\/?action=preview&amp;uid=25961\" target=\"_blank\"><img alt=\"25961-shot0.png-eq-900-500\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-427936 size-medium\" height=\"188\" src=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/25961-shot0.png-eq-900-500-300x188.jpg\" width=\"300\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-31\/?action=preview&amp;uid=25961\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Adrift\">Play and rate our game!<\/a><\/h2>","time":"December 17th, 2014 8:36 am","title":"Adrift Postmortem","title_was_empty":false}