part 1 of this post mortem can be found here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/the-mother-of-all-games/the-mother-of-all-games-post-mortem

Idea Management

Day one of Ludum Dare has always been a bit experimental for me. While I might have a rough idea of where I'm going, it's more a case of me throwing stuff together and seeing where I can go form there. Only towards the end of day one does the vision start to come together, and I will start to set myself specific goals for the next 24 hours: A checklist I can work through methodically.

For LD38 I began with bouncing ideas off other people, and the vision for the project came together more quickly than normal. I was able to draw up a checklist earlier, and I think that helped my productivity overall.

I've always firmly believed that it's good to remain open minded and keep our options open. Especially in a game jam, because our game ideas might not be very good in hindsight, so we should allow them to evolve and adapt during the course of the weekend. But I've learned from LD38 that it can be beneficial to get our ideas down quickly, so we can focus our efforts and maximise our productivity.

I feel it's helpful to remain aware of both of these approaches, rather than saying one is better than the other. They both have some merit.

Time Management

For some hours each day I like to get my head down and work without distractions. To re-center myself, and bring my focus sharply to the task at hand. But most times I benefit from having plenty going on around me, like music, television, chatting with friends on irc, or with their livestreams playing beside me. I find activity stimulating as it sets pace, and helps me get into fifth gear, which I can struggle to get otherwise. Other than that, breaks were taken at irregular intervals for real-life needs and snacks.

My previous Ludum Dare entries have involved working feverishly through the night to around 4am. It's tempting to stay awake another 20 minutes to add a small feature, but without care we can easily burn through 3 hours adding little features like this. When we're tired, we rarely do our best work nor work as efficiently, and the next day we'll probably still feel tired with decreased productivity. I suspect we lose more than we gain.

For this LD I decided to sleep close to my normal hours, and I believe this was beneficial. Normal sleep hours somehow enforced a start/stop time in my mind. I didn't find myself laying awake at night thinking of what to add next, nor how I might code some particular thing. I got good quality sleep, and other than a short headache from staring at my monitor all day, I didn't suffer for LD :D

Play it here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/the-mother-of-all-games