{"author_name":"GhostBomb","cat":"LD #34","comments":[{"author_name":"WizzardMaker","time":"January 3, 2016 8:45 pm","epoch":1451871900,"text":"If you want good looking waves, take a look at some perlin noise tutorials","spam":"N"}],"epoch":1451869140,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"9286","p_author":"GhostBomb","p_authorkey":"45321","p_urlkey":"44501","p_title":"A brief Post Mortem for Captain NinjaBeard","p_cat":"LD #34","p_event":"LD34","p_time":"1451869140","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"1","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"45321","us_name":"GhostBomb","us_username":"\/author\/ghostbomb\/","event_start":"1449792000","event_key":"31","event_name":"LD34"},"text":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/screenshot_captain.png\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-531366 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/screenshot_captain-550x306.png\" alt=\"screenshot_captain\" width=\"550\" height=\"306\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/screenshot_captain-300x167.png 300w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/screenshot_captain-550x306.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/screenshot_captain.png 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n <p>As soon as the two button theme was announced, I knew that I wanted to make a game where you used a sword and a gun. \u00a0The sword would be used to gain forward movement\u00a0as you cut through enemies, and the gun would use backwards momentum as the gun recoil would push you back from wherever you were shooting at. \u00a0My first idea was for a side scrolling infinite runner type of game, but in my head the mechanics didn&#8217;t seem to\u00a0mesh that well\u00a0for that kind of game. \u00a0My second idea was for a top-down room clearing shooter, which seemed like a better fit for the mechanics, but I wasn&#8217;t in love yet. \u00a0The idea I went with was for an arcade arena shooter that used gravity to\u00a0add extra importance and nuance to the movement mechanics.<\/p>\n <p>The end result is Captain NinjaBeard. \u00a0This is my fourth Ludum Dare and in my opinion, this is by far my best game. \u00a0The mechanics work really well to create a frantic, fast paced experience. \u00a0You can of course go <a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/ludum-dare-34\/?action=preview&amp;uid=45321\">HERE<\/a>\u00a0to play, rate, comment, subscribe, follow the game on Twitter and MySpace, etc.<\/p>\n <p><a href=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/actuallygood.png\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-531438 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/actuallygood-550x335.png\" alt=\"actuallygood\" width=\"550\" height=\"335\" srcset=\"http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/actuallygood-550x335.png 550w, http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/actuallygood.png 684w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n <p>(Just ignore that fact that I&#8217;m plummeting to my death in this picture)<\/p>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p><strong>Things I liked\/ went well:<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>The Mechanics\u00a0work\u00a0like a dream. \u00a0The wild movement and spray of your gun complements the incredibly precise movement of your Katana really well. \u00a0It&#8217;s always nice as a designer when things just work.<\/li>\n <li>The difficulty curve is nice and snappy. \u00a0One of the biggest mistakes I made with my second game, Final Breakfast, was that the difficulty curve was so slow that you would never want to replay the game. \u00a0Arcade games often need a much steeper\u00a0curve than you&#8217;d think in order to keep them interesting across multiple playthroughs. \u00a0I ended up more than doubling the speed of the difficulty increase in this game, and I still think it wouldn&#8217;t hurt to\u00a0be raised a bit more.<\/li>\n <li>The Primary color pallette works great. \u00a0It wasn&#8217;t something I planned since the beginning but it was something that sort of developed as I started to finalize the look of the game. \u00a0The red and yellow objects really pop against the deep blue backdrop. \u00a0The color pallette isn&#8217;t completely consistent accross some of the earlier sprites (like the UI) but that&#8217;s just a small issue.<\/li>\n <li>The death sound\/animation turned out really well. \u00a0It&#8217;s always a huge plus when dying in a game makes you laugh.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p><strong>Rough spots:<\/strong><\/p>\n <ul>\n <li>I was completely out of my element with trying to make a seascape. \u00a0Originally, I was going to add waves and ripples to my ocean backdrop, but when it came time to actually drawing the background, my attempt was&#8230; pretty embarrassing. \u00a0I ended up just slapping some parallax on to some blue rectangles and clouds, which actually turned out looking ok. \u00a0It&#8217;s very clean, but it&#8217;s not particularly impressive.<\/li>\n <li>Sound was a nightmare. \u00a0Usually just going into SFXR and cranking out some sounds is the easiest part of the whole process, but as I found out, SFXR can&#8217;t make sound effects that loop very well, which I needed for my laser enemy. \u00a0Luckily, I eventually remembered that Milky Tracker, the tracker I used, can make excellent\u00a0looping samples. \u00a0I was going to make a looping sound for the rockets as well but I couldn&#8217;t make anything that sounded pleasant so I just made a one time sound effect for when the rockets enter the game which ended up being an important game element since you could now tell when the rockets have spawned and how many there are in the group without seeing them. \u00a0I was also going to make a sound effect for the waves you create when you get close or shoot at the water, but I couldn&#8217;t make anything that didn&#8217;t sound like ear cancer so I just made the spray silent. \u00a0Overall, the sound turned out fine, but I lost a lot of time and got pretty frustrated through the whole ordeal.<\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n <p>So far, apart from my first game, all of the games I&#8217;ve made have been lighthearted, simple arcadey action games. \u00a0Next Ludum Dare, I&#8217;d like to try something a bit more complex with maybe a bit more mood and atmosphere, but I really can&#8217;t know what I&#8217;m going to make until the competition starts and the theme is announced. \u00a0I don&#8217;t want to force myself into making a game I&#8217;m not really inspired by so who knows what kind of game I&#8217;ll make next.<\/p>","time":"January 3rd, 2016 7:59 pm","title":"A brief Post Mortem for Captain NinjaBeard"}