{"author_link":"\/users\/f1krazy","author_name":"F1Krazy","author_uid":"f1krazy","comments":[],"epoch":1777922426,"event":"LD59","format":"md","ldjam_node_id":432457,"likes":4,"metadata":{"p_key":"96893","p_author":"F1Krazy","p_authorkey":"1071341","p_urlkey":"312542","p_title":"RAVTZN - Post-Mortem","p_cat":"LDJam ","p_event":"LD59","p_time":"1777922426","p_likes":"4","p_comments":"0","p_status":"WAYBACK","us_key":"1071341","us_name":"F1Krazy","us_username":"f1krazy","event_start":"1776470400","event_key":"113","event_name":"Ludum Dare 59"},"node":{"_collation":{"body_sanitizer":"TextUtils::SanitizeHTML via existing importer","event":"LD59","removed_author":false},"_superparent":424249,"_trust":11,"author":71341,"body":"With the jam winding down, it's time for my customary look back at how things went: what went well with *RAVTZN*, what didn't, and my plans for the next jam. As always, though, I'd like to start by saying a big \"thank you\" to everyone who's played and rated the game so far, and if you haven't, [there's still time](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/59\/ravtzn)! I've only got a couple more games left to review in return, so if you'd like to add to my backlog, please leave a comment!\n\n----\n\n## What Went Well\n\n![good.gif](\/\/\/raw\/da6\/11\/z\/7317b.gif)\n\n* I'm still proud of the various technical bits and pieces I was able to program into the game, including the decryption algorithms themselves, the mock waveform visualizer, and the autosave with hints upon resuming. The game looks and feels more complicated than it actually is under the hood.\n* I've always been something of a design minimalist, and with *RAVTZN*, I feel like that worked in my favour. The game has no music, very few sprites or sound effects, and takes place more or less entirely on a single screen. That gives it a distinctive presentation style but also meant I didn't have to spend ages creative assets and had more time to spend on the puzzles and whatnot.\n* Another jam, another bug-free release! That might not sound like much of an achievement, but most of my past Ludum Dare games have been riddled with bugs, so it's always a personal point of pride when I manage to release a game that just works.\n\n## What Went Badly\n\n![bad.gif](\/\/\/raw\/da6\/11\/z\/73171.gif)\n\n* My ADHD continues to play havoc with my ability to take part in these jams. I forgot to book the Monday off work, so I had to make do with the 48-hour Compo period, and then I kept losing focus and couldn't make the most of that time. It didn't help that...\n* I'd originally planned for a longer storyline with about 15 puzzles, including signals that used multiple layers of encryption. However, when I came to implement the user interface for multi-layer decryption, I realised it just wouldn't work with the control system I had in place. It would've worked just fine with mouse controls, and in hindsight I should've gone with that from the start, but by the time I realised that, I didn't have enough time to make the switch, so I had to scrap the multi-layer encryption idea, cut the game short, and improvise a new ending.\n** I'll take the unprecedented step of caveating this one. The improvised ending works well enough that you'd never tell it was improvised, 15 puzzles might have been a little too long, and considering how much people struggled with the regular Vigenere ciphers, then Affine + Vigenere ciphers absolutely would've had people tearing their hair out. So maybe it's for the best that I had to cut the game down after all, even if the circumstances that forced me to do so were less than desirable.\n* In my rush to wrap the game up, I neglected to include a very important feature: the ability to look back over previously-solved messages for hints as to what the encryption key could be, meaning that if you don't write it down or can't remember the previous message, you're screwed. I'd recognised this problem during development, and had hoped the mentor's hints would be enough to nudge you in the right direction, but sadly not, and pretty much every review brought this up as a criticism.\n\nMy bright idea to name the game \"RAVTZN\" should probably earn a dishonorable mention, as I feel like it's massively hurt the game's discoverability. With four days to go, it's entirely possible that this will end up being the first Ludum Dare where I don't get enough ratings to be scored. (If you'd like to know *why* the game is called that, play it!)\n\n## What Happens Next\n\n![next.png](\/\/\/raw\/da6\/11\/z\/7317c.png)\n\nI don't need to wait for the scores to come in to know that this was my worst Ludum Dare since *BreakEven* all the way back in LD48. It's nowhere near *as* bad (it's playable, for starters!), but it definitely pales in comparison to the likes of *Color Critters* or *Six Seats Left*.\n\nOnce the rating period ends, I'll go back and do a post-jam update that adds the ability to review the most recently decrypted message, and maybe a couple of other tweaks, but after that I'll be back to working on my full-time project, *Prism Warriors* (wishlist it on Steam!). I remain committed to entering all five remaining Ludum Dare and will strive to do better next time.\n\n----\n\nThat's all for now! Good luck to everyone when the ratings come in!","comments":0,"created":"2026-05-04T15:15:54Z","files":[],"files-timestamp":0,"id":432457,"love":4,"love-timestamp":"2026-05-05T02:07:24Z","meta":[],"modified":"2026-05-05T02:07:24Z","name":"RAVTZN - Post-Mortem","node-timestamp":"2026-05-04T19:20:55Z","parent":426058,"parents":[1,5,9,424249,426058],"path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/59\/ravtzn\/ravtzn-post-mortem","published":"2026-05-04T19:20:26Z","scope":"public","slug":"ravtzn-post-mortem","subsubtype":"","subtype":"","type":"post","version":1374270},"node_metadata":{"n_key":"432457","n_urlkey":"312542","n_parent":"426058","n_path":"\/events\/ludum-dare\/59\/ravtzn\/ravtzn-post-mortem","n_slug":"ravtzn-post-mortem","n_type":"post","n_subtype":"","n_subsubtype":"","n_author":"71341","n_created":"1777907754","n_modified":"1777946844","n_version":"1374270","n_status":"WAYBACK"},"source_url":"https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/59\/ravtzn\/ravtzn-post-mortem","text":"With the jam winding down, it's time for my customary look back at how things went: what went well with *RAVTZN*, what didn't, and my plans for the next jam. As always, though, I'd like to start by saying a big \"thank you\" to everyone who's played and rated the game so far, and if you haven't, [there's still time](https:\/\/ldjam.com\/events\/ludum-dare\/59\/ravtzn)! I've only got a couple more games left to review in return, so if you'd like to add to my backlog, please leave a comment!\n\n----\n\n## What Went Well\n\n![good.gif](\/\/\/raw\/da6\/11\/z\/7317b.gif)\n\n* I'm still proud of the various technical bits and pieces I was able to program into the game, including the decryption algorithms themselves, the mock waveform visualizer, and the autosave with hints upon resuming. The game looks and feels more complicated than it actually is under the hood.\n* I've always been something of a design minimalist, and with *RAVTZN*, I feel like that worked in my favour. The game has no music, very few sprites or sound effects, and takes place more or less entirely on a single screen. That gives it a distinctive presentation style but also meant I didn't have to spend ages creative assets and had more time to spend on the puzzles and whatnot.\n* Another jam, another bug-free release! That might not sound like much of an achievement, but most of my past Ludum Dare games have been riddled with bugs, so it's always a personal point of pride when I manage to release a game that just works.\n\n## What Went Badly\n\n![bad.gif](\/\/\/raw\/da6\/11\/z\/73171.gif)\n\n* My ADHD continues to play havoc with my ability to take part in these jams. I forgot to book the Monday off work, so I had to make do with the 48-hour Compo period, and then I kept losing focus and couldn't make the most of that time. It didn't help that...\n* I'd originally planned for a longer storyline with about 15 puzzles, including signals that used multiple layers of encryption. However, when I came to implement the user interface for multi-layer decryption, I realised it just wouldn't work with the control system I had in place. It would've worked just fine with mouse controls, and in hindsight I should've gone with that from the start, but by the time I realised that, I didn't have enough time to make the switch, so I had to scrap the multi-layer encryption idea, cut the game short, and improvise a new ending.\n** I'll take the unprecedented step of caveating this one. The improvised ending works well enough that you'd never tell it was improvised, 15 puzzles might have been a little too long, and considering how much people struggled with the regular Vigenere ciphers, then Affine + Vigenere ciphers absolutely would've had people tearing their hair out. So maybe it's for the best that I had to cut the game down after all, even if the circumstances that forced me to do so were less than desirable.\n* In my rush to wrap the game up, I neglected to include a very important feature: the ability to look back over previously-solved messages for hints as to what the encryption key could be, meaning that if you don't write it down or can't remember the previous message, you're screwed. I'd recognised this problem during development, and had hoped the mentor's hints would be enough to nudge you in the right direction, but sadly not, and pretty much every review brought this up as a criticism.\n\nMy bright idea to name the game \"RAVTZN\" should probably earn a dishonorable mention, as I feel like it's massively hurt the game's discoverability. With four days to go, it's entirely possible that this will end up being the first Ludum Dare where I don't get enough ratings to be scored. (If you'd like to know *why* the game is called that, play it!)\n\n## What Happens Next\n\n![next.png](\/\/\/raw\/da6\/11\/z\/7317c.png)\n\nI don't need to wait for the scores to come in to know that this was my worst Ludum Dare since *BreakEven* all the way back in LD48. It's nowhere near *as* bad (it's playable, for starters!), but it definitely pales in comparison to the likes of *Color Critters* or *Six Seats Left*.\n\nOnce the rating period ends, I'll go back and do a post-jam update that adds the ability to review the most recently decrypted message, and maybe a couple of other tweaks, but after that I'll be back to working on my full-time project, *Prism Warriors* (wishlist it on Steam!). I remain committed to entering all five remaining Ludum Dare and will strive to do better next time.\n\n----\n\nThat's all for now! Good luck to everyone when the ratings come in!","title":"RAVTZN - Post-Mortem","wayback_source":[]}