My second Ludum Dare and can already see how much I’ve improved relative to my last attempt.

Between my last dare and this one, my skills as a programmer and games developer have certainly improved, which is reflected in my entry. But yet again I need to face the fact that 48 hours isn’t a lot of time, and I need to scope and prioritize my project accordingly. That means cut that one mechanic you’ve been working on for hours due to one elusive bug and get to work on graphics and sound.

Seriously people, I cannot emphasis it enough, the graphics and the sound are among the most important features in the game. It doesn’t have to be flawless art but choose a scheme/color palette and follow it. And there is always a lot more of it then you think, get to work early.

But I’ve also learn’t that I can accomplish so much more using a develop as you think approach, rather then spending the first few hours of the dare simply planning out an idea with pen and paper. My game didn’t take shape until at least 20 hours in when I finally decided on an art-style and began work on some graphical assets. I also finally took the time to learn to make particle effects (about damn time), which is good, because the best ways you can improve the feel of your game is particles, sounds, and game reactions (environment or npc). Oh and I’ve been reminded just how much I love doing AI work, I regret that I wasn’t able to find the time to code something a bit more complicated for my npc’s.

However I managed to complete enough to be proud to submit my work, you can find my game, Crustacean Chaos, by following this link.

All in all it’s been a lot of fun and I can’t wait until the next one.

So, I’ve completed my very first Ludum Dare, and I must say, I’ve learnt a great deal about the game development process.

First and foremost, you can view my entry (We Fall Again) from this link.

It didn’t take me long to come up with a well thought out and intriguing idea, but damn, was I in for a treat when I discovered that there was no way I was going to implement everything I set out to do.

Establishing the core mechanics and gameplay wasn’t hard, despite minor setbacks I thought I was on track and possibly even ahead of schedule by the 12 hour mark. This was not the case, but I didn’t realise, so at this stage I thought I could slow down a bit.

While I had completed the majority of the technical work by the first night (In Australia, the competition started 11 am Saturday) I thought I’d stay up and try pull an all nighter, only after midnight did issues start to arise, I won’t bore you with the details but here is a rough rundown of the things I’ll be paying more attention to for future Ludum Dares:

• Sound design – in order to get this right (especially in a game where the sound will make or break it) this must be considered early and refined extensively, dedicate a good portion of your time to sound, if you believe you require it.
• Graphical assets – being a programmer at heart, this was the first time I seriously had to make my own graphical assets, and let me tell you, it’s damn hard to find which colour palettes ‘work’ with the atmosphere of your game and what kind of artstyle won’t look out of place in your environment. Less is more is the lesson I learn’t too late.
• Menu’s, GUI’s, introductions, and formalities – you never consider putting in a credits page until the end right? While you shouldn’t be dedicating too much precious time to the little things, remember to consider them and be ready to implement at a moments notice.
• Finally, be sure the player has a clear view of what the goal of your game is – I found that my game was a bit difficult to understand a bit too late, and in my haste to correct and clarify the objective(s) I believe I actually ‘damaged’ my creation.

Overall the challenge was a lot of fun and I really look forward to the next Ludum Dare, I hope to be able to compare my next games to this one and think “I sure have come a long way since then”.

All the best everyone!

Komradus signing out.