So this was my first Ludum Dare – ever. The only thing I had expected was to have “something that doesn’t crash – and it has a gameover screen” and a funfun time doing it. Largely, this was a succes.
First of, a few things of note about the compo itself. One thing is some of the submissions that are simply astounding for a mere 48 hour project. Several of them are basically “Newgrounds-ready” and with a production value that compares to games with several months of dev time. Being able to launch that much content (and of such a high quality) in so little time is both intimidating and inspiring.
The other thing of particular note to me is the very liberal interpretation of the theme. Being a hardcore rule jockey I intended to infuse my game with every ounce of the theme I could muster, the phrase itself being not only a corner stone but the very pivotal point of the interactive experience. This stands as a stark contrast to by far most of the entries I’ve rated so far (about 70 as of the time of writing). Mostly it was a question of slapping out the phrase within the first 15 seconds or two game screens and just have it done with – then send the player onwards to something else. It strikes me as unfortunate, as I perceived the theme not only to be a loose constriction (and at this point, more a labelling requirement than a constraint at that) but a creative demand on the developers. However, several games managed to use the theme in subtle and unspoken ways. All manner of partnering mechanisms have been displayed in ways I wouldn’t have dared to imagine, and it’s been a thrill to experience an actual interpretation of the theme as a gameplay mechanic more than simply a phrase or a meme. Thank you to those devs for the experience 
Now, back to my poor excuse for contemporary satire. As I woke up four hours into the compo and saw the theme I had an instant vision of the game and its purpose. I wanted to expose and criticize the theme as it has manifested itself in modern-day zombie horror games, basically from the transposition “it’s dangerous to go out alone. but I’m not going to go out with you and instead offer you something that may or most likely may not be of any assistance to you in your coming challenges”. Intended as a light-hearted jab at the large body of zombie games I wanted to depict the eternal and largely futile journey of post-apocalyptic survivors in the wasteland. The actual gameplay challenge would lie in very simple mechanics from one round to another against a horde of enemies with no particularly discernable features.
What became my downfall, I think, boils down to experience – pure and simple. I have never constructed a “finished” product before this weekend, and I spent a lot of time getting to know library mechanics of flixel I had never worked with before. I spent time getting to know musagi and sfxr and lost almost an hour of work trying to make musagi export wav files (an issue most likely caused by sound card and driver). Being an incarnated code monkey I live by the addage “content comes later”, constructing frameworks, boilerplate, mechanics and anything that is made with a text editor until I absolutely have to put something into image or sound.
To be fair, though, the final version differed primarily only in content, but I would have liked to do these things:
- More items. Either 12 distinct items with different mechanics or 3-4 base mechanics and a slew of aesthetic variations on them. I ended up with 3 release, 1 coded item. The final item started out as a sparkler (don’t ask), turned into a flamethrower (simpler implementation), finally a stick (even simpler). The stick was basically a burning spear and so I removed it.
- An actual way to die from the challenge, not from boredom.I had planned more zombie types and I would have liked distinct options for defeating each, to make sure the player actually had to think while playing.
- Prettier graphics. All over. 6 hours before deadline I was suddenly struck with a graphical style I could’ve pulled off if I had the time. I had to rely on a mouse and Paint.NET to draw the barebone necessities.
- A more solid soundtrack. I wanted to make a single ambient musical soundscape underlying the complete game, while subtracks would play within each game state to underline their purpose. I simply didn’t have the time or skill to compose something that could have done it properly.
In the end, however, I’m satisfied with myself, and I’ll prepare better next time. Buy a drawing tablet, have all the necessary software installed beforehand and spend weekends up to the compo running drills to prep myself.
Now then, I’d better get back to enjoying the other entries. I’ve been laughing steadily the past two hours over one entry or the other and there seems to be no end in sight 