Postmortem
This effort was really an excuse to try out my new camera. Surprisingly, I think the images inspired me with ideas when often staring at an empty text editor doesn’t. It’s amazing what can be made out of ordinary objects using creativity. For instance, the splash screen was from the front of my garbage can. Also, composed images such as the menu screen I think came out really well and were quite fun to create.
This inspiration lead to what I would have to consider my most complete entry in any competition. The game has a splash screen, a working menu screen, a working game with both win and lose scenarios, sound effects (using SFXR) and even a few humorous voice effects. When the game is over, the game will successfully go back to the menu screen, and finally, there is actually a win screen. That is a lot to accomplish in 15-18 hours or so.
I think also a lot of my success was based on the tool I choose, BlitzMax. It really takes a lot of the labor out of game-making that you have to deal with if you use tools like SDL and C++. On top of Blitz, I chose a game framework from Ignition that makes it even easier to build retro-style games. Having not used BlitzMax in years (and never having used the Ignition framework before) did cause some problems though. I spent way too much time looking at example code and the documentation in both BlitzMax and the framework.
Overall, I am pretty happy with my entry, in terms of what I expected to produce and what I actually accomplished. I wanted to create a really simple game with using some photographic imagery, and I think I met my goal. It also helps that I have done several LDs before and so it seemed like I could gauge my progress and was able to make quick decisions/sacrifices to ensure that something playable would be completed in time. For example, putting in animations in the misfit toys or making them non-stationary would have been very cool, but I realized right away I wouldn’t have had anything finished in time if I set out to complete either of these goals. Having some experience helps you realize what you can and can’t do in the time period you have left. I was able to avoid dead-ends before they became gaping, black, time-sucking vortices.
I think overall though I had some success with BlitzMax, I probably won’t use it next time. There are a few annoyances with the language and IDE and I have to believe there must be something better out there. So far the best I’ve found is XNA, but I’m still looking for that perfect and language and framework for my next game to push me to the next level.
I have to say that overal the game-making experience of this contest is so much fun. I didn’t really start until Sat, and I only worked about 8 or 9 hours a day, but it certainly does get a little crazy at the end there when some bug was preventing my game to work at all with just a couple hours left on the deadline.
Can’t wait for the next LD, and look forward to trying everyone’s entries!