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And Then There Was Pong (and then breakout, and then space invaders, and then another game)
So I finally got around to writing one of these post-mortem/compo whatchamacallits and, looking back in a retrospective light, I probably should have chose a slightly better concept, especially for my first time. When the theme was announced, I sat there behind my computer and thought, “You know what I should definitely do? I should make 4 games in 48 hours and then tie them all together with transitions.” This temporary lapse of sanity lead to literately down to the last minute (and a few minutes after) coding.
So without further ado, What didn’t not go right:
-I finished a game for the first time in 48
-I ended up with a product that was really pretty cool
-I didn’t die of sleep deprivation
-Because of my retro-esque theme, I didn’t have to worry for hours about graphics, which also plays into…
-Sound, if there is anything that has ever stopped me from finishing a game more than graphics its sound. But with pong and space invaders as parts of my game, sound design wasn’t really a problem.
What didn’t do definitely not didn’t go wrong
-My concept, a mash up of several games getting progressively more advanced, did not lend itself well to a game jam. Particularly because of the mash up of several games part, which requires several games to be made in 48 hours.
-Another issue with the down to the wire coding was the total lack of testing. I think I tested the game cover to cover 3 times.
-GUI, I have nothing to say about how bad that was, apparently your not supposed to throw that in as an after-thought.
-The lack of a replay button was something I spent the next hour and a half after the deadline thinking about, that’s another thing that’s usually a standard among games.
-Scaling up was impossible. If I wanted to add another level, I would have had to spend 8 hours coding an entirely new game.
This is a game that is definitely going on my shelf, and I’ll probably end up adding more levels to it over time. Over all this was an amazing experience, and I look forward to next time.