Since most things that went wrong happened in the first 6 hours, I’m going to start with what went wrong.

What went wrong:

I didn’t really love the theme. Not because I couldn’t come up with anything, but because it was so obvious what to make: An atmospheric metroidvania/ zelda clone. The problem was that that sums up pretty much 50% of all the games I have ever made, including the game I made for the last Ludum Dare, and I was hoping that the theme would force me to make something different.

So now I had to do that myself, and that wasn’t easy. Most ideas I had required too much animation talent to tell the story. I’ve played around in unity to come up with ideas for a 3D game, played games to come up with ideas. It didn’t help. 6 hours into the competition I decided that there was nothing left to do but make an atmospheric zelda clone, and I made some music and tiles to capture the right mood.

 Music

What went right?

Then I decided that I really didn’t want to make another zelda clone. So I went through all the gamegenres to find a genre that I didn’t make any game in yet and I got excited when I realised I had never made a turn based stratigy game before. I knew from the start that I wouldn’t be able to make that within the 48 hours, so I decided to simplify it. It was going to be turn based, but I was making a puzzle game instead. I also still wanted to keep the atmosphere I created before. A concept was born. I was going to make a puzzle game with exploration elements.

After that it was programming with the usual problems, making programmer art, realising some of the programmer art was going to be final, level design, adding extra’s, adding endings, hiding a kitten somewhere etc. The game was finished 10 minutes before the (first) deadline.

Lessons learned:

When stuck: Don’t think, just make! Ideas will come later.

When stuck and tired: sleep.

The game:

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=rate&uid=5496

This was my second Ludum Dare and I feel like this entry is an improvement over the last one, so that’s nice.

The result is a 13 level puzzle game with an exploration vibe and three possible ‘endings’.

I did manage to hide a kitten somewhere, and even though it is pretty obvious where it is, it won’t be easy to get there!

My submition can be found here.

I have a small video with the gameplay in it. I lose in it because I don’t want to give away any solutions in a game with only about 15 levels. It also doesn’t show any of the items yet.

http://vimeo.com/33860030

(is there a way to embed?)

A key in the shape of a kitten? What will be behind the door it unlocks?

Designing levels isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. On top of that the puzzles are very trial and error in nature. But I still think it can be a lot of fun to play through.

At the moment I have 5 levels done, but only two (maybe three) of them actually offer a challenge. I think I’ll stop at 10 levels, then focus on sounds and animation, and then if there is time left add some more levels.

But looking at the clock, there is still a full day left, I think I will be able to deliver something decent this time.

The most important part of programming is finished, and I can spend most of the remaining time on level design, animation, sound and perhaps things like secrets and achievements.

Well, actually I was in since the first hour but I had a really, really slow start.

Right now I have:

• A concept
• Some graphics:

• A theme song: Title Song
• A game over song: Game Over