I love the Ludum Dare Community.

If ever I was doubting my abilities or in need of a pick-me-up, I just need to look back at the comments on my submission for LD#23. Not only is there some great positive feedback, there is some really well thought out constructive criticism, and even an offer to help if I want to expand on the game (which I totally will).

For some of the criticism, if not all, I found myself nodding while reading. I’m able to understand where people are coming from and I can definitely see room for improvement. Here’s some notes on my submission in response to the feedback I have already received:

1. Walking is slow / sticky

Yuck. Yes, I knew this one. Its the reason I put a note in the instructions to indicate that jumping was important. Jumping gives you the momentum to move forward at a decent rate, and you can even get into orbit by running and jumping! However, the mechanism that I use to halt a player when they land on a planet causes them to be “sticky” when attempting to walk on the surface without jumping. I know why this occurs, with induced drag to prevent grounded players from falling through the planet, but I don’t know the best way to fix it (yet). Below is an example of running (constantly) and jumping (constantly) to achieve an orbit:

2. Score resets to 0 on death

I knew this one shortly after submission, and it was 3am in my timezone. The score does accumulate, and its a single line fix to restore. Its a real shame this didn’t work for the final release though

3. A mini-map could be useful

Agreed. I didn’t even think of this, and its probably due to the fact that I knew how the mothership was moving (it spawns the mini UFOs). I also planned to play a sound each time a mini UFO was spawned, but it was low on the priority list. A minimap would be one of the first things I attack in a future version!

4. Whats the floating log in the sky?!

Haha! It was left there as it was an attempt at a non-spherical planetoid. In early gravity tests, I was walking around it instead of around the sphere. This was done at the request of a mate of mine. It was left in as I felt it gave the player a bit of additional spatial awareness when moving about the planet. But.. yeah. This should be removed, and replaced with other planetoids (perhaps that you can JETPACK to, if you want!)

5. Explosions!

Woo! Yeah, the explosions were very important, I think. They achieved a couple of good things for the gameplay:

• Players (and other UFOs) get blown back on explosions. This gives some space between attackers, and it is forceful enough to blow other UFOs off the planet for a bit, giving the player some time to recover and get moving again.
• It gave a real sense of attack / achievement to the destruction of the UFO. Simply removing the object from the game would have been really lame I think.
• The use of particles in the explosion was a “cheap” way of simulating bits flying off the UFO on fire.
• Who doesn’t like a good explosion? (If you love needless explosions, see this LD#23 submission)

6. Gameplay a bit “stiff”

Agreed. I think with some tweaks addressing the points above could resolve this, in addition to extending to provide other planets, rather than just the one.

Conclusion? I’m super happy that I even finished LudumDare. I have attempted it in the past, and once previously, I submitted for the Jam. This time around, I was able to finish on time, and I’m supre happy with the feedback, and great constructive criticism. My game submission is by no means brilliant, but I’m encouraged by the feedback, and will definitely continue with it!

Thanks everyone!

Don’t forget to give me 5 star ratings! (I know you want to vote me 6 stars, but 5 is as high as it goes.. )

Well, its been a long (almost) 48 hours!

My submission is finally in! http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=5709

Check it out. I learnt a lot while making this game, and I learnt about some of the changes in the newer version of Unity.

I think with some love and attention, this could become quite a fun casual game.