Now before everyone’s going into hibernation again here’s a small Post Mortem for Chain Reaction. First i was not sure i was actually going to enter. I’ve partitiated in a few Ludum Dare’s before, but usually only when i could really use the full time. This year round that was not the case. I didn’t even reserve some extra timeout from the family. Still, once the theme was up i couldn’t help it. I strived for a rather simple game (simple as in simple to make) since any greater planning would go down the drain anyway. I’m rather glad how it worked out. My entry is not particularely innovative but things fell into place pretty nicely.
What went right: Having the general gameplay up and running as the first step This is actually the most important part for these kind of competitions. If you have a flaw in your gameplay design you still have time to refine it. It’s no use having nice technical gimmicks all around when the gameplay is crap. A working editor If a game is level based it’s one of the rather convenient things to have. Sure, with the given time nothing stops you to hardcode level data or even store it in some text file. Once you have an editor you can churn out levels at an alarming rate. And it’s a nice polish plus for the final version. Sound effect (thanks to DrPetters awesome tool) Usually one of my bad points. It’s easy to use a microphone and grunt/hiss/snarl some stuff but it also sounds exactly that way. DrPetters tool is a most awesome help as you can experiment and modify in just a few clicks.
What went wrong: Innovation? We don’t need to stinkin’ innovation! Not thinking too much about what to do i was glancing over the first shots of the other competitors. Lerc’s shot looked very nice and i thought about these circles being bombs. I’m glad that the gameplay came out very different though.
Seemed like fun until I got to a level that required tuning the bomb positions by pixel so I had to give up after trying it 20+ times. Otherwise looks good polished, but the levels would have just needed a bit more time.
Nice game, I got through all the levels! There does seem to be a problem, if I don't change anything and run it again sometimes there is a little difference. Also, with the "really nasty" level I think it should count if the center of the ball is in the rectangle, not require every pixel of it to be there.
This is a game I think I'd enjoy if it wasn't for the constant pixel-level adjustments which really utterly kills it for me, specially since the level design makes that seem intended. Other than that, well done.
A classic use of the theme, perhaps a bit too classic. I can't help but feel you kinda took the easy way out here, and yet at the same time, the game is fun. Guess you can't argue with a classic.
It's a good entry, but just like with Lerc's game, having to try and then redo with 1-pixel changes over and over was really tiresome. In this case it was worse, since the correct solution for some ball puzzles (or the one I found anyway!) involves the balls just BARELY tapping something, so they take about 10 seconds to actually get there before you find out if it works or not.
But don't let that fool you, it's a really good entry despite the frustration involved.
Nice. I bailed out at Bomb Golf, but up until then I had a lot of fun. Pretty good levels although they're not perfectly balanced (there were cases of a very simple level just after a hard one, but a breather is always welcome). Lots of polish, gives an overall smooth impression. Sounds are good.
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But don't let that fool you, it's a really good entry despite the frustration involved.
Lots of polish, gives an overall smooth impression. Sounds are good.