Smugglers’ Cave Belated Postmortem

This was my first Ludum Dare, I’m very glad I took part and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

Thank you to everyone who played and rated my game.

I’ve played a lot of wonderful games and got a lot of inspiration.

Now, my awful screenshot:

and my humble ratings:

Coolness 100%

295 Theme 3.60

421 Innovation 3.34

548 Humor 2.34

739 Fun 2.84

739 Audio 2.34

856 Overall 2.91

897 Graphics 2.54

929 Mood 2.53

What went well:

I finished: Something was submitted!

The concept: I think the idea behind my game holds water and although it’s a small idea, I’m rather pleased with it.

Feedback: Thank you everyone who commented. There was some very instructive feedback and it’s good to know that some people enjoyed playing.

Time management: Since I was at work all day Saturday and Sunday, I didn’t have a lot of time, but I got (most of) the bases covered. My to do list was handsomely ticked. Even though it was lacking polish, my game was a game and you could play it.

Napping: A really useful strategy to refresh the mind.

Not so much:

The graphics and general presentation were very basic, as reflected in my scores, and I didn’t have time to do any music at all. I need to think more about the appearance and feel of the game as a whole – and avoid settling for some coloured rectangles and filters in GIMP.

Likewise, the controls were very unpolished. A bit more tweaking and they could be slightly less painful.

I made the game too difficult. Early on I thought it would be too easy, but I pushed it too far the other way.

What to do next time:

Plan in advance to get some time off work over the weekend. Unfortunately though, I can’t take Sundays off during December.

Brush up on my pixelling skills and general beauty-a-bility.

Be more participatory(?).

If you want to play:http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=38469