LD31 Post Mortem

I didn’t spend nearly enough time planning. I saw what the theme was and jumped right into coding, not knowing where I was going. I ended up getting nowhere fast. I think next time, I’m going to force myself to spend at least the first few hours doing nothing but planning, brainstorming, storyboarding, etc. I believe my coding time will be much more productive if I know what I’m doing, and I’m not fumbling around trying to figure out what to do next.

I got hung up on what I thought the theme would be. I was sure it was going to be the snowman. I didn’t want the snowman. I really wanted machines or artificial life. When the theme came out and I started coding, I went with what was on my mind. The snowman. I saw the theme merely as a restriction. As I said before, more planning would have helped.

I think I need to start drawing things on paper before trying to make artwork on the computer. I usually end up trying to make sprites free hand, on the fly. I ended up getting some pretty poor results. I’m not that artistic, but I’ve got to be able to do better. Perhaps I can spend some time between compos practicing my sprite skills and learning the tools.

By the time I got to the last 12 hours, I was unenthused with my game. I put some time into making it at least playable, with a beginning and end. I just didn’t have the will to polish it. It’s not a great game, and I’m not terribly happy with how it came out. Because I was unhappy with the game, I didn’t really have the heart to put more time into it to make it better. I submitted it, but I wish I had it to do over again.

I struggled with packaging. I wrote the game using LWJGL and Slick2D. I’ve use this combination before, and I was able to get a web-based game working in the past. I have thus far been unable to get this one working. The new Java security requires web based jars to be signed. LWJGL published, over a year ago, an applet loader to embed LWJGL applications in a web page. They signed their applet loader with a proper certificate, but that certificate has since expired. Java will no longer run the applet loader in a browser. I haven’t been able to find a workaround or update. I submitted my game as a Windows based application only, using an executable jar. I need to figure packaging out as part of my pre compo prep work, so I’m not wasting time getting this working in future compos.

I was going to try to stream some of my development time. I spent some time on Friday, before the start, getting my stream set up and testing it out. I just ended up being so unenthused with the progress I was making that I didn’t want to do the stream.

Some things went well. I was able to spend a lot of time over the weekend on game development. My family gave me the space I needed to work. I had to go into the office for a few hours on Saturday, but that didn’t last too long. I got plenty of sleep.

Overall, I’m glad that I participated. I have several lessons to take away from the experience, and I hope that I actually learn from them.