Ludum Dare, Postmortem
Odyssey (LD30) Postmortem
Results are out for Ludum Dare 30, and my game Odyssey did pretty damn good!
| Rank (of 1493) | Category | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| #13 | Fun | 4.11 |
| #24 | Theme | 4.16 |
| #34 | Overall | 4.00 |
| #60 | Innovation | 4.00 |
| #200 | Mood | 3.45 |
| #269 | Audio | 3.22 |
| #337 | Humor | 2.71 |
| #484 | Graphics | 3.19 |
The #13 ranking in Fun just blows me away! My aggregate rating is 93.6% (+0.1% from last time).
Look! I’m in the top 25!
Yaay!
What Went Right
- The game is fun! Which was my primary focus this LD. I wanted a unique and interesting mechanic, and people seemed to really enjoy it.
- I’ve got time management down to a science. The game was good enough for submission by Saturday night, which gave me all of Sunday for audio, level design, and tweaking.
- Overall, the game is a nice, polished experience. The camera is well done, the controls are good enough (though could be better), and the animated title screen is a nice touch.
What Went Wrong
Graphics!
Sweet mother, I always get hammered by graphics! 😓
I thought I did pretty good this time, but looking at other submissions, I see I still have a long way to go. The good news is that it’s easy to compare myself against better submissions.
For example, take a look at Good News Delivery Co. by DragonXVI:
Good News Delivery Co. by DragonXVI
Compare this against Odyssey:
Odyssey by velipso
Good News Delivery Co. is a game where you are a spaceship traversing between planets – just like mine. Yet it (rightfully) ranked much higher in graphics: #29 versus my #484. Playing the game gives me hints at how I can improve:
- The screen is bigger, which gives more room to show off the graphics.
- The planets have glow and shading applied to them, with a smoother overall texture.
- Space has softer stars, with bluish gas clouds.
- The spaceship is much more easily recognizable.
- A lot more particle effects.
This is one reason why I love game jams so much: I get to see how I rank against my peers, and learn from them when they school me 😀.
Overall
So… yes. I still have to work on my graphics. But overall, I am really happy with my game, and blown away at the #13 in Fun. That really gives me a shot of confidence that I am on the right track.
That being said, I still have a lot to learn from the people who consistently rank high. But they better watch out – I am persistent 😀.