It was my second time participating in a Ludum Dare, and this time around I made a game called Baum about a bone-eating tree with hands for roots being afraid of spiders. You can check it out (and rate it) right here, if you haven't already.
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| Baum |
The Good:
Here's some of the things that worked really well.
- Not working alone. I actually met up with a friend and we both worked on our LD entries in the same room at the same time (check out his game cell.erity), brainstorming together, exchanging ideas, playtesting each others games and giving each other feedback. It was an amazing experience and far more fun than going at it alone.
- Not giving up. I actually started out working on a completely different game for the first ~24h before realizing that it was far too complex a concept to be fully realized in time for the compo. I really didn't want to submit an unfinished experience, so I stopped working on it. I was really demotivated. I slept a couple of hours and played some games. At that point, had I been alone, I would have probably given up on this LD and called it a weekend. But I was feeling some sort of responsibility towards my friend. I was the one who talked him into participating - I couldn't be the one who wouldn't have a game to show for it. So I just started over with something completely new.
- Not giving a shit. Really, when I started working on Baum, I was in a different state of mind than I usually am when working on games. I didn't care if this game was going to be the best I could do. I just needed to get something playable done, and quick. So I went with the first most simple gameplay idea that came to mind, and just did it.
Playing as a tree collecting things with its roots? Sounds like a game. Let's do it.
It was a somewhat scary, yet refreshing experience for me personally, and I while I think Baum is definitely one of my weaker works, I got great feedback so far and at least some people seem to really dig it. And in the end, that's what making games is all about for me.
- Incorporating player feedback into the design. Now, at first I had no idea where to go aesthetically with Baum. I usually do very abstract graphics in my games, because I hate (and am very bad at) doing art. This time though, I was actually working from an idea based on setting, not on gameplay, so I didn't want to go abstract with it. So I just did some really crappy placeholder graphics and worked with those. Then, a playtester (we had some visitors throughout the jam) remarked that those slowly moving root-hands really creeped him out. So I went with it and developed the whole style around the idea of a disturbingly bizarre mood, which fit in perfectly with the concept. I never would have come up with the game's look as it is now, if it weren't for that one player who was creeped out by my shabby placeholder graphics.
The Bad:
Here's some of the things that didn't work all that well.
- Not making sounds. Again. This has been the source of complaints in my last LD entry, and it was again this time. I totally understand it, as sound can be a very important tool to give gameplay feedback as well as creating atmosphere. Now, the problem is, I still don't know how to do good sounds, and that's why I never bothered to put any in my games (unless someone else had made them). I am planning, however, to finally get around to learning some audio basics at some point. If everything works as planned, my next LD entry will have at least some sort of noise in it. Promise!
- Not documenting my progress. I'd love to show some screenshots of earlier versions of the game and how it changed over time. I'd also love to show some stats on how much time I spent with what part of the development, how many hours I worked in total, ect. Problem is, I didn't bother to keep track. In retrospect, I do regret it myself, as I'd be quite interested in analysing my workflow.
The Feedback:
Here is some of the response I got from comments on the game, as well as talking to people who played it.
- People love the mood. Most comments I got were not about the gameplay, but the atmosphere of the game. It was a simmilar thing with my last LD game, where people also seemed to enjoy the tense atmosphere. I find this very interesting, considering I never really start making a game with the intent of creating a certain mood. I always start with gameplay, and usually find a tone while experimenting with the mechanics. I'm wondering how a game would turn out where I actually build it around a certain tone I want to set instead. I might try that in the future.
- Confusing visual feedback. Basically, I used the same particle effects when the tree is eating a bone (positive) and when a spider is crawling up its roots (negative). In retrospect, that was a pretty stupid idea, and happened mostly due to my own laziness.
- No sense of urgency. Some people didn't like the slow pace of the game. They missed some timer, or depleting resource to make the game more tense. Also, someone managed to exploit the fact that there is no urgency to essentially break the game and get real high scores without much effort. This one really bugs me, because I think it's a fundamental flaw in the game's design, and one I could have easily fixed.
- The spiders are very unpredictable. Some players didn't like that and said they would prefer it if they would move in more of a pattern, as to enable more strategic planning. On this one, I heartily disagree. I think, most of what makes up the tension of the game, is never being quite sure, how the spiders will behave. Predictable spiders would make the game a lot less interesting in my eyes.
- Some people hate waiting. Some don't. I got both positive and negative feedback on the 'spiders crawling up the roots'-part before the game is over. Some people didn't like waiting until the spider reached the tree each and every time, while others really enjoyed getting a bit of the creeps whenever it happened. Easy solution would have been to make it skippable. Oh well.
- Most people hate spiders.
The conclusion:
LD29 was a blast, I learned a lot, and I made a game about a tree with hands. Lovely!
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