Barchok Blog

For LD11, the theme was Minimalism, and I decided to do a minimalist take on a Japanese style RPG battle system. The results were mediocre, and in the end, I averaged a score of about 2.8, the highest being 3.3 for theme, out of a possible five. As for what went right, and what went wrong, well, not much went ‘right’, but I still managed to complete something worthwhile, that might be a bit better once it gets fleshed out.

What Went Wrong

Art: The biggest thing that went wrong was the art. While what was there worked, and really wasn’t terrible, there wasn’t much there. This is mostly due to my lack of art skills, and the length of time it took to make what I did have. Making the graphics that are in the game as it stands took a few hours, and while I wanted to make more monster graphics, and possibly battle animations, I simply didn’t have the time required. I probably should not have chosen a game type that required the level of graphics I wanted, or I should have done the graphics in more of an old school outline style that would have been easier to create. In the end, the lack of actual graphic variety proved the biggest downfall, in combination with the other major problem, balance.

Balance: The other major issue. Near the end of the competition, I tried to solve the problem by creating a spreadsheet with some attack/defense formulas, and while in theory what I had should have worked, the game started out hard, but quickly became incredibly easy. This could have been solved with enough time, but as it were, I was working against the clock, and didn’t want to rush to get something uploaded and ready at the last second. As it stands, while the art was a major flaw, due to not providing much feedback to the player, the lack of game balance made things boring, and not nearly as fun as it should have been.

Other: There were other minor issues, as well. The interface was confusing, and mostly meaningless to anyone who wasn’t familiar with the games I was copying, and things like the magic system got complaints for not working, which was true if you didn’t know you could power up your magic (something which wasn’t explained anywhere). There was a distinct lack of an actual game over screen, instead just returning you to the title screen. This confused a few more people, since there wasn’t really a true goal, either. All this goes to show why testing your game on others is a good idea.

What Went Right

SDL: Again, SDL being so easy to set everything up made it easier to get into making the actual game. It also makes porting a game a snap. There’s not much else to say here, though.

Sticking to a schedule (mostly): I knew where I wanted to go with the game, and I knew how long I had, so I did my best to get things done on time. I still went with an idea that was a bit too big, but at the same time, I was able to keep things pretty simple, at least enough to finish something resembling a game.

Final Results

While I didn’t get high ranks, I did finish a playable, if slightly boring, game in 48 hours. It also made me realize that just because something seems natural or self explanatory to you, it might be confusing to other people who’re trying to play your game. It’s a good lesson for any software designer, since most things can easily get bogged down with features that hardly anyone can use the bloody thing.