Clouds 'n Crows: A post-mortem

Clouds 'n Crows: A post-mortem

A lesson on what not to do in a 2-day game jam

Ludum Dare is my favourite game jam. From the early days of me just checking out the games posted, to actually making games for it myself, and making friends along the way (Cheers David), as well as fun rivalries (Cheers Chris), it truly is an event I hold dear to my heart.

With five successful compos under my belt, all with fairly highly-rated entries, I said to myself: What could possibly go wrong?

Turns out, a lot can go wrong, and a lot did, in fact, go wrong. In this post-mortem, I will discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of developing an NES game in a matter of two days.

The good

The project was not a complete loss. The biggest success was easily managing to compose a full soundtrack for the project, which is the part I struggle with the most. Seeing positive reactions on the Ludum Dare website, as well as on my Twitter really made me happy despite my poor composing skills. Take a listen to yourselves!

https://twitter.com/FG_Software/status/1611683024789458946

I had already gotten positive reactions on my previous game's music, Super Crusher Fighters, despite it only having one tune. Seeing those comments makes me want to make an even better soundtrack to my next Ludum Dare project.

Furthermore, I also feel like I outperformed myself in the graphics department. This is one area where I pour my heart and soul in, and I do feel like it gives so much soul to the game. Especially when looking at it on a CRT, where the artifacts enhance the package I believe. Here's how it looked on PVM 20L5, running on my Twin Famicom.

At last but not least, this game is fairly different from my other Ludum Dare submissions. Even though it may be left in an unfinished state, I'm certainly planning to think more outside the box in my coming submissions.

The bad

Since you're reading this, it should be obvious that things did go sour. Let's start by going back to what I mentioned earlier. I took a great risk by going out of my comfort zone, and sadly it did not turn out too well. Taking risks is fine, but I feel like I should've planned and researched this much further in order to make it not suck in practice.

Furthermore, such planning involves getting things done more efficiently. I certainly feel like I've focused too much on audiovisuals at the expense of gameplay. When doing a platformer, I know what to expect so it was fine so far, but when going into uncharted genres for me, I should absolutely experiement more with gameplay since it is my first time doing a more esoteric genre. A valuable lesson for next time I try something more original for my submission.

Moreover, on the topic of time management, I feel like my approach to this game jam has been a bit too relaxed. The importance of taking breaks and a good night's sleep shall not be underestimated, but in the end you still have to ship a game out in two days. 

Kids, don't end up like this

I shall continue taking regular breaks next time, but focus more on quality breaks instead of lazy/procrastination breaks. Which brings us to...

The ugly

I think what really brought down this project was two things. The first of these two was absolutely overconfidence. Sure, I've had 5 successful compos on the NES, which is no small feat, but this time I've gotten too confident over my ability to ship a compo game until the reality of the deadline hit me like a truck. And truth be told, I needed that. I am human after all, not a game designing robot (which would be nice sometimes, hehe).

And now, the second reason the project failed; a true classic of Ludum Dare, the one elephant in the room

(The elephant in question, taken by my dad during his trip to Namibia)

SCOPE CREEP MY BELOVED

Yes folks, I've done it. I've bit off more than I could chew at Ludum Dare. Having four different gameplay loops might have been the main reason the project was doomed. With the theme being "Harvest", I thought of a game where you go through all four seasons on a field, and where you interact with the harvest and the crows trying to ruin it.

But looking back at my last LD entries, there is one thing that sticks out with Clouds 'n Crows. It has way more things to do, and thus to finish, than any of my other games, with Antenna Antics already being ambitious enough with having an essentially open-world with a minigame. Normally this would be a great thing... Not so much when under a strict time limit. Therefore, my biggest lesson from this jam is to not go overboard with the planned content, as one polished gameplay loop/objective is better than four badly-made ones.

In conclusion, this project was a great kick in the balls I so desperately needed. A humbling experience that made me realise the following key points for my next Ludum Dare:

• Better time management, especially breaks
• Better research of unfamiliar game genres
• Invest more time in game design
• Don't go in too confidently/too relaxed
• Focus on one well-made gameplay loop instead of many

And with those conclusions taken, that should be a wrap for this post-mortem. See you in Ludum Dare 53, hopefully a more successful one thanks to the lessons I learned