Wrap-up of 2011

Well, 2011 is well and truly over. The past couple of months have been quite busy, I had my final exams for the year, then of course Christmas and NYE.

The main thing Ill mention in this post is what I got up to in December - Ludum Dare 22, a 48 hour game contest held 3 times a year. Its a contest with some big names from the game industry in it, such as Notch (the creator of minecraft)
This was my 2nd time doing the compo, and ultimately my 2nd failure to produce a game worth submitting.



I made several posts during the contest, listed below in order:

-Lets do this (But for goodness sake no kittens!!)

-And we’re off! (Finally)

-Half-ish time report

-Game over man, game over.

The main issue I encountered, just the same as my previous attempt during Ludum Dare 19, was that I spent way too much time on unnecessary details and a lot of the time got stuck battling with issues instead of finding quicker ways around or ditching ideas completely. I also could have planned a lot better, working on gameplay first and other details like the environment later depending on time.
Its something I hope to work on, leading up to the next Ludum Dare (#23) in April 2012. Im determined to at least finish something for the next compo.





Looking at Ludum Dare more optimistically though, I did get something out of it - other than sleep deprivation.
Throughout the 48 hours I spent some time developing a story for the game temporarily titled 'Adrift'. The story started out relatively simple but after a while it developed further, into something I feel strongly about completing. Its exactly what Ive been wanting to do lately anyway, since I havent really had a decent game project for well over a year and have been itching to get back into working with BGE.
So, at least I got a new game to work on out of the Ludum Dare experience this time round!

Im hoping to have some of the basic gameplay systems of 'Adrift' done by the time April comes around, so Ill be working on it on and off until then.


And just to wrap up 2011, heres a (cliché) list of my favourite movies and games from 2011:


Movies of 2011:
-Super 8
-Real Steel
-Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
-Rango
*Edit!* - Melancholia

Most played Games of 2011 (not necessarily released in 2011)
-Minecraft
-Amnesia the Dark Descent
-Limbo
-Skyward Sword
-Portal 2
-Oot3D (3DS)
-MarioCart 7 (3DS)
-Links Awakening (3DS)



Thats it for 2011 (finally) for my next post, Ill discuss some of my plans for 2012 and some work Ive already done this year.