ludum psych

there’s a cool post on ‘how to do agile well and simple’ by meheleventyone* that I’m using as a minor inspiration for my first trip through ludum. thanks meh, appreciate the effort. hope ya come back soon.

without stealing all of meh’s content (go ahead, read the piece, it’s pretty good), the basic tenet is a circular cycle of

[ideate] -> [create] -> [evaluate]

this shouldn’t really be much of a surprise to anyone who’s done any agile development ever. but it’s a good reminder of where all the agile stuff comes from, and it’s a solid foundation I can push things around from.

so for ideation, I have some artifact-level deliverables. a brainstorm mind map to throw ideas against the wall. a vision statement. a high concept piece. you know, the usual docset when you’re building a game.

but Ludum Dare is only 48 hours, finch. do you really want to blow your time building docs?

why yes, rhetorical question-asker, I do… if those docs are accompanied by a playable game. and that’s kinda the point. ideation is great, but it has to produce something concrete. creation is great, but if you never get to evaluate what you’ve created, you never get to ideate again on what you’ve learned. flywheel. self-improvement.

so that’s my plan anyway. intersperse design docs with playables. see if I can make a thing happen this way. expect gnashing of teeth this weekend, but I’m curious enough to give it a go.

^{*(it’s kind of silly that a process intended to be simple needs needs a post to simplify it, but that’s a philosophical discussion I’m not prepared to have in a post about an indie game jam. catch me in a philosophical mood later)}