Ludum Dare 21 is finished and rating time too and we have the rating results.

Vampire Runner was #290, not so good as other of our previous Ludum Dare games, but on the other hand there was a lot of games in this one, almost three times the games of the previous Ludum Dares.

Here are the scores Vampire Runner got in this Ludum Dare:

Position	Category	Score

#87		Community	3.22
#144		Coolness	4%
#159		Fun		2.94
#168		Humor		2.18
#290		Overall		2.75
#305		Graphics	2.50
#339		Audio		1.29
#345		Innovation	2.38
#450		Theme		2.00

Now, I want to share a small post mortem of the game and explain why I feel the score is what I expected.

What went wrong

  • As the game started like some kind of Canabalt clone, because my lack of imagination, I was a bit unmotivated so Saturday progress was really slow and unproductive.
  • I feel I lost too much time making the vampire animations and forgot about the environment assets.
  • The game lack of audio and that goes against the Ludum Dare score.
  • I forgot to reflect inside the game the connection with Ludum Dare’s theme.
  • Missing on-line high scores: it shouldn’t be so hard to add it as I have Face Hunt (and other games) experience but I was a bit lazy and didn’t. One reason to have this one is to make the game more competitive and also to know who is playing the game.

What went right

  • On Sunday, I almost restarted the way I was making the game and focused on making it really small and fun. It kinda worked.
  • Making the game available on a lot of platforms: Linux, Mac, Windows and Android.

Conclusion

I totally agree with the score of the game because I started with no motivation and for that reason I didn’t tried so hard, obviously that goes against making a good game. Here is a list of why I agree or not with each score.

  • Community: I shared a lot of stuff: source code, timelapse, made it work on multiple platforms. I believe that counts as community rating, so 3.22 is right for me.
  • Fun: Game IS fun (at least I feel that and some other people does), so 2.94 is right for me (maybe a bit more).
  • Humor: Game has a bit of humor when the vampire explodes, and maybe the vampire graphics are funny too, but only that, so 2.18 is right for me (even more than I expected).
  • Graphics: Only the vampire animation is something worth to value here, the background and obstacles are not so cool, so 2.50 is around what I expected.
  • Audio: Game has no audio, I am not agree with the score of 1.29.
  • Innovation: Game is almost a clone of Canabalt with some modifications, it has a bit of innovation but not too much, so I agree with a score of 2.38.
  • Theme: If you read the game description, it says what was the intention of the theme connection but as I failed to reflect that inside the game I believe 2.00 is right for me.

Thats all, hope you like it.