Hello Ludum Dare friends, I am writing a book on game jams.  As part of the research I wanted to ask you if you had any anecdotes or advice you’d like to share for achieving game jam success!  In particular, funny stuff is what I’d like to hear most. =)  One liners, haiku, yoda-like wisdom… you name it. Update: I’m loving all the haiku (5-7-5 syllable poems) please submit more!

McFunkypants
blog: www.mcfunkypants.com
twitter: @McFunkypants
google+: http://gplus.to/gamedev

I can say, you can count me in for:

Mini-LD #28 ☑
LD #21 ☑

Soo, yeah. That’s it. I posted it way too early.

- Folis

Okay, I, thePalindrome, wanted to ask which would be better, as I want to be prepared for my first (mini)LD…

Which is better, making the game with C++, or AS3?

I have experience with C++ and Java, I’m thinking C++, but it wouldn’t be web-compatible…

What would you guys say?

Soo, yeah I think about volunteering as the second person – besides Awesome McFunkypants – to do a keynote, but there’s something that kinda stops me from volunteering.

Well, as far as my little, crippled brain knows I am the youngest Ludum Dare participant, as I’m only .. (prepare for instant death) only 14 years old..

So, there is only a 50% chance of me getting picked, but if I actually am to do a keynote, who wants to see a 14-year-old talking ‘n’ stuff`?

Heya

So I had to make this game for game-design-school instead.

You control a virtual-reality-submarine in several missions. Also, torpedoes.

While it is fun, it needs a few weeks of polish I couldn’t add due to time-contraints. Anyway, have fun.

Now this is over I can once again concentrate on the next challenge.

-Matthew

Seeing that the competition date of the mini LD is also the GMC Jam’s competition date, I may enter this time. I couldn’t get an engine up for the “ALL TALK” miniLD. It seems Game Maker does not like text-based games. But I’ve expanded my horizons to Stencyl, so I hope those game creator software will be accepted.

I haven’t really decided whether to enter into the Mini-LD, but if I do enter, here is what I’ll use:

• C++ (language)
• CMake (build tool)
• Code::Blocks (IDE)
• OpenSceneGraph (graphics/input/gui library)
• OpenAL (sound library, if any)
• Bullet (physics library, if any)
• Blender (modeling)
• Inkscape (images/textures)
• LMMS (music/sound)

That being said, I’m not 100% sure I’ll enter. I’m about 80% sure. Maybe 85%.

Peace, love, and fractions,

— Mr. Dude

Hi, ChainedLupine here.

I never did a post-mortem for my Ludum Dare #19 entry, called Introspect.  So, instead, I finished the game, published it, and only six months later did I write a post mortem.  Wow, am I lazy or what?

I wanted to share the news that my wimpy little Ludum Dare entry was brutally stripped to pieces and then slowly re-assembled over five months into a full featured game.  It was released not too long ago on Kongregate.com and quickly shot to #3rd of the highest rated top new games!  Just a week after release, it received badges and is now sporting nearly 200,000 plays!  (It actually has 10x as many plays as that, but if you want to know why I don’t count those, then check out my blog post linked below.)

So for those who might want to hear some advice from someone who managed to turn a shoddy Ludum Dare entry into something playable and successful, I recommend you check out the entirety of my post below.  I cover everything from the Ludum Dare version all the way up to the final released copy, and then some of the post-release problems I had.

Click here to play Legend of Kalevala!

or

Click here to read the Legend of Kalevala Post Mortem!

To everyone who puts in their valuable free time to working on Ludum Dare, a much hearty thank you for inspiring people like me.  And to those who participate:  Let’s keep having fun and mak’n games!

You can also check out the review for Legend of Kalevala on Jayisgames.com.

A little bit late, but here it is.

This time I did it with 1 pic / 10 sec instead of the regular 1 pic / minute.

So, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BISq7nFIKT0

Well… I said I would skip this month’s Mini-LD. But with a recent adjustment to my medication (true story, not a joke), my mood has stabilized very well and I think I can take the stress of a mini this time.

I’m not sure, though. Realistically, I will probably enter. Something will happen and I will ultimately wind up entering. I’m still not just dead certain about it, though.

I dunno. I’m kind of curious about what folks here think. I could not enter and keep working on my shooter or I could enter and take a break from it. I’ve recently redesigned large parts of the shooter (switching from OpenSceneGraph to Ogre, for example), so I need to redo a lot of things. The mini-LD could be a great break from that. On the other hand, I might well be through redoing things by the time the mini-LD takes place. Really not sure. Even then, it could be nice to take a break.

So… I’m looking for advice here. I’m probably going to enter, but I’m not sure.

Peace, love, and a touch of good luck,

— Mr. Dude

It’s quite some read, but it might be of interest for you, especially when you want to participate a LD48 for the first time. I wrote some lines about how and in what order I created a tiny math game for a mobile device.

The June miniLD #27 (theme: ALL TALK) has officially ended with a bang! The results are in!

View all the stats for each of the 30 games here:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/minild-27/?more=1

The gold medal for fun goes to Zed with his zombie/bacon adventure, Adventures in the Public Domain. Gold for gameplay goes to 31eee384 for his IRC hacker simulation, Secretnet. Gold for presentation goes to Jake Elliot for Last Tuesday, his eerie visual novel about a world devoid of people.

Other standouts include Zillix’s Acquiescence, Reltair’s Project Eidolon, Radiatoryang’s Polonius and smalldeadinsect’s Leaks.  There were 30 games created in all, and many not mentioned above that were truly awesome.  Check them out!

As one of the most active mini dares in recent memory and one filled with enthusiasm and positivity, I just want to thank you all for being such a creative, energetic and kind-hearted bunch of gamedevs. You rock.

Viva Ludum Dare!

Well, after about 2 months of bug fixing, content adding, level designing (God I hate level designing), doing exams (urgh), and waiting (so much waiting), I got my game for Ludum Dare 20, “Alone”, sponsored by MoFunZone

You can play it here: http://www.mofunzone.com/online_games/alone.shtml

It was my first (full) Ludum Dare, and I have to say, I loved every second of it, and the game I eventually finished with. It was an awesome thing to do, and as you can see, actually got me motivated to work on and finally sell a game.



The game is going viral on the 10th of July, so keep your eyes peeled for this appearing on Newgrounds and Kongregate and the like soon

I missed last weekends mini LD becasue I was working on the Thorntons chocolate discount code word search addon to the ‘Relax with Oonagh’ App!

Now available on Android Market and on it’s way to iPhone once the lite version clears apples review process.

Full version on Android Market

Lite version on Android Market

Unity Webplayer Version Online

But I think I should build a dialogue system as it would be handy for future games!