Well, I am not sure how to expand the game at the moment and besides I got sidetracked again and… started doodling sprites so before this becomes something not minimalist, I gracefully quit, a prototype of what I had in mind can be found here https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17514039/LudumDare/Minimalism/index.html

Can’t say I didn’t have fun though.

Do kinda-minimalistic monsters count?
But think I will scrap this, the theme doesn’t help me more than this and I fear it will fail in the end… :C

How many times did I try to make a horror game during Ludum Dare? 2-3?

Fourth ludum dare for me, I am in for this one.

Planning to create something dark this time, thinking something along the lines of action/adventure horror game. However I am known to give too much gravity on the graphics, making them detailed and smooth which usually leaves me rushing the rest of the game in my little remaining time.

This time though I am going to try pixel art, which will be less time consuming for me and let focus more on the gameplay and overall theme.

I am going to be using Paint Tool SAI for graphics.
Fruity loops for composing some music and I will record any sound effects/voices.

GameMaker Studio will be used as the main development tool, planning to export the game to Windows, HTML5, Linux and Android. (Sorry, I don’t own a Mac but you guys can try the HTML5 build instead)

As a starting base, I will use this small framework that handles some basic functionality, and anything else I might need I will take a look at,
http://gmc.yoyogames.com
http://www.64digits.com
http://www.gmlscripts.com

And now that I am back from the dreamworld, I can properly announce that we finished our Jam entry, Aqualution

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-24/?action=preview&uid=5234

Have fun

Teaming up with ButtercupSaiyan (BCS) this time, I am in for the jam!

BCS will take care most of the art part and I will be in charge of the programming/level design/sound part and perhaps do some graphics work as well in case of an emergency.

I am going with GameMaker Studio this time and planning ahead so the game will export to Windows AND HTML5 with no issues.
As such I will be possibly using WAV sounds and not use an extension for OGG, since the audio update for GameMaker is not here yet, and I wish to save time working on the gameplay instead of sinking time in implementing workarounds for both platforms.

Our goal this weekend is to have as much fun & excitement as possible together, and create a great game in 3 days that you will play and enjoy!

Good luck to everyone!

Finally it’s done! After all this work! Enjoy! http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=5234 :D

There have been a couple problems.
First, I am using the theme of “Flying of the Bumble Bee” which even through custom editing and such, I am not sure if it abides by the solo compo rules.
Secondly, Anime Studio started adding white cracks between the joints of my PNG sprites for some reason. I searched for a solution but to no avail, so I am editing the sprites one-by-one in hand.
Finally, there are some aspects of the game that feel unfinished, as I don’t want to push out a rushed game I will submit the game as a Jam entry and use the additional time to fix the problems, plus include more things that will make the game look more complete and play better.

Waking up early tomorrow…

My previous Ludum Dare was a disaster as I’ve bitten on more than I could chew in 48 hours. The above image is from the unfinished product.  This time around I’ll try to focus on some simple idea and hope my perfectionism doesn’t take over!

My tools

PaintTool SAI for graphics
SmithMicro Anime Studio for animation
Fruity Loops for music and some freeware instruments
GameMaker 8.1 to bring everything to life ( Using my simple blank template & framework )
Might try to export a HTML5 version (Using GameMaker HTML5) afterwards depending on
how complex the game will be.

Focusing too much on story & graphics!

tried to rush things a bit but… yeah, I think I am calling it quits.
The project I had in mind wasn’t really feasible in 2 days,

I will keep the project idea/story for future use probably.

Maybe I’ll use the remaining time to whip up a quick SIMPLE game instead or do the Jam,
but no promises as I am really tired. Was really fun though!

Couldn’t sleep and finished this scene.
Apparently, you’re not alone…

( p.s.to self: go back to bed Alex )

I think I aim a bit high again with this one, I have everything planned in my head but the art looks like it’s going to take forever.
Well too late to turn back now… 2 hours sleep and then going strong again! Even if I won’t make it, I’ll possibly still work on this game idea.

First time was really fun, so taking part again would be twice as fun!

I was going to use FlashDevelop with Actionscript 3 and AIR framework, but I need more practice before I can rapidly create games with it.

So instead, I am going to use:

Hand drawn graphics using Systemax PaintTool SAI, animated with SmithMicro Anime Studio 8,
music and sound effects using Fruity Loops, possibly with using freeware instrument samples to compose simple tracks, plus original sound effects and voice (if necessary)
GameMaker HTML5 for overall development using my game codebase.

Windows version will be surely available and HTML5 as well -if there are no annoying performance issues and code compatibility problems.
My codebase is nearly fully polished & will be posted before the compo begins.

To play my first Ludum Dare entry, go here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?action=preview&uid=5234

And is done. Play here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?action=preview&uid=5234

Wish I had more time, but nevertheless, enjoy!

To abide by the rules, I post here a little framework I had just started to create for GameMaker, it’ll help me skip forward pretty basic things like loading player settings and extend some GML functions.

It’s nothing major at the moment, what’ll help me the most is the extension I created to wrap the bass.dll in order to load and play OGG sound, as GameMaker itself cannot play that format.

*snip*

A friend told me about this event, I found the idea interesting, so I’ll give it a shot.

For graphics, I will use Paint tool SAI, Photoshop and for animation Anime Studio .
I am not really experienced with music, I will try to use Fruity Loops and also http://www.freesound.org/ will be fine for my sound effect needs.
For the game engine I will use GameMaker because I feel comfortable with it and it’s a good tool to produce something in a short timeframe.