Yeah, this time I made it on-time for the compo. I had to smash a single, small bug just after deadline. Mod support was my friend (continue reading to know why).

As soon as I’ve seen the theme “Minimalism” I just got a title for the game. “Reverse Minimalistic”: “Citsilaminim”.

I’ve decided upon a black-white-ish art style so I made some random tiles and the player in that style.

Later on I noticed that it just didn’t blend well with my art skills so I gave up on the tiles – the player was left up to now except of the palette.

So I was going to look for another palette directed on one single color. After playing around I’ve been stuck on “blue”. So I made some random tiles with the main color “blue”, tinted the player “blue” and voila, Graphics

Later on I’ve been playing with Caustic. That went wrong so I fired up FL Studio’s randomizer. That went “kinda right”. Sound done

I’ve wanted one verry big map but I went out of ideas for puzzle map parts verry fast so I built in 3 factors for reaching the goal:

- Player decides the path (there is a “split point” in the mid)

- Player decides the ending (number of orbs + time needed = commentary)

- Player’s timing (see “time needed” but also “being stuck in walls”)

There is no “right / proper ending”.

The day after releasing the game I noticed comments about a corrupt .jar so I reuploaded.

Then I noticed comments about “being stuck in blinking walls”. Well, “Okaaay? As long as they are blinking you may get out”.

But to be sure I’ve released an optional patch (I even warn that this patch is optional and can alter the gameplay by fixing a bug but I guess nobody cares and yells about “adding features after deadline”) which was really easy to deploy. Why?

Shadow (the code base & engine) has got built-in “modding support” so I used it to fix the bug.

Thanks to the IRC Channel *cough* not *cough* I was able to fix all the bugs before compo deadline *cough* not *cough*.

But hey, it’s playable! And it’s better than any of my other games I made for LD until now (I guess?).

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=11776

Have fun and don’t forgett to rate!

PS: Yeah, I made it for compo. Last 2 (without MiniLD) times I had to extend deadline for jam. That wasn’t necessary this time!

Minimalistic:

Controls: UP DOWN LEFT RIGHT

Gameplay: Get to the goal. Easy, right?

Level count: As minimal as possible. Maybe only one.

Mob count: None.

Particle count: As less as possible, disabling them on Android for performance

Art style: AMAP (as minimalistic as possible), maybe only black / white.

Level generator? Maybe when I’ve got time left. I don’t want to make a game be dependent of a level generator.

Game style: Minimalistic puzzle platformer. Nope, no keys. But Points.

Code style: WHO CARES?!

Player: Minimalistic “blob”, maybe deformed potato. Don’t get me wrong, I was on the team #votepotato

Level design: Minimalistic? Not so much. Mainly a verry “straightforward” level design with secondary endings.

Primary ending: Everything stays minimalistic.

Secondary ending: Everything gets maximalistic.

Good luck!

Why not use the Linux export support given in Unity 4 (if any)? I don’t use nor know Unity but I just want to play games made with / in it after LD. So why don’t you export as both web and / or standalone AND (if possible) linux client (NOT native client)?

Please respond to me as comment. I – as Java coder using Linux – want to really know why you are not doing this.

I’ve uploaded the Shadow sourcecode (aka codebase): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/74836805/LD/ShadowSRC.zip

It will be updated sometimes but the most important version is that one just before LD begins.

Also, I will maybe use Caustic (Android FL Studio “alternative”) instead of FL Studio.

This time I’m sure it will be a hard time BUT I won’t give up. So let’s keep it short:

Engine: No more IGM2E. Since joining Fourbytes and splitting up from Forlorn Existence (and re-joining to Novum Mundum) I’ve been working on a new engine named “Shadow”. I must merge some changes from NM to SH ASAP (mainly performance stuff and fluids and stuff) and then upload the source. It’s based on LibGDX. Maybe I’ll release an Android version of the LD game..?!

Music: I’ve got some random app on my Android phone. I’ll use it for ‘inspiration’. Later on I’ll try to re-create the project in FL Studio.

Graphics: Gimp.

Coding: Eclipse.

Operating System: No. Not Windows. Linux is my best friend!

Streaming (only sometimes because of LAG): You may guess… FFMPEG? Yeah.

I have changed my Plans. It’s impossible for me to finish a game this time.

Yeah, I am out. Good luck everyone

I’m in stress. I got the idea for the game half day after publication of theme. Forgott to push latest update of IGM2E I made for LD25 just before LD25 (engine I am using). Nah… at least I have got some Mentos UP2U.

Plans for now:

- Upload picture of food  (Can’t find it)

(Done)

- Port platorm engine to topdown engine

- Start working on resources

- Start working on maps

- Start working on engine (polishing, fine tuning)

- Do forgotten things

Small status update:

Tommorow I will finish work on “the game” (fourbytes is kinda the indiedeveloperstudios behind it) and then smash myself into the LD Compo as always, fail, extend deadline to jam, fail again, …

Secondary theme set: byte[4]

I’m back… yeah, maybe. “Authorization pendingz” – Patrik (the co-founder of fourbytes) must approve that I can participate and not work on our game. Looong story…

Yeah, my last 2 times were just fails Everyone does them. But I have learned from them.

I will code on Ubuntu this time, not on Windows 7. Gimp will still be by my side, but I do not know if SFXR and my other music creating tools will. Eclipse, my favourite Java IDE (and only one) is somewhat buggy (still), but “no problem” about that one. IGM2E is on GitHub ( https://github.com/AngelDE98/IGM2E ) but needs tweeks. Hopefully it will end better this time..

Let’s take that short.

This time the theme was the biggest challenge. If it wouldn’t be “Evolution” and if I would prepare my Engine for top-down stuff, everything would go better.

What went… “right” :

Kinda nothing. The AI was buggy, the time flew away. The only thing that went out not-so-bad was the BGM.

What went wrong :

Everything: From “Level design” over “Player and Mob graphics” up to “simple if checks”, all went wrong. Maybe it was just the lack of time because the theme was kinda a challenge itself. Map3 \ Room3 \ How you call it (I name it “lab3″) was the most messy thing: It crashed all the time because of an AI nullpointer OR dunnowhat. Also, the launcher was a mess, too. I also had to do a bugfix just after jam.

What I have learned:

- Prepare yourself. Preparing is the best thing you can do. Even just before LD, go thru EVERY single theme and get bunch of ideas for it.

- Extend. If you aren’t happy with the result, extend into the Jam. If you still aren’t happy, just continue on.

- Check everything before publishing. I had no time for that point, but the best thing to do is to check if everything works.

- Make easy level layouts and controlls. If people just don’t know what to do in one level, they may not know what to do in the other level. Misleading signs like “Rescue kittens” in a level where you CAN’T rescue kittens BUT in the level after the level in the sign… these signs should be clearified.

I hope your game went out waay better Here’s my game if you really want to play it … http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-24/?action=preview&uid=11776

… and a engine update I got from a co-worker recently (due to missing GitHub repo I uploaded to the dropbox link).

Changes :

- Performance and resource issues fixed (thanks, @patrikspengler @ twitter !)

Currently working on basis gfx of a base 16×16 kitten that can move left, right or stand still. Also, the player will be a HUMAN. Good luck

(PS : Yeah, I asked in IRC if the update that didn’t got uploaded to dropbox due to a coworker of the ENGINE, NOT the GAME so it doesn’t break rules, and me not using github but my dropbox can get uploaded . I will tell him to use dropbox so we can share the zip.)

Just a small status update for https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74836805/IGM2E.zip :

- Bunched up some code here and there

- Changed the way tiles (or entities on tile layers with the type argument set to entity) get loaded – Objects on object groups behave same .

- Added an enemy base , the “Mob.java” , which is a modified entity which can walk, jump over obstacles or turn around if needed.

- Added a tech-demo “Blob.java” as base NPC (currently does nothing). Also added two of them into the test level.

This post was just to declare changes in the codebase / engine .

Just a status update:

I have talked with my parents about LD. I have showed them what I am currently work on. They understand NOTHING of the code I write. So they told me that if it’s good for my future, I will do it.

LD is like computing and game creating school for me because my current school has too less teachers for teaching at PCs because sometimes they don’t even know how to use the DVD-TV …

Thanks, Community! I’ll do it!

My parents just explained me that LD is nothing more than an useless event … now I am thinking so, too. Maybe I will do something for LD or maybe not. Don’t expect anything from me.

Here’s the missing part of my ” I’m In ” post :

“Engine” up now ( I name it engine , but it is kinda an game-base , literately ” codebase ” for LD , that can be modified to represent a real game , currently just represents a small room ) . Removed every sounds excepting one jump and one BGM file . Tilesets are for the testing level , tilesets , sprite sheets and testing map get replaced while LD : https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74836805/IGM2E.zip

Added libraries :

- Merged JPlayground , also removed unneeded classes . Isn’t the best merge , but needed to do it .

- Added ” kryonet ” .

Hi , I’m Maik Macho . This will be my second LD ( my last one failed due to inproper map generating code ) .

Tools and stuff I will use :

Language : Java

Libraries : LWJGL

Imaging : Gimp , Pickle

(*)Sounds : SFXR , BFXR , FL Studio

(*)Mapping : TilED

CodeBase : IGM2E TBOTW-PM-Port-Build ( Latest stable , replaces IGM2E itself but IGM2E may contain changes the port-build will contain )

Library sources / modified libraries : Parts of JPlayground , Custom Slick2D Source Build ( custom maploading ‘n stuff )
If you ask yourself :

” What is IGM2E ? What is IGM2E TBOTW-PM-Port-Build ? ”

IGM2E ( IndividualGameModifyable2Engine ) is the engine I used my last LD ( build 1 beta 1 ) . This time I will use build 1 beta 2 , but because of me working more for TBOTW-PM ( the PostMortem of TBOTW ) than the engine , I may modify TBOTW-PM to the engine itself and call it build 1 beta 3 . TBOTW-PM is already a frozen project .

Hopefully I will focus on code and then later on graphics this time .

Good luck to you all ,

Angel

( Links may come as seperate post later on )

(*) means added with edit because I forgott to write it in here

Yeah , it is comming kinda late . I will also do the ” post-mortem ” release of the game in a polished engine .

It was kinda fun for the first time . First porting the menu engine I made for window designs into a game engine BEFORE the compo , then reach it in . Then all the graphics , level designing – or better the fails of it – and collision fails .

What went right

- Graphics -

These were easy to do , even were fun to do . Even if the spikes were unuseable later on .

- Sounds -

SFXR was my best friend . Even if there were background music loops , I could not loop them with the release of my engine I had there .

- Concept / Idea -

Even if there was no real concept / idea , I had one in a fast time . Even when the theme wasn’t fitting pretty well , I made it as well as I could . See ” What went wrong > Level Generator ” for some info .

What went wrong / horribly wrong

- Java and Eclipse -

They both made jokes out of me … not really , but I had weird BSODs hunting me when porting the game into JRE6 . The current engine version uses JRE6 natively now .

- Level Generator -

Nothing went more wrong than that one . I had planned levels , but the bmp format was too inconvinient . ” TilED ” support ? Nope – as long as I had that version of the engine . The post-mortem release will have even custom level support for sharing levels . So what to do ? The level generator came in – and it just created noise of blocks . So I had to move into jam for fixing the generator to make mazes . The first of many tests went wrong . Then it made better mazes . The size was dependent : I had a size of 1024×1024 pixels before , now it’s smaller . This gives the ” tiny world ” feeling .

- Collisions -

Collisions were mainly the engine part not working properly . They went sooo wrong that you stick on the wall or get stuck easily . I have rewamped them with per-pixel-collision checkings in the new engine version .

Conclusion : It was fun , it was cool . I’ve learned for my next LD .
BTW : My engine will soon be open-source and as it seems I will use it next LD , too .

Gah – I guess nobody wanted an noise map . So I took the time of the jam today and – voila – you can now play …

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=11776

with proper maze maps . I guess it took me the special points , but I’ve learned , as everybody else learns , too

Yeah , I’m not doing the first 2 but the last one . This means my entry may be an demo at end of LD …

*help*

Here , as declared but now finished ( collisions were hell nasty … ) . Also my ” Code Base ” . Not against rules

https://rapidshare.com/files/3782100480/IGM2_ENGINE.zip