Well, that was a marathon, especially for an old guy like me. I’m frankly amazed how much can get done in 48 hours, particularly during those hours when there are no distractions.

You can play the game on the web (if you have Java) here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1930531/LD19/eureka/index.html

Windows:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1930531/LD19/eureka/eureka.windows.zip

Mac:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1930531/LD19/eureka/eureka.osx.zip

Linux:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1930531/LD19/eureka/eureka.linux.zip

This is what it looks like.

The end game is fairly close to what I imagined, although it really could do with a lot of polish and balancing. Given that it’s a typing game, I don’t think it’s going to see a port to a phone any time soon, although it’d probably work on a larger tablet or an iPad.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife and daughter for putting up with me, because I haven’t been able to give them much attention, other than the occasional, “please play-test my game!” Tomorrow (or is it today?) I have a day off, and if the weather permits, we’re all going to get out of the house and spend some quality family time together.

Making steady progress. It’s now possible to type words to get rid of the creatures on the screen.

The good news is that my wife likes the game. That _never_ happens, so I’m taking it as a good omen that I’m doing something right.

Eureka! Vaults of Knowledge

It may not look like there’s a game here, but it is progressing.

The idea is that in a post apocalyptic world, the player has to unlock forgotten discoveries from the vaults of an ancient race known only as humankind. This can only happen by researching those discoveries whilst holding off strange mutated creatures.

Strangely enough, I think the theme of Discovery is going to work quite well if I have time to do it properly. If not, then we’ll end up with an unholy mashup of “Centipede” and “Typing of the Dead”.

For the first time in ages I will have a properly free weekend. My daughter will be busy with an online course and my wife will be making the most of the opportunity to relax (probably by playing Abduction 2 on my phone). And last but not least, I won’t be going to work on Monday, so there will be no struggle to get out of bed at 6am after a weekend of Ludum Dare. I’ve been working on an Android game on and off since the start of October and Ludum Dare provides the ideal chance to take a short break from it.

This week, before the event, I’ll be setting up all the tools on a new laptop. I will most likely be using Processing, Paint.NET, Audacity, sfxr and mulab.

One of the highlights of participating in Ludum Dare is getting to look at what everyone else has done. I’m really looking forward to it.

The game is edging closer to completion. I’d now say that the game itself is done, bar any tuning of the difficulty and the controls. There are still things to do, such as giving it a visible score and giving it a persistent score, but other than that it works reasonably well.

If you want to give it a whirl then you can download it by scanning the QR code from your Android phone. Note that it needs Android 2.1 or better.

I’d be happy with any feedback that you want to give me, so if you would like to leave some then please do so on this site, or here.

In some respects this is a major milestone, in that I’ve added the robots back in. They don’t fire yet, but perhaps it’s just as well as it’s quite difficult to hit them. I can see that I’m going to have to tune the game a lot to make it playable on a phone.

Android download available here, or by scanning the QR code (below).

Lemon Sole

If I’d remembered to take the picture before I ate my lunch then you’d have seen a rather delicious Lemon Sole, but I was so keen to eat that I forgot. That was a great way to start a Ludum Dare weekend.

I’ve been out and about, including taking my family to lunch to celebrate a birthday, so I haven’t got down to the serious business of coding yet. But we don’t get to see the sun around here very often so it was wonderful to sit at an outside table at the restaurant, to eat some fantastic food and drink a beer and to think about what I’m going to do for this theme.

I’ve been chewing over ideas including: a side-scrolling Choplifter-style game; a capture the flag game; a few variations on a theme of turn based strategy; an evacuation game; something involving a volcano (thanks Iceland); something with lots of boats, and even a shmup because I’m old and I like them.

My ability at programming far exceeds my ability at art, so whatever I do is going to feature somewhat retro programmer art. But in some respects I’m counting my chickens – I still haven’t selected a theme.

Good luck to all entrants. I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.

I’ve listened to the comments that the controls in Cavern Copter are not as good as they should be and as a result I’ve uploaded a new version with an alternative control scheme.

• Cavern Copter (new controls) – Windows
• Cavern Copter (new controls) – Mac (Intel)
• Cavern Copter (new controls) – Mac (PPC)

Think of it as Asteroids and you’ll be fine (I hope).

For what it’s worth, the new controls work better for me. I can now rescue all 8 scientists in 112 seconds.

— Rod

Edit: I forgot to upload the source code. –> Get the source code here <–

I’ve done as much of Cavern Copter as I’m going to do. It’s now after 1am and I’m contemplating opening that bottle of Battle of Britain Ale that I promised myself before turning in for the night. Thankfully it’s a public holiday tomorrow, as I’m knackered.

There are still things that I would like to have accomplished:

• the scientists should drown when the water reaches their heads
• sound effects

Here are the download links:

• Download Cavern Copter for Windows
• Download Cavern Copter for Mac (Intel)
• Download Cavern Copter for Mac (PPC)
• Play online (Unity web player)

The helicopter speeds towards the first of many stranded scientists.

Congratulations to those who submitted something and better luck next time to those who didn’t.

Here’s a work in progress. Click on this link and open the .html file when prompted. You’ll need Unity web player to run it.

Use WASD or arrow keys to steer the helicopter. There are 8 scientists. Fly over them to rescue them.

I’m making some progress, although not quite as much as I would have liked.

The helicopter can now collide with the walls of the cavern. The player has a score, and the helicopter is far more controllable than it was at the end of day one.

Here’s a screenshot that shows the helicopter in a canyon in a cavern.

The helicopter flies through a cavern.

Still lots to do, such as…

• when the player reaches the end of the level they are congratulated and shown their score
• when the water reaches the helicopter it’s game over
• the helicopter should respond when it collides with the walls of the cavern (haven’t decided yet if it’ll crash or just deduct some points and continue)
• scientists
• sensible scoring
• sound effects

But it’s getting there.

Last post of the day before turning in. I finally settled on a name, Cavern Copter. It has been great to get so much time today, although I’m not sure if my wife appreciated my absence. And I nearly forgot to feed the ancient and venerable hamster.

Ideally this would run in the Unity web player, but I can’t get it to work with the WordPress plug-in, even though the same file works fine from a “normal” web page.

Windows build here.

Fly the helicopter with WASD or the cursor keys.

Now I’m going to sleep and think about that bottle of Battle of Britain Ale that I’ve promised myself as a reward. Should really take a picture of it. Or drink it.

Scientists are searching for water deep beneath the Earth’s crust. They set up their equipment and start to drill. Suddenly you realise that the water level is rising and the scientists are all in peril. You take to the skies in your trusty helicopter and try to save them.

A helicopter flies deep underground.

Or something like that. The one thing that’s certain is that rising water levels will play a part in this game. The actual game mechanic is still in a state of flux.

Just playing with ideas, but I think I know where I’m going now. Here’s the inside of a cavern. Can’t get more literal than that. Now, about that gameplay…

In a cavern, in a canyon...

Got up, had a couple of mugs of steaming hot Colombian coffee (thanks Mr Cappuccino), then remembered that I hadn’t seen the theme yet. Logged in and there it was, Caverns. Looked around for inspiration. Didn’t find any.

So, in traditional manner, I’m going to let the idea incubate in the back of my mind while I get on with all those things I have to do, then I’ll return later armed with a fresh idea and put it into practice.

That’s the theory anyway.

LD14 was the first Ludum Dare that I managed to submit something, the instantly forgettable Giant Laser of Doom. This time around I’m hoping to do better. I have a very comfortable new chair and a new desk, so finally my home office is beginning to feel like a room that I actually want to be in. On top of that, my wife knows that I’m taking part in LD15 and has told me that she’s ok with the fact that I’m not going to be around much from Saturday evening onwards. So, all in all, I have no excuses.

I’m planning to use one or more of the following tools:

• Unity3d
• sfxr
• Paint.NET
• Blender
• Visual Studio 2008

Good luck to everyone taking part. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Unity Test. The URL works from HTML, but if it doesn’t work from WordPress then I guess I’ll be providing downloadable exes. Yeah, that’s quirky all right. It doesn’t work for me.

(more…)

The comments I received so far made me realise that people were having difficulty running the program as I was using Python 2.6 and didn’t provide an executable.

So, without further ado, here’s a Windows executable. (http://tinyurl.com/dg6xr5)

Thanks to everyone who commented.

— Rod

I’m calling it a day as I need to get up for work in less than 6 hours, so here’s my entry for LD14. Given my lack of available time this weekend I am surprised to get as far as I have. Laser of Doom is in a playable state, even if it’s not exactly cutting edge. For me this is a personal triumph – it’s the first time for about 8 months that I’ve had success in one of my own projects. Those I’ve been doing for work have been rock-solid, well-written pieces of code, but I’ve just not had the required focus on personal projects.

Download the source here (http://tinyurl.com/cfnmot)

Edit: backport to Python 2.5.4 here (http://tinyurl.com/csmly9)

Edit: Windows executable here (http://tinyurl.com/dg6xr5)

Edit: and yes, I did run out of time for making levels. The original plan was to gradually make it harder by including random obstacles, plus locked doors with keys, and a score that would be greatly enhanced by picking up bonus items.

Now I’ll get back to that game that I promised my daughter. Thanks LD14.

Here’s a shot of the Giant Laser of Doom.

I didn’t start work on this until 9.12pm as I had a lot of things to do today (visit bank, go to museum, take a bike ride, cut grass, etc). It’s now 2am (UK time), my brain is fried and my body is knackered.

I’ve concentrated on keeping my entry as simple as possible because I know that my time is limited. I got thinking about the theme when I was visiting the museum. I just liked the idea of a giant laser of doom, erasing everything in its path, darkening the screen as it went.

I figure that I have until 4am on Monday morning local time, which is just as well as I’ve got a few commitments tomorrow, but let’s see what I can do with the remaining time.