Heart just isn’t in this, this time. Probably just tired of programming for a time, having done so much of it recently. Best of luck, everyone.

Tiles!

I’ve hacked together a tile placement thing, so I can just draw my level’s tilemaps and save them to clipboard as strings. FlashPunk has done most of the hard work here, of course.

Just 31 hours left on the clock and I’m still not confident about any one idea.

But possibly… cloning machines… recursion… and inevitability. I’m cheery like that.

No idea what I’m making yet, but… let’s give this another try, eh.

Stuff I will probably use: FlashPunk, FlashDevelop, bfxr, Chronolapse, the darkest depths of my soul. No basecode springs to mind, since I don’t know what the game will be.

Best of luck to everyone.

Game made the 48 hour deadline, and is available to play and rate: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?action=rate&uid=2661

And timelapse is up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp7_G-4232A

It was a good weekend. Thanks to everyone on IRC for being very interesting and providing some pleasant distractions, and to my many friends who were supportive and understanding.

After half a night’s sleep, I plan to exploit the 26 letters on the keyboard to make something that controls a bit like an RTS, where you try to get prisoners out of (probably wall-less) prison camps, versus guards with sticks, short range stun guns, and sniper rifles (the first two just result in prisoners being dragged back to the holding pen, the last one outright kills prisoners). You only need to get one/a few prisoners out, and it’s impossible to get everyone out because you need to use some prisoners as bait for the whacks, stuns and even bullets, like some terrifying Lemmings-like.

I’ve decided to use FlashPunk because IRC told me to do so. We’ll see how that goes. I don’t know how I’m going to do anything with circles; it might be a very square game again.

P.S. I declare FlashPunk’s online tutorials as my only basecode, and Freezepop’s “Less Talk More Rokk” as my inspirational music to code to.

Unless I’ve forgotten something important, I’ll have a go at a game next weekend. Almost undoubtedly will be making it in/with Flash, Flixel, FlashDevelop, fear, fallacious design principles, fleeting moments of false inspiration, and a foggy understanding of what is fun. (Also Paint.NET for my barely-functional graphics, Bfxr for sound if I remember to do that this time, and Jaffa Cakes for fuel.)

Or maybe I’ll end up making a game with Java and its trendy (read: strange-looking) UI library that I really should be familiar with, if the game doesn’t need graphics, but I find that unlikely.

…highwaymen? Running a caravan guard service? Hmmm.

There is a chance I’ll be able to make something this weekend, in between the very important university work I should really be focusing on. Really a case of whether I’m struck by inspiration once the theme is selected. To anyone bothering to read this, the best of luck to you! You’re wonderful for reading this, you deserve lots of fortune.

‘quipment: FlashDevelop, Flixel (which version I don’t know), Paint.NET, Bfxr (http://www.bfxr.net/) maybe, and blind optimism.

I think my thoughts are sufficiently settled for me to write a blog post about how things went.

How things went: Things went well! I’m just about past the amazement that I actually managed to complete a game in 48 hours, and not only that, some people seemed to find it fun. It’s the first time I’ve went into an LD while in any fit state to do so. (LD#18 was 5 hours of focused work on a so-so concept, followed by me falling ill for nearly a week with something that had been creeping up on me for days.) I’m just lucky that my mistakes were partially countered by my good fortune.

(more…)

Feels good to finish a game for once (and have time to add a rudimentary hint system too). And, you never know, it may even be fun. Woo.

Obligatory portals are included.

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-19/?action=preview&uid=2661

So ‘Discovering Direction’ as it’s currently called is really coming along. A pleasant mixture of puzzle, profundity and punnage. I imagine players will come up with some creative ways of speedrunning the later levels, given the range of keys made available later in the game (teleport through walls!  reverse velocity!) – looking forward to seeing how this is received.

The 'P' box is the player. Arrows push him around. Here, it's obvious which directions are required.

Profound. Or maybe just going too far with a pun.

As stated in title. Flex, FlashDevelop, Flixel, and whatever flippin’ thing I can substitute for design talent will be used. About 36 hours left, yes? Yes. And let’s call it… ‘Finding Directions’. Guess the gameplay from the title; that’s what I’m doing. Good luck everyone else, see you on the other side hopefully.