When I decided to enter the 48 minute nanoLD, I got a theme of “Cheese”. When I reloaded the page an hour later, this had changed to “Real Time Strategy”.

So I decided to use both themes. But to get something half decent out of the idea, I’ve ended up taking about 5 times longer than everybody else.

This is a Windows only game. Download from mediafire here…
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?kb8prs58q3l8qol

The game is relatively fast paced, and like tic-tac-toe is completed in about 2 minutes. You play the game vs an AI. which is not particularly smart, but is challenging enough for a few plays. I’ve play-tested it a few times to balance costs and set the pace of the economy.

I hope you enjoy it

Comments are welcome!

A couple of hours ago I watched this…

Then I made this…

I think I’ve captured the feel of it.

You can play it here. It’s scary stuff!!

I did very little to this program yesterday, but I will try and finish it tonight.

The level loader is done, and the levels are described with text files that can easily be edited. I aim to do levels similar to the famous LaserTank game:

- Levels are made by the player community.
- Levels are loaded/played sequentially.
- Potentially thousands of levels gives endless gameplay.
- You have infinite lives. If you fail a level, you always get to play it again.
- Any level can be skipped, so you can put your frustrations behind you.

To do:

– Collecting keys.
– Collisions with monsters.
– Conveyer belt logic.
– Collapsing platforms actually collapse.
– Sounds

My original plan for MD31 was to feature the Gods of Olympus as randomly appearing figures who interfere with the destiny of the protagonist, by creating an endless series of setbacks and obstacles, similar to Homer’s Odyssey.

That idea didn’t come to anything however, because I couldn’t think of suitable gameplay. As well as that, I don’t really feel in the mood for programming today.

Then I starting reminiscing about games I played when I was young. Specifically ones that frightened me for one reason or another. One of the most frightening things were those invulnerable enemy sprites that marched fiercely back and forth along set paths, and caused death just by touching you. In order to get past these things and avoid death, the player had to control their characters will pixel perfection, and time their jumps within a fraction of a second.

Then I started making this you see below. I’m not really happy with it, and I don’t know if I’ll bother to finish it, because I still don’t really feel in the mood for LD.

I’ve pulled this from another thread, as I think it deserves it’s own discussion.

[1]
Since we have a bigger server now, I think LudumDare can afford to expand it’s range of contests, so there is more happening all year round.

I propose the following.

Feb – 9 day Challenge. Normal LD48 competition rules except it runs through 2 consecutive weekends + 5 days inbetween. Voting afterwards. This is a great length of time for a competition.

Apr – LD48

Jun – Summer Jam Weekend. No restrictions or theme. Just make something awesome.
Perhaps concurrently with this could be “Ludum Dare All Stars”, a special contest restricted to LD veterans and past winners.

Aug – LD48

Oct – October Challenge. 30 days. Make a game. Make $1

Dec – LD48

With this proposal, the mini dares would be cropped to 6 per year, and maybe could become more experimental in nature, using more specific themes/restrictions, serving as a testbed for innovation.

[2]
Seeing how the community here continues to grow exponentially, I’ve been thinking what effect that is having upon the voting.

Firstly, the number of game we are each willing to play and rate is going to remain fairly constant no matter the number of contestents, so the number of votes each game receives (on average) is also going to remain fairly constant.

A few years ago, 20 votes per game would have been enough to stabilize the scoreboard, but with 891 games it can’t possibly do that. Look-see…

20 votes with 5 scoring options gives only 81 graduations between 1.00 and 5.00. (1.00, 1.05, 1.10, … , 4.95, 5.00)
See that 81 graduations is much less than 891 games!

So one voter undecided between 3 stars or 4 stars will have the effect of moving a game up or down the scoreboard by tens of places. So whether you come 1st or 20th overall could be down to just one voter undecided between 3 or 4 stars.

What meaning does the scoreboard have then, when it is so unstable? I propose this solution…

Instead of ranking games on a scoreboard from #1 upto #891, have Gold/Silver/Bronze awards, and select a percentage of games for each. The percentages should be large enough to be achievable and feel in reach, but small enough to be prestigious and meaningful.

I suggest: Letting N = 2% of number of games.
Top N games are awarded Gold
Next 2N are awarded Silver
Next 2N are awarded Bronze
So overall the top 10% of games get medals.

So this time with 891 games, N=18
18 Gold medals / 36 Silver medals / 36 Bronze medals

Please post your thoughts.

“A Tale of Seven Kittens”

What went right

1. Time Management
I made pretty much what I set out to make. I know how to manage my time and I know how quickly I work, so set my sights right on the limits of what I knew I could achieve in 48 hours. The game was completed about two hours before the deadline, which left me a bit of time for play-testing and tweaking the pace/balance of it.

In past projects my time has broken down like this: 40% graphics / 25% programming / 20% design & notebook / 10% testing / 5% sound. I think for LD22 the times I spent on graphics and programming were switched.

2. Choice of tools
I used what I was most familiar/skilled with. When deadlines are tight, one should aim to minimize risk by not introducing unknown variables.

3. I saved my energy
I didn’t bother with the warmup, nor did I do any material preparation.

4. Sleep and Food
I worked from about 11am to 1am, taking a 15 minute break every couple of hours, and a longer break for meals. I had slightly less sleep than I normally do, but still comfortably enough.

I made a big pot of борщ (borscht) and baked some черный хлеб (black bread) before the competition started, and this kept me going all weekend. There’s nothing like a bowl of traditional Russian soup to prepare one for a day of hard work.

What went wrong:

1. 3D Models
I initially intended to make some chunky 3D models for the monsters, but I realised at the end of day one that I wasn’t going to have time to do that, so I opted for flat sprites the same as the collectable objects.

2. Procedural Generation
It works fine, but due to an oversight it wasn’t quite how I wanted it.

3. Room Levels
Some rooms are higher level than others, containing difficult monsters and higher level loot. I wanted some way of indicating what level a room was, either with text above the monsters heads, or text for each room. In the end I opted for room colours which go from cyan->green->yellow->red->blue as difficulty increases. This maybe isn’t as helpful as a number. Room colours were initial random.

4. Particle System
An optional component was a particle system. I didn’t consider this to be important, and as such thought I would add it at the end if I had spare time. I didn’t have that time.

Overall, I am satisfied with the game I’ve made, and I may spend some time improving it over the coming weeks.

All done with 45 minutes to spare!

I created a Wolf3D type engine and added RPG elements. This is a simple dungeon crawler. The dungeon is procedurally generated using the name you type in during the intro as a seed.

My take on the theme ‘Alone’ was that of a lone hero. But the hag in the intro brings the ‘being alone’ theme into the game in two additional ways.

I’ve play tested it a little, to verify that everything works, and crudely balance the three player classes.

I hope you enjoy it! I’ve certainly enjoyed making it.

You can play it here:

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=preview&uid=5745

No time to talk. Just have pictures!

On screen things don’t look too different, but much has been added behind the scenes.

I expect I’ll work on this for another 4-6 hours today, to get it to a playable state, so that tomorrow I can focus on gameplay and sound.

My interpretation of the theme is a lone hero.

I’m aiming for something like Wolfenstein3D with added RPG elements.

My plan is:
3D block maze –> HUD –> Collectables –> FPS –> RPG Elements.

I’m fully recharged after my long sleep, so now it’s time to get started on my game!

I’ll admit that ‘Alone’ has thrown me a bit.

On one hand, a game in which you are truly alone without other entities to interact with could be rather boring. On the other hand, in most games the player is in control of one character (aka a lone hero).

So the possibilities are:
- truly alone (eg, maze / solo sports)
- alone vs inanimate entities (eg, asteroids)
- alone vs non-living entities (eg, robots/zombies)
- alone vs living entities (eg, space invaders)
- alone vs self (competing with self)
- survival on one’s own / self reliance (inc. above examples)
- being alone is harmful (pursuit mechanic)
- being alone is necessary (evasion mechanic)

I think I’m just going to start with anything and see what emerges

Since everyone else is making threads like this, I will do so too. I’m going to use:

Code: Basic with opengl.
2D assets: PSP6.
3D assets: I’ll be defining coordinates and polygons by hand
Sounds: SFXR / Goldwave / Modplug Tracker
Music: Modplug Tracker.

Code to declare: I’m going to use the FMOD sound library. So that I’m not wasting time at the weekend remembering how to use it, I’ve created a simple module which initialises it and handles the loading and playing of sounds.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?fwww6kjq1updsjs

See you there!

Waiting patiently for LD22? How about a little challenge to help pass the time?

The challenge is to make one game per day for 10 days! All code/assets must be written new, but on day N you may reuse anything made on days 1 through N-1.

The reuse rule also extends to reusing assets made by other contestants, should they choose to make them public domain. Asset swapping is encouraged.

I would enjoy taking part in this if others are interested too, even if we devoted only 1-2 hours per day.

There are 30+ days before LD22, so take the game per day challenge whenever you like before then!

Here is my entry.

My take on the Adaption theme was inspired by the chameleon, which changes it’s skin colour for camouflage, so that predators become less hostile. ie, it adapts.

So that is what happens in my game, except that instead of chameleons, there are katydids. By eating flower seeds, the katydid changes colour and the other katydids become more/less hostile in response.

Touch the other katydids to advance the level. This plays a little like Joust, albeit in 3D.

– LINK –

I only stared about 3 hours ago, and I’m not sure where this is going, but it looks like it is going to involve a blocky 3D terrain.

Maybe it will be about adapting to one’s environment.

I think I’m going to add some flowers next because it looks a little bare.

Well here is what I have: A first person maze using opengl.

The objective is to find a key and then the exit. Meanwhile, an axe-wielding man will be chasing you.

It’s carpets! It’s madness!!

LINK