Here is a picture of my working station. CI am hoping to put it to good use with this compo’s theme. I usually only vote only for one or two themes. It is one of the few times the theme I voted for was selected. I am really pleased.

I feel this time counts, this is the fifth time I played and the only time I posted a game with gameplay I felt content with, was the first.
I hope I make it this time.
Make a playable game again.

It took me a whole day to decide on an idea and get motivated. Then I had some work to do at the office this Sunday and now I’m at my mom’s house and I think I’m gonna start working. Only have about 10 hours to make a game. It is going to be interesting. Good luck everyone.

Good things come in small packages!

I’m going to invest all my time and energy in this Ludum Dare in making two minutes of enjoyable gameplay.

Invest a balanced amount of time in graphics, sound, music and gameplay, not neglecting anything in particular considering the time limit.

First time I participated, I managed to finish a playable enjoyable game. I called it Red.

After that I participated two times and in both I ended up with something that felt more like an engine.

I added nice graphics and neglected to finish tuning up the gameplay.

This time I want to get the gameplay done ASAP and invest a little time in sound, graphics and music.

Hoping to have the finished gamed ready four hours ahead of time.

Best of luck to all of you.

My toolset:

Some graphics and level editing tools I created for past dares.

AS3, using FlashDevelop as an IDE.

box2d – physics(if it adds to the gameplay)

sfxr

pxtone

gimp

I must admit I could have planned better, worked more persistently and take less breaks, get some feedback, and make a playable game in time for Ludum Dare compo. I actually had the game nearly ready as far as game mechanics in time for compo but I did not feel it was any fun yet so I decided against submitting it.

Should I work some more, trying to make it more fun and submit it for the jam or just turn it in as it is?

The issue is that it’s not really great awesome fun.
Maybe I should add some polish and just turn it in the way it is?

I worked a lot but I don’t think I planned well and focused my efforts on features I felt were necessary.
Ended up with an incomplete buggy game. Perhaps I will share it tomorrow after I clean some bugs.

Hi,

I am not sure how I am going to go about collisions and physics this time around?

Right now, there are a few art assets I created and I would like to detect collisions by the pixel. (not by a rectangle)
Is there any quick to use API or library that does that for you?

Also, there are going to be physical collisions, ie meteor with meteor and meteor with paddle..
Any advice on a simple to use physics engine that could handle these?

So any help with detecting collisions and or implementing physics, would be brilliant!

Thanks in advance.
I am gonna catch some Z’s

I always get nervous in these competitions But I actually want to finish a complete game this time.

Game mockup:

Stuff I need:

Collision space class :
Detecting collisions(pixel perfect)

World class :
Health bar
sprite
sprite + collision space mutates

Giant space paddle :
Movement
sprite

Meteors class:
Movement
Gravity
Sprite

Ships:
Movement
Attack
self sprites
attack sprites

Fleet: class
Manage ships

Game data editor
When do enemies come?
Where do they come from?

Scoring system:
Think about how to score the player

Desk is pretty clean and tidy:

Check
Dogs are ready to playtest a masterpiece:

Check
Mockups and instructions ready:

Wow, I haven’t started programming today and half a day is already behind me.
Going to keep the graphics simple this time to concentrate most of my effort on completing a playable fun game that runs nice and smooth.
Good luck to everybody!

So I am done juicing




And ready to go!

Right now I’m all pumped up, have an idea and ready to go but first I’m gonna make some vegetable juice in my juicer.

See you soon

First I thought I’d use the theme as a game look making a RTS where different bacteria battle it out.
Then I thought of using it as a game atmosphere and background story, where you are a contraceptive inside the womb, fighting off sperm and such(but it’s been done to death)
Then I thought of it like a gameplay objective, a game where you shrink worlds in order to collect them and put them in a museum
Or a gameplay mechanic, where you shrink to get into places you can’t enter otherwise.

Not sure what I will go with yet.

I just woke up, I can’t believe it already started. I thought there was an hour left until it starts. woah

This is so exciting!

Good luck everyone.

Tiny World – hmm… I cannot argue it reminds me of ants.. wasn’t ants three LudumDares ago on “it’s dangerous to go alone, take this” ?

Not sure what I am making that could suit the tininess of the theme and the worldliness either.

I could make a huge world, how is that a game? I am going out to exercise on the beach, be back later after I clear my head.

I will be joining this LD as well, I joined the last one but did not make it in time.. I ended up with a little cute game which I never uploaded.

This time I will make a game so small I will definitely make it in time.

Using my trust AS3 skills.. if I get time I’ll use sfxr or some other tool for audio and Acid Music if I feel generous for background music.

Prepare to see the smallest fun playable game ever made. Good luck to everyone.

This is ElbowRoom signing out.

I have been pretty busy with University related stuff, interviews and work. But I feel that I have to make something for the LD hopefully it will be playable even though I only have about 3 hours to complete it.:)
I should keep it simple, lets hope it works out.

Hi,

There is nothing like LD to clear up misconceptions and bring you up to speed:)
Since the a few LDs ago, seeing some brilliant games made in Flixel I’ve always wondered what are the advantages of using a Library like that?
(Please be patient, I was quite a noob at game making for the web, let alone a 48h competition)
After all, it seems that all the tools that are available in AS3 API, are sufficient to create great games quickly.
After this LD I finally understand, even though I do not use that library because I enjoy learning to make stuff myself, I now know why it is so great and helps a ton.

Here are some reason you would want to use Flixel instead of writing more code yourself:

1. You can talk to people about something in Flixel, there is a community.
   Having conversations is beneficial to learning for beginners and advance users.
2. You get every tool neatly organized and handily available during the competition when you really need.
   Doing well in the competition may require preparations and knowing Flixel well covers that.
   If you write the code, you still may need to organize it properly.
   You may have a ton of code but is it handily available?
3. The tools are tested for bugs and they do what is expected.
   If you write it yourself, you still need to test for bugs and even if you do, one person testing in 48 hours or a few weeks does not match with ? thousands that are constantly testing it during the whole year.
   Having bug tested code saves you unwanted surprises.
4. You get really high performance, this is something I did not know. These tools are tweaked for high peformance.
   I made a huge maze for the competition and I know Flixel handles tile based maps, however I did not know it does it really fast and takes advantage of the best ways this can be accomplished in AS3.
   I actually learned and used Bliting in AS3 for the first time this LD which was really exciting to me.
   Flixel would have done that for me and I wouldn’t even need to know it is doing it. The same principle is true about other tools. Flixel offers an answer to the need for speed. This is very important for games where low frame rate ruins the experience.
5. Bottom line: If you understand how Flixel works, you can focus much more on the game instead of writing the “low lvl” functionality.
   Sure writing an engine is a wonderful learning experience but when you compete to make games, you can use this precious time to work on other aspects of the game itself.

So basically I’m not planning to use it but by I highly recommend it for most AS3 based game projects.:)
Now I finally know why. If you have any comments on the advantages of using Flixel please share.

I always wonder who reads these posts, there are so many and they keep coming in so I guess we might as well focus on the games..

However, I do feel that granted the premission I have a few things to write about Ludum Dare  21, My first LD was 20.
Unlike my first LD, this time I only completed nearly 20% of the features.
This Theme was actually one I wanted long before the LD21 and I ended up coming here unprepared to make an exquisite submission.

I spent the entire first day on perfecting the first feature that hardly affects gameplay(random maze) and only using one sample so the player doesn’t benefit from the variety of having a fresh new maze each time we play.

The game I wanted to create, a rougelike inspired shmup,  (Think Metroidvania meats Powder)where you play as a space traveller caught in a massive (not so) abandoned  space station looking for some spare parts to fix his rig and save some bucks.

Requires improvement:

The game was suppose to introduce the story to the player in game amongst other things, like powerups, enemies, bosses and traps, this feature will only be in a future version.

The good:

I learned something I should have known by now.
How to blit fast in AS3 which I never tried before.(I actually used shapes)
This was very refreshing and got me highly excited near the last hours.

What I learned:

I really should focus on making gameplay elements first.
Making and playing with the actual player experience is far more important than the technical aspects, cause if the game ends up not finished, I would like to think that people enjoyed my submission.
Otherwise it would be a technical demo competition and not a game making event correct.

Anyhow I’m sure tomorrow I’ll play all the great games and enjoy and start getting some code ready for the next LD.

Thanks for reading.

Hello, this is the progress report on Astral Artifice, my ludum dare entry.
Yesterday I worked (and spent a lot of time) on creating a procedural space station map generator I call SpaceShift.
Here is an example.

I’m participating in the LD and hoping to finish in time with a playable game I decided to change my original plan and focus on a game that will be fun to make and most importantly enjoyable to play.
My inspiration is RogueLike games but I want something that is not turn based.
Good luck everyone.

Technical details:
I’m using FlashDev and AS3.