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.

I posted my game in the compo..

It is not complete..
More details in the compe page

smashy smash

Question: when does this mini-LD end?
Question2: Where do you post the game when it is ‘done’.
Thanks.

First, I have a few things to say:
Today I realized in a very painful way that I’ve been very  disorganized in the past.
I recently worked on a flash game for a teaching project I participate where University students teach programming in High School.
One of the AS3 classes I wrote for that project was what I call ‘art code’ that means code that can’t be replicated.. because the goal is artistic.
That specific code was used to generate random brick tiles for 2d games..
It seems that I have deleted it completely somehow.. is there no use crying oer spilled milk? Why do I unknowingly delete code I love?

I hope to learn from this mistake and that I’ll be truly organized from now on.
(I have made this mistake many times before)

Themes I chose:

• Descend
• Demolish(?)
• Destroy
• Dirt

A: Name: Smashy smash!

B: Description:
You are an unseen force around a giant demolition (wrecking) ball  that is constantly chasing the ‘hero’ of the game.
Use the pointer to place dirt and alter the direction of the ball. (click on the platform to erect a ramp, in the air to create a floating block)

C: One mockup image:
One mockup image coming right up:

smashy smash

D: Definition of Done:
A player can:

1. Move the ball around, bouncing it from platforms to platform and switch directions.
2. Lose if the timing of the jump is ‘lousy’ or if she did not switch direction in time.
3. Win the game and get the hero. And smashy smash.

Features:

1. It takes over a minute to win the game.
2. The hero keeps running away and jumping around.
3. It gets more challenging over time.
4. There is a game over screen.

Hi,

I heard some reviewers mention, there is a bug in my game Red that freezes the game after the objective is complete.

Please check the game if you have a sec and see if it freezer during the second level.

If the bug does happen, please comment and include the version of flash you have.

You can check here which version you have. Thanks

ER

I have been thinking about creating a torrent file for all the compo games for rating purposes..

Is that even legal? Is anyone already doing this? If anyone has details please share.

Thanks

ER

Welcome, please check out the game. It is my first LD and first game out and I’m glad I managed to finish in time.

I’m happy to have joined this event.

I am really excited.

Good luck to everyone during the game rating phase.

Best regards,

ER

I just made and submited a game to the public for the first time.

Yay! I managed to squeeze it in the last minute..

I am wondering if I submitted successfully and what is the new counter “one hour” ..

I’m really pleased even though I see some people have made really polished games cause I only had 7h for this.:)

Best of luck in the competition!

Best regards,

ER

First post!

Hope this works

I’m starting to work on the game now I just found an idea I’m happy with that suits the theme

Good luck to everyone.

ER