I am done!

Find my entry here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=preview&uid=3866

Not really the reference implementation of the theme “alone”, but I like it. Mostly because it is much more playable than my previous games, which had mayor bugs.

Thanks for the event everyone – I am really exited to play your games!

Demo time!

http://fenmar.de/LD22/demo1/

Third LD for me. As usual I will be making a game with Javascript. But this time I try to write the game from scratch without any external libraries or personal basecode. This is going to be an intense and fun weekend. I am looking forward to see at least 1000 games after the event

my entry: Forever Running

This morning I finished my LD entry. It’s the second time I participated, so I somehow knew what to expect. Here are my experiences:

What went well

• personal basecode: At first I wanted to use an existing framework, but then I realized that I would learn more if I write one myself. It has very limited functionality but I know every single line of code. This helped a lot to speed things up.
• preparation: Before the competition started I had ideas for the top 4 themes (self replication, dreams, escape, adaption). Even though I prefered self replication, I could start coding early. Beside that I tweaked my sleep schedule, so I was awake soon after the competition started (4am).
• visuals: I’m not a great artist, but I’m happy with what I produced. It’s so much better than what I used to do four months ago. (Yes, I’m a bit proud of it)
• goals: I aimed low. It’s not a very original game idea but I was pretty sure I could do it in the given time. I was right.
• release often: I released two indev versions of the game.
• code first: At the end of the first day, I finished all core game mechanics so I could spent the entire second day on content.

What I should do better

• sound: I was unable to produce music or sound good enough to include in the game. I certainly need a) more practice and/or b) better tools
• got up too early: The competition starts 4am here. I got up at 4am and started coding. Soon I realized that I was too tired to produce quality code. After sleeping 3 more hours, things got better instantly.
• focus: After I finished the game mechanics I somehow lost the focus. I thought about other game elements to add, watched some TV, tried to create some music. This way I lost some hours. I went to bed early to clear my mind and was full of energy for the second day.
• timelapse: I tried to create a timelapse with CamStudio, but somehow all files are corrupted I need to find another tool.

All in all I had a very productive weekend, learned a lot, spent time with an awesome community and had a lot of fun. Now I’m going to play all the games you made

Thanks for this fantastic event!

Okay, some more progress. It feels like this is getting somewhere.

Pretty cheap programmer art, ’cause I want to get the engine running. Also I need to think about a name for the game. Check out the latest demo here: clicky

Hey guys,

I just wanted to share my progress so far. There is a demo available here (move with a,d or arrow keys, jump with space – hint: you can double jump).

Escape the evil boxes of doom

Okay, let’s see the checklist

something to eat and drink – check
environment set up – check
nothing to do this weekend – check
game ideas for the top themes – check
tool chain – check
personal base code – check (find it here)
motivation – check

sleep – …

Well, that’s what I’m going to do now. Since the competition will start at 4am here, I probably should get some sleep before it starts. Maybe I’ll wake up with some good ideas

Of course I am IN for my second LD. My goals for this weekend: Finish a game (of course) and somehow see some progress. So it should be better than my last game. That being said, I am looking forward to an awesome weekend with a lot of coding and designing, some stressful and desperate moments and too little sleep.

This time I will use:

Technology: Javascript
Graphics: Photoshop
Sound: sfxr, musagi
Framework: some personal basecode

Let’s make some great games!

Wow… after nearly 40 hours of coding, designing, editing and writing I finally finished my first Ludum Dare game. Actually it’s the first game (or other personal project) I ever finished. That’s what I wanted to do and I made it and HECK – IT FEELS SO GOOD

You can find my competition entry here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-20/?action=preview&uid=3866

I had a wonderful weekend, learned a lot and can’t wait to play all the wonderful games you guys made.

My roommate just brought me some delicious flammkuchen. Isn’t he kind? My plans for today: coding is done, so I’ll do some graphics, new enemies, sound, more levels and balancing.

Hey guys – have been coding for more than 22 hours in a row now (not counting eating, etc.), so it’s time for some sleep. What I’ve done so far is here: may contain blood – depending on your skills

Oh – and if anyone could beat level 4 – let me know. Because it was too hard for me XD

Tomorrow I will add trigger to do events, possibly more enemies (bigger ones), more levels and sound. Good night @ all

Stupid helicopters chasing my little birdy. Well… I don’t have a helicopter sprite yet, so there are these nice humans instead. Oh – and I named the little bird Ludum (for no obvious reasons ). So it’s now “Ludum – the magic bird of AWESOME” Next is: helicopter sprites XD, keys to unlock doors and triggers to do events (like spawn even more bullets)

Got the menu-graphics and story ready. Oh – and animated character sprites (I never did any animation before so I’m quite happy I finished one which looks good – YAY) All text is hand-written because standard fonts are just too boring. Game Engine is also finished so far – time to create some interesting levels.

It's dangerous indeed

It’s such a beautiful weather out here and all I do is sitting inside, eating pizza, drinking icetea and and producing code… Well, on the other hand my game now has some kind of menu, health bars, multiple levels and some performance issues fixed.

You are a bird, having a machine gun ’nuff said

Engine is mostly done, including map loading, collision and damage.

So here’s my setup. Since LD starts at 4am local time, I’m going to sleep now.

Okay, I’ll join the competition. It’s my first Ludum Dare but I’m looking forward to finish a game

I’ll use:

Technology: Javascript / HTML5

Graphics: Adobe Photoshop

Sound: sfxr, Audacity

Music: Anvil Studio, maybe musagi

Timelapse: Chronolapse

Even though I don’t plan to, I might use the jQuery framework. I hope we all have a wonderful weekend and end up with a lot of awesome games.