I’m sorry for all the friends we got hyped up, but we just couldn’t make it. We were tired, theme sucked, ideas were good but too complicated. We achieved too little in the first day and decided it was a better idea to skip this one.

See you all in August (maybe earlier). =)

Hello, everyone! I’m glad to announce that my friends and I are going to participate on the Ludum Dare Jam for the first time! I already participated on LD23 and LD24 (but failed LD25) but wasn’t really satisfied by the gameplay factor of my games. For that reason, I want to focus a lot on gameplay mechanics and leave all the fancy stuff to when the basics are working (and are awesome).

“Project Peace” (LD23), my first Ludum Dare entry!

“Living Worlds” (LD24), my second entry.

This time we decided to do the Jam together so we could enjoy it in a more relaxed way and, we hope, finish an awesome entry that people can love. The team is made of programmers who have no fear of trying their hands at game design, 2d art and music! We are:

• ghRibacki (me);
• Li (my girlfriend);
• Lessie2D;
• Ann.

We will be using (mostly):

• Eclipse IDE + Java language for coding;
• LWJGL library/wrapper for graphics;
• Paint.NET for 2d art;
• sfxr for sound effects;
• Ableton Live for music (hopefully);
• TortoiseGit for source code version control.

Also, some of us really wanted Potato as a theme, so we will be entering the Potato Challenge too!

Good luck everyone else participating this time! And keep an eye open for our updates here on the blog. =)

By the end of day one (beginning of day two) I’m now sure that I won’t be participating this time. Got some really important stuff to do this weekend and even though I tried as hard as I could to make it work, that wasn’t enough.

All the luck to everyone who’s still on board. =D

It’s been a hard semester for me with a lot of things going on with my life and a lot of difficult tasks to accomplish. Even though a lot of good things happened this year I really feel like passing a trial of fire and I hope I’ll be a better person after I’m done.

In this mood, I’d like to say I have no idea if I’ll have time to participate, but since this is going to be the third Ludum Dare since I started participating, and I never skipped one, I really want to participate. The idea here is to make a very frustrating (but rewarding) game. If I don’t have enough time to elaborate better on a game, I’ll try to make a really small one.

Alternatively, me and my code mate Lessie2D might work together on the Jam.

Or both.

Who knows?

Unfortunately I got carried away again and left the game play (the most important part, right?) for the final moments and had little time to work on it. But hey! At least my game is prettier than my last one. =)

I learnt a lot of technical stuff but also subjective stuff like how to use your time better. Next time I’ll try to finish my entry with hours to spare so I don’t have these final stressful moments. I also want to have a more polished game with sound effects and music, both which I couldn’t manage to put into this one.

You can play and rate my game here or read a full report post on my personal blog if you like. =)

Let’s rate all these games now!

This will be the second time I’ll participate and I can’t wait!

Haven’t decided what I’ll use yet, probably will decide based on which theme gets picked. List of options:

• Starlite API (a Java library I’m making based on my last entry);
• CraftStudio;
• Unity;
• LWJGL.

I’m also very excited that my friend Lessie will join me this time! We’re both participating on the compo individually, but I hope we can participate on the jam together sometime soon. =)

Good luck and fun for everyone participating! =D

I’m sorry for writing so much on the last post, I was in dire need of sleep but wanted to put it all out before I went to bed. Also, if you haven’t checked out my entry, here is a link.

I saw other posts and decided to list the successes, failures and lessons of my weekend!

Successes

• Managed to finish the entry in time for the compo;
• Core idea developed based on the proposed theme;
• Made everything with a “low” level API (Java 2D API).

Failures

• Couldn’t add all the fancy features I wanted in time;
• Gameplay is too simple;
• Wanted to make 4 small levels but ended up making only one (too large);
• Most of the available time spent on making the basic graphics and platformer engines, too little time spent on actually designing the game;
• Completely messed up the code (which was somewhat organized) on the last couple hours by adding game data to it since I wouldn’t have time make a xml loader or something.

Lessons learned

• The need to code the basic graphics and platformer engines took valuable time that could have been spent on designing the game and developing different ideas and art for the game. Next time I shall use a decent previously published code base or engine so I can focus on the creative part (which I guess is the whole point of making games, right?);
• I was caught off guard by the proposed theme. Next time I shall prepare for all the ones on the final round, mainly the ones I don’t like or don’t expect to win the voting.

Bonus! Features I wanted to add but had no time to

• Space ship crashed with smoke rising on the start of the game (which would explain how the character ended up at the tiny world);
• Background color changing with player advancing through the level;
• More villages, buildings, tiny persons and dialog lines;
• 4 levels: desert, forest, cave and complex;
• Tiny persons moving on the landscape, falling into holes and doing silly dances;
• Y axis exploration: less linear landscape;
• Hidden amber stones as a bonus motivation for exploration;
• Achievements: talk to all the tiny persons, finish the game, get all the amber stones.

And that’s it! If I remember something later I’ll add here on this post.

I want to thank all the Ludum Dare community for this great thing we have here! And I’m so happy to be part of it as a competitor now, since I only spectated for a few editions. Thank you all, competitors, jammers, spectators, organizers! You are awesome! =)

Can’t wait for August!

Our lost giant asking for help on the nearest village.

I made Project Peace with one thing in mind: violence-free. In other words, I wanted to make a game with zero violence. I have been trying to do that for a while now (at least to have good ideas) and I already had an idea in mind which fitted this name, but it was far more complex and couldn’t be made in 48 hours.

Well, on the first day I had no idea what to make, I didn’t expect the theme “Tiny Worlds” at all and it caught me off guard. So, I had a few game genres in mind and one of them was, of course, platformer. Though, I knew this was a hard one to make and was trying to avoid it, I had this idea of a giant person smashing tiny people’s buildings… or fighting off Godzilla (or something) to defend them. But that would include lots of violence and, again, I was trying to avoid it. So I decided that instead of smashing their buildings, this giant would ask them for help, to return to his home, and on the way he would find out clues and little pieces of information that would lead to an ultimate outstanding truth… which you shall find out playing it.

It’s a very small game. I wasted many hours on coding the basics and thinking about what should I do for a game. On the last couple hours I started to freak out and include the stuff I judged more important to add (unfortunately good features were left out – moving tiny persons, for instance) and the code that was somewhat organized then exploded into trash (ok, only one class, I swear!). In the end it turned out more as a short story than a game, because I didn’t have enough time on my hands to add fun features.

In the end, I am very happy that I managed to finish a game for Ludum Dare on my first try! I was scarred until the last minute that I wouldn’t be able to deliver a full game because I tied the last loose ends on that moment and I wouldn’t be able to submit it if that wasn’t done. I don’t even care if it gets low rates, I will certainly do better next time with all this experience I just got!

Thanks for everyone that participated and spectated. I can’t wait to try all your games out on the next weeks!

Let the games begin! =)

50% of this screen is a mockup!

So far I focused on making a simple engine to draw text, sprites and a tile-based level. I decided to make a platformer with tiny people! It won’t have weapons or any kind of violence, only a narrative with some exploration, I guess. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow!

I worked today as much as I worked on Friday, but tomorrow will be a full day of work and food for me!

Now: sleep!

I won’t livestream myself making the game because it would take too much time to setup and can go wrong in many ways (I never did it, so I’m not sure how to do it). Plus, I don’t think people will like to watch it now on my first try, maybe after some successful entries I can get viewers. =)

While I’m still deciding if I go timelapse or not, I will definitely post my progress as I go on this page and I’ll try to keep an updated applet and a repository on Google Code (check that page later to see all of this).

Also, the only input I will be receiving during the compo will be through Twitter – I will always have the “mentions” page opened, so if you want to tell me something, just mention @ghRibacki ! I won’t see anything else, as I want to avoid peeking at the others’ entries before my entry is finished (you know how creativity goes).

Good luck to everyone and let’s do this! =D

Hi! My name is Guilherme and I’m from Brazil. I wanted to participate on other entries but I didn’t feel I was ready yet, so I only spectated! I learned a lot from other participants source codes and livestreams before and now I feel ready to make my part!

I’ll be using Java/Eclipse for coding, Paint.NET for spriting, sfxr for sound effects and (maybe) SunVox for sound track. My target platform is web (Java Applet) and I plan to keep uploading test versions during development so people can test it and give me some feedback.

I have a few ideas in mind but I’m trying not to get attached to any until the theme is announced. I would love to make something with parallel universes or time-travel stuff. It will definitely be a 2D game and I’ll try as hard as possible to be inovative while keeping the simplicity.

I hope we all have a great time developing games or just watching! =)