Maaaan, I was really excited for doing LD again since I missed the last one for schoolwork, but it looks like I’m missing this one for schoolwork, too. But, I’ll be working on three other games and a Kinect gesture recognition system, so I suppose I shouldn’t complain. Save Potato for LD27! =)

(<_<) Well, final projects have been taking longer than expected, and seeing as how I haven’t started anything for LD yet, and I still have much to do for coursework, I think I’m sitting out…but I’ll still probably code up the idea I had in a weekend or two.

But, on the plus side, I’m at least still working on game-related stuff: a fractal terrain generator with a rainfall simulation, which is hopefully going to give some pretty slick 3D landscapes when it’s finished.

Of course, I’ll still play peoples’ games. =)

Despite the upcoming finals week, I’m definitely in for LD 25. This will be my 4th, and hopefully I can keep up the steady improvements I’ve made each time.

Goals: In all three past games I’ve spent far too long on graphics for what I got, even though last time I said I wouldn’t, so I really want to keep it to a bare minimum. Like, two hours, max. I also decided to do this one in a different language than usual, but…that won’t be happening. So, the goal this time is to either include some scripted event in the game or create my own bitmap font (or both!).

Tools:

Notepad++ for Javascript/HTML5, library code from the Video Game Development Club at the University of Minnesota

sfxr, FamiTracker or GarageBand

GIMP

…Maybe some other stuff from the tools page, if I am so inclined

Trader Joe’s!

Also, random side note, I can not figure out how to change my profile picture in WordPress…

So, I finished (and named) Explore, Evolve, Escape! with just under an hour to spare, which was nice, but I’m not too terribly pleased with it, which is not nice. I realized that it is painfully similar to my past two LD submissions, so I think I need a new engine for next time. Maybe I’ll try Unity…It does make things look pretty. I once again spent far too much time spriting for what it was worth, so I’d like to avoid that in the future.

Oh, and here’s a frog-legged, horned, winged, mohawk-wearing dinosaur guy

I’m so into it, I just don’t want to go to bed, but I’ve been working for about 16 hours today. The game is mostly done; it just needs some more art work and music. Oh, and still no name…

One option for your species is a muscular snowman deer.

Trying to go with a pseudo-retro style, e.g., Super Mario World-esque terrain

Well, I managed to get basically all of the core framework in place for this game, which is actually the first game I’ve made that I haven’t come up with a title for before working on it. It’s not much to look at yet, but it’s hopefully going to be really enjoyable. It’s about 6 hours in, but I’m pretty beat.

Pending some grief for not going to the state fair this weekend from my tap dance club and people watching club, I’m in. I’m looking at the same tools as last time, but that will hopefully change for next time.

Code- JavaScript/HTML5 in Notepad++ and Chrome
Art- Gimp, but maybe not even. Both of my past submissions had unimpressive graphics for the time spent, so I might just go with basic shapes.
Music- GarageBand, sfxr, and possibly FLStudio
Food- Trader Joe’s!

Hey, all. Haven’t been too active in the way of posts, but I figured with the judging winding down, I’ll give a shout-out to a few of the best LD games I’ve played.

Microscopia is a simple perception-based puzzle game, but it’s definitely a good challenge, and the presentation is rock-solid.

Tondie and Zupe is a platforming-tower defense game. I really love the concept, and it’s very fun to play.

T in Y World is a clever puzzle game, and you should at least listen to the theme song.

Still working towards 100!

Technically, I finished it about 6 hours ago, but now I have the timelapse video up on Youtube. You can watch me making “Glue Galaxy Rescue!” here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxLf7UHqJl8

Of course, I’d prefer it if you played it yourself!

Well, it’s getting into the wee-est of the wee hours of the morning, but I basically have Glue Galaxy Rescue finished. I have a goodly amount of homework to get done, so I won’t be finding much time tomorrow to work on it. Fortunately, I just need to add the title screen and some menus at this point, but I’d like to add a mini-map and clean up some bugs…

Not too bad for ~20 hours, though. It’s certainly better than my last LD, although I did have some other library code that helped out early on. I noticed that I didn’t do so much of the blogging this time (considering that I did nothing from last night until now), but I have been doing a timelapse and would like to get that up when I’m done.

I’m also pretty excited about the space-y song I wrote in GarageBand. Hopefully, everyone will like it!

Good morning! Or evening, or afternoon, depending on where you are…

Got a moderate amount done in the first few hours but waned after that. I’ve got some orbiting planets now, though, and they stick together on impact. With some tweaking, progress on Glue Galaxy Rescue will be swift.

Oh, and I decided to do a timelapse this time. Maybe I’ll throw that up at the end…

After the first night

I missed out on the last LD (though I’ve only ever done one before), but I’m very excited for LD23. I’ve been working on some games on my own and have gotten good at working with some much more functional libraries than last time, so hopefully my game will be super-sweet. I’m thinking about trying to work whatever the theme is into an arcade-style beat-’em-up, but I suppose I’ll have to wait and see…

Code- Either C++ with the Simple and Fast Multimedia Library (or G3D/OpenGL, if I’d dare to try 3D on this one), or JavaScript/HTML5 in Notepad++ and Chrome

Art- Gimp, probably. I’ve trended towards spriting thus far, and it’s certainly a step up from MSPaint.

Music- GarageBand, sfxr, and possibly FLStudio. Maybe I can learn how to get good output from Sibelius in the next week…

Food- Trader Joe’s!

Oh, and I’ve been working on some generic sprite-wrapping code in HTML5 lately, so I will probably end up using/porting that.

Hi, all.

The University of Minnesota has a brand-spankin’ new Video Game Development Club, and we’re very excited to be hosting our own meet-up for Ludum Dare 23. We’ll be meeting at Keller Hall a bit before the event begins so we can get everyone settled in, and we’ll have plenty of food, plenty of friends, and plenty of fun.

If any of you will be participating in the Twin Cities area and would like to join us, take a look at our group’s announcement for the details, and please send us an e-mail at vgdc@umn.edu. Non-students are welcome, but be sure to e-mail us first.

Just finished up the game! It still needs music, if I can figure out how to make that work, and some polish and playtesting, but the game itself is done. Now I can shower…

Hey, all! I meant to post this yesterday, but a certain server decided to be a jerk. Anyway, here was a screen of “Shotgun Man Will Shoot You” yesterday, along with one from just now. I spent a lot of time making it look nicer yesterday, so hopefully it’ll turn out well.

Um…the uploader’s a little…Well, you can see them, anyway.

Hey, all. Getting anxious for tomorrow! I was skimming through the rules one more time and was wondering exactly how we upload our games. Do we need to find an external site to play the game/download the executables, or is there something on the LD site?

Hey, all.  According to the rules, any base code must be declared beforehand, and I was planning to use some code for multi-threading from this site:

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/threads/sync.aspx

Is this acceptable? I’ll give credit, but I don’t know how much direct copying of code is tolerated.

Hey, all! I’m pretty nervous about trying LD, but I’m hoping it’ll be fun! Planning on using C++ with the Allegro library for spriting and writing some music in GarageBand or FLStudio, although I don’t know yet how to make music work with C++.