This is going to be a very busy weekend, but I am determined to finish something for LD21!  Most likely tools:

Framework: GameMaker and/or XNA

Graphics: Gimp and/or Inkscape

Sounds: Bfxr and/or Audacity

My time was fairly limited this weekend: between a distant wedding, birthday BBQ, and soccer practice, but fortunately I managed to find just enough time to participate in MiniLD27!  Choose words from a word find to progress through the dialog and story of Crosswind.  I had a bit more planned for the story than I had time to write, but feel this is a good start and really look forward to the feedback and comments of others.  I’m also looking forward to finding time to play through the other exciting submissions.  Thanks to everyone involved in making MiniLD27!  ENTRY LINK HERE

I haven’t written a line of code yet, but am really excited to be so focused on story for this competition.  I’ve been toying with a character idea for an adventure game, and this competition has really helped me flesh out the premise and direction for that game.  I don’t want to give away too much so early on, but i’m writing dialog to introduce this character as a kind of prequel (if you can still call it that when it comes out first) to the forthcoming (assuming all goes well) adventure game.  All of the player’s input will be made by finding and selecting words in a word find.  I hope this adds elements exploration and accomplishment to more classic adventure dialog systems.

I don’t have any game screens to share yet, so here’s a before and after of my dinner last night: Kung Pao Chicken.

I just finished porting my XNA compo submission to silverlight.  So it now runs on the web!  It’s currently identical to the downloadable version that several people have commented on having trouble with (likely due to missing XNA redist).  Try it by visiting: http://sugarpillstudios.com/games/zomkeybotcalypse.html

The world’s last ninja creeps in the shadows of zombies, monkeys, and robots in this post-zom-key-bot-calyptic world.  Watch the creatures’ movements to navigate the world while collecting batteries, bananas, and brains to redirect them.  Can you survive the zom-key-bot-caplypse?  Can you say zom-key-bot-calypse? Cheers fellow LD20ers! Download, Play, and Rate Here!

Zombies, check.  Monkeys, check. Robots, check.  Ninja, check!

I finally got collisions/navigation working between objects and tiles, and colored and backed my sprites.  The ninja runs up and hides behind any other creature within 100 px (white circles).  The robots, move in straight lines, the monkeys circle, and the zombies randomly wander around.

On the code side, I still need a way to save and load levels so I can start stitching the world together.  On the art side, I need to animate the zombies, monkeys, robots, and ninja.  I’d also like to put together some fun comic-frames to introduce the story, but I’m pretty slow when it comes to that kind of thing… so we’ll see.

Rest well LD20ers.  Tomorrow is the

Still working with XNA: have a basic level editor, steering for three NPC types, three kinds of bait, collision, and some range visualization stuff for testing/debugging purposes.  Still need to add obstacles/walls so I can start working on some level design.  Many b&w graphics, but still need NPC animations, as well as environment art.

I have a core mechanic and a bit of story in mind: that involves Monkeys, Robots, Zombies, and the LD20 theme.  I was originally going to use GameMaker, but took the fact that it’s not installed on this machine as a sign I should use XNA instead.  So I’ve started putting together some basic engine functionality.  I’ll start implementing and testing the mechanic idea in the morning.

If you enjoy puzzle games, give “Cannot Ludum Dare 19″ a play.  There are nine different gems that each handicap the player in different ways.  First learn what the gems prevent you from doing, and then puzzle through how you can carry that gem to the next door.  I especially like the orange gems near the middle of the board, and the aqua gems that follow.

Feel free to comment below on which gems you can say that you like, and which you “cannot”.

What a great holiday gift all of these games will make over the next week.  Thanks again, to everyone who’s participated.  If anyone’s interested in my other games, you can find info at http:sugarpillstudios.com.

As so many LD19ers have already expressed, this has been a busy weekend to squeeze a game jam into; amidst a family holiday party, a day long wedding, and long standing plans to see the new Tron movie.  None the less, I was determined to participate.  I was also initially turned off by the theme, but am now happy with the direction that a  little google-enhanced brainstorming led me.

“Cannot Ludum Dare 19″ is inspired by Lyn Yutang’s quote, “Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do, than what one can do.”  It’s a puzzle game that involves collecting gems to open doors and navigate a maze.  The catch is that different door-opening gems rob the player of specific abilities.  With all of this competition’s delays and drop-outs (including this game’s), this theme-interpretation seems particularily relevent.

All nine gem-types have been implemented and tested, but the test-maze leaves much to be desired in terms of level design.  I’m about a third of the way through redesigning this maze, and look forward to submitting the completed game tomorrow.  I’d like to have submitted for the contest, but am happy to just participate.  Hopefully I’ll be able to dedicate more time to the next compo. 

Cheers to all of the participants!!!  It’s been fun watching everyone’s updates, and I look forward to playing through so many of the submissions.