Results
I cant be happier with the results, in the end my entry got a great tied-2nd place on Graphics category (along with superb Deepnight’s Last Breath) and 21st place on the overall results, wich is pretty freaking awesome if you consider the 717 entries that participated on the compo

I wasnt actually expecting that much from my game, since there where many, many other great games to play, so i’m very happy with the results!

OMFG! Statistics!

On this ludum dare i did something just to please my own curiosity, i set up an automatic statistics grabber for my game, using an old method i set up for some of my older projects. The thing is pretty simple, just retrieves the current date, how far the player has gone into the game, number of lives and time played. The result was pretty neat; you can check it out on my website on the link below (or click on the iamge above):
http://invadergames.com.ar/ld22

Overall results arent that impressive trough, the game got played mostly after the compo ended, and then it dropped to a more constant rate of (about) 4 plays a day

So, rounding up; Thanks to everyone who played my game, and thanks to everyone for making of Ludum Dare an awesome experience, i really hope to be around next time!

(http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=preview&uid=2290)

First pot mortem ever haha, many things to say about this ludum dare! First of all, thanks to everyone for making out of this the best gaming competition ever, without any other people posting stuff all the time and chatting on the irc it wouldnt be the same, it keeps the motivation up in the sky even if you arent doing anything interesting, so thumbs up everyone for that!

Now with the game. At first, i had this idea of a racoon who is alone and must gather trash and food to survive on the city.. but the bloddy racoon kept looking like a cat! i hated him so i left him as a cat.
Then, i started writing the platforming engine based on the animations i just drew, i rewrited it afterwards but having that done quickly helped me a lot to start designing the entire game in very short time, so it was three hours after i started and i already had an idea, a style and an engine! yay! it was time to get into the theme.

After making the engine and the first levels i stopped for a while, i needed a story.. so, its a cat. and he is alone.. it naturally suggests the cat has been abandoned or something liked, and since i was rejective to the idea of abandonment (too sad for me hehe) i developed this “i forgot my cat on a road trip!” idea.. silly but it works!
So after having a bit of a placeholder intro i wrote a few more levels, added stuff, lives, texts and other stuff and took a long break before entering the last day.

Now on the last five hours i was determined to finish as much as i could, so i took the damn thing and started rewriting the platform collissions, added a menu (wich took me less than expected), sounds, finished the intro and mini tutorial, added one more level, GFX (rocks, water splash, orbs), fixed bugs and added a stats tracker. I actually ended up with enough time to make more stuff, but my ambitions where beyond the time i had left; I wanted to make a pretty Day/Night cycle to make things easier for me when making more levels, but after starting it i realized it was too much, so i submitted the game without it.

Rounding up;
What went right?

1. I completed a style i wanted to have on a game for a long time, kind of like a neo-retro thingy. i also managed to make a 2x scaling engine with surface in very short time, because i already had everything on m yhead from a start.
2. The platform engine turned up really well, despite the few bugs.
3. I managed to complete the intro in a way it actually explains what happened, at first it seemed as if you where abandoned and seemed crude.
4. I kept the game simple all along wich kept me on a very constant workflow during the whole time, also managed to  balace the ammount of sleep and work, unlike other times.
5. Had tons of fun!

What went wrong?

1. I couldnt finish the advanced day/night thingy (too much to do in so little time)
2. During the whole compo i couldnt think of a reliable ending so i left that aside for too long.
3. No timelapse! forgot to turn on chronolapse.. a pity because it would have been awesome!
4. I suck at platforms level design hehe, specially with puzzles and such.

Now its time to see the results of everyone’s work, Cheers and good luck!

Im’ done with the intro, wich is not much but as the time frame requires it, its enough.. now im struggling with ideas for the different levels and wheter or not i should add some of the cool features i come up with while coding.. its quite exciting!
Last hour i spend it adding more GFX and fixing stuff, and im very, very satisfied with the result!

Basically the game is about you (a cat) who is fogotten by his owners on a road trip.. after that you are alone and have to find your way back home.. Im still not sure about weter i should make the owners to abandon him instead of simply forgetting him.. abandonment is quite sad but it leaves a very short space for a happy ending and an objective, even trough the theme donesnt really appeals to a happy ending.. Thinking about it, i dont even know how i could end it any way! so i guess ill have to work on that matter a bit more!

Woke up a few hours ago, and now im ready for the worst and most fun part of the compo, the last day!

Done a lot of improovements on the gameplay, included some gfx, added two more levels to test the whole thing, and now im having issues thinking of what can i add to make it more interesting

Screenie: (LD Theme stretched it horizontally)

Back to work now!

Its 6AM over here, and i suddenly got sleepy, so this guy is off for a nap..

Before i leave, here is a screenshot of my current progress; The main character was supossed to be a racoon, but it ended up looking so much like a cat that i ‘converted’ him into one hehe

The game is pretty basic but yet fun, get the orbs, unlock the door, jump around, avoid stuff, etc.. the main engine is completed and now i should start focusing on making different levels to check how the game behaves on a more dynamic enviroment
I’ll have some serious headaches when inserting the theme into the game, but i guess ill figure it out sometime tomorrow..

Well, since the themes werent any of my like on latests ludum dares i wasnt participating that much on them.. last time i found myself working 20 hours on 5 different ideas an noone of them actually worked under the 48 hour time-frame, so eventually i quitted.
BUT this time there are many great and awesome themes to choose from! i ended up voting +1 to almost all of them till i decided to remove a few and leave space for the ‘best of them’, this time i actually loved voting themes, and im positive that this one will be a pretty cool one!

So, no more of my sad stories (?) here is my declaration of tools:
For coging, engine and pretty much everything on the game;
GameMaker 8.1 Pro(as usual)
For sounds (no music, please i suck at making music..)
DrPetter’s SFXR
For graphics, (if i dont end up using GameMaker itself)
CorelDraw X5

And as much food as i can have, coffe and (hopefully) a good night sleep somewhere around the weekend, cheers and..

GO KITTENS!

Escape… At first i thought of a platformer where you had to escape from a building before the times runs out, but while developing the main prototype it didnt felt so well.. not to mention the time restrictions. now i’m considerating something a bit more.. extravagant.. as a mouse-controlled labirnith, also time-based. We shall see.. i seriosuly hope to come up with a reliable prototype!

[...]

I’m not sure why, but this theme doesnt motivate me at all.. its like.. weird.. never happened to me before in a LD! I’ll see if i can come up with something playable before the first day has passed, else i’m afraid i’ll have to quit early
Such a pity, since i was looking forward to participate this time.. but if nothing comes up, fair well.. u.u

Well, i have absolutely no idea what im going to make this time.. i guess itll struggle my head with it tomorrow and on, but i’m in for sure!

My developement tools declaration:
_GameMaker 8.1 for the main engine and stuff.
_CorelDraw for the graphics (with some photoshop, if needed)
_SFXR for the sounds.
Will be getting enourmus quantities of coffe and cheap food too (yeah, it also counts as a tool)

Pretty casual, as usual.. Cheeeers, and let teh best dummie theme win!

A quick upload of my timelapse. On this ocassion i slept a lot and i set chronolapse to 30sec shots, so in general the whole thing turned out to be quite short..

It works as a timelapse, so here it goes:

ALMOST done with my entry, i uploaded it anyway, even if its incomplete

Things i didnt had time to do:

• Sounds.
• Last scene, when you save the girl.
• Bonuses or something liked to get more lives.
• A menu :S

This Ludum dare rocked out! i am VERY pleased with the final result, i knew my project was ambitious since i started drawing it, but i almost finish it, and thats what matters, right? Hopefully next time i wont draw my characters in photoshop :S

Play it here:
LINKY
 

Not much new; im pretty much done drawing sprites for the overworld, if i have some sapre time at the end of the day i will draw some more, here’s how the game looks like by now:

Now all i need to do is:

• At least one or two more enemies.
• Add lives. (and subsecuantially, death)
• Coins or something to grab when you kill monsters.
• Final boss draws and fight.
• Maybe some collectables hañfway the game.
• Main Menu? who knows..

Ill see if i can get some sleep, so see ya all later, Cheers!

Just felt like posting a few screenies from what ive done already:

On the picture above you can see the first enemy i added, ill start working on the watergun and killing the enemies later on the night. Everything looks very promising for the moment and im quite satisfied with it, i think ill be pretty tight with the time (specially if i keep making the animations frame per frame colored in photoshop..)

The main game will be a mix of the classic platform physics; three or more lives, if an emeny touches tou you loose a life, you have to grab some upgrades for the weapon and one or two keys on the way to unlock the big boss.. pretty standard.

Cheers! ^^

Catching up with before i get a little nap (its 9:46AM over here, and i havent slept for over 15hs now..)

So, the platforming engine is now completely done (with walljumps, animations, colors for the character, blah blah blah) So i made the ghost that will give you your watergun to kill monsters!

Take this watergun!

Basically everything in the intro is drawn, but i need to scan it.. i guess ill have to do it later, since its too early in the morning.. After i finish the intro where you are given the quest, i can happily start making the enemies and the rest of the story. I guess ill have to keep it short since its gotta be done for tomorrow.. well see how that goes.

See ya all in dreamsland! ^^

So, since my last post, my idea hasnt changed much; Your girl gets kidnapped by a big monster, and your task is to rescue her, and on the way kill many other monsters. The trick is, monsters dont like water! so your friend gives you a watergun to kill thoose bastards! (or just scare them out..)

Basic sketch drawing in a paper gave me a little idea: To draw everything in paper and then colour it on Photoshop! Here’s the result:

Pretty much what i had in mind while drawing, so, yay!

I guess thats it for the moment, the basic platform engine is done, i need to make the jump animations, scan a few mosnters (or maybe just draw them on pc, what gives) and im ready to start making the story!

G2g to watch something, see ya!

Ok, first of all my main concern is the theme, but instead of making a random game based on any of the other theme candidates, ill give it a try and try to make a game with the actual theme of the compo.

(do notice im analizing the theme as i write)
First of all, what the heck is THIS? at first it could be a weapon of some kind, something that helps me in my quest.. yeah, sounds nice but too normal. A weapon could be a sword or an AK-47, so maybe not a weapon..
It could be something more friendly, something that helps me to achieve the quest in a more easier way (after all the theme impies a quest for sure) That could be a peak if i have to digg, something to jump higher (a pogo maybe? haha sounds funny) or maybe something to dive in deeper..

Now, the object can only be deduced by knowing where we are going to, since you wont give a toothbrush to someone who is going to kill zombies.. unless the zombies need a teethbrush and they need to be willing to get it..
Now, where, where in hell can we go??? maybe we need to rescue our girl who was kidnapped by a big n ugly monster, and in the way we slaughter other littler monter’s.. so we leave the kidnapper to the last.. Sound good to be, but i guess it a bit of a cliché.. (clichés are awesome)

Mmm keeping this line of thought the theme is quite doable.. i guess i changed my mind from when i started writing this post (yeah, i can change my mind pretty quickly hehe) So, ill keep poolishing the “Where” and then make a “What” ..The girl and the monster sounds like the best option so far

Just stepping by to give my declaration; this will be my second LudumDare, and im quite excited about it!

The stuff ill be using:
For overall developement: GameMaker 8.1, with some extensions or DLL’s, if needed.
For graphics: CorelDraw and a bit of GameMaker too. (photoshop edits, maybe)
For sounds: SFXR, simple and fast. Just the way i like things to be   (plus, not using sfxr in LD is sacrilege)
For unsleepness: Coffee and Chiptunes.
For awesomeness: All above? dunno..

Jokes aside, best of luck to everyone, hopefully everyone will finish in time and well get some excellent games submitted by the end of te week! Cheers!

This is my timelapse video from the making of my entry, “Rotate!”. It was made with an application of my own design (thats why it may look out of time at some points), and also removed 14+ hours of screensaver hehe
Have fun watching it, for the next LD i shall use Chronolapse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGAaLyCw7z4

I finished my game (i think), you can check it out Here, i finally decided for the name “Rotate!” ..and then realized someone else took it XD anyway, i dont feel link changing it, and the game is totally different, so no worries about that
I will be uploading the timelapse later, when everyone else starts to do so (im editing it right now)

Ludum Dare rocks!

Enjoy the rest of this wonderful compo people!

Since my game is pretty much finished i was triying to pull up something hearable with SFXR and Fruity loops with no results, i definately suck at making music (specially 8-bits music)
Aaanyway, im posting some screenies of my entry now, the game, as i said is pretty much finished, ill use the rest of the day to eat ice cream and poolish what i got so far:

Yeaah, you can rotate the world! yay!

Who says hearths are harmless?

Yummy

Well, almost three hours after start, ive made some good progress with my game:

Its a weird mix of a platformer and an arena shooter.. well see how the idea turns out.. The style, as some of you might notice, is a bit inspired in FlashPunk (even if the game itself is made with GameMaker).
The gameplay is not even close of being done, only the platform engine, and a bit of a preview of the enemies.