Got the back to school blues? The end of summer blahs? The “LD21 was so much fun, when’s the next?” daydreams?  Just looking for some gamedev fun in September? Your wish has been granted! Prepare to jam your face off the weekend of September 17th:

- increpare’s miniLD (Ludum Dare)
- Orca Jam (in Victoria Canada)
- GPCv8 (Game Prototype Challenge)
- Mysticism Pageant (Super Friendship Club)
- Story Game (Experimental Gameplay Project)
- Glorious Trainwrecks (Klik of the Month Klub: only 2 hours long!)
- Pyweek #13 (Python Game Programming Challenge)

Some of these jams are ongoing all that week or even over the entire month.  If you are super mega hardcore, maybe you can make one game that fits all the themes and submit it to multiple game jams! Anyone up for the challenge?

Did a little post-compo work on my LD48 “pinball” game, Bounce-onium: Escape from Prof. Kitty von Doom’s Laboratory - there are now 25 levels, a level select screen, cool chiptune music and most notably: SPIKES!  Lots of polish added – for example, your mouse/ball now spins properly and there are lots of new block types that can be used for level designs.

I’ve also used PhoneGap to compile my HTML5 + box2d source code into a native Android app and it runs GREAT on my phone with super smooth FPS.  Coming soon to an app store near you… =)

Anyone who made an HTML game, be sure to check out PhoneGap – you can compile your app to Android, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, etc.  Completely free, open source goodness.

Final Ludum Dare progress of the day before I finally go to sleep: My game has slowly evolved into what could be described as “you are the pinball” or “you are in a plinko machine” and the goal is to grab a key to unlock a door to get to the next level. You can use the arrow keys to apply “english” to yourself like tilting a pinball machine.

I have implemented pickups, score, items that can kill you, lives, a main menu, and the ability to destroy the world in order to spawn the “next level”. So we officially “have game” with physics, game triggers and sound effects but it is still completely art-less: all just coloured circles and squares.

I wonder what tomorrow’s art will bring. My hope is to make some levels that look like a cross between a pinball machine and a plinko wall and focus exclusively on art. If I’m lucky I will do almost no programming at all during the last day of Ludum Dare.

KEYNOTE TIPS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHD1QBP4ww8

I’M IN MOTIVATION: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYuOrCnokCQ

PURE WIN AMAZINGNESS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaIvk1cSyG8

It took me an hour and a half to come up with anything to fit the theme of  ”ESCAPE” but once I forced myself to sit down with a marker and a piece of paper, I soon had a simple little thumbnail sketch of what I wanted to make.  I’m using an ultra-simplistic concept that fits the theme and I’m quite happy with it. As my first progress report, I’m happy to say that I’ve finished implementing the basic gameplay mechanic. I’m using HTML5 and box2dweb and am creating a physics puzzler for web, windows exe and android (compiled to .apk using PhoneGap). It took me about two hours to code the entire thing from scratch.  I’d never tried any work with box2d before, and I stumbled with bodies and fixtures and sensors but I’m really happy to say that my basic gameplay testbed and proof-of-concept is complete: we have a “main character” that can bounce around and the engine detects when you touch a “key” which unlocks a “door”.

This means that I am “done” the low level engine and have the rest of the weekend to make it look pretty!

“A man has only one escape from his old self: to see a different self in the mirror of some woman’s eyes.”

Clare Luce

“The greatest escape I ever made was when I left Appleton, Wisconsin.”

Harry Houdini

“The horse may run quickly, but it can’t escape its own tail”

Russian Proverb

“It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.”

William Blackstone

“This is a place where I can escape to fantasyland.”

Elaine Vogel

“If you think you’re free, there’s no escape possible.”

Ram Dass

“Anyone can escape into sleep, we are all geniuses when we dream, the butcher’s the poet’s equal there.”

Emile M. Cioran

“Creating a character on or off the stage is an escape.”

Roger Moore

“Death, after all, is the common expectation from birth. Neither heroes nor cowards can escape it.”

Ellis Peters

“It is a pity that we cannot escape from life when we are young.”

Mark Twain

“Comedy is an escape, not from truth but from despair; a narrow escape into faith.”

Christopher Fry

“Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice.”

Ayn Rand

“A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought.”

Albert Einstein

“Faces that have charmed us the most escape us the soonest.”

Walter Scott

Here’s some motivation for ya. It is all about the fact that you can’t expect your first attempts to turn out as great as you dream. Keep at it, don’t give up, make a dozen games and eventually you will be amazing at what you love. I’m still learning this lesson: I remember my first couple games – how they turned out was OK even though I was sure they would be incredible. It was (and still is) a humbling experience. The key is to not get discouraged and don’t aim for perfection, especially at the beginning.

The first three rounds of voting for this weekend’s Ludum Dare are over. You were given the option of giving +1, 0 or -1 to each choice. Here are the themes that earned non-negative  scores.

This doesn’t include the results of round 4, but you can guess what the most likely themes are going to be based on their score in the prelims!

Perhaps self-replication, dreams, adaptation or evolution will win? You can’t be sure…

#.      Name      Total      +1      0      -1
==============================

ROUND ONE WINNERS:

1. Self-replication +158 343 132 185

2. Dreams +154 334 137 180

3. Immortality +87 297 146 210

4. Genetics +79 291 142 212

5. Architecture +74 283 156 209

6. Espionage +64 270 171 206

7. Resurrection +19 242 179 223

8. Growth +6 18 18 14

9. Thieves +2 246 166 244

ROUND TWO WINNERS:

1. Adaptation +117 318 150 201

2. Night +81 296 171 215

3. Stealth +4 269 152 265

4. Mechanisms +1 257 163 256

5. Looping 0 254 170 254

ROUND THREE WINNERS:

1. Evolution +79 322 128 243

2. Very large Vs Very Small +49 309 128 260

3. Ruins +38 279 167 241

4. Apocalypse 0 281 127 281

Discussions on google+ regarding Ludum Dare have revealed that there are an enormous number of Ludum Dare first-timers participating in next week’s compo.  Some have expressed a feeling of intimidation, having to go head-to-head with rich and famous gamedev veterans with a dozen games under their belt.  One suggestion by Jon Ross was to award a special prize:

Best debut game!

What do you think of this idea?  It could be a simple matter of using the voting results to determine the highest overall score by someone who declared their game to be the very first game they’ve ever written.  I could award a simple profile page achievement trophy for this.  The only thing we’d need to do is maintain a listing somewhere of exactly who actually IS a first timer.  And what’s the definition of a first timer?  1st time at Ludum Dare or 1st time making a game at all?

UPDATE: the consensus is that the 1st timer award should be for first Ludum Dare entry (not first game ever).

I’m MEGA excited to see that my upcoming book on 3d game programming has a web page! Becoming a published author is something I’ve been dreaming about for decades and the excitement of having finally reached this milestone is really meaningful for me. The book is finished: we’re just proofreading and typesetting and laying out the chapters over the next couple weeks.

It took so much hard work – but it was worth it!  Life is truly a wonderful thing. I’m so happy.

Adobe Flash 11 Stage3D (Molehill) Game Programming Beginner’s Guide

A step-by-step guide for creating stunning 3D games in Flash 11 Stage3D (Molehill) using AS3 and AGAL.

I am getting really excited about next week’s Ludum Dare.  Before theme voting begins, everyone should think for a bit and come up with some fun themes to add to the list.  I personally find that voting for themes is such a hilarious experience when I’m reading them out to my family and we collaboratively decide what to vote up or down.

As most veterans know, EVOLUTION always comes in the top ten.  Always will.  Nobody knows why, but it must be all the scientists among us.  Other common top tens include KITTENS.  Therefore, I propose a mashup of the two themes:

Kitten Kitten Evolution

Now that, I dare say, would be an awesome theme – like Dance Dance Revolution but indie style!  =)

Hello Ludum Dare friends, I am writing a book on game jams.  As part of the research I wanted to ask you if you had any anecdotes or advice you’d like to share for achieving game jam success!  In particular, funny stuff is what I’d like to hear most. =)  One liners, haiku, yoda-like wisdom… you name it. Update: I’m loving all the haiku (5-7-5 syllable poems) please submit more!

McFunkypants
blog: www.mcfunkypants.com
twitter: @McFunkypants
google+: http://gplus.to/gamedev

The June miniLD #27 (theme: ALL TALK) has officially ended with a bang! The results are in!

View all the stats for each of the 30 games here:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/minild-27/?more=1

The gold medal for fun goes to Zed with his zombie/bacon adventure, Adventures in the Public Domain. Gold for gameplay goes to 31eee384 for his IRC hacker simulation, Secretnet. Gold for presentation goes to Jake Elliot for Last Tuesday, his eerie visual novel about a world devoid of people.

Other standouts include Zillix’s Acquiescence, Reltair’s Project Eidolon, Radiatoryang’s Polonius and smalldeadinsect’s Leaks.  There were 30 games created in all, and many not mentioned above that were truly awesome.  Check them out!

As one of the most active mini dares in recent memory and one filled with enthusiasm and positivity, I just want to thank you all for being such a creative, energetic and kind-hearted bunch of gamedevs. You rock.

Viva Ludum Dare!

Keep those votes and comments coming! We’re going to close the voting after the weekend.

Remember, you do NOT have to have submitted a game to be able to vote/rate/comment. Everyone is allowed to rate the games!

So far I’ve been totally amazed by some of the games made for this miniLD. Definitely one of the more active miniLDs in recent memory. Must be the “summer vacation just started” effect. =)

[ RATE ALL THE GAMES! | View All Entries ]

The “ALL TALK” June 2011 miniLD is officially over. It was a gigantic success and the support and community enthusiasm was overwhelming and far exceeded my every hope. Not only was I inundated in kind words of thanks and encouragement on twitter, but people seemed to really love the theme and enjoy themselves. The general vibe I got from people was incredibly positive, filled with humour and positivity and creativity.

The sheer number of games made BLOWS ME AWAY. I expected 5 to 10 games at most but so far there have been THIRTY games submitted! I’d say that for each game that was finished, two more were started but abandoned. Therefore, it is entirely possible that this little game jam affected a hundred people’s lives – hopefully for the better. I’m glad I left the entry form open a little later than midnight last night (the official closing time) – one last minute entry just came in.

[ RATE ALL THE GAMES! | View All Entries ]

Remember to be nice and overlook any rough edges: we had several first-timers join and what people really need right now is positive encouragement. Along with your ratings, be sure to leave comments telling the author what you liked and where there is room for improvement.

You can play all the games here – remember to give feedback for every game you play. In the next couple weeks you should have the much-sought-after rare and valuable Ludum Dare achievement trophies you deserve appear on your profile pages… but give me a few days to try out all your games.

I’m so grateful for and proud of all of you.  You guys rock!

I finished my game! It is called A Familiar Story. A “familiar” is a magic animal companion, such as a witch’s black cat. Familiars are used to boost the magic strength of their companions and have a history of being valuable allies. [VIEW MY ENTRY]

Click this image to play in your web browser!

Follow the adventure and friendship between two lonely young heroes. From humble beginnings, their partnership are all that the world needs to save them from an evil tyrant. Recruit allies and meet people and creatures along the way toward the boss battle.

This was created using art that I’d made previously. I created all the avatar art (cats, dragons and people) using Poser Pro 2010 and DAZ art assets. Most of the backgrounds were created in Vue 8.5 xStream.

I decided that my challenge for this weekend would be to build my first MOBILE game. Using Phonegap and jQuery, I created the entire game in HTML. Using Eclipse to compile a simple .java class, I packaged phonegap and my html sources into a non-signed Android .APK which is designed to be used on phones like the HTC Desire, or any Android 2.2 device with 800×480 resolution. It might also work on tablets and older phones as well. Because it isn’t a signed .APK, it is not yet ready for prime-time (it wouldn’t be allowed to go on the app stores, and you need to enable “debug mode” on your phone and “allow unsigned apps”).

For the Windows .EXE, I used Appcelerator Titanium to create a stub executable which is really just a chromeless web browser (using a variant of xulrunner).

For the web version, all I had to do was upload my HTML sources to my web server. The sound is done with soundManager2, which can use HTML5 audio but generally sticks with more reliable invisible Flash.

Although this is a very simple game right now – just some conversation and one battle – I am very proud of what I accomplished. As a tech demo for a future, more advanced RPG or visual novel, I think this is a great start. Perhaps I will flesh out the adventure, add a few more characters, implement game saves and inventory and a quest manager and craft a more robust RPG game like I’ve always dreamed. Who knows?

In any case, it was really fun working on this. Hope you enjoy it!

This weekend’s miniLD will be officially over at Midnight tonight.  That said, there would be no problem if you post an entry a few hours late.  We will close the submission form on Monday around lunchtime.

Remember: you do NOT have to finish your game – we warmly welcome all submissions including failed projects.  Post whatever you have – just for fun – bugs and all!  Ludum Dare is great for learning new things and the short 48 hours format doesn’t leave time for polish.  A simple prototype, demo or even just a title screen is still an accomplishment.  =)  We don’t mind a few rough edges.

Good luck finishing your games today!  Enjoy the process and don’t stress about the final product.  Whatever you end up with, even if it is a broken piece of junk is worthy of submission.  We promise to be kind with our comments!

I’ve created all the art I need for my game now. Armed with a working game engine, some backgrounds and a few character portraits, I have all I need to be able to dive in tomorrow and write, write, write. Check out the silly lolcat and his various expressions – from neutral to angry to scared to downright strange. Time for some sleep! =)

FINALLY I have completed my game engine.  I have no plot whatsoever, nor do I have any gameplay, but a working prototype of all functionality required is done at last.  I wasted two hours trying to get sound and permissions set up properly for the smartphone version of my game, but when (after 35 different test compiles) I finally had everything working, I felt so great!

I now have a visual novel engine capable of handling multiple-choice scenes, can display jpg backgrounds and png avatars which smoothly fade in and out, can play mp3 music and voiceovers, and it all works on Win/Web/Android.  Now that the base code is there, it is time for me to actually work on the “game” part!  Whew!  I almost gave up on the sound and mobile parts.

I love that feeling when you’re so frustrated, about to give up, and you keep saying “I’ll just try one different method, maybe it will work this time” and at long last you finally hear your mp3 over the speakers and it is like a huge weight floated off your shoulders and you know: it was worth the persistence.

NEVER GIVE UP!  YOU *CAN* DO IT!

Here is my silly little game engine running on my phone:

Hi jammers! It has been super exciting seeing your progress even at this very early stage. Just wanted to put out a friendly reminder to everyone who uses twitter: post screenshots and tag them with the #screenshotsaturday hashtag so that users can see your wonderful creations in their twitter streams as well as the community website www.screenshotsaturday.com made by our very own pekuja.

Keep up the awesome work!  You guys freaking rock.