New city, new stuff, yet same old Ludum Dare.

Goals: Finish a game.
Tools: Flashpunk, FlashDevelop, Photoshop, Audacity, the usual suspects.

The simplest demonstration of how viewing the alternate dimension can alter the environment. Those stairs don’t exist without that window (and that pillar still exists without it).

Working on cleaning up the visuals and getting something presentable. The mechanics are turning out quite nicely so far and I’ve integrated Ogmo into the mix.

A 2d puzzle platformer? How original! Here is the first screenshot of Aband0n where you will be doing some interesting things with viewports.

Can’t believe it’s already time for another Ludum Dare. Going full steam for the competition and not the jam!

CODE AND TOOLS
* The always-awesome Flashpunk library
* FlashDevelop for my coding needs
* My own library of useful things (grab it here)
* Sfxr for da sounds

Going to be taking screencaps, posting regularly, using Twitter (follow @drinkycode), and posting for #ScreenshotSaturday. Let’s do this thing!

Play it here or grab the source.

Corpse Runner, a (very) simple maze game is finished enough for the competition entry. Made today after scrapping my initial project, it’s just a maze game with a single twist. Your goal is to find the exit to your maze within the time limit. However your time limit very very short (just 15 seconds). Plus the maze is very dark and you can only see your immediate surroundings.

The twist is that at any point you “sacrifice” yourself for the next maze-goer. The next person will be able to “use” your corpse to extend his time limit and each corpse leaves behind a small amount of light.

I started this game this afternoon after scrapping my previous idea which had a neat mechanic that just wasn’t feasible within the time limit. The maze was going to be a bit more full-featured, with keys that needed to be found and multiple doors to unlock before escaping. However the game is so simple that adding any more tedious mechanics just made it even less fun.

I like the mechanic of dropping corpses and using them in future player runs even if the execution here is pretty limited. I might take some time and investigate it a little further in the future with a different game.

Anyway Ludum Dare as usual was stressful, frustrating, and yet simultaneously a blast as usual. Best of luck to everyone else and I look forward to seeing what gems other people have made.

Declaring myself ready and willing for another awesome Ludum Dare.

Coding:
-Flash w/FlashDevelop IDE
-Main engine library is Flashpunk 1.5
-With an assist from Noel’s Advanced Platforming Engine

Art:
-Adobe Photoshop CS3
-Color palettes from Adobe Kuler

Sound:
-The immortal Sfxr by DrPetter
-Audacity for editing
-Sound effects from freesound.org
-Public domain songs from archive.org

Will be listening to:
-Anamanaguchi

Will be playing:
-Team Fortress 2

Let’s do it!

Edit: Since the question of public domain/sample materials has come up I should clarify I’m probably edging more towards the jam portion rather than the competition one. I will adjust accordingly depending on how I feel about the game near the end.

Although it’s not as finished or feature-complete as I would have liked (what is with Ludum Dare), here’s my jam entry Cannonon. A simple top-down 2D shooter where you hack weapons to take control of them. Includes 3 simple levels and two different types of weapons.

View the entry here or play it here.

Looks like I’ll be submitting my entry for the jam and not the competition this time.

But everyone can try out what I would have submitted to the competition! Jump to this link and play the prototype for Cannon Hack.

Oh Ludum Dare, just when I think I’m done you pull me back in.

Tools I’ll be using this time include:
* The Flashpunk engine courtesy of ChevyRay
* To help build maps I’ll be using Ogmo
* To add some sound to the project I’ll be using the dual tools of Sfxr and Audacity
* And FlashDevelop is the IDE

Good luck to everyone this time! And here’s hoping for a really awesome theme (that isn’t double rainbows).

Island Skate Delivery Boy is (semi-)complete! A stunning achievement in realistic island skateboarding action, Island Skate Delivery Boy features no actual delivery mechanic whatsoever. Forged in darkness, completed in around 3 hours, and featuring islands, Island Skate Delivery Boy is guaranteed to at least provide 5 seconds of interaction.

You can view and play the game right now.

Entry: Echolon (check it out here)
Timelapse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_toZ_YeZ6U

Summary:
Nothing is a more effective motivator than a hard dose of reality and time constraints. Also it’s way easier doing something you’re familiar with than trying something new in 48 hours.

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Or a timelapse video of Echolon development. You know, same difference.

The first minute of this video shows me working on the first game I did which was jettisoned on early Sunday for a new game that eventually became Echolon for Ludum Dare.

The LD entry page for Echolon: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-16/?action=rate&uid=781

Hey, it’s a game! And I happened to decide to call it Echolon for no real good reason.

This game was made in around 8 hours today after ditching most of the work I did for another game yesterday. The theme of exploration was so broad I had a few ideas that are probably worth pursuing. What I originally was going with was a game focused on indirect control of a navigator that explores, but I ended up ditching that for something a little simpler.

Echolon plays a little like Asteroids where you’re exploring a really large room that that only gets illuminated when your bullets (made of light!) collide with walls. Shots have the ability to bounce off walls. There are enemy turrets scattered throughout the level that will shoot at you (natch). Destroy all the turrets to win!

Originally the game was going to be series of rooms and there was some vague idea of a limited upgrade system. Additionally I wanted other abilities and weapon types that would help illuminate the map in more meaningful ways. I didn’t have the time for that, but I sorta like the idea and may pursue that further.

Tools/engine used were Flixel, sfxr, Audacity, Photoshop, and FlashDevelop. I’ll have a timelapse video and a larger post-mortem up later.

Play the game here guys and gals. Thanks!

Unfortunately my attempt at creating a procedurally-generated map for the game is going to require more than an hour to properly debug. The only consolation I have is I essentially started this game today after scrapping what I was working on for the 1st day.

In the short-term I’m definitely going to submit the early prototype I had of a level with a few baddies and limited exploring. Not great, but at least something to show at 9 PM!

Need to get the procedural level generation system working now. After that it’s about implementing the menus and game over state.

It looks slightly better in motion. Just slightly. So exciting! (end sarcasm)

After a breakfast of tea and waffles I’ve realized that completing the original scope of the game with the time left is going to be impossible. In lieu of my original planned game I’m taking a small part of that and remaking that into a complete whole. Far less ambitious, but more plausible to complete within 9 hours.

So the game I’ve come up with for exploration is something I’m calling AD2030. It’s my way of thinking of an exploration game where a lot of the exploration in this instance is indirect. For better or for worse I haven’t had much visual progress as a lot of the game is done through non-visual communication. Additionally a lesson that worked well in the last Ludum Dare was I used placeholder graphics as long as possible so I could focus on getting gameplay in there.

Meanwhile here’s what I had on my lunch break. It’s like I’m back living in my college dorm again!

While sleeping for the night I came up with a solid game idea that will definitely work in both theme and being limited enough to be created in a little over 36 hours. So now to make the damn thing. But not before a hearty breakfast fit for a champion. Eggos!