It looks alot like a simcity kind of game, but i have some plans on how to make it a bit more original. We’ll see where it goes.

I am in once again! This time i will be using:

Javascript + maybe some PhP

Notepad++

Paint.net

I will also be streaming @ http://www.twitch.tv/mstrp2ez

I’m done with my entry for LD24, but i’m not happy with it at all, things went pretty bad and i didnt have time to finish the game in a good way. Also Chrome keeps resizing the flash content for some reason, maybe someone knows what that is about? A quick google gave me nothing and time is late.

Anyway, there will be a timelapse up later, so stay tuned!

Tired, time for sleep. Thanks for yet another great event!

As i promised in my “I’m in”-post, here is my as3 framework.

Some of the code is old, some of it was designed for a specific purpose and thus need rewriting to fit a new project. Use it at your own risk.

Edit: I almost forgot, here is the map editor i’ve made and will be using. Again, there are no tutorials or whatever for it, yet, so use at your own risk.

I’m in!

Same deal as usual:

• As3
• Paint.net
• My own framework (will share here before start)
• Redbull + snacks

I’m considering doing a warmup game sometime next week to get warmed up, you should to!

I started out with a game concept that i liked, but i ended up making a completely different game. Now i have this urge to simply combine the two into something cool. We have to see how much time i get to put into this.

Some kind of funky shadows with added artifacts

Some kind of concept, we’ll see what it turns into.

What went good?

I’ll start with what i felt went good. I have done probably up to 20 game jams / compos by now, including LD’s and i feel that i’ve started to get to a point where i know what will fly and what won’t in terms of time and production. I know what i can manage when it comes to graphics and animations and i stick to that as much as possible. It won’t look super good, but  then again i’m not primarily an artist, so that’s ok. I know how to manage sleep, food and having a good work routine. I felt like all that worked this time around aswell.

The way i go about comming up with an idea basically boils down to me thinking about the theme for a while. What the theme means, what it could mean or how i can make it more interesting for me. This usually takes about 10-20 minutes, but after that i steam ahead, ironing out any detail that i havent thought about as i go. This is good for the most part i think, over analyzing things usually, for me, makes the game to complex or to strange in the end. I think that if you can’t come up with something decent after twenty minutes, then atleast do something else for a while, try to clear your head. Sitting down and grinding it in your head or on paper for an hour just does’nt work for me if it’s a 48h game. But maybe it should, more on that  later.

The game didn’t turn out great, but i think thats more because i only had roughly 24h to spend in the end, given the full 48h i think it would have been decent. I enjoy working with my own framework and given some more development, it could become something really good.

I had more sound effects in this game then in my previous entries, but it’s still something that i’m doing at the last moment, and thats not good. I need to start thinking about it from the beginning and not as something i have to put in there just becuase. It really helps the game feel better, and i should pracctise making good sound and music.

I’m also glad that i tested the game on friends before i submitted it, something that i have been really bad at in the past. Getting that feedback on balance and bugs and glitches really made the game better and helped me to see the game through another persons eyes. It so easy to go blind to things that, to you the developer, seems obvious and intuitive, but to others confusing and strange. This is a lesson i will apply to all my projects.

What didn’t go so well?

I struggle to get that something special into my games and i belive part of the problem is that i don’t think about the design enough. It becomes a programming challange rather then a game design challange for me. That is, i think more about how i want to code it rather then how it should feel playing it. I need to stop and think of the overall picture, the aestethics and the dynamics of the game. I also need to go back to my old games, and other peoples old games and see what works well and what doesnt, and then steal that. Save it in my game design cheat sheet. I usually play my own games alot, i even enjoy playing them from time to time. But i need to analyze and think more about the design decisions that i’ve made and then cut the bad and keep the good.

The sound was bad, and not all sound effects i made were even in the game. I did them at the last minute, as always, and paid the price for it. I also need to get good at musagi or a similar program for music.

The game balance was bad, but still alot better then what it was just a few hours before the submit. Again, i belive this is a time issue more then anything else. Had i worked the full 48h i hope and belive that it would have been better. But who knows.

Graphics and animations still takes alot of time, but i know that and plan for it. I still sucks tough, so i should practice making graphics alot more then i do now.

There is more to be said about my entry, but i need to get back to work. So i’ll wrap this up with a recap:

The fact that i only had 24h made the game bad, so next time i need to make sure that i can and will spend the full 48h. I also need to think more on my design and what have worked in my previous games. If i do that and just keep producing stuff, eventually i will make that real gem of a game.

Edit: Oh, the game is HERE

I’ve been a bit busy yesterday and today, so progress has been a bit slow. But there has been progress none the less.

Here are some screenshots for your amusement:

Lost alot of hours yesterday, sucks.

But i got a good idea for what i want to do now and progress is happening. I’ll post a nice picture in a few hours.

Everyones stuff looks great, keep it up!

This is my framework, there are many like it, but this one is mine.

It’s basically bits of code that i’ve written for game jams over the ages, use them at your own risk.

I’ll upload the level editor that i’ll be using aswell, i just need to fix a few things first.

Src

I just submitted my warmup entry, a bit late i know.

Try it out here:

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22-warmup/?action=preview&uid=1881

I’m aware of a few bugs, and the fact that there are no sounds, but yea rogues are silent so there you go. I’ll probably do an update in the future (i usually do with my LD entries), i belive it could have some potentional as a smartphone app or something. Maybe i’ll do that.

I’ll atleast clean up the graphics and add some more interesting tiles, maybe traps and a better sneak system.

For now, enjoy!

I spent some time yesterday upgrading my level editor, it now has a better system for dealing with interactable objectes. I’m using this upgraded feature to design a sweet level for my warmup entry. This is what it looks like right now:

The tileset is still quite boring to look at, as you can see. I’ll spend some time on that once all the main features of the game are in place.

I got “Cloak and dagger” as my warm up theme. Cool theme, i  like it.

I’ll post some screens as i go.

Engage!

I’m in and very much excited about it.

I’ll be using flash through as3 and flashdevelop, rolling with my own collection of game jam code snippets and tools.

I’ll try to remember to upload them somewhere before the event starts.

GL and HF everyone.

I had a blast making the game for LD48 but wow, was i tired last night.

Anyway here is the game as submitted: http://www.strangechair.se/LD21/

and here is the  Time-lapse.

Now to try out hundreds of new games!

Missed last one, this time, nothing can keep me from entering.

I will probably go for something in flash, or HTML5 for painless deployment.

Will record the whole thing with chronolapse, so expect a youtube clip of that in the future.

Good luck and have fun!

Woke up way to late, theme was announced at 4 am around here, and i had planned to wake up at around 5.30. But here i am at 10, so time to get rocking!

Good theme, game will be aweseome, that is all. Main screen turn on.

Hello everybody!

Will be trying to attend LD20 this weekend, it’s been a while since my last entry, so it’s about time for a comeback.

Some tech:

• Platform: Flash or HTML5 canvas, i have yet to decide on that.
• IDE: Flashdevelop or Notepad++ for js
• Graphics: Paint.net most likely
• Musica: Sfx
• Sound effects: Bfxr

Really looking forward to this! Good luck and happy hunting y’all.

My timelapse will go up here, along with some previous jams/comps that i’ve attended:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Mstrp2ez

Didnt get to put down that much time into the game, the result reflects that fact.

But atleast i finished something:

http://www.strangechair.se/LDM18/bin/

Because of a bug, the game can  behave strangely on slow connections.

I’ve uploaded some gif animations from the spritesheet, togheter with some mocups, and pretty soon some basic tile-art, at:

http://www.strangechair.se/?p=145

Edit: I’m to tired to go on, this will have to do.

http://www.strangechair.se/LDM18/Gfx.rar