Reward:

• 100exp
• 20 gold coins
• Readable code

I’m setting myself a little challenge this LD – and that is to properly document all my code. I’m pretty sure a lot of us aren’t very good at commenting (I know I’m not), so I’ve decided that now is this time to rectify this – and I want you to too.

“But natpat, surely commenting my code will take up precious time!”

Of course it will. However, think back to previous LDs. Have you ever:

• been frantically searching for a last minute bug only to find yourself layers deep in spaghetti code, not knowing what half of it does?
• wanted to look back at a previous LD project to see how you did something, not to be able to understand most of it?
• fallen asleep at your computer, woken up and forgotten what the last 30 lines you coded do?

I know I’ve done all of them, and had I properly commented my code I would have been able to save time on all of them.

“But natpat, shouldn’t “good” code document itself?”

Yes. But this is Ludum Dare. There are only 48 hours. Writing “good” code is usually not high on my agenda, and I’m sure it’s not on most other peoples. Therefore, comment it!

“But natpat, why bother?”

It’s a good practice to get into. If you force yourself to do it when time is scarce or when you don’t need to, you’re more likely to do it when you do need to!

“But natpat, it’s only code for LD22 and I’m probably not going to ever look at it again!”

Yes, but someone else might want to. There have been numerous times when I’ve wondered how someone has done something in a Ludum Dare game, and since the source code is available, I’ve taken a look and not been able to understand half of it. If you take the time to properly document your code, any programmer who read it will be able to understand it!*

So, who’s with me? Take a stand against undocumented, unreadable, un-understandable (that’s not a word) code and comment your code!

Helpful articles:

• http://particletree.com/features/successful-strategies-for-commenting-code/ - broad article on commenting techniques
• http://www.craigsefton.com/programming/tips-better-code-comments/ - general tips on improving comments

For the third time running, I’m IN! Whooo!

For the last 2 LDs, I’ve been using AS3 with FlashPunk (which is an amazing engine). However, I’d like to branch out and widen my AS3 knowledge. I’d really like to use just AS3 without anything else, but I may go with Flixel or something else. Your thoughts?

Well, the title says it all really. Anyone interested in doing a relaxed collab for the October challenge? (http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2010/09/27/the-october-challenge-begins-a-guide/)

I’d be primarily interested in collaborating with an artist, seeing as my artistic skills are very lacking, but I think it’d be nice to work with someone else, regardless

I work in AS3, so if you’re a programmer too, I’d obviously prefer if you did too.

Oh, and if you want to see some of my stuff just check out http://natpat.net

Daily Fourth? O_o

I somehow managed to get the Daily Fourth on Newgrounds yesterday. I’m amazed

Firstly, timelapse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5UoTeDj7jA

Well, that’s my second LD done. As with last time, I’m very pleased with what I got done in the time I had.

This post mortem is very long. Sorry.

(more…)

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?action=preview&uid=3501

I’m really quite pleased with how this turned out. Timelapse and post-mortem coming soon, but now sleep. Lots of it.

Drugs.

Right, my plan for the next 5 hours:

Finish balancing – 30 mins.

Add more drugs (yes.) – 1 hour.

Update graphics – 1 hour 30 mins.

Polish/more drugs – 2 hours.

Or something.

Play it here: http://natpat.hostoi.com/LUDUMDARE21.swf (arrow keys and Z to punch)

Got an awesome game idea lined up, so I’m praying I can get it done in time.

NOW. TO CODING!

Hmm. I was nonchalant about that.

Ah well. Time to sleep on the theme. Night guys

I may or may not be in. It all depends on the weather.

I’m on Holiday in Scotland, which means if the weather’s nice, I’ll be out walking and stuff, but if it’s raining, I’ll be in.

We’ll see…

Well, after about 2 months of bug fixing, content adding, level designing (God I hate level designing), doing exams (urgh), and waiting (so much waiting), I got my game for Ludum Dare 20, “Alone”, sponsored by MoFunZone

You can play it here: http://www.mofunzone.com/online_games/alone.shtml

It was my first (full) Ludum Dare, and I have to say, I loved every second of it, and the game I eventually finished with. It was an awesome thing to do, and as you can see, actually got me motivated to work on and finally sell a game.



The game is going viral on the 10th of July, so keep your eyes peeled for this appearing on Newgrounds and Kongregate and the like soon

I’m not sure if they’re allowed to do this, or if this happens every LD, but I got an email today from a website called Softpedia, telling me that:

Alone, one of your products, has been added to Softpedia's database of
games and gaming tools.

I was quite surprised, and checked the website, to see my game there, along with “Roger the beer dwarf”, the next game in the list of games from LD20 was also there.

http://games.softpedia.com/get/Freeware-Games/

If this is a regular occurrence, then could someone tell me how long it usually takes for them to take the games down after you’ve requested it?

I’ve just realised I’m out literally the whole weekend. Saturday at the MCMexpo in London (if anyone else is going, I’ll be there as Fancy Pants ) and then Sunday up to a festival… And I had a nice game idea going too

You can play what I managed to do here: http://natpat.hostoi.com/miniLD.html Click to remove the blocks, arrow keys to move. I’m kinda proud of it… kinda :L Be aware it’s very buggy… I didn’t have time to implement ceiling collisions

Screenshot!

I’m in! I’ll be using the “Dig” theme, and (hopefully) creating a game where you just mine. And mine. For your boss. Because it’s your job. You can also build automatic things that take your minerals to the top. If I can implement it. I’m at the MCMexpo in London for the whole of saturday, but hey! If anyone remembers the game “motherload”, it’ll be like that. Ish.

Name: DIG. (subject to change)

Description: Just mine. And build cool contraptions.

Mockup Image:

Done: If I’m able to implement the basic mining things, money, and a few basic contraptions.

Just in case anyone cares, I’ll be using AS3 with Flashpunk. ^^

Well, ok, it’s the updated version of my game, but all the levels in the original version are in there. (apart from the first, but if you need a walkthrough for that…) This is also proof the last level is possible.

Fancy Schmancy

I’ve been working on my game and updating it and stuff mainly the graphics, but also fixing many bugs

I’m not too sure about the basic ground, so I might redo it.

I’ve also updated my entry with a link to it:http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-20/?action=rate&uid=3501

I thought I’d jump on the band wagon and do one.

I was at a friends house for the first night – we stayed up ’til 3AM to see what the theme’d be, then got about 4 hours sleep, so I was kinda tired.

The first day went pretty well – I had the idea when I first saw the theme, so I dived straight in.

This was my first major project using AS3 & Flashpunk, I learnt them last week (although I’d done quite a bit of AS2 coding previously).

It took me longer than I would have liked to get all the platforming elements done, especially since my game stopped working randomly for about an hour then randomly started again – but hey! I then started implementing all the features – such as the “tool”, and the mechanisms, like the switches and buttons and doors.

On the second day, I added the remaining features – the enemies, spikes, and then got started on making the actual levels. This was harder than I thought – making challenging platformer levels is quite a challenge!

I then decided I needed another feature with about 5 hours left – specifically the half block, which was surprisingly easy to add.

After 6 levels though, I was way too tired – it was about 1 am, and I couldn’t think of any more levels, so I called it a night.

WHAT I’VE LEARNT:

I need to test less. Seriously, half my time was wasted on waiting for the code to compile, testing silly minor features.

I much prefer AS3 to AS2.

One thing that I don’t think I could have done without is OGMO editor. I had some trouble parsing the XML at the start, but once I got past that it was amazing. The project file for it is a complete mess, but it works, and works well.

OOP is amazing.

Quick “hacks” are ok for things that will never be uncovered again, rather than huge workarounds…. especially if you only have 48 hours :L

I CAN FINISH GAMES!

My pixel art isn’t half as bad as I think.

I’m really pleased with how this has turned out. Like really really pleased. First LD for me too I’d have liked to add more levels, but ah well.

My entry is a puzzle platformer. Behold:

Anyway, you can play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-20/?action=preview&uid=3501

Timelapse coming soon!

Ok. I have 4 levels…

And 5 and a half hours left.

The last level took me an hour… Hmm, let’s try for 10 levels

Although I still do need to do a title screen and a bit of bug fixing

I think music is out of the question by now too. D: