Weeeee

There.

When your ship crashes on a lonely planet and your survive, you try to find others…

Left,Right / A,D: Move
Up / W: Jump
Down / S: Upgrade

Collect all blues to see another ending.

This was my fourth Ludum Dare – and I have to say, my worst yet.

In the other LDs, I had a lot of motivation. I liked my idea, and I worked on them until the last minute, putting details and fixes for insanely rare bugs in. Especially last time, where I couldn’t stop playing my own damn game sometimes.
This time? Nothing of that.

It’s not fun for me.

The last times, I always had great ideas. They jumped in my head and I instantly took them. This one was used because I had no other idea.
I wanted to go a lot farther when I discovered something, but I lacked motivation. In the end, this just ended up as in incredibly short 2D platformer.

Full postmortem and timelapse coming whenever I feel like it, I’m going to play Cave Story+ and Team Fortress 2 now~ :3

I finished the levels, and now I’m working on the ending.

Spoilers: It won’t be as happy as it looks.

Next up is a bit of effects, then sounds and the *gulps* music…

It’s midnight, and about time I go sleep. I got the levels done, and the title screen too. Tomorrow: Ending, fancy graphics, music!

You can play what I have right now: https://github.com/Superyoshi/Ludum-Dare-22/blob/master/Main.swf?raw=true
(note the blue hole is there for debugging, you can still play – just don’t touch it)

…but there’s not really much going on here. Meh, here you have a screenie of the collectables.

Now I should really get going and add gameplay, also maybe optimize a bit…

So I was coding when suddenly my music player played one of my favorite songs, “End of Solitude” by Kagamine Rin. Have a look at this part of the lyrics…

Ah, a mirage at the end of this solitude
The moon that is blue is caught in the back of here
Ah, At the end of repeats, I can only see
I see, the moon is gently dreaming right now

Waste the property and then forget and leave
It disappears like that because it has no form

Now compare to my whiteboard ideas: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2011/12/17/here-we-go-again-9/
“Waste the property and then forget and leave” -> “upgrades by destroying”
“Ah, At the end of repeats, I can only see” -> “repeats”
“The moon that is blue is caught in the back of here” -> “goal: blue spheres”

I can’t tell if this is a coincidence or I subconsciously wrote that down. Well, while I’m at it, I might as well take more ideas. A game based on a song, woo!

First off, breakfast! Scrambled eggs, woo!

Then whiteboard! Horrible writing, woo!

Now, Git and code! Woo! https://github.com/Superyoshi/Ludum-Dare-22

<< LD21 edition

So yeah, let’s have this post again because it’s quite fun.

My playlist did not really change much. The focus is still on Chiptune, some Game Soundtracks here and there (by the way, the Humble Indie Bundle 4 just added soundtracks of all the games. Spoilers: BIT.TRIP RUNNER soundtrack is amazing) and a bit of Vocaloid.

So what are you listening to?

This is not LD releated, but I think some of you will be interested in this:
The Humble Indie Bundle 4 is out. Though it is recommended you buy this AFTER Ludum Dare to avoid distraction. This time, you can get the following awesome games:
- Super Meat Boy
- BIT.TRIP RUNNER
- NightSky
- Shank
- Jamestown
- Cave Story + (beat the average!)
- Gratitous Space Battles (beat the average!)

If you don’t know what the HIB is yet, here’s a quick overview:
- PAY WHAT YOU WANT: if you want, you can just drop a single cent for 5 games.
- DRM-FREE: These games are yours, and nobody is going to take them.
- CROSS PLATFORM: It doesn’t matter if you use Windows, Mac or Linux.
- HELPS CHARITY: A part of your purchase goes to Child’s Play and the American Red Cross.

Now what are you waiting for? http://www.humblebundle.com
Here’s the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i88FGZIUDM

Ohai internets. How’s your coding life?

Well, it’s time for this again. After the results from last time (Innovation: Rank 37/599; Fun: Rank 66/599; Overall: Rank 93/599) I’m pretty motivated so, let’s see what kind of wierd stuff I come up with this LD.

My team is the same as last year:
- On the offense, ActionScript 3, FLEX and FlashPunk
- The middle row: GIMP, my crappy drawing tablet, pxTone and Hydrogen Drum Sequencer
- And in the back, to defend me from losing motivation: Chiptune, Vocaloid, orange juice and sandwiches

LET’S DO THIS

EDIT: Almost forgot the obligatory desk photo

It’s pretty tidy compared to my other LD desks (only useless thing on my desk I can spot is the package of Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA extend. Why do I even keep it on my desk), also dual monitor, for double work speed! Or working and distraction at once. Or double distraction.

Double Distraction it is.

First time writing a post mortem. Woohoo.
Before we start, have some pigs.
Times are noted from the start of LD. That means 0:00 would be 4am in my timezone, and 24:00 is 4am the next day.

~ PHASE 1 – THE IDEA ~
I woke up at 5:00 – 2 hours later than planned. What I thought to do is to look up the theme, then take a walk, play some games, relax a bit while thinking of ideas.
Sadly I had to go at 5:15 so everything was in a massive hurry. I managed to get my idea at 5:30 during a car drive – I arrived at 5:35, and finished the sketch at 5:45. So while I was not relaxed at all, I was able to come up with a nice idea.
What went right: Got my idea quickly…
What went wrong: …while being stressed as hell

~ PHASE 2 – THE CODE ~
5:50. I jumped on the closest PC, got Dropbox and grabbed all my stuff. I jumped instantly into it. It all went very well, though I encountered some really wierd glitches. (I should have saved them to showcase them here. Just imagine the ball goes apeshit and that’s about it)
The biggest timewaster happened to me at about 15:00. This is when I started to work on the lava.
Originally, I wanted to make the Lava Minecraft style, expanding block by block, getting quicker with every km (sidenote: km should actually be screens. Every screen is 1 km) you pass.

Dramatization. A death by lava is not that painful. After all, it's pretty quick and your brain is fried pretty early.

Sadly, for some reason, the collision code decided to be evil. The first time the lava source was created, every single tile would think it collides with something, even when it doesn’t – resulting in no spread at all.
The second time the source is created every tile would think it does not collide, resulting in lava flodding into the walls, and massive lag since it wouldn’t check if there is lava already.
At 19:00 I decided to screw it. I made an enourmous picture of lava, almost increasing the filesize 3-fold. It’s an ugly workaround, but it works.
Finally, I have finished the basic gameplay one minute before german midnight – 19:59.
What went right: Most stuff was pretty easy to code…
What went wrong: …and then there was lava

~ PHASE 3a: IMPROVING ~
The next morning, 27:00… switching on my computer. Checking the code.
What happened was the same thing that happened the last two times I participated at the LD:
“*stare* what the fuck did I write? I should use comments next time.”
First thing I did was implement scoring. For that I just counted how many screens you went right, how many you went down, and -pow- done. Then there were two nightmares at once.

~ PHASE 4: MUSIC ~
After the crimes against humanity which I call music in my previous two entires (#19, #20) it was easy to understand I tried my best. Sadly, I had to leave Ubuntu for it and boot into NightmareOS. You might know it under the name of “Windows Vista”. First thing I noticed is that the internet connection didn’t work again. My WLAN stick only works in one of ten cases when starting Vista, needing about 1 hour of fixing every time I want to play something on Steam. I didn’t have the time, so I just started pxtone and planned to save it on my disk instead of Dropboxm then copy it over.
Now, I was in pxtone and started throwing some note bars here and there. The result should never be mentioned again.
I spent half an hour just doing random stuff until I hit the effect window and heard a sound. THE sound. It was exactly the sound I wanted to do in sfxr later. Then then idea hit me like a train. After (ab)using pxtone to make my sounds, I left Windows behind, went into Ubuntu Studio where I used Hydrogen to make two drum loops, one fading in when you get closer to the lava. Huge success!
What went right: Everything!
What went wrong: Nothing! (except having to boot into Windows)

~ PHASE 3b: IMPROVING ~
Back into Ubuntu, I smacked the sound files into my project. It sounded wonderful.Next thing to do was more obstacles, as it was pretty repetitive. After looking at my code for obstacle generation, I knew this would be hell. Thus, I made a level editor. It is included in my source archive, already compiled, in the subfolder “editor”. It’s a bit hard to use though, as the black walls are hardcoded and there are no buttons. D/Right resets everything, S/Down removes blue walls under your cursor and A/Left will put the code into your clipboard to paste it into the game code.

Dramatization. The game is not as friendly as this screenshot suggests. It will eat you alive.

The last things I did was adding online highscore, adding a texture to the lava and a bit of a backdrop. Then I submitted that thing. Done!
What went right: Level Editor! Online Highscores! Had tons of time left after all that was done…
What went wrong: …but wasted it playing Hatsune Miku Project DIVA on my PSP. derp.

~ PHASE 5: POST-COMPO ~
I was flattered by the feedback. “Oooh this is a nice game! Sounds, music and everything!” – “Amazing, just amazing.” – “The most fun LD game I’ve tried so far.” First thing I did that morning was celebrate that occasion. By playing some more PSP. Then I went back to coding.
After the compo, it didn’t change much things. I added a glow to the lava, a preloader, and fixed a GFX glitch with the motion blur. Then I submitted the game to Newgrounds, where it had a “GREAT” entry rank and has a current score of 3.33. Weee!

And that concludes my tale of my third Ludum Dare, and I hope I will get even better by next time!
Although honestly, you know what makes everything better? Bacon. (I bet you thought I was going to say “taco”.)

This post has just been made better with bacon.

Thank you for reading!

And Firefox suggested this to me

Seems like Notch is quite famous in LD. Well, he brought tons of people here (including me), so not a big surprise.

Anyways, I’m fixing up some things in my game and making a video on how to get faster. My record is 230km, and nobody went over 100 in the highscores yet. SHAAAAME ON YOUUUU.
EDIT: Video is done!

Another Ludum Dare beaten! YAY! \o/

You’re trapped in some kind of endless corridor, with two hooks and lava chasing you. Best story ever, right?

Try to escape the advancing lava with your hooks and swing around obstacles in your way, as the wave gets faster and faster, until just a single mistake seals your fate as you are engulfed in the hot doom.

Think you got a good score? Submit it to the online highscores and compete with all the players!

PLAY IT! – VIEW THE HIGHSCORES! – VIEW THE ENTRY!
Post Mortem coming tomorrow. Maybe.

Now that the basic game is done and I added some eyecandy, I’m doing some little gimmicks. For example, the ending screen will show you now which path you took while trying to escape:

Will someone beat this score? Maybe, we will find out, because I am starting to work on the Online Highscores now! Wooo!

Before, I had about 10 obstacle layouts. Now I wrote a little tool for myself, which allowed me to raise this count to 30 in just half an hour.

Link is here: Update 5
Next up: Graphics and Eyecandy stuff.

If you noticed my ear assassins in the last two LDs, you might want to turn off your speakers as soon you play this. But do not worry, as the music actually went pretty well this time!

Well, it didn’t start this well first. I left my trusty Ubuntu to boot in my non-trusty Windows. I started pxtone, and first stared at the thing for 10 minutes since I had no idea how to make a good sounding song. Then I just screwed around for half an hour, remade the main theme of Hatsune Miku no Shoushitsu for some reason until I found the Effects window. And I got an idea.

I didn’t use pxtone to make music, I did the sounds there.

After quickly throwing some together, I rebooted again, this time into Ubuntu Studio, where I jumped into Hydrogen Drum Sequencer and made a little loop.
Then I jumped back to Ubuntu again, slapped everything together and here we are.

Have a link: Update 4
Controls are still the same: A/D or Left/Right to fire grappling hooks, run as long as you can before HOLYCRAPLAVAITISSOHOTAASFGSAFIFASFAS.

Next up: more level variatons. LET’S DO THIS

~ About 18 hours remain ~

Let me show you what I did while the site was down:

I finished the basic engine! You can die, there are obstacles, and it’s infinite.

So what’s left to do today?
- Scoring
- Sounds and Music
- More level variations
- Some graphical improvements
- Online Highscore

Alright, let’s roll!

EDIT: Oh, and have a link to the newest build.

I want to have 50×50 tiles of lava spreading beetween walls. Sounds simple, should be simple.

Sadly for some reason it isn’t.

The first time I create the lava source, every tile thinks it collides all the time, even if it doesn’t.
The second time I create it, every tile thinks it doesn’t collide all the time, even if it does.

What the hell? D: