Post mortem, thoughts on things, etc. This post is mostly just going to be me rambling about my game, and this particular Ludum Dare. Basically, I didn’t really like the theme. Sure, it’s not a bad theme, really, but I couldn’t think of anything original to do. My ideas pretty much went from “Climb the Tower” to “Tower Defense” to “Build a Tower”, and back. Honestly, both styles of games would be pretty cliche, and I didn’t really want to do that. I figured there’d be plenty of other games with these basic rules, and I was right. That said, there were plenty of awesome and inventive games made too, and games that took these ideas and turned them on their head. Congratulations to everyone who submitted a fully fleshed out game, and good job to those who worked all weekend. I am not one of those people. (Rest of this, plus solution to level 3 after the more.. link

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Final

Well, I finished with about 3 hours left, meaning I made the game in about 3 hours.  However, it’s not much of a game, and it’s somewhat unconventional for LD, since it’s a web based choose your own adventure.  A screenshot would be pointless because of this.  Sorry everyone who demands a screenshot.

The game itself can be found here.  I have included the source code, as well as the backend tool used to create the content here, so you too can make your own adventures.  An important note, though, is that you’ll have to have a webserver with MySQL, and PEAR::DB installed.  Additionally, the tool is NOT secure, and should NOT be used on a live server.  As always, use at your own risk.

About an hour and a half in, and I’ve got the engine working, and am now creating content for my game.  I’ve got a lovely ‘map editor’ working, which took more time than the engine.  The title will probably be “Enter the Tower”

With about 6 hours left, I decided to make a game.  A simple game, a game that will likely not win.  But hey, hopefully it’ll be fun to play.

In case anyone asks, not my workspace.

And I’ve already got half my game done.  See if you can guess what movie it’s based on, just by using the screenshot provided here.  The second number in the title bar is score, since I’m currently too lazy to add in text support right now.

I’ve decided to stop about 2 hours before the end, mostly so I can rest a bit, and eat some food. There shouldn’t be any bugs, although the game balance still needs some work, and there really should be more monsters to fight (there’s only two here, and I don’t really have the time or skill to draw more)

Here for the game and source.  Created in Windows with C++ and SDL.  Good chance of working on other systems.  Let me know.

There’s some simple sound effects created with sfxr. Basic controls are arrow keys to select a command, any other key will activate that command, escape exits the game. Advanced controls are listed in the readme (including save/load)

I’ve finished most of the code, and I have some basic sound effects, created with sfxr.  The game’s formulas are working, as well.  Now, I just need to make the game look pretty, since it’s currently a mostly blank screen of one color, and some bare bones text, and icons.  Time to add actual monster graphics, and a background for the battle.

If there’s time, I’ll allow players to choose a bonus on leveling up, and add in a few more features.  Right now, I just want to make the game prettier.

As part of my game, I needed some way to show damage to the player (and, damage to the monster, as well).  The method I used to render text was semi-hacked together yesterday, and it had a few problems that made it hard to really do what I wanted.  What I wanted (and what I now have), is to have the damage float up from a point on screen.  After some amount of re-writing, and some terrible bugs that nearly stopped me in full, I’ve got a better text rendering function.

Now to fix it so that you can’t gain health by fighting the monster once you’ve above a certain level.  Hopefully, I’ll find time to get some actual graphics going, and maybe fix up the formulas so the game is a challenge, as well as fun.

 Since most people have screenshots, and whatnot, I’ve decided to join in the fun, and show off the minimalist battle simulation.

The icons represent your health, magic, strength/attack, and defense.  There’s minimal actual text (it’s just going to be numbers, and icons).  Hopefully, I can draw some basic looking monsters to fight, so it’s not just a funky text game.  Time for lunch.

I decided to make a minimalist RPG type of thing.  Most likely, the result will be minimal interface, and just a battle system.  Hopefully I can make it something fun.  I spent most of last night getting framework up and running, and now it’s time to put together something to show off in screenshot form.  Also, I appear to be running on a minimal amount of milk.  I should have went shopping yesterday.

Seems the theme is Minimalist. I have no clue what I’m going to do with that, but hopefully I’ll think of something. As for how I’m going to do it, C++, and SDL.

Good luck to everyone.