Looking for more compo fun?

Here’s a really cool contest: You have seven days out of the month of September to build a game that is “NEVERENDING”. Can you build a game that is infinitely playable, and always crowd pleasing? For more info, check out The Experimental Gameplay Project

If you are a demoscener or love javascript html5 canvas stuff, there’s a nifty “elite” coder style compo called JS1k, where you have 1024 bytes total for your game. Entries are due in one week. Some of the demos totally blew me away – there’s even a Zelda clone!

Finally, if you are a serious contender and can afford the $100 entrance fee, you can compete for $100,000 in the Indie Game Challenge.

I’m always on the lookout for new fun compos, so if you know of any more, please post a comment and let me know. Thanks LDers!

Whew – a couple hours left in the JAM, thank goodness: I found a minor bug in the windows version of PuzzaBOMB. The web version worked fine, but in between levels the .exe would get an error message due to a race condition dealing with cleanup of physics objects from the previous level. Everything works perfectly now. Yay!

Links: PLAY ONLINE – Windows Download – Mac OSX Download – Jam entry form

Woooo hoooo I finished my game. Overall it was a great learning experience and I even got to a point where I ALMOST gave up. I’m really happy that I stuck with it, got past “the wall” and polished it until it was done.

You can view my entry here and I would be grateful for your comments.

Streaming flash video, high score list, downloads and web version here:
http://www.orangeview.net/puzzabomb/

Use the arrow keys to move.

PuzzaBOMB is a simple action-puzzle game. The objective is to lure the time-bombs toward castles which contain powerups. Collect the glowing powerups to go the to next level.

When a bomb is flashing red, it is about to explode!

Features: Five levels, including a “speed round” where the bombs get really spammy. Hand-painted textures. Music featuring me on electric bass and mandolin. Online high score database using php and mysql. Really damn high framerates. nVidia Physx rigid body physics simulation. And lots of explosions!

Programmed entirely in javascript.

There are three versions available:
- Windows (does not require shockwave: uses directX)
- Mac OSX (does not require shockwave: uses openGL)
- Online (in any browser: uses adobe shockwave)

You can get Adobe Shockwave here:
http://get.adobe.com/shockwave/

Have fun, and thanks for playing! This was a blast to make. Ludum Dare ROCKS.

I have really loved playing everybody’s games and reading your posts. This was a wonderful experience and I’m grateful for PoV’s hard work hosting it.

Kindest regards,

- Breakdance McFunkypants

P.S. Double ZOMBIE Rainbow! =)

I’m so happy I reached this point! My little game is “feature complete”. All required coding is DONE. The entire game “works” from start to game over. It isn’t “fun” yet, but my goal was to finish early and not add any new features on Sunday.

From now on the project is going into “feature lockdown”. Tomorrow, all I am going to do is add “polish”, create levels, improve the graphics, etc.

This has been really fun. Yawn… time for me to sleepzzzzzzzzz.

For those of you who are still hacking away: DON’T GIVE UP! YOU CAN DO IT!

Yikes I just realized that I’ve been wasting time on the art side of things before I coded the algorithms for the objects I was sculpting. One thing I should know by now is to first make everything “work” (with spheres or rectangles) and once the gameplay is there, THEN make it pretty. Same goes for you – remember to get the game going before you concentrate on the looks. You can always improve the art once the game is playable. Good luck! =)

Last night I went to bed with a 3d engine, but no gameplay or concept. So I took the advice of a couple people here and had a hot bath – to calm down and get away from the computer to think things over.

And then it hit me! Eureka!
An idea – and one that I like!

Now I have the entire game visualized in my head and it is just a matter of implementing it. With some strawberry-filled crepes and whipped cream in my belly, along with coffee and bacon, what could go wrong? =)

Whew – well, three hours in and I have a basic 3d game engine running with all the generics like inits, arrow key movement, GUI font rendering, FPS counter, sounds and a start button.

There’s no gameplay yet, but you can move a sphere around that slides upon a plane, both of which are textured with a simple grid pattern for now. All the movement is done with the “physx” engine, so the sphere has gravity and friction and spins as it moves, etc.

I’m getting phenomenal framerates so I’ve got tons of wiggle room for AI, fx, actual level geometry…. hmm come to think of it I still have a lot to do. But for now, a fine start.

I think I’ll have a hot shower and think of an actual concept. I’m still not sure where I’m going to take this.

Just wanted to wish everyone a fun LD48 filled with learning and excitement and a minimum of bugs or frustration. Remember to sleep, and keep yourself hydrated.

I intend to spread the love and provide positive reinforcement for people and hope you do the same. I warmly encourage you to comment on every game you try, including the jammers. Have an awesome Double Zombie Rainbow of a weekend.

A few of us are planning to check in on the #irc chatroom every 12 hours synched to the start of the compo. See you there!

My tools declaration: I am using my homebrew game engine and joining the jam to avoid stress and just have fun. Software: Adobe Director 11.5, 3ds max 9, Photoshop 7, Cool Edit Pro 2.0, Corel Painter 11, PHP, mySQL with all game code done in 100% javascript.

I’ll be publishing a web version, windows exe and mac osx app.

Have fun, good luck, and don’t give up – YOU CAN DO IT!

Taste the rainbow. Double Zombie Rainbow.

I’m here to spread the love.

I respect you, no matter what game engine or framework you use.

I’d like to publicly declare that I officially regret joining the highly commented upon “from scratch” vs. “engines” debate.

The conclusion after a week of vigorous debate is that this compo is for FUN and we should all be allowed to use whatever tools we like without getting any bad attitude from coder-snobs like me. And you know what, I’ve come to agree with this side whole-heartedly.

Please, let us put this issue aside and simply have some fun.

I am so excited for this weekend. I hope to post a lot of encouragement and positive feedback on people’s game submissions, and I am going to join the JAM.

I have a shocking and highly embarrassing question to ask. I fully expect to be ridiculed and berated and will surely feel like a complete ignorant fool.

What does “Ludum Dare” mean?

Where did the term come from? What is the history? What language is it? Is it an acronym? A secret password? Latin?

I’ve heard people prononouce it “Loo-dum Dah-ray” and also “Luh-dum Dair”, so the second part of my question is: how do you pronounce it?

(EDIT: the consensus here is that you can do whatever you like but for now you need to open source your engine if you want to join the compo, so just have fun and JAM.)

UDK/Unity/GM are closed source but allowed in the compo.
My homegrown game engine is closed source, too.
I respectfully and flamelessly ask: That’s okay, right?
If I post the pre-compiled binaries publicly but do not share the source?
Peace and love, all.

Frack the rules! Let’s JAM! Who is with me?

My only hesitation in joining the jam is that the jammers won’t get voted on… and thus might get lost in the shuffle. Will anybody bother to play the jam entries? I will, and I hope that you will too! =)

The reason I’m considering “jamming” rather than the compo is that I intend to use my existing game framework and to me it would feel like cheating. I know, I know, the new rules say “anything goes” but deep down inside it just doesn’t feel right to start from a previous game I already programmed. I’m one of the many “from scratch” purists. Maybe I’ll change my mind if it looks like the jam will get ignored… but then I’ll have to call my previous game a “framework” and that would make me feel dirty.

Another reason I’m thinking of just jamming is that last mini I was too worried about winning and it took the fun out of it for me… even though I did achieve my goal (woohoo highest points total!) I regretted needing to “win” to feel good about my efforts. If I forget about trying to win and simply want to make a finished game in a weekend, this is the perfect venue. And that’s what it is all about!

Perhaps all of us “jammers” would like to band together and promise to comment upon each other’s creations so we don’t get left out in the cold? I personally promise to comment on every game I try, and I hope to try them all.

If you are planning to JAM please let me know and I will be sure to check out your game and give you some positive reinforcement.

(EDIT: the debate was interesting and is now over. The conclusion: frack the rules, you can’t define “from scratch” as there is no consensus on where to draw the line. Take away point: anything goes, have fun, don’t worry about what others are doing, and just JAM.)

Is “from-scratch” dead?

Am I the only person here who thinks that game engines are to programming as “Auto-tune” is to music or steroids are to sports or tracing paper is to art?

I love Ludum Dare, and hope to compete this weekend. But I’d intended to do it purely from scratch (starting from an empty text file). The new rules, where “anything goes” and you can use game engines that cost millions of dollars to create over a period of years by dozens of full-time programmers means that there is no possible way a from-scratch entry can fare well as it will go head-to-head with a script-kiddie’s mod of UDK, GameMaker, Unity, etc. But… well.. doesn’t using UDK, Unity or Gamemaker really only amount to a “mod” or “TC”?

I’ll have to change my strategy and assume from-scratch is dead… so what massive million-dollar game engine should I use?

Are there any elite coders out there who feel that the new rules make it less fun, less “pure”, less of a test of skill? Or am I just a holdover from a dead generation? Maybe my time has finally passed, and I should let the auto-tune-singers of the industry take over. Maybe I’m just too old for this compo.

P.S. Peace and love to all – I still have only respect for LD and think it is a wonderful event regardless of the new everything-goes rules. I’m just interested in your opinion on the above, but let’s talk about it in a constructive and respectful way.