Our two person team, Surprised Man loves Ludum Dare because it’s the thing that actually got us making games instead of just talking about it. Since doing The Wager at the end of last year for LD19, we’ve been tinkering with it and working on our next projects. But we’re hoping to take a break from our current project this December to have another go for LD22, as long as any unforseen busy-ness doesn’t prevent us as can happen this time of year. So make that a tentative we’re in!

As for The Wager, we’ve had thousands of people play it which beats our initial estimate of ‘maybe twelve,’ and we got such cool feedback that we’ve been dipping in and out of it for the last few months and have finally released 1.2 (an improved version of 1.1, which itself was an improved version of the Ludam Dare Jam submission). It’s a Windows game, in case you’re wondering. Thanks for the LD people for making it happen.

OK, one more update:

http://www.ninjadodo.net/temp/LD19/rosetta_v9_1.zip

Improved feedback on the second puzzle and refined some other things.

Devlog here: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=17883.0

Last and probably final update to my Hieroglyph-deciphering game.

http://www.ninjadodo.net/temp/LD19/rosetta_v8.zip

Replaced handwriting with a font, tweaked puzzles, added some sound and various other changes. More info in the TIGS forum thread.

Hi, ChainedLupine here.

I never did a post-mortem for my Ludum Dare #19 entry, called Introspect.  So, instead, I finished the game, published it, and only six months later did I write a post mortem.  Wow, am I lazy or what?

I wanted to share the news that my wimpy little Ludum Dare entry was brutally stripped to pieces and then slowly re-assembled over five months into a full featured game.  It was released not too long ago on Kongregate.com and quickly shot to #3rd of the highest rated top new games!  Just a week after release, it received badges and is now sporting nearly 200,000 plays!  (It actually has 10x as many plays as that, but if you want to know why I don’t count those, then check out my blog post linked below.)

So for those who might want to hear some advice from someone who managed to turn a shoddy Ludum Dare entry into something playable and successful, I recommend you check out the entirety of my post below.  I cover everything from the Ludum Dare version all the way up to the final released copy, and then some of the post-release problems I had.

Click here to play Legend of Kalevala!

or

Click here to read the Legend of Kalevala Post Mortem!

To everyone who puts in their valuable free time to working on Ludum Dare, a much hearty thank you for inspiring people like me.  And to those who participate:  Let’s keep having fun and mak’n games!

You can also check out the review for Legend of Kalevala on Jayisgames.com.

Updated Hieroglyph deciphering experiment Rosetta some more:

http://www.ninjadodo.net/temp/LD19/rosetta_v7.zip

Fixed some bugs, improved usability.

http://www.ninjadodo.net/temp/LD19/rosetta_v6_1.zip

New version of Hieroglyph deciphering experiment Rosetta. Revised some of the puzzles and made various other adjustments. Thoughts/comments welcome.

http://www.ninjadodo.net/temp/LD19/rosetta_v5.zip

I’ve done some more work on my Hieroglyph deciphering experiment. Added a new page between one and two where you take a look at the actual stone and go through some more steps before arriving at the obelisk puzzle. Plus various tweaks, both visual and functional.

What a great couple of weeks it has been! After our complete and utter failure to implement our LD20 Jam game how we wanted to, everything else has just massively made up for it.

First, our LD19 Jam game, The Wager which we released an updated version of just before LD20 got noticed and ‘Freeware Game Pick’ed by IndieGames.com, then we caught praise from Rock Paper Shotgun and Destructoid. Just this week a lovely, long bit on the start of the Gamers With Jobs podcast is the latest thing.

At time of writing, an estimated 2000 people have played our game. That’s hardly setting the world on fire but considering that we were delighted when the count stood at 200, seeing that ten times over is… well, we’ve been grinning a lot. And this, our second game ever.

Over all comments have been very positive from nearly everyone, with some good criticism mixed in which is really helping with the update we’re looking to release as soon as we can. Then it’s onto the next project, in which we hope to resurrect our LD20 attempt in a very-much-changed form.

Most importantly, we may never have gotten around to actually making games instead of talking about it if it hadn’t been for the LD Jam, so I wanted to thank everyone that helped get that portion of the event going. I also want to put in a good word for the Jam, because I still think it tends to get lost behind the bluster of the main competition and I’d love to have the organisers think of some ways to give it a bit more love.

It is now playable here. I lost my original domain, so I have to re-upload the play pages to my games. This was the first one to receive that treatment.

We were delighted to find out today that our updated LD19 Jam game, The Wager was named Freeware Game Pick on indiegamer.com yesterday:

http://indiegames.com/2011/05/freeware_game_pick_the_wager_surprised_man.html

What a great boost to our morale as we continue working on LD20.

Anyway, work is progressing nicely on Avarice, but we still have a ton of stuff to do before it’s a proper game. At the moment we’re figuring out an inventory system and starting to set up the economy that’ll drive the gameplay. It’s taken so long to get this far because in our game there are a lot of automated processes happening in the background (in this case, guys wandering around a dungeon, finding treasure and picking fights) that we needed to be functional first, but aren’t directly controlled by the player.

Now we’re onto the stuff that the player does interact with, which involves deciding what items to sell the adventurers and what to buy from various suppliers, in order to get the best reputation and attract richer, higher level customers.

Hello! Ludum Dare has been good to us. Our little two-man team has done two jams now, and we’re very pleased with our initial game-making efforts. Our last one in particular, The Wager, initially made for LD19 has just been released for Windows in an updated form with plenty of new features and content on our new website: http://www.surprisedman.co.uk

Anyway, aside from that ulterior motive, the purpose of this was to state our intent to take part in the Jam once more. Our tools of choice are most likely:

• Programming: Delphi, using a DDraw library
• Graphics: ProMotion 6
• Sound: Bfxr, Audacity
• Music: Famitracker

The themes are sounding interesting and we have very little idea of what direction we’ll be taking things this time, except that we are both keen on making something less top-down and more side-scrolly this time. Of course nothing is certain at this stage. Have fun, everyone!

Also, check out the PRIOR Post Mortem to see how the development of this thingamadoodle.

My entry for Ludum Dare 19 – PRIOR – has gotten some love post-compo, both in development and in release. After another 100+ hours of work (updates, tweaks… BUG FIXES! >_< ) I released it on FlashGameLicense and was sponsored by Armor Games.  Since then, the game has received a ton of plays on portals all over teh interwebz, and I’ve been blown away by the community’s reception to it.

PRIOR's "Box Art"

PRIOR also got nominated for the Canadian Videogame Awards – I didn’t see that coming, but it was a huge honor. Of course, this was after a few hundred hours worth of post-Compo updates, but this was mostly bugfixing and gameplay tuning. The game overall was largely still the same as at the end of the LD48

Overall, I think Ludum Dare 19 was the most productive 48 hours of my life – it’s certainly paid off! Thanks again to the Ludum Dare folks for setting up an excellent Compo

Play PRIOR on Armor Games

And feel free to discuss the storyline. As the developer, my absolute favorite part of this game is watching people figure out what the hell is going on!

Hi.

I’ve created subj so if you still haven’t played these games you can watch videos and decide. Or send link to your friend. Here.

Since LD19, a unity game competition turned up on Kongregate so since then I’ve been iterating on my game Spacebrick! It’s much improved from the ludum dare version and hopefully I’ll be able to hit the $1 october challenge target too.

Play on kongregate.

This would also be one reason I missed out on Mini-LD 24, but congratulations to everyone who completed a game for it!

I’ve made an update to my LD19 entry: Rosetta.

My original intention was to get back to working on this right after the holidays, but this proved to be not so much feasible. Nevertheless, I’ve been tinkering with it on and off the past few weeks and I have a version now that is perhaps a little more accessible.

I’ve revised and refined parts 1 and 2 and added part 3 which goes deeper into the deciphering process. There are other things I could add (both further hints and more puzzles) and I may still do so, but for now, here is the latest version:

http://www.ninjadodo.net/temp/LD19/rosetta_v4.zip

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

It’s late, so I’ll be sending the e-mail’s tomorrow. I’ll update this post once I’ve contacted everyone.

E-mail’s sent. 17 18 of the 60+ timelapse videos were chosen. See the comments for the list. Here is the e-mail that was sent:

Hello!

You are receiving this e-mail because you recently participated in Ludum Dare 19, and made a timelapse video we liked.

For the impending 10 year anniversary of Ludum Dare (2012), Phil and I have been discussing a number of ideas for things we should do. Some of them include showcasing great timelapse videos by members of the community (and the games that accompanied them), which is where you come in. Some uses of these videos may include:

- As an example “timelapse video” during a conference talk
- “Ludum Dare Theater” Exhibit, timelapse videos on a TV at an Expo
- Ludum Dare “Exhibit in a Box” DVD

Again, this isn’t a confirmation that your video will be included, nor that the above projects will happen, but your video is up for serious consideration. To be included in one of our video projects, we need a few things from you:

- Your permission to use the video for anything (SEE DVD NOTES)
- Your name (or specifically, how you take credit)
- Your handle (your name on the LD site or elsewhere)
- Your website
- Whether it’s okay to credit you by your name(s)
- Name and license status of your chosen music (if you know)
- A high quality export of your Youtube Video (SEE BELOW)
- A high quality gameplay video (ONLY if not already edited on to the end)

In the case of the DVD idea, understand that WE ARE asking for your permission to potentially profit from your video WITHOUT any license fee or compensation. We recently decided to stop doing “donations for links”, due to the abuse of a few too many 3rd parties donating for the sake of cheap SEO back-links (Paypal refunds aren’t free). So one of my wild ideas was to produce and sell our “Ludum Dare Theater” exhibit reel on DVD, plus a bit to help us cover our costs. That way you get something, and we get the money to cover hosting, etc. Donations may return but without the link arrangement (just our gratitude). We’ll continue to honor the existing donors links for a while (especially you high donors), but may reorganize the page in the future.

How to send me video:

- SEND A LINK, NOT A FILE IN E-MAIL! (If you need space, try DropBox)
- Under 500 MB please!
- DON’T SEND RAW! Use a modern codec like H.264, DivX or XVid with the bitrate set extremely high.
- If you must, you can send lossless. I use Lagarith myself.
- .avi, .mp4 and .m4v containers are preferred (but I can probably convert whatever).

How I will use the video:

- Videos will be fitted to 720p (1280×720 30fps), upscaled and black barred if necessary.
- Your gameplay video will be placed immediately after your timelapse, showing the results of your effort.
- Videos will be faded in (from black), and faded out (to black), unless it already has fades included.
- Each of the videos will be placed back-to-back in the playlist.

Tips, if you want to tweak your video:

- Take Credit! Introduce the event (eg. Ludum Dare 19), the theme (eg. Discovery), as well as you and your entries names (eg. The Discoverizer by Mike “PoV” Kasprzak).
- Show your timelapse!
- Note that the videos will be seen by casually passing expo attendees on a TV. That means they may not see the beginning or end of your video.
- A countdown clock would help onlookers know what’s going on (if appropriate/possible)
- Showing a URL or “good Google search term” at all times might be a good idea if you want to be remembered. Be tasteful.
- Show gameplay footage! Something short. Keep it under 2 minutes, less is best.
- In-game-only sound is preferred for gameplay footage (if there is sound)
- Statistics can be fun, if you have any to share.
- Take Credit Again! We just saw your gameplay video, so how can I find you or your game?
- Add the fade in and fade out (so I don’t have to do anything )

I think that covers everything. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

Please get back to me as soon as possible, even if your video files aren’t ready. I’d like to have all the files by next weekend (Sunday January 23rd), but if you need more time just let me know.

Thanks!

If you didn’t receive an e-mail, don’t fret! There were more than 60 timelapse videos created during Ludum Dare 19, and some especially stood out so we’ve used them as the baseline. I’ll post a list once I’m a little more organized. You still have 3 more chances in 2011 (plus MiniLD’s) to make it on the DVD, or be part of our 2011 exhibit reel.

During 2011 we may have the opportunity to exhibit early. We’ll let you know.

Also! If you made an especially extravagant timelapse video in a prior LD, and can meet all my criteria above, post a comment here with a Youtube link, as I may ask for a few more. If you have a great post-compo version you’d like to promote (iPhone port?), feel free to mention that (perhaps a “before” and “after” in your gameplay section).

Like everything LD, if this video thing turns out to be a good idea, we’ll probably do it again.

Thanks!

Gun Gladiator eventually deteriorated into an unacceptably slow (At least on my netbook), overly ambitious story-heavy shooter. I think that would count as a failure, especially in terms of my deadline.

So, I’ve decided that I need to try again with a different time limit. This time around, it’s a bullet hell shmup. Hopefully.

The game’s title is one that I’ve been trying to apply to a game for a while now because I think it sounds really cool. (I may have used this title for an uncompleted game that I’ve posted about here, and there have been many others) The title is Starrior. (A portmanteau of “Star” and “Warrior”)

The game will borrow its style from the game Frantic (And its sequel), but will use a much less abstract style. It will support arrow keys and WASD, as well as controlling the ship with the mouse. It will have multiple weapons, special attacks, and other fanciness.

I want to have the full game with at least most of its content by the night of the 22nd.

Currently, I have the player ship moving around on the screen, including with mouse control.

I’m really hoping I can pull this off. Really.

Peace,

— Mr. Dude

I simply wanted to say a big big thank you to everybody there for their votes for Time Pigmy. This was my first LudumDare participation. And let me tell you : I loved it. Every single moment during this long weekend
I will be there for LD#20 in April, for sure.

There was lot’s of good titles to play here, my personnal favs going to Mother Robot and Aquatic.

And finally, a big thank you to my friends here in Bordeaux (FR) who participated to this LD#19 : Benjamin/Bumdum, Whitetigle, Hane and Valandre.

Benjamin & me work in a french indie game company we made 10 years ago, Motion Twin, and we still take lot’s of pleasure in creating new concepts everyday.

Have fun everybody, keep creating great stuff and keep innovation & originality to it’s highest.

I have been working on my game some more since the competition version.

New features include:

• Improved player control
• Improved physics & collision handling
• Enemies now have a bit longer line of sight, making them harder
• More logical levels, no more unexpected death drops
• Some new tiles and graphics
• Flickering and occluded lights
• A preloader

Play it here! –> The Secret Documents

I’m mildly baffled at the audio ratings my game recieved.

[ - - 5  3 2 - - 4 - 1 1 - 2 2 1 - 2 1- -]

First off, look at all those dashes. My game certainly had audible sound, and my game being made in game-maker, I see no reason for it not to work. I do however appreciate the amount of dashes I got versus the amount of ones, Protip: make sure those headphones are plugged in.
Although I may be biased, my audio certainly deserved more than a one.  This makes me mildly angry because those ones are mostly either
A) I’m on mac/linux and I’m jelly because I can’t play it but I’ll vote anyways, I’ll just give audio 1/5
B) I don’t hear audio, has nothing to do with the fact my volume is turned down. I’m in a bad mood so I’ll rate 1/5 instead of n/a
C) the game only has one song and one sfx, I am completely ignoring the fact that the game really doesn’t need any more than that and rating 1/5 because there aren’t 50 songs and/or they’re not chip-tunes and all pixel art games need chip tunes

I also got a lot of dashes for community, which is almost more gobsmacking. Remember people, there is a handy button for viewing the person’s journal

The humor category also bit me hard, as I didn’t make a funny game. Which make memad at the category, as I’m sure I’ve said before, giving a game props for being funny is great, but we shouldn’t be forced into making a funny game, and we shouldn’t turn a cold shoulder to more serious or neutral games in the process.

Anyways, </rant>, I think I’m just disappointed because I got 95% praise in the comments, and then I get on the computer today to see this. I’d really appreciate it if people commented for reasons other than to congratulate as well. Being told your game is great is good and all, but nowhere near as helpful as some good ‘ole constructive criticism. A few people commented that the game was “missing something to make me really enjoy it” and it frustrated me that they offered no solutions (as in, I had to sit around for a week and figure it out myself).

I’m really happy with the game I made, but this puts a bit of a damper on my desire to work on it more.

also whoever rated 2/5 for graphics. . . just . . .