I was so excited to see my LD results that I decided to make a chart!

Here it is :

On this chart, you can see the results of my 3 Ludum Dare entries. Left columns are the position, middle columns are the rates and left columns are (position/number of entries) x 100, something like the position the game would have if there were only 100 entries. A good way to see if you improved yourself or not, despite the increasing number of entries.

I think this chart is quite interesting and I suggest you to do the same. Here, I can see I improved A LOT between my first and second LD Game (first and second games ever) bu that my third LD entry wasn’t as good as the previous one. I already knew that but some details are very encouraging.

1 : I significantly improved my graphics, and I’m very proud of that

2 : Even if I lost some ranks in Mood and Humor, this chart shows that I’m still as good at it. By the way, it’s quite surprising that I got on LD23 a better rating and a worse ranking in Humor. Were the LD23 games funnier than LD22 games ?

3 : Innovation is interesting too! I lost A LOT of ranks in Innovation, even if my LD22 and LD23 entries have similar gameplays. But after all, it’s very logic. Never Alone Hotline was quite innovative, Ok, now this is akward wasn’t, because I already made Never Alone Hotline before.

In the end, I’m very happy with this results. It’s more or less what I was expecting with some good surprises (I expected much worse in Fun and graphics)  and a single bad surprise (only 127th in Theme ? Originality doesn’t pay much)

From now, I’m gonna work hard to improve myself for the next LD in august! Can’t wait!

Ok…so I’ve rated 133 games so far, and I reviewed a dozen of them on my blog. Time for a break.

I’m very grateful to all the people who recommended some games on the Ludum Dare frontpage and allowed me to discover some jewels, so I’m gonna do the same.

Of course, a lot of my favourites already got 100+ ratings and it would be stupid to recommend them one more time, so I’ve decided to present 15 games with less than 50 ratings and which deserve to be played. (The order is not important)

Dr. Biology’s Educational Game

Because biology is fun !

Five by Five

A very clever puzzle game

These are your friends

I fell in love with an island !

Minilization

A very deep civilization simulation

Evolve

A grow-like with awesome graphics

Tiny Toy

The weirder it is, the more I like it !

There is a picture

An suprisingly awesome adventure made on RPGMaker

Dwindling Worlds

My brain and my eyes still hurt…

Real War

Not for kids !

Circus Flea

This one made me ROFL

Tiny World Cardgame

A well balanced card game…moreover : it’s cute

Tinyville confidential

What would happen if Facebook games were actually good.

Rambros

Looks like a video game version of The Expendables

It’s a tab

A 16×16 pixels game…playable in a favicon.

Beefwar

Meat+Panzers = Fun (too bad I can’t see any link with the theme)

On a previous post, Madball explained how he rated the games, and that was very interesting, especially because I myself rated games quite differently. So maybe some people will be interested by my own rating grid :

Here are the categories, by order of importance according to me :

Innovation
1 : This game is a total ripoff, I blame you for that (never used)

2 : This game is nothing more than a platformer/shooter ^^

3 : Ok…you got some good ideas.
4 : That is clever !

5 : MIND BLOWN ! (when I give 5 in innovation, I automatically give 5 overall)

Theme

1:No link with the theme
2: Easy use of the theme (only introduced in a single sentence, or in the title for exemple)

3: Fits the theme, but meh…not very cleverly

4: A rather original approach of the theme

5:A unique approach of the theme

Mood

1 : /

2 : I see what you’ve tried to do, but you obviously failed

3 : Meh.

4 : You made me smile/cry/rage…etc

5 : I was so in your game that I forgot I was playing a game

Fun

1 : /

2 : That was soooo boring

3 : I don’t regret the few minutes I spent on this game

4 : I enjoyed playing this game

5 : I’m still playing this game.

Humor

1 : /

2 : /

3 : Ok, you got me, I smiled

4 : My eyes laughed

5 : My body laughed

Graphics

1 : /

2 : Graphics annoyed me

3 : I didn’t notice the graphics, that means they’re good enough.

4 : You put a lot of efforts into your graphics

5 : Graphics fits perfectly with the game, even if it’s only three pixels on a screen

Audio

1 : / (no audio, I don’t rate)

2 : There is some audio, but honestly, it would be better without it

3 : There is audio, and it is not annoying.

4 : Great audio or/and great music

5 : Audio is part of the gameplay

Overall

Most of the time, Overall is the better value between Innovation and Theme, but is could be lowered if something really suck. I would never give 5 overall to someone with 1 or 2 in Theme or Innovation. On the opposite, if you’re a cool guy, overall could be raised by 1, that’s not voluntary, but I know it counts.

Well that’s all folks.

By the way, Have you played my game-with-an-accidental-spelling-mistake-in-the-title ?

Ok….so I’ve made a game called “Ok! Now This is Akward.”

“Akward: The incorrect spelling of the word awkward. Used by morons and/pr K-5th grade.”

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=akward

THANKS!

I uploaded the timelapse ( Part1, Part2) for my game OK…Now this is akward, and I thought it was time to make a public post-mortem.

This is how I’ve made a game I’m not very happy with :

What went right/What helped

Ritual Hot Chocolate

This was my third Ludum Dare, and as usual, just after I discoverd the theme, I went to my favorite café and ordered a hot chocolate. That’s how I got my ideas on LD21 and LD22, and that how I got it on LD23. Honestly, there is nothing better than drinking a hot chocolate under the sun in the morning, far away from your computer, with a sheet of paper and a pen, to find the inspiration.

Warming up

Three weeks before the Ludum Dare, I decided to warm up and to start working on a new game. My objective was to finish it before the LD, and I failed, but I don’t care because I’ve tried my tools, discoverd new way to code, improved my drawing, did some researches for audio tool…to put it in a nutshell : I was ready !

Various inspiration sources

It’s pretty impossible to create something totally new. I know that. So I always look for things that I like to be inspired by. This time, the game was inspired by a Garfunkel and Oates’ song, I Don’t Know Who You Are, in which a girl is embarassed because she doesn’t know who is the guy speaking to her, and a scene from Human Traffic  in which two characters meet in the bar, have nothing to say to each other, and imagine what this scene would be if they were both honest to each other.
The girl who doesn’t recognize a guy + the bar + the difference between thoughts and acts + the akwardness…I got my game !

Watching/listening these inspiration from time to time during the making of the game was helpful to remind me what I was trying to do.

IRC french chanel

We were around 20 french jamers on a irc chanel during the whole LD, and it was great to share our ideas, our problems, our prototypes. I didn’t ask for much help (except trivial details like : which color should I choose for her shoes?) but it is always great to feel you’re not alone.

Tools

I’m starting to be very familiar with Adventure Game Studio and GraphicsGale. I exactly know what I can and what I can’t do. Useful knowledge of course because then, it was easy to know what game could be made.

Partying

On saturday night, I was invited to a party and was planing to decline to work on my game. But then I thought : Fuck it ! It’s saturday night ! I think I had the best meal of the whole Ludum Dare ( bruschettas, five cheeses tortelini, salmon spaghettis and tiramisu, with some pastis and wine of course…Thanks Jehanne) and I got the occasion to tell some non-gamers people what I was doing this week end. « -Wow ! Is it possible to make a game in 48h ? » « -Fuck yeah it’s possible ! And I’m gonna prove it ! ». I found A LOT of motivation there.

Live beta-testing

I got lucky because sunday, a friend came by to my appartement (to give me a crappy Cathleen Montana DVD…do you remember Cathleen Montana ? That show was awesome ^^!). So I asked her to beta test what I have made so far, and of course, it’s very helpful to actually SEE someone playing your game. You can see the smiles, the laughters, the boring moments…JUST GREAT ! (Thank you Gwen)

WHOA ! So many things went right ! How could it be I don’t like my game then ?! Let’s see…

(more…)

Ludum Dare Games are tiny and done under constraints.
And you know what else is tiny and done under constraints ? Haikus!

So I started to write haïkus about some games I played and I’m decided to write many more!

Unfortunately, the haikus are in french, because I am french. But if you don’t understand them, you still can click the links and play these awesome games :

Minilization

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=1163

Civilization

Étudié au microscope

Que d’agitation.

Gravity

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=11804

Le doux carillon

Est l’annonce d’une averse

Averse de cadavres.

Memento XII

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=2982

Les années perdues

Dans cette froide cellule

T’en souviendras-tu ?

(there’s more )

(more…)

I finally found my title! \o/

And obviously, I finally made a title screen!

Yay!

Hi everybody!

I’m giving myself a little break to show what I am working on :

As you can see, there is no tiny world, tiny planets, huge insects…I don’t like to use themes litterally ^^

In France, when you’re surprised to meet someone somewhere you didn’t expect it, it’s common to say something like “le monde est petit!” (“world is tiny!”). I don’t know if this idiom is used in english, but I really hope so, because if it isn’t, my game has nothing else to do with the theme.

So, in this game, you’re Amy, sitting at the bar, and a guy recognize you and start to chat with you. Problem is : You don’t recognize him at all! What an akward situation!

There’s more of course, but I don’t want to spoil everything.

I still have A LOT dialogs to write A LOT animations to design, background to improve and I need to add some sounds…I hope I will finish in time!
The game is inspired by :

-The Garfunkel and Oates’ song : I Don’t Know Who You Are

- The Human Traffic’s bar scene

cheers

It’s beautiful outside, and I’m gonna spend my whole week end in front of my computer…Rhaaa I hate you Ludum Dare!

Well, I’m entering for the thid time and I’ve never been that anxious. I did very well last time, and I’m afraid I’m not gonna be as good this time, but whatever, I’ll make a game, I swear! Probably another one with a lot of dialogs, not much gameplay and crappy graphics…That’s all that I can do.

Whatever the theme will be, I’ll try to insert the “birthday” theme, because it’s Ludum Dare 10th birthday and well…because one theme is not enough.

I’ll use Adventure Game Studio as usual, with GraphicsGale for the graphics (now I know how to use layers, Wooo! \o/). Don’t know yet for the sound.

Also, I’m french, and I’ll be on irc wia bunch of other french Ludum darers
#ludumdare on irc.philpep.org. Join us!

We got a website too!

Finally, I’ll review Ludum Dare games as usual on my blog : oujevipo.fr

( Go Artificial Life!)