In one 48 hour period, I made a simple game based on the theme “minimalist”. I didn’t try to stay awake throughout the entire Ludum Dare competition, so the game was made in less than 48 hours.

What Went Right:

• Used my build script to create a distributable game from the beginning.

  I have a build script from a previous project that allows me to use a single command to take my project source, build it, and create a .tar.gz file to distribute for GNU/Linux users. Towards the end of the competition, I wasn’t spending too much time trying to figure out how to get my project into a judge’s hands since.

• Mouse control was easy to do and easy to use.

  Since I was learning SDL, I tried to make my game as simple to use as possible. I knew that using a mouse was a lot easier than expecting someone to use the keyboard, but I had never implemented mouse control in a game before. Luckily, it turned out to be very easy. As a result, the interface was very simple since you’re just moving the mouse around, and the game that this interface produced was better for it.

• I got really involved in it.

  I had food photos and a time lapse video, and I even received two trophies, one for my eclectic food choices. Hanging out with all of the other Ludum Dare participants, even if just virtually through IRC, was a lot of fun.

• I finished!

  Of course, finishing was also a lot of fun. While I could have used some more playtesting and would have loved some feedback before it was submitted, I think I put together a decent game in a short amount of time. It feels good to finish things.

What Went Wrong:

• My work environment was horrible.

  A couch is comfortable…but not for marathon game development sessions! My back still hurts. I need to clean my office. Right now, I am using it as a giant inbox:

  

  I prefer development with my laptop because the CRT of my desktop is harsh on my eyes. Still, it would be nice to sit in a real chair while working. Alternatively, I can finally buy an LCD for my desktop.

• My cats love to hang out with me.

  Even if I was sitting in my office, I know from experience that my cats would still jump up into my lap and try to rest their heads on my arm. When you’re using a laptop, there isn’t room for it AND a cat or two. Having an office door to close would help, of course, but the cats were quite a distraction for LD#11.

  

• I didn’t practice using SDL before the competition.

  It was a problem especially since I had decided not to depend on the Kyra Sprite Engine for future projects, but I really only used libSDL for input and creating a window prior to this project. When the first 24 hours are finished and all you have is a window rendered and the knowledge that the mouse handling is working (even if it isn’t visible), you might be afraid that you won’t have anything to show at the end of 48 hours. I did manage to pull it off, but by the next competition, I want to be able to work with less of a focus on technical details and more of a focus on game development.

• I spent too long in the beginning trying to mock something up in the GIMP.

  Similar to the previous point, I was spending more time on technical issues than on creation. I thought I was more familiar with the GIMP than I was, and I spent a lot of my early hours fighting with it instead of just using pencil and paper. The worst part about it was that the initial idea was one I ended up discarding, and if I wasn’t wasting time with figuring out how to do some simple things in it, I might have been able to figure it out sooner.

What I Learned:

• My kitchen goes to entropy during LD.

  When you’re focused on game development for most of your waking hours for two days, other things have to take a lower priority. One of those things was cleaning. I had a bit of a mess to deal with after the competition was over.

• Even something incredibly simple can be a good game mechanic.

  I knew I wasn’t going to be drinking multiple cans of Mountain Dew or Red Bull, and I don’t drink coffee, so staying up for 48 hours wasn’t going to happen. I needed to work on a game I could finish, so I picked the simplest thing I could. Surprisingly, it was fun, and some of the judges have said so as well. At the end of the competition I already had a list of ideas that could improve it, and I hope to release an updated version with those improvements.

• It’s possible to do a lot in a single day.

  Even though I spent some time learning how to use SDL, I still managed to make a game. The best part is that I can incorporate what I have learned into my personal library of code for my future projects. Also, there were over 70 games submitted, and it is amazing what some people were able to do in 48 hours. Some of them were learning how to program!

I set aside most of a 48 hour period, and I have a game, some new code, and more experience. If I could work on a project with a similar scope each month, I think it would go a long way towards improving my ability to create video games. Also, it’s a lot of fun, and I will definitely be participating in future Ludum Dare competitions.

You can find my time lapse video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fpXRHYU-hU.

Minimalist by GBGames is finished!

UPDATE: Grab the Windows build here! (0.9 MB)

http://gbgames.com/downloads/ld11/LD11-Minimalism-GBGames.zip is a 12.4MB download.

EDIT: If you’re interested in just the Linux build to play, download http://gbgames.com/downloads/ld11/ld11-minimalist-gbgames-linux-x86-r12.tar.gz, a much smaller 1.3MB download.

The big .zip file includes the entirety of my project’s source in a zip file (LD11-Minimalism-GBGames-source.zip) and a GNU/Linux-ready tar.gz file (ld11-minimalist-gbgames-linux-x86-r12.tar.gz).

The source is ready to be used to build a linux-x86 distributable tar.gz. I created it using my Ubuntu system.

Tools I used:

• vim, g++, make
• libSDL, SDL_image, and SDL_mixer
• sfxr
• GIMP
• the build scripts I used for a different game I am working on

But I will eat some food while I am there.

Dessert was a bit better, especially those Nutella-filled spiral thingies:

I’m back, and I have a few hours to add sound and upload a completed entry.

Happy birthday, Nana!

I have a main menu:

And gameplay:

I need sound effects, but I have made a game for Ludum Dare!

I have gameplay now:

Er, you can’t tell from the screenshot, but the small square is your mouse cursor. The large square that is the same color is the goal. There are as many obstacles as the level number, so level #5 will have five obstacles.

The rectangles are obstacles you need to avoid to get to the goal. If you touch an obstacle, you go back to the beginning. They vary in size, so sometimes a single pixel can trip you up. Be careful!

Today’s breakfast was minimal:

That’s orange juice with extra pulp right there. Mmm, hmm!

It’s 3AM, and I’m going to sleep.

I have a mouse cursor image, and I have a second image, and I can determine when the two are colliding. I’m getting close to a game.

Since drZool asked about why I was using my couch, I bring you evidence of why:

Hmm, I suppose it doesn’t look too messy, but I would need to go through each item on that desk and find a place for it. Some of it needs to be filed. Some of it needs to be thrown out. Some of it needs to be paid, as I am sure there is a bill or two in there.

I suppose I could use the kitchen table, but the table and the chairs wobble a bit. The couch is a bit better, although I do have a problem with my back hurting after marathon coding sessions. Like this competition.

I finally have graphics. These are SDL RectFills that are using random red, green, and blue attributes, and the offset matches the mouse cursor’s position:

I plan on providing a sprite and making sure that there are other sprites in the playing area. I want to detect when your mouse-following sprite hits other sprites, and you will win or lose depending on which you touched.

The part that took me so long to get here was figuring out that I was using the variables incorrectly. Maybe I need more sleep. Or caffeine.

At Hour 0:

At Hour 24:

I’m rusty with libSDL and haven’t made too many games in general, so I am breaking out reference books left and right.

I decided to eat a quick dinner.

That’s a vegan pizza. Now, this isn’t a fake cheese pizza, so don’t get disgusted yet. This pizza is just made with different ingredients. It’s actually quite delicious, and it only takes 10 minutes to cook.

Unfortunately, I also found out that my fridge is leaking. I’m not sure why, but it has to have been a recent development.

I’m definitely at a disadvantage compared to some of the more seasoned pros here, but I just got my application to understand where the mouse is. I never implemented mouse control in a game before, so I decided to do so in a time-based competition. Nice.

Soon I hope to have a few elements on the screen that can know if the mouse is near them and will react. Wish me luck!

Yeah, so far I just got a window to appear. And I apparently forgot to add some way for the game to know that you are closing it, so I had to kill -9 the program. Yeesh.

After a quick shower, breakfast!

A banana, some cereal with almond milk, and a peanut butter and raisin and pickle sandwich. I washed all that down with a glass of orange juice (not pictured):

After spending the evening trying to figure out what to do, I went to sleep.

Some of my ideas:

• Ikebana (thanks, Mandy!)
• Avoid the Ball
• Avoid the Walls
• One Shot Space Invaders

The first one involves the Japanese art of flower arrangement, and it would seem on paper to make a good game, but I am not sure how I would go about making it in 48 hours. The last one is the idea that instead of having unlimited shots to kill Space Invaders, you get only one. You have to depend on a chain reaction explosion to kill them all, so it would be more like a puzzle game. The middle two seem the easiest to make, so I might stick with them since I need to spend a bit more time just getting my code base working than most of the other contestants.

It seems that minimalist games can sometimes be very complex things to create.

I’ll take a quick shower and have some breakfast, and then it is back into the thick of things.

My girlfriend offered to cook me dinner for LD #11, and I am really glad she did. Otherwise, I probably would have made a sandwich.

The beautiful and lovely Mandy at work:

The meal. Rice and stir fried chicken, broccoli, zucchini, carrots, garlic, and shitake mushrooms, topped with chopped spring onions and nori strips, washed down with Sapporo beer:

The meal “minimalized”:

This is my first time participating in Ludum Dare. I haven’t participated in something like this since Game in a Day back in 2005. Good luck to everyone!