Hi all!

Next weekend I will be joining you all for the second time. Last time it went way better then expected with very high on humor and audio (audio should be my expertise since I am a music technology student, and not a game designer by trade). But not very high on theme, graphics, overall, and fun, which of course all make a game good and fun so that should be improved.

#20 Humor 3.89
#77 Audio 3.37
#138 Innovation 3.40
#211 Mood 3.08
#358 Fun 2.85
#429 Overall 2.85
#481 Graphics 2.67
#579 Theme 2.67

For this time I have some goals set:

1. My game should run in a browser, to make it more accesible
2. I want to focus even more on music/audio
3. It should have more variation
4. I want an original idea, not a standard platformer or RPG (maybe a puzzle or simulation kind of game if the theme allows it)

Tools I will be using:

• LibGDX for coding (deployment to OSX/Win/Linux (Java), Android, and most important: Web)
• Pixen/Pen&Paper/Photocamara or something else starting with a P for art (not my strongest point)
• Ableton, Audacity, MilkyTracker, fieldrecorder, live instruments for sound/music
• and a hand made bash script for a timelapse of my screen

I will probably not work the full 48 hours, but as the last time showed I will in every case turn in a playable product.

Have fun all!

Recently I have noticed a HTML5 game that’s getting attention, called Lust Or Bust. In Lust Or Bust, you try and stare at your freind’s hot sister’s tits without getting caught.
For the 24th Mini Ludum Dare, the challenge was to make the most games in the time period. I made 28 games, which you can find here:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58474219/Wacky%20Little%20Games.zip

More specifically, one of the games I made was THIS game, created a good several months before Lust Or Bust:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58474219/Mini%20Pervert.exe

Look familiar, Lust Or Bust players?

It’s called Mini Pervert, and was a quick prototype of a larger project I had designed called Pervert. The goal of the game was to stare at woman’s tits without getting caught. It had an Ogle-Meter in the corner warning you of when she was about to look, and the longer you stared without getting caught, the more points you racked up.

I suspect that the creator of Lust Or Bust found this game on Ludum Dare and ripped off the idea. It’s similar to my game prototype in so many ways, including the unique gameplay mechanic. It’s also possible that great minds think alike; but it seems a bit of a strong coincidence when you compare the two. The time period is also about what it would take for someone to see my game, decide to steal the idea, and develop it into a complete game and publish it.

At twelve thousand downloads last time I checked, the guy who made Lust Or Bust is probably making quite a bit of money. I’m not asking to get the lost revenue back but I WOULD like to make it public where the idea came from.

Something to keep in mind, fellow Ludum Darers: If you put your original idea as a prototype on Ludum Dare, someone might steal it and develop it.

Just a reminder that you have 5 days to finish your research for Mini-LD #9. The rules are:

• You may use any code you write between now and Friday, May 22nd at 9:00pm EST, but ONLY if it pertains to playing or processing sound.
• You will be provided with a resource pack containing sound assets for use in your game.
• Sounds will be provided in the following formats:
  • MP3/OGG
  • XM
  • WAV
  • General MIDI songfiles
• Due to the size of the resource pack, I will make all sounds available on a webpage so that you can preview them and select the ones you want.
• All other code for your project must be written from-scratch, during the compo.

Here is the original announcement. Good luck, and see you on friday!

Submissions for Ludum Dare #14 may have just ended, but don’t retire your braincells and pack your coffee mugs away quite yet. Because on May 22 at 9PM EST… destroysound presents… a Ludum Dare production…

MINI LD #9
May 22, 2009, 9PM EST-May 24, 2009, 9PM EST

Yes, it’s a little early to announce this, but I want to make sure everyone has some time to adequately prepare. I’m going to spoil the theme slightly here by telling you that whatever tools you decide to use, you will need to be able to have access to a computer (gasp) with a soundcard (shocking) and some method of replicating sound (i suggest headphones or speakers) as well as an environment that can play back one of the following types of sound/music files:

• .WAV sounds
• .MP3 or .OGG tracks
• .MID music files
• .XM modules

The more of these you can support, the better.

Any code you write with this intent between now and then is acceptable for use in the compo. That means you can’t write your game now, but any code you write (or have written) that experiments with sound, manipulates sounds or otherwise mangles/destroys your audio interface is A-OK to use. All game logic must be developed in the 48 hour timelimit.

In addition (this is not required), you might want to get familiar with some sort of audio editing tool/music tracking software/thing to make your soundcard flip out, if you so wish. For free tools of this sort, check out Audacity, MilkyTracker or Pure Data. In addition, people have written some nice audio generation tools specifically for LD and game design: check out SFXR if you haven’t already. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to respond to this post and let us know what you use.

Aaaaand.. that’s all you need to know about MiniLD #9 right now. I’ll make another announcement after the post-compo hysteria dies down. Hopefully you are intrigued enough to give it a shot. See you then!

Time for another mini Ludum Dare competition. This one will take place on the 10th and 11th of January, since the first weekend is very close to the holidays.

The idea behind this one is, to take all of your entries and bind them together in what would look as a single game. To achieve this, this MiniLD will have to themes. The main theme, the red line of the competition, will be the same for all, and set by me. The second theme you can pick out for yourself from a list of themes and reserve it for yourself.

Technical details, start time, etc. will follow.