I’ll just leave this here;)

HINT: You can’t kill the Destroyer when it is moving fast or slamming the ground. Also – click / drag to use catapult!

Minimally.  Or maybe a bit more than that.  Seems like the theme is getting a lot of flack, but it was actually my top choice!  I don’t know what I hope to make yet, though.  Probably just going to brainstorm tonight and get to work in the morning.  Good luck all!

You can try it out at http://ionprogramming.com/LD48/LD25/index.php

The game is nowhere near complete but we have a world getting generated. (Placeholder Graphics)

Dr. Horrible the game should be made and it fits the theme, just saying…

Game mechanics are finally coming together, plus I’ve cleaned up a lot of the interface.  Still haven’t really worked much on actual content though   Let me run through real quick and list off everything that is currently working…

Start a new game, travel around the map, initiate battle, use attacks, flee, deal and receive damage, move use counters being limited and depleting properly for you and enemies, kill/die, win/lose battles, gain item drops based on drop rates, use items from inventory, view inventory…

What are the key things still missing, mechanics-wise?  Switching active Evomemes in battle, Save/load game, attack accuracy/evasion, exp gain if it’s not item-based… that’s all I’m coming up with.  We’ll see how much I can get done with ~3 hours remaining.  A lot of stuff I could try to show you, but… no screenshot for now.  Sorry!

Well, today got off to a rough start.  Low energy, lots of distractions… Still, I’m making progress.  I’ve got the core combat mechanics done with, and I’ve finally gotten my damage formula tweak’d to something that seems right to me.  Needs a lot of messages to the player so s/he can know what’s going on, but the functions themselves are working.

Next up, exp gain, item drops, and the whole inventory system!  Eek!  That’s a lot for roughly 7 hours.  GO GO GO!

Also, have a screenshot of a functioning battle:

I can feel myself slipping away as I type these words, but I am sticking to my plan and posting a screenshot before I pass out.  I’m about half-way done with combat… still need the actual damage calculations worked out… might do it half-way for now, and come back and implement elements/weaknesses/whatever later, if time permits.

But actually, first thing’s first.  Screenshot and sleep.  I’ll have about 12 hours left tomorrow, plus or minus… who knows how much content I’ll get to add… not nearly so much as I’d hoped, but… ah well!  Good night, LD Crew, and good luck!

So, we’re half way there already, huh?  Alright, I can live with that.  I got hung up for a while and didn’t make much progress for since the last update.  I’ve got the transition into battle ready.  I generate the enemy’s evomemes and deal with pre- and post-battle dialog.  Battle itself should be hard to implement… it’s mostly some numbers games, right?  Anyway, I’m gonna try to get a couple more hours’ work done tonight in case I’m interrupted tomorrow.  I still wanna get all the main mechanics done tonight if possible.  We’ll see what happens.  I’ll try to put out one more update before I go to bed if I can manage not to suddenly crash.

Also, next time I’ll have a screenshot, I promise!

Just trying to build a habit of checking in every few hours.  Still plodding along, but no major breakthroughs yet.  I’m building up the infrastructure for my critters – I’m calling them Evomemes.  Figured out what stats they’ll have… working on figuring out formulas for leveling them up… then I’ll put a couple attacks in, and build up a combat system.

Did I mention in the last update, I can’t remember… my goal is to get ALL of the game mechanics working and tested TONIGHT, which’ll leave me all day tomorrow to fill out the game with actual content!  One of my personal goals for this LD is to get enough content that I can personally consider it a “Full Game”, or close to it.  Usually with LD you end up with one or two tiny levels, and that’s it.  I want more!  I want full RPG goodness!  I’m not honestly expecting something on that scale this weekend, but I’m at least striving to push my game in that direction.  GO GO GO!!!

Hopefully by the next update I’ll be able to show you a stat screen and/or a battle screen!

Another short update – Making slow but steady-ish progress.  I’ve got the very basics of displaying and moving between rooms working.  I would post screenshots, but… it’s a text based game!  I figure there’s only so much of that sort of thing anyone can handle, so I’ll wait until I have a lot to show until I use up your patience.  Next step is to allow for rooms to add context-based commands to the prompt, such as talking to a person in the room, or battling something, or… whatever?  After that, it’ll be time to tackle actually creating the ‘mons and building the inventory, status, and battle systems!  Eek!

Just wanted to throw up a quick post with my amazing first screenshot from my text-based game, Dawkemon.  Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Gooood morning, Ludum Dare!!!~

So, my first act of last night, after the unveiling of the theme, was to go to sleep.  Sign of being old?  Perhaps.  Nonetheless, I’m awake now and the juices of creativity are percolating up into my brains.

For those just tuning in, my self-made restriction for this LD is to use a base install of Python and NOTHING ELSE!  I’ll be sticking with very simple programming techniques as well.  The idea behind this is to show my students that you can make a fun game with only a couple weeks of programming know-how.  I guess that means my game better be fun!

So what am I making then?  Well, text-based, for sure.  Evolution, hmm?

Well, my first idea, and the one I’m sticking with, is something at least loosely based off of Pokemon.  I know from a quick scan of other people’s posts that this is by no means a unique idea, nor would I expect it to be… but it’s something I think my kids can relate to even in text form.

Now… how to translate the traveling, and collecting of ‘mon into a non-tedious text game?  We’ll see… I’ve gotta start somewhere though!

…FOR SCIENCE!

So, quick story:  I’m now a high school teacher! Today was my first class ever!  Hooray!  What am I teaching, you may ask? Why Game Design, of course!  Now, my class will only have met two times come this weekend, so I doubt any of my students will be able to participate, but I wanted to use LD24 as an opportunity to show that how much you can do even with only the TINIEST amount of programming know-how and time.  That being said; here’s the tools I’ll be using this weekend:

Python 2.7

NOTHING ELSE WHATSOEVER!

That’s right!  No external libraries, not even PyGame.  No Sound.  No graphics.  I’ll also ONLY use the most basic techniques in programming; those I expect to cover in the first two weeks of class.  This means the only programming constructs I’ll use are:

Basic text/number I/O, basic math and conditional structures, basic if/else, simple variables types (INT/STRING/maybe FLOAT), basic looping structures (For… maybe WHILE).  I may through in an “import random”… and then two 2nd-week concepts I may use for sanity’s sake; simple function declarations and lists.
My goal is to create a fun, text-based game in 48 that can show my students what sorts of power is at your fingertips even with only a few hours of programming experience if you are creative about it.  Once they’ve covered all the topics I mentioned above, I’ll give them 2 weeks to create a game of their own, and we’ll see what they can come up with

So I was testing Isolated Assault 2 when this happened:

Stay tuned

I’ve played 100 games, and now I’m doing a post on my favs. (I’ll update it if I find more really good games.)

Here, in roughly the order I found them in, are my favourite games from this LD:

Tiny Stomp:   Nice simple 3d graphics, including stomp marks. You stomp on tiny creatures, trying not to trip over your feet or puncture yourself. Very fun, addicting, and easy to pick up! Like the sound fx too.       link
Invasion of Tiny World: A  good core mechanic that the game revolves around, creative, lots of destruction, great graphics, great audio, an all around winner!   link   
Fracuum: Awesome! Lots of gameplay, and the zooming thing gives you a sense of the world like  few other games do! Best level design.  link
Asylum:  Beautiful! A good story AND a great way of telling it that takes advantage of various game elements, just like a videogame story should.  This game is awesome. link 
Obsolecence: Most polished entry! Also has a really good sense of mood.  link
subAtomic: Most funny!  link
Planet Zoob: Best audio!  link
Tiny Worlds (the one with all the blue and orange): Gameplay isn’t the best…but it has the most stick-in-your-head music by far!  link
 Moon Base: Third most unique mechanic!    link
Tiny Computer People: Innovative, and relaxing to play! A very cool idea.    link
Pow! Pow! Pow! Best graphical style! Very nice-looking!  link
Diety: For simple all-around enjoyability.  link
Pioneer: Very replayable!      link  
Dave Is In A Fish Tank: For high replayability, and being the game i played MORE than any other entry!     link    
Casal Navity: Best readme introduction! (Although unfortunately I couldn’t play it…letdown!)      link
Going Rogue: For the music, and the great fun I had discovering different ways of causing havoc. Also because it’s a LD entry with random generation!      link     
Stellar Nurse: Very unique mechanic, fun,  good graphics, good music, all around winner! Second most unique mechanic.    linkety link
Super Ant Surfer Hero (or some such): Lots of gameplay, feels polished, and the ant is really cool! Deserves mentioning just for the ant companion. Feels very complete.   link
Evolve: Best combination of simple fun, relaxing to play, awesome graphics, and humour. Lots of games had those, but this one really brought them all together nicely.  link
Path O Invasion: Best bacteria game!  link 
Bipolar: Best pychosis game! Really zany. REALLY zany.   link to gender switching madness
Michael Is Myopic: Best unique mechanic! It’s everything a good core mechanic should be. link
Overpopulous: Best animated intro! link 

It’s A Tab: Most innovative take on theme. Play it. You’ll see what I mean.  link  

Walker: Gnarly! Very cool idea, great execution.  another link  

TinyTanic: Pure awesomeness!   link 

If your game is on the list..come and play mine!

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=10251

Oh yeah, I’m in!  This is my 4th consecutive LD!  Woohoo!  I am not prepared in the least!  That’s the 4th consecutive time too!  Anyways, I’m in!  I expect I’ll be using Python/PyGame again… possibly also trying out PygCurses, depending on the theme.  I’ll try to write a better post tomorrow when I’m less alseep, but until then:  Good luck everyone!

WOOT! CHECK OUT THIS AWESOMENESS! My book publisher just sent me this image. I’m very excited to announce that my latest book, The Game Jam Survival Guide is 100% done, edited, proofread, and laid out. It should appear on all online book stores the first week of April.

The Game Jam Survival Guide

My game is done and submitted!  The last hours were hectic, both in terms of trying to finish the game and because I had some stuff going on in “real life” of great urgency… so unfortunately I wasn’t able to do a lot of updating.  Ah well… I’m here now!  Here’s the entry link!

Brief summary and screen shots are included with the entry, of course, so I’ll use this space to mention some other things:

First, what went right:  Most everything!  I made a lot of lovely art, got most-all of my intended game mechanics implemented within the time limit, and got a playable game out of an already otherwise very busy weekend!  I learned some new useful programming tricks and now have a MUCH better understanding of how to effectively use SpriteGroups in pygame, which helps greatly with streamlining code.  Hooray for me!  Also it’s my damn birthday, so double-hooray!

What didn’t go as planned?  Well… I didn’t have any time for sfx/music, which would have been nice.  I also wasn’t able to add all the text screens I wanted for a narrative, but that’s actually less than 10 minutes additional work there, so I’ll have it for a post-judging version.  A few other little details: Cars on the road, maybe some time/score mechanism, possibly even predators?  Hadn’t put any thought into that last one really… just an idea that existed.  There’s also still some awkwardness with people’s movements that wasn’t fully polished and makes the games slower and more frustrated than it’s meant to be… I really want to redo some of their pathing logic when I get more time.  I also didn’t have time to add a few little in-game decorations I was considering adding… wouldn’t have really made much of a difference except visually… and without the improved navigation it would have made things slower, so maybe it’s for the better.

OH YEAH!  I also need to mention!  Did you notice?!  All the maps in the game are procedurally generated!  Isn’t that awesome?  Yeah.  I’m bad-ass like that.  Random roads, trees, buildings, ponds… people navigating between them… it’s pretty dang awesome.  Sometimes you start out right next to Mommy… sometimes insanely far away; I would like to make that less random and perhaps make it something like a difficulty setting?  Changing the map size and the number of each thing in it is trivially easy, so I could easy adjust for desired complexity.

Anyways,  yeah.  Please play my game if you haven’t yet!  And vote on it!  And more importantly, give me some feedback!  I want to make the best games possible, so comments and constructive criticism are incredibly helpful for me.  Thanks

Woohoo! Got it done and submitted on time! See my entry HERE!

This is my 2nd LD, and the first one that was really complete, so I’m quite proud of myself! I was going to do a full write-up, but I’m just too exhausted. Maybe tomorrow?

A few comments though:

The AI needs refinement. There’s only so much you can do under the time limit… and even less when you don’t actually know the game well enough to have a good strategy even for yourself, no less for a machine.

That said, the AI is pretty competent at Defending, despite sucking at Attacking.

I forgot all about running the whole screencap video thing this time! Eek!

Most of the sounds are me screaming or bashing things into my desk.

I am going to look into what it would take to refine this for an android/apple app!

Aaand… yeah! Good job everyone! I look forward to actually being able to participate in the judging this time; something I completely missed out on last time. Hundreds and hundreds of games to review! Eek! Too much fun!

Gettin’ that polish going!~  I’ve added a title screen, as well as a way to control if a Human or CPU controls each of the two sides.  Also my AI is getting smarter!  It’s still quite beatable; my search depth is… next to nothing really, so it only gets as far as predicting your next move and making some vaguely intelligent guesses as to what kinda of things improve its position.  I’ve still got about 6 hours though, and pretty much the only thing I’ve got left to do aside from AI improvements is adding some movement animations to help see what’s going on.  I’m actually at a point where I’m about to ask some IRC peoples to help me test.  If you’d like to help with that just let me know; I’m Luthwyhn in IRC.

Here’s a shot of my title screen!

I hope everyone else is getting done too!  I’ve been too busy to keep with with chat more than occasionally.  Keep up the good work, though!