when I was a kid this sort of image was like crack. it’s so laughable now. stupid kid.

------------------------------------------ 
--- I - C - E ---- B - R - E - A - K - E - R --- 
------------------------------------------------

(When I get up I’ll do a post-sleep post-pre-mortem-post-mortem, some of this will just be taking some of the prolix and manic text out of my submission page – yay sleep dep!)

That was a lot of fun! (but it’s not over yet..)  I somehow wrote just shy of 3,000 lines of code in 48hrs.  It’s almost certainly 90% ugly horribleness, and I’m not a fan of LOC as a metric of productivity – but it still feels pretty cool.  (If I printed it all out it would take about 46 A4 pages).

Unfortunately, quantity of code does not equal a finished game.  About halfway in (after some sleep) I lost a lot of time to vascilating between confusion at the code I’d added before passing out (that guy was craaaazy) and feeling generally dumb.  But eventually I got it nailed down and was grateful to discover that, whilst I had lost track of what I was doing – the more responsibly-minded part of me had sent me down a tunnel with no wrong turns.  Not to say I didn’t bump my head a few times, slip over in miscellany or mistaken inanimate objects for long-lost lovers..

 What went wrong / right

that one’s for the morrow I think, sorry – they’re my favourite part too.

Tools Used

• Music made in Renoise
• Sound effects in Renoise + Audacity (and Bfxr at the last minute)
• Graphics in ASEPrite, Blender and the system default editor
• IDE/Editor almost entirely SublimeText2 (unregistered)
  • I feel terrible about that, as I finally see how cool it is
• Coded in Haxe with HaxePunk
• I also (eventually) streamed my progress at Twitch.tv

It may not be much right now, but I think after I’ve checked the rules I may enter the Jam so I can see it closer to a working game.

I’ll be uploading post-compo editions to the entry’s page as I go (in about 8 hours or so)

NOTES

(this is just copied over from the submission page to reduce clutter, tl;dr: rambling…)

circa T+05 mins
began writing submission
circa T+20 mins
I’m having a few unanticipated issues with publishing; the .swf
seems to work fine in the standalone Flash player, but not
even remotely in a browser.
I’ve got 20 minutes or so of submission hour to work it out, but
here’s the swf for the time being (same link under “Windows” unfortunately)
circa T+56 mins
Okay, got it to publish. Seems to have odd framerate issues.
Will use my last 3 mins to see if I can suss it out.

That was a bit of a challenge. Didn’t get even close to being able to use the full 48hrs due to an AWESOME TOOL CONCERT, followed by EXCESSIVE DRINKING. That said I’m pretty happy with the result.

Got a timelapse up here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTzC4s0W4ys

The game is available here. http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=20671

I tried to do some things I haven’t done before with Multimedia Fusion 2, especially with the lighting model I implemented. It’s not overly technical, but I’m damn happy with the visuals. I wish I had a little more time, then I would have tried my hand at PXTone, since I’m not a musician, it would probably have ended terribly. Need some food/sleep now, and then I wanna get onto voting, just need to work out how that works.

When I first entered Ludum Dare, it was April of 2011. 2011 was a good year for making games for me. Throwbots, Aphelion Incident and Blue Moon were my creations for 2011, and I still feel that for all their flaws they are still reasonably solid entries.

2012 was not so good. This time last year I came down ill. In August I was busy with preparations for an academic conference. In December? In December, my only excuse was absolutely hating the theme. (If “You Are Your Enemy” wins I will go mad. MAD)

Let’s hope things go better this time around!

IDE: IntelliJ

Library: Flixel

Map/Level Editor: DAME

Image Editor: Photoshop/GraphicsGale/Paint Tool SAI

Sound Generator: BFXR

Music Editor: SunVox

Timelapse: Chronolapse

Streaming: Open Broadcaster Software

(disclaimer: some of these tools might not end up being used at all)

I started doing the LD back at 22 and haven’t stopped since because it’s really helpful in getting me to actually make a game.

Here’s a small history…
LD 22: Didn’t complete a game but turned it in.
LD 23: Bug killed the game 8-hours before the end of the jam. I just couldn’t get it out.
LD 24: Did as much as LD 22.
LD 25: Finally finished a game first time. Both in the LD and ever.

My team was so excited last time around about getting the game finished that they don’t want to do another LD in fear of failing and it ruining the feeling of LD 25. I, on the other hand, believe that these failures and successes can only help get us to our goal of making bigger, better, games. With that said, this is the first time I’ll be going at the LD alone and not with my team. So this is a true LD for me this time around. I hope to finish, but even if I don’t, it’s just another thing to help me hopefully get to the point where I can finish by myself.

Programming Languages: Monkey, NixScript (my scripting lang)
Editor: JungleIDE, Notepad++
Graphics: Graphics Gale, Photoshop
Sound Effects and Music: bfxr, FL Studio, or public domain music/sounds
Library/Framework: XAddon (my lib/framework), FontMachine, Monkey-JSON

Hi! I’ve entered a few Ludum Dares before (none this year due to illness and deadlines, ugh) and this time last year I made Blue Moon, one of my most well received games in general.

I’m going to use the following tools, and aiming for the compo. But it is the end of the year, when burnout is high and holidays creep ever closer, so perhaps I might go for the jam this time.

• Flixel
• IntelliJ IDE
• DAME for level editing if I really, really have to
• SAI for illustrations
• PyxelEdit/Photoshop, the former I don’t know as well and the latter I do
• Sunvox for music
• BFXR for sound

That covers everything, I think! See you then!

I don’t know what tools I’ll be using yet as it depends on the theme. I will likely either be using GameMaker:Studio, or if I decide to make a text adventure, likely Quest or possibly Inform 7. Any art will be done by me using Photoshop and SpriteSomething, and sound effects will probably be made with tools like AutoTracker-BU and bfxr.

So, just had a shower and came  up with an idea. You play as a person working for the tiny world corporation, a company that purchases tiny bodies in the universe (asteroids etc) and attempts to turn a profit by building accomodation, shops and factories. It will be similar in style to city building games, however there will be an emphasis on trying to maximise the profit making potential of the small area you have on each world.

My inspirations are the tiny levels in the roller coaster tycoon games, and some of the levels of theme hospital where you have to accomplish with not much space.

I will be using löve with lua for the game, gimp and inkscape for graphics, Bfxr for sound, and some kind of music generation tool for music.

Hi, I’ve been following LD during the last year and  I’d always thought: wow, one day I’ll join, this is so amazing! I’d always liked games, but also create music and art, so game making is the perfect combination for me!:D  Since I started to get interested  about game programming I’ve tested a lot of engines and languages but finally I came up with java and I liked it a lot. I’ve been programming since the beginning of this year and I think I’m ready, let’s do this!

RECAP:

• Language: Java
• IDE: Eclipse
• Library: Slick2D
• Art: Paint.NET
• Sounds: BFXR
• Music: LSDJ or/and Ableton Live

Good luck everybody! And the most important thing: HAVE FUN!

So LD21 was my first ever Dare and some things went okay and some didn’t. I definitely learnt a lot from it, and I’m keen to keep making games and work on my entry. I thought I’d do a brief little writeup.

Blatant self-promotion link: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?action=rate&uid=5119

The game

The Daring Do! title screen

I’m pretty pleased with the game I produced: “Daring Do!”. It’s a sidescrolling running platformer where you play an intrepid archeologist. Each level is short and follows the same formula: grab the glowing golden idol and get the heck out of the temple before the whole thing caves in or you get crushed by the giant boulder coming after you. Avoid pits and arrows along the way. I wanted to keep levels short so it kept you wanting to play; that just one more level feeling. I’d like to add an ‘infinite mode’ in a future update, though. I’m also planning to add many, many more of the normal-style levels, as well as a lot more trap types: crumbly blocks, falling debris that you have to dodge, spike traps,and perhaps even some bad guys and collectables. I would’ve liked to get more of these in during the compo, but just ran out of time. Also, more work is needed on sound and sprites.

Daring Do! gameplay - pick up the glowy idol and prepare to run!

The Bad

The main thing that went wrong was that I didn’t spend enough time on day one thinking up a concrete idea. I got a rough topic in my head of a Breakout bat escaping from a game of Breakout, and rushed off and started making it. I built a simple little Breakout clone really quickly, and then spent a fair amount of the rest of the day trying to script together some kind of in-game cut scene explaining your escape. At this point, I realised I’d spent far too long on an ‘intro’ without having any idea at all about what the core gameplay would be after your escape. I became somewhat disillusioned with the idea and stopped working.

My first game idea, a breakout clone where you actually break out.

I woke up late on the Sunday with the intention of giving up, but I felt that I’d be very disappointed in myself if I did so. I chatted with a friend about what to do (thanks @triard!), and a new idea was born, that which turned into Daring Do! This one I felt I could run with: a simple gameplay mechanic that can be easily extended by the addition of more traps, levels, etc.

Daring Do! gameplay - outrun the boulder, avoid the arrows, jump the pits!

The Good

I’ve only recently gotten into Flash development, but I absolutely love working with FlashDevelop. I use a Mac as my main machine, so I had to run FD in a Windows virtual machine which was pretty slow – this infuriated me on numerous occasions as I sat there wanting to code but having to wait for my computer to catch up with me. For future LDs, I’ll have to run Windows natively somewhere, as the VM was almost unworkable. I wish there was a Mac version of FlashDevelop.

Flixel is also brilliant, although I was kind of learning as I went along so got a bit hung up on things that should’ve been easy but I didn’t know how to do yet. I’d like to spend some time with FlashPunk, too, to see how they compare. Writing my game in Flash made it super easy to test, to send to friends for comments, and to upload for other LD48ers to play.

As for my other tools, I used DAME for map editing, which worked pretty well, bfxr (fantastic tool!) for sound effects (although I somehow forgot to give my main character footsteps!) and had a brief attempt at creating some terrible music with FamiTracker.

Next time

I’d certainly be up for taking part on Ludum Dare again – the feeling of satisfaction having built something in such a short space of time is brilliant, and I love the community feel of the event. I’m so glad I didn’t give up after day 1! Next time, I’d spend longer ensuring I had a great gameplay idea before starting. Gameplay, gameplay, gameplay, that’s what it’s all about. In fact, I’d probably recommend trying to spend some time during the final round of voting thinking up some ideas for each of the top-voted themes from previous rounds, just in case they come up. Having a solid idea from the start would allow me a full two days to make my game – next time, I’d plan for day 1 on the engine and gameplay, and day 2 on content and tweaks. As I had to cram all of that into one day this time round, the content was a little light.

At the moment, I’m really enjoying looking through everybody else’s entries. There are some truly, truly brilliant games in there – not are they fun to play, but it’s nice to be able to find out how things were implemented. It’s a great way to learn.

I’d really appreciate it if you’d take the time to check out my game and rate it and / or leave a comment.

Hello! My first LD, and I’m very excited to be involved! I’ll just be in with Construct Classic, ‘cos I got precious little coding experience. GIMP and a tablet for graphics, bfxr for sounds, and maybe pxtone if I lose my mind and fancy attempting some music. Anybody else disappointed to see “nihilism” get so many downvotes? That’d have been quite an interesting theme…

Anyway, good luck to all those involved! Cheers!

This will be my second fullblown dare, and I really look forward to it.

As I’ve done earlier, I will be writing my entry using JavaScript. I will most likely be using ImpactJS or Three.js for my entry depending on the theme and what game I will be making. I’ve learned from my earlier mistakes, and will not try to learn a new library for this compo. I will also be using Paint.NET for graphics, possibly Blender if I go 3D. For sound I will be using the awesome BFXR. Music will most probably be generated using Wolfram Tunes, simply because I suck at music. If I get to make an explosive game, I will also be using the Explosion Generator. I haven’t used this tool before, but it looks promising.

Good luck to you all !!

Well, let me add myself to the giant list of new folks for the upcoming LD #20.  I dropped by the IRC room last night and got some nice advice on useful tools and whatnot… thanks everyone.  A snag though!  I realized this morning that I’m actually moving that weekend!  This might not be as big a deal as it initially seems, though, as I’m only moving to the other side of the same building I’m already in, and I’m already pretty well packed up; it just means some valuable time is going to be eaten up by lugging boxes.  I still plan to compete! 

I plan on using a SDL-based sprite framework that I’ve been working on lately… right now it’s in an unusable state though (being moved from using SDL blitting to sprites as textures in OpenGL).  Assuming it’s fixed in time for the competition, I’ll post the code somewhere for y’all so that I’m within the rules and whatnot.

Uuuhh… yup!  Nice to meet you all!  Let’s have us some fun!

EDIT:  Aaand… that SDL->OpenGL conversion I mentioned?  I think I’ gonna abort it and instead move to SFML.  I’ve been reading about it some today and it really seems like the way to go.  There’re benefits to working with SDL and learning how things like blitting work, of course, but if the API for SFML is as much better than SDL as people are making it seem, it would really speed things up for me… in addition to saving me from having to link in extra libraries for some of the stuff I’m doing.  I’m pretty sure this is one of the useful things someone told me about last night on IRC, but I never managed to get around to looking at it at the time because I was too busy playing with bfxr!  I should have listened to y’all better!  Belated thanks!