It’s been many hours since Ludum Dare #22 started. To be honest, I was really hoping for teleportation.

So, just a recap, i’m doing a browser game using javascript/canvas. I want to do something darker than i’m used to.

This is where i’m at at the moment http://www.stickymill.com/alone/alone_v0.01.html

Screenshot gallery http://imgur.com/a/6jLGr

Instead of copying and pasting my post from my own blog, I will write one just for LD!

The most important fact, as with any Ludum Dare, is that I was able to finish! I originally thought I wouldn’t have enough time to get it done, so I threw in the towel roughly 8 hours before. I had second thoughts a few hours later and quickly rushed back into coding. Thankfully I had just enough time to finish it!

Even though this was my first time making a platformer, I’m feel that it isn’t just another run of the mill platform game. I wanted the torch to be part of the player so those moments are more intense when you aren’t holding the torch. I think this worked quite well, but sound effects and a sound track really would have helped the atmosphere.

I usually use 8bit graphics, but I wanted to simplify them further so I wouldn’t be hung on graphics during the competition. I wanted to be spending more time with the actual level design. So I opted for 8×8 sprites scaled to 4x times their size. While it gave the game a cutesy feel, it made text feel awkward as it looks huge on screen. The furthest I’m going to go next time is 2x or I will scale the graphics in my image editor instead of doing it through code.

As I said before, this was my first time making a platformer and I was worried about it being too easy. From the feedback I’ve been given so far, I’ve found that it’s far from easy. There was also an issue near the end of the level where players thought they need to make a blind jump, when in reality they had missed the hidden passage. I’ll make it more obvious in the post-compo version. ;]

Speaking of post-compo, I’ve already added/fixed a bunch of things. Notably I’ve fixed the physics for both the torch and the player so things should be much smoother. I also added much needed particle effects to the torch. I should be releasing it sometime in the next few weeks!

Until then…don’t drop your torch.

>>Torch Play and Rate!<<

Cancer Wars 3D – WIP

or playtest it here…

I have this much finished. See if you can find the fan pack to jump higher!

http://megaswf.com/simple_serve/87754/

Good morning. A little update. Yesterday I added The Dark Tower (player starting base) and tree zappers (drain trees for power and for simply draining trees).

After that, I wasted a lot of time on how the wall of decay etc should progress, only to ending up with something that wouldn’t work. So I’m still thinking about that. I could spend some time describing what didn’t work, but I’m not going to. Instead here’s a screenshot showing how the decay thing for the ground would look (the tree decay in this shot is just for testing purposes).

Now I have some thinking and showering to do. And breakfasting.

This was my first attempt at a Ludum Dare, and in some ways my best entry. I still think I aimed too low for the game, I think this may be why I havn’t done so well in others, I’ve aimed too high overcompensating for this one.

The competition version of the game required two players on the one keyboard to play, limiting the number of people who could use it. It turned out that, after the compo, it only took an hour or two to make a workable AI player. I should have pushed for it in the 48 hours. Instead I had a go at network play, I did get a sort of game running networked but it ran like crap. I played a game against a friend in australia during the compo 48 hours but I was still on dial-up so it was never going to be a good look. I ended up stripping it all out again.

The game itself was quite simple. There is a dark player in a light universe and a light player in a dark universe. You can shoot at the walls of your univers to make it larger (while reducing the enemy universe). The object of the game is to get your ‘gribblies’ home. The gribblies have an incredibly basic movement behaviour that everone complimented as being far more clever than they actually were. You help the gribblies home by cutting paths for them to travel.

A post compo version of the game with AI and a few more features is available here

All up this game was qute fun to play, I still play it from time to time. My daughter, fiance, and nephew all like it so I’m happy.