I decided to try something new this compo, for better or worse. It’s finally over in any case, now I just need to study for my last final tomorrow…

Finally done my first Ludum Dare game. Didn’t get off too the best start, I hated the theme and couldn’t think of any ideas, then I came down with a terrible fever, so I’m happy to have finished anything at all.

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=preview&uid=7362

Looking forward to the next competion, hopefully I won’t be so under the weather.

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=preview&uid=5551

Right, I got something done after all. And it feels good. Both the result and the process, that is.

Been quite a rollercoaster again. A highly recommended experience. I’ll write a more detailed analysis after I get some sleep.

May contain kittens. But much more too.

Hooray! It’s finally finished, and you can check it out here. I did put a kitten in there, but it’s hidden very well, and I don’t expect you to find it. Overall, I somewhat satisfied with it, but think I should have worked on some things a little more, especially the “plot”.

Ok, I have managed to complete the Kitten Challenge! Good luck trying to find it in my game :3. It is there, I promise! Dont give up!

Now three more hours before submitting… I wish I could have finished the transitions, but I think that will not happen this time. I will probably spend this time improving the character sprites and maybe adding a few extra levels.

Nyan! Nyan!

I have submitted my final game (source is with the download).

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=preview&uid=8682

I hope you all enjoy it!

I planned to make 5 levels, but I couldn’t continue working on the game, so here it is with 3 levels and half of the planned story. It is playable with a surprise on the end.

Entry: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=preview&uid=2465

Made with: 
- Unity3D (C#, iTween)
- cfxr
- Audacity
- Garage Band
- Photoshop

Timelapse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5ItVDEzuzY

Bit of a late start to day 2, courtesy of an unexpected excursion to the pub last night.

So, this game thing then. Well, Alone was the theme I was _really_ hoping wouldn’t win, because I couldn’t think of a damn thing to do with it, but eventually I came up with something.

Borrowing somewhat heavily from Spectrum classic Ant Attack, you play a lonely robot whose only friend, an adorable kitten, has been lost in an ancient city populated by hostile killdroids.

So far I’ve got a fairly acceptable random map generator and a controllable player character wandering the empty ruins.

First order of business for today then is to put some game in there. Knock up a couple of evil looking killdroid models and a fluffy kitten and get them in there, then I can start looking at adding some general polish, like sound, music, title screen and win/lose sequences.

*Looks at clock* Crap! I’d better get busy!

While the croissants bake in the oven, I find myself unsure of how I want my game to end. I think the game might become: find all the different ways in which you can die !

Of course, I will try to add kittens!

Practically all the game logic and programming is done. Missing only two or three items now. Also a DRAGON, A PRINCESS, DIALOGS…. and a Kitten somewhere!

Time for some sleep… 3:19 AM.

Since the last post I have updated nebulas, added in combat, added in the last enemy ship, and most important of all…a kitten:

Now I just need to add a Win or Lose message, then tomorrow its polishing time.

Yes thats right, I have submitted my entry for the Ludum Dare.

Now I’m going to hide under a rock… =P

You can check it out here

-KunoNoOni

It’s the end of the day for me, but I have enough things in place that I don’t feel too bad about my game. I’ll figure out the scope early tomorrow and make sure I’ve got some time for level design and dialogue.

I had planned to use 2D Toolkit to make the game, but I couldn’t go on with it because it is a commercial library and I want to take part on the Compo. For that reason, I had to do 2D manually in Unity and it took me long hours to figure how to correctly Scale the sprites, because I am too used to 2D Toolkit and it does the task for me.

Anyway, initial controls and camera logic is ready, you can play it (VERY SHORT DEMO).

CONTROLS:

• A, D: move Left and Right.
• Space: action.

Well done everyone for choosing kittens! I can’t believe kittens won, with 1111 ‘+’ votes! Yay!! Kittens! Fine, I’ll do something with ‘Alone’

Not really sure where my game is going yet. Trying to avoid the lure of 3D or fancy artwork, so I’m aiming for something crude looking so I can get some content in there ASAP.

I’m making progress.

Instead of working on my game for the past 10 or so minutes, I made a separate kitten badge for my game.

Behold:

After the initial idea, I came to a concept and story, which I plan to post later once I start developing. Also the game name is “Loot Alone”.

For now, I pixeled all the objects. And man, let me tell you, how I struggled to make these 7 elements… They aren’t that good and still they took me 4 hours of work:

Next: I have 4 characters to draw. I think this will probably take me another 4 or more hours. I REALLY want to get better at doing art. But looks like the more I try, the worst I become.

BTW: In the game concept I included a Kitten.

So I was going to make a bear-and-apocalypse-themed game earlier this month, but the fact that I could also make a bear-and-apocalypse themed game for LD has not escaped me.  So I’m going to scrap all the one image I had made for that game so far and make this game instead.  Anyway if you’re interested in the original idea or think I’m plagiarizing earlier work read after the cut.

So basically an adventure game made in Adventure Game Studio, graphics made in Inkscape, and maybe some music, if I have the time for it, made in Fruity Loops or just recorded acoustically.  The game will be primarily first-person, since animating would take a while and I gotta work tomorrow.

The jist of the story is: All your friends thought the world was ending, so they left on a rocket ship and live on the moon.  They would have brought you, but you just wouldn’t wake up!  Anyway, since you’re down here still and nothing has ended, you should find a way to contact them so they come back, since it’s pretty lonely here now.

(more…)

Hey everyone! My roommate, Alissa, and I are participating in the jam together. Alissa’s an artist, and I’m a designer. We’re looking at using either Stencyl or Game Maker – whichever one we find works best for what we want to do.

At first when we heard the theme, we weren’t quite sure what to do with it. After voting earlier, there were a couple of other themes that we were really excited for, but we couldn’t think of much for alone… But then we took a drive to pick up some snacks and energy drinks! On the way, we passed by a bakery, which gave us the idea to make a game about a lonely little cupcake. We got back, started writing down ideas, drawing some concepts, and now we’ve got a pretty good direction.

I’m starting work on level design, while Alissa is continuing work on her cupcake art. Oh, and we’re thinking about ways to incorporate a kitten easter egg, as well…

Good luck everybody!

- Pralie (@kaocleyra) & Alissa