• Language: Javascript / HTML5 Canvas
• Art: Adobe Illustrator / Adobe Photoshop
• Audio: If there is audio, i’ll be using sfxr and any modifications to that with Audacity
• Base Code / Libraries:
  Asset Manager from the Google I/O presentation for pre-loading images.
  My base template
• Screenshots: I’ll set up to take periodic screenshots, a word of warning though, I can’t guarantee it will be completely SFW

Here’s how I’m going to win:

Language: Actionscript 3

Library: Flashpunk

IDE: Flash Develop 4.0

Graphics: Photoshop CS5.5

Sound: sfxr and Audacity

Music: FL Studio 10

Timelapse: Chronolapse

Here I go!

I’m entering for the first time, so I’m basicaly a LD virgin.
Anyway I don’t think it will hurt, but it will probably be a bit awkward…

Programming: AS3 ( FlashBuilder )
Library: Flixel
Graphics: Photoshop
Music: Nanoloop ( iPhone )

This is where I’m from:
http://g.co/maps/rqp65

And this is what I’ll drink:

I’m in for my third Ludum Dare. The last two have been incredibly fun, so I don’t want to miss this one! For LD 20 my entry was Diamond Hollow and for LD21 I made Glissaria. Each time I’ve made sure to create a timelapse, and this one will be no different. However, I also plan to stream my progress live this time right over here. Also, I’ll keep updates on Twitter, so feel free to follow me if that’s your thing. And finally, I have a circle of LD people on g+, so add me there so I can stick you in my ever growing circle!

I’m going to stick to my strengths with pixel art and flash. Going to try to brush up on music this time, so I can at least have something listenable. I might try to find a music generation program simpler than Fruity Loops due to me being musically challenged. More formally, the tools I will be using are:

Programming: AS3 (Flash) via FlashBuilder (Eclipse)
Library: Modified Flixel (extra plugins such as a flixel bitmap font library, etc)
Graphics: Photoshop
Music: FruityLoops (unless I find something better)
Sounds: As3sfxr + Audacity
Other: Fast food, sleep, cats, alcohol

Last time I was overambitious, writing 3 games in 1, most of which I had no experience with. This time I’m going to play the safe route and make a platformer. It’s something I have experience with, is easier to make art for, and will hopefully mean I can create a full game in the alotted time. Let’s just hope the theme lends itself to a platformer. Also, if kittens wins I will cry because I can’t draw a cat to save my life.

One Of Two Partners In Crime

Good luck all. =]

Trying to fit in with our theme, I’m making our backgrounds. Just to be sure I don’t rush into anything stupid, I like to make color samples, were I lay flat colors and remove the lineart.

The Second one i may redo… Hm.

RED ALERT! I really need Photoshop help, I’d HUUUUUUGELY appreciate it :O

What I need to do is change a color on multiple layers. I’ve got 27 layers of an animated character. Character is black with white eyes by default. However I need to reskin him a few times, one of which being orange with blue eyes. I COULD use an adjustment layer, but then when I Export Layers to Files it ignores the adjustment layer :’(

How do I replace a color (black, and white) on multiple layers?

I would HUGELY appreciate help with this, big time.

Okay, my last post was about entering Mini Ludum Dare 28 – and that was it. I tried hard to think of a simple gameplay, but couldn’t come up with it. I also developed some strange reservations towards the theme (my conscience had problems with making “war” fun, with all the suffering peoples out there, right now …).

But Ludum Dare #21 now should be interesting, nearly all the themes sound doable, although I fear that something like “Dreams” could make the entries too diverse and thus lead the compo ad absurdum.

As usual, I probably will use Unity3D (with MonoDevelop), Photoshop Elements 9, bfxr, and every other tool that will help me. I looked at FlashPunk a while ago, and if I think that the gameplay would be better in 2D, I probably would use FlashDevelop.

Well, hopefully Ludum Dare #21 will be my first Ludum Dare in the Compo, as I put my last entry (for LD#20) into the Jam. Before that, I participated in the Mini Ludum Dare #23. This time, I’ll get famous!

A friend told me about this event, I found the idea interesting, so I’ll give it a shot.

For graphics, I will use Paint tool SAI, Photoshop and for animation Anime Studio .
I am not really experienced with music, I will try to use Fruity Loops and also http://www.freesound.org/ will be fine for my sound effect needs.
For the game engine I will use GameMaker because I feel comfortable with it and it’s a good tool to produce something in a short timeframe.

Well, that was fun. And hard/tiring.

Anyhoo. Dirt Driller is complete! Go play.

Once I have slept enough I’ll check my screencaps to see it this makes an interesting timelapse.

-Matthew

In the next 72 hours I shall create “The Digger” (Working title).

Dig a hole to the center of the earth, while gathering valuables and avoiding HOT MOLTEN LAVA. Behold, the fake screenshot.

Yeah. I’m not really a fan of producing “how it’s supposed to look”-stuff. I’d rather spend the time more productively, like actually working on my game.

“Finished” game shall include
- automated level-generation
- several valuabales and hazards
- highscore-system

-Matthew

So I made this a few days before LD20, to figure out if I can actually accomplish making a game in a short time, and also to finally get this idea out of my head.

There are Hitler-Clones. Go get them.

Go play here.

Also, mini-LD sounds fun. I shall be participating.

-Matthew

So it’s time to look back at my 48 hours of game-making, like many are doing. Let’s see what happened during the development of A Steampunk Axebot Supply Run.

What went wrong

The Theme - “It’s dangerous to go alone” was the one on the bottom of my list. Why would anyone vote for it, I thought, when there are so many interesting alternatives, like nihilism, or climbing? Why, indeed. I had nothing prepared whatsoever for this theme, and spent the first 2 hours panicking over what to do.

The Level – It occured to me only later that I could have made this in 2D, or using tile-based movement, either of which would have made creating this stuff considerably easier. Oh well.

Textures – As in “I don’t have any”. Adapting UVs is a grueling and time-consuming task,which I would rather avoid, and spend the time otherwise. Using the toon-shader for all 3d-objects was a great choice, but it would have been prettier with added textures. The terrain clashed with this. I couldn’t use the toon-shader on it (so far I know), and creating extra textures for it alone was not efficient.

Preparation – Slept too little the first day. Woke up at start-time (4am), but forgot to check the theme. Felt unmotivated and guilty for first 36 hours, bevofre I finally kicked into non-stop game-making mode.

What went right/not-so-wrong

Timelapse – It felt weird, at first, knowing that my every move was being recorded. But the video makes everything seem ultra-efficient

Music – this one actually surprised me. I never really composed anything bigger, and I just aimed for something unobstrusive. I ended up with a sweet theme which fits the game awseomely, complements it, and people actually like.

The Title – No matter how good or bad this was going to turn out, “Steampunk Axebots” sounds awesome.

The Scoring system – Your profit is determined by several systems, which are based on enemies killed, health of the robots, extra fuel left, and over-healing. Each robot has an own pattern and unity set of enemies at different times, so it is quite challenging to figure out the best combination. I still haven’t.

The fuel gauge – The rockets can travel only for a limited time, before they crash. I intented this to stop players from hovering over the playing  field or leaving it, but the time-constraint added another tactical layer. The rocket takes some time to reach its target, but once it passed a certain point, reaching the other targets would be impossible. It was however possible, that the robot you tried to heal died while you were on your way, meaning you had to carefully decide where to shoot. But since all robots converge on a central point later in the game, it became at that point possible to switch targets should something happen.

3D-models – My first though was a little knight, which I would have need to animate. Unfortunately, there was no time to either animate one or learn how to include animations in Unity (note to self: learn how to include animations in unity).

Biff-Particles  – They are quite a good substitute for fighting-animations.

Healing-Particles – They look much better than I planned.

What I would have liked to add

More stages – which become increasingly complex and tell a story

A menu – Which I already had  around, but no time, and no good reason (with only one level) to implement

No introduction screen – I’ve always hated these. Dammit, I want to play the game, not read a novel! There are ways to start the game at once, and teach the player on the fly.

Destroyed robots and rockets – Which I would have added were it not for a game-stopping bug I encountered with only 40 minutes to spare

Having the title of the game appear somewhere in the first level – Like I did in Unstoppaball. I love that gag.

-Matthew

So I finally figured out how to put videos in these posts. Enjoy.

Go play.

Here it is, in all its shining glory.

2 days of me not working, frowning, and faffing around in front of my PC, while I allegedly create this game.

View it here.

Also: HOW CAN I EMBED VIDEOS. Nothing seems to work. This is driving me nuts.

-Matthew

Like a few other here, this’ll be my first LD. I’ll be using Construct for the creation of the binary if my concept ends up being 2D. For 3D, I have a variety of technologies I’d like to explore.

The first is Dage. I’ve been playing around with it for a few days now, and even though the odds of me getting to make a 3D adventure game are hard, I’d certainly embrace the chance to use my recent experience.

I’m also not above Unity, if the trial is viable.

No matter what I use to assemble the game, though, I’ll be using Blender, Photoshop, and Notepad++ for the majority of modeling, texturing/art, and writing, respectively. I know that I’m a bad egg and should use GIMP–but, hey, I like Photoshop’s interface better. If I wind up with Dage, I’ll also have to use Max in my pipeline, another evil, commercial program.

As far as my experience in other areas, I’ve tried a few compos, followed more than a few, but never made a real entry. I’m determined to sneak one into this LD. I’m pretty experienced with Construct, Blender, and Photoshop, and I’m just learning other techs like Unity and Dage. I grasp programming concepts pretty well (Event Sheets in Construct come almost naturally to me), but I fail pretty hard at actual programming (even XNA is beyond me). I like it that way. I like that in this modern day and age, there’s a bunch of technologies (Construct, MMF, AGS, Wintermute) that allow you to script an entire game without programming it. I like that many things are set up for you, and I like WYSIWYG. There’s nothing wrong with WYSIWYG in my book–if you can create something totally awesome, it doesn’t matter by what means.

Anyway, that’s me. Sorry for being wordy. I can’t wait to participate, honestly. I’m sure I’ll be dreading my decision in about 144 hours.