We make an effort with Ludum Dare not to use the same theme twice. Here's a list of themes used in prior competitions, as well as similar competitions from the internet.
At the start of the competition, entrants are given a theme to create a game around. Themes are suggested and decided on by the community.
Previous Competitions and Themes include:
24 Hour Beta Compo (Major: Indirect Interaction) - April 13th, 2002
48 Hour Compo 1 (Major: Guardian) - July 15th, 2002
48 Hour Compo 2 (Major: Construction/Destruction, Minor: Sheep) - November 8th, 2002
48 Hour Compo 3 (Major: Preparation - Set it up, let it go) - April 4th, 2003
48 Hour Compo 4 (Major: Infection) - April 16th, 2004 (341 Signups, 67 Submissions)
48 Hour Compo 5 (Major: Random) - October 15th, 2004 (93 Signups)
48 Hour Compo 6 (Major: Light and Darkness) - April 16th, 2005 (143 entrants)
48 Hour Compo 7 (Major: Growth) - December 10th, 2005
48 Hour Compo 8 (Major: Swarms) - April 28th, 2006 (150 Signups, 66 Submissions)
48 Hour Compo 8.5 (Theme A: Moon, Theme B: Anti-Text) - January 1st, 2007
48 Hour Compo 9 (Major: Build the level you play) - April 27th, 2007
48 Hour Compo 10 (Major: Chain Reaction) - December 14th, 2007 (158 Signups, 52 Submissions)
48 Hour Compo 10.5 (Major: Weird/Unexpected/Surprise) - February 23rd, 2008
48 Hour Compo 11 (Major: Minimalist) - April 18th, 2008
48 Hour Compo 12 (Major: The Tower) - August 8th, 2008
48 Hour Compo 13 (Major: Roads) - December 5, 2008
48 Hour Compo 14 (Major: Advancing Wall of Doom) - April 17, 2009 (123 Submissions)
48 Hour Compo 15 (Major: Caverns) - August 28, 2009 (144 Submissions)
48 Hour Compo 16 (Major: Exploration) - December 11, 2009 (121 Submissions)
48 Hour Compo 17 (Major: Islands) - April 23, 2010 (204 Submissions)
See the host list for a comprehensive listing of all prior MiniLD Themes.
Before we started running monthly MiniLD competitions, we've held unofficial competitions. Unofficial competitions are a community event. We tend not to publicize them much outside the community, and we don't vote for winners. Traditionally, they've been opportunities for prior entrants to pull something together over a weekend, or to chat with other entrants over IRC.
48 Hour Non Competition (No Theme) - September 6th 2002 (31 Signups, 12 Submissions)
? Hour Warmup (Major: Robotron 2084) - April 2004
3 Hour Warmup (Major: Joust) - April 2004
? Hour Warmup (Major: Space Invaders) - April 2004
48 Hour Warmup Compo 8.5 (Theme A: Moon, Theme B: Anti-Text) - January 1st, 2007
As of Ludum Dare 10, we've managed to keep an archive of many of the previously suggested themes. You can find those here:
We're not the only one on the internet that runs competitions. Here's our attempt at archiving some of the themes used around the internet.
TODO: Date and number each competition
A sibling competition started in July 2003. Same idea as Ludum Dare, but 3 days, and teams of up to 3. We like to think that we organize competitions around each other, but we don't really talk about it. It just happens most of the time. Learn more at http://72hourgdc.com, and keep up to date with the mailing list.
Previous 72 Hour GDC Competitions and Themes
72 Hour Compo 1 (Theme: Mindless Violence) - July 2003
72 Hour Compo 2 (Theme: Food) - January 2004
72 Hour Compo 3 (Theme: Pirates) - ??? 2004
72 Hour Compo 4 (Theme: Swappable parts) - December 2004
72 Hour Compo 5 (Theme: Horror) - July 2005
72 Hour Compo 6 (Theme: Magic) - March 2006
72 Hour Compo 7 (Theme: Retro) - July 2006
72 Hour Compo 8 (Theme: Magnets) - November 2006
PyWeek is a competition similar to the Ludum Dare. It allows teams, gives you an entire week to make your game, but requires entries to be written in Python. Richard Jones, the creator of PyWeek, also hosted both the 5th and 6th Ludum Dare competitions.
PyWeek 1 (Theme: Power)
PyWeek 2 (Theme: It runs on steam!)
PyWeek 3 (Theme: The Disappearing Act)
PyWeek 4 (Theme: The only way is up)
PyWeek 5 (Theme: Twisted)
PyWeek 6 (Theme: Robots)
PyWeek 7: (Theme: The length of a piece of string)
PyWeek 8: (Theme: Get off my lawn!)
PyWeek 9: (Theme: Feather)
PyWeek 10: (Theme: Wibbly-wobbly)
B-Games
Text the Halls
Procedural Generation
Bootleg Demakes
Cockpit
Adult / Educational
* CGDC6: Explore
* CGDC5: Upgrade
* CGDC4: Ball Physics
* CGDC3: Replay
* CGDC2: Grow
* CGDC1: Simple puzzle game
