Hello all,

This is my 9th Ludum Dare, and I have to say, I totally understand why some people may be upset about this theme. I've seen many posts in the last few days that were complaining about the choosable themes, and I myself was not absolutely happy when I first saw the top rated one on twitter. But I believe I found the reason:

During these many occasions, I had the chance to observe the "categories" of people / teams that participate in this event. I believe there are 3 kinds of game makers around:

• Newcomers: Usually it's there first or second entry, they may or may not be professionals, but they usually use a pretty high level engine, like Game maker, or Unity. This is is broadest of all groups, and they seem to be really excited about these exotic themes. This is probably because they haven't had the chance to think for many long hours on what type of game to make from a horrible theme, and they usually vote +1 for those themes I myself would never vote for.
• Programmers: They do not have amazing drawing skills, but they can make their game much more bug-free, smooth, and featurefull. Their entries are the most complete ones, usually with just the right amount of gameplay, but extremely polished. (I believe I fall into this category)
• Artists: They are not programmers, but they can create the best looking 3D models, and amazing pixel art / high-res textures, music, animations, they are the most creative ones around. Usually, they use Unity and Unreal engine, because they are much more artist friendly. They also vote +1 for the more creative themes, as it may be easier for them to figure out what game to create around them.

Now, this theme may upset the more programming oriented ones in the community, but remember, there are still 2 other groups, and they are much broader; we just have to swallow it, and start working on our concept to bring something to the table.

I wish everyone an amazing weekend, an amazing fun, and can't wait to see the games!