The Ludum Dare has become a tradition for me. This was my fifth time entering, and I went into it with high expectations for myself. I was really proud of my previous compo entry for the Ludum Dare 46, and it placed really well, too. On top of placing in the top 25 overall, I got my first little trophy icon 🏆 for placing 1st in the fun category. It was going to be tough to top myself.

break

My fifth Ludum Dare game, break, has an interesting premise. A modern-day computer appears overnight in this lush fantasy world, but none of the townsfolk actually know what the machine is. You play as a highly-regarded wizard who is expected to solve the mystery of the machine.

The computer is shown to be infinitely spawning monsters using looping code, and the goal is to expand the script until you find a "break" statement, ending the game. Each expansion to the script changes the game world, making it easier or harder.

The game itself isn't actually about programming. It's an incremental top-down shooter where you defeat monsters and collect gold. There are NPCs that reward you with disks for completing these tasks, and the disks are what lengthen the computer's code.

Theme

My interpretation of the theme wasn't very original, admittedly. I expected a lot of other people to have programmer interpretations of the theme, but I still think it works really well. Some other ideas I had for this theme were Timeline Miami and Ring Road.

Timeline Miami would've been a parody of Hotline Miami where, whenever you fail, you'd retry among your previous attempt(s). You'd be able to kill your past selves, and vice versa.

Ring Road would've been a survival game that took place in a city circumferenced by a circular road, and every new day, you'd wake up at the spawn location, keeping all your items.

I decided on break because I felt like it played to my strengths more than the other two.

Music

Music is usually where I start with my Ludum Dare entries, because it's where I'm the least confident. I spent the first couple hours writing a song in FL Studio, and I ended up with something presentable. While it might've sounded decent to the average listener, my initial composition was... unorthodox. For those of you familiar with music theory, my chord progression was V > V > IV > ii > IV. That strange progression could work in the right hands, but I didn't do it any justice, so I ended up rewriting the whole song with more reasonable chords.

I'm happy with how the rewritten version turned out, and a lot of people complimented how cheery it sounds.

Sound

For all of my previous entries, I recorded my sounds and then edited those recordings. This time, I did a lot more of my sound design digitally. For most of the sounds, instead of recording a sample, I created my own sounds using the VSTs I was familiar with. I feel like this helped me be a lot more varied with my sound effects.

Graphics

I really wanted to go all-out with graphics this time, because I knew I could. My last entry was very bland and gray, so I wanted to make a colorful game with a lot more to look at. It seems like it payed off, because tons of people are complimenting my rushed art! I didn't do as much animation as I wanted to, but that's okay.

Writing

I'm not a writer, so I tried to use the dialogue as a way to direct the player and throw in some quips. I've always wanted to make a narrative game, and while this isn't what I had in mind, it's definitely my first Ludum Dare game with actual writing. Some of it may have been unnecessary or confusing, but I hope it's not too bad.

Gameplay

I definitely feel like the gameplay shines here. The only thing is that the difficulty doesn't scale very far. If I were to continue this game, I'd definitely make the golden enemies a bit harder than the normal ones. The gameplay doesn't feel repetitive because you're consistently unlocking new features, but it can feel mindless without much risk or strategy.

I'm happy with how I presented the programming aspect. I think it's very digestible to people without programming knowledge. However, I wish I would've added a strategy element with the computer without sacrificing the simplicity.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Plays well. No big issues with how it feels.
• Looks and sounds good.
• A unique premise, all things considered.
• User-friendly, despite being about programming.

Cons

• A little too easy with a lack of any strategy elements.
• Minimal animation.
• Some of the NPCs are unnecessary fluff and potentially confusing.
• Could've been more.

Cut Short

I actually had to cut my entry 15 hours short to get tested for covid-19. Two of my housemates tested positive, so I spent the majority of my last day traveling. I received my results very quickly, and thankfully I don't have it, but it still stinks that I wasn't able to use all the time that I had.