The numbers

You might already know that LD46 was the biggest event in Ludum Dare history, with a whopping 4959 entries mostly attributed to the lockdowns in place in April 2020. In fact, that number dropped quite a bit in October and went back up in April 2021, when at least part of the world was staying at home again.

At any rate, the popularity of LD was at its highest during that time. In fact that's when I started participating regularly as well. However, the trend seems to have run its course, with low turnout for LD51 (2421 entries) and particularly the ongoing event (1601 entries).

Of course, LD52 had a few things working against it: the new January date which is still a novelty, a lack of communication both when it was announced and leading into the weekend (partly because Mike was sick), and probably some amount of holiday hangover. There were also far fewer theme suggestions than usual this time, which was a telltale sign.

Smaller LDs?

The turnout is now lower than before the pandemic and even a few years before that. Setting aside the January issues, I wonder if this shows some amount of burnout among regular participants? There is likely a number of people who joined almost every LD since 2020 and now need a little break. It's certainly true for me, as I skipped LD51 because the previous one had made me unusually tired.

I don't mind smaller events at all, in fact it's probably a little better for rankings if there are fewer games fighting for the same decimal. While I'm not the competitive type, the jam experience can be exhausting and it's certainly rewarding to get a sub-100 ranking in one category.

Anyway, I made this chart for myself and thought it might be of interest to others. What are your takeaways?