I’m fortunate to be able to participate in this Ludum Dare (I couldn’t do the last one). Here are my tools:

• IDE: Unity3d
• Language: C#
• Art: Blender (I’ve been learning)
• Sounds: BFXR
• Music: If I have time, I’ll try to use PxTone. Just started learning it.

If I plan on using Xbox 360 controllers in my game, I’ll use my input wrapper I made for Unity that makes Xbox 360 controller easier to implement. It’s called XboxCtrlrInput. Anyone can use it. The setup instructions are on the GitHub link.

For anyone who wanted to learn how to use Blender, I found a great beginners tutorial a while ago on GamesFromScratch.

For anyone who wants to learn how to make retro video game music, PxTone might be of interest to you. It’s from the maker of Cave Story. An English tutorial manual is provided here, for anyone interested.

As for the themes, it’s always uncertain which theme is going to win. So what I did was I read the list of final themes and imagined what kind of games could come out of each theme for about a minute each. Just light thinking. It will hopefully mentally prepare me for whatever theme wins. I would recommend doing it as a mental exercise to prepare for Ludum Dare.

Best of luck everyone!