My original plan was to use Java(LWJGL+Slick2D+MarteEngine) for the compo. I made it through all last week getting my environment all set up and getting ready to go. Less than 6 hours before the start of Ludum Dare 23 I decided to update Eclipse and move to Java 1.7. In the process I completely botched my environment and could not get it put back together again in time to be dependable (and who wants to spend the entirety of a compo troubleshooting non-game issues?).

So about 2 hours before the start of LD#23, I decided to go see what other things were in my toolbox that I could pick up quickly. I first went to my various Torque engine licenses. I’m quite comortable in the Torque engines, but one problem; no real web deployment options. And since my Java environment wasnt’ stable enough for me to depend on Webstart, I decided to keep looking. I had once tried a demo of GameMaker 5+ years ago and decided to go see how far along it has come. And wouldnt’ you know it, they have an HTML5 friendly version now. So I whipped out the credit card and decided to give it a shot.

I spent a good chunk of last night and this morning just getting used to the product. By mid-day today I felt comfortable enough to start giving my game a solid go.

For now I have a controllable character; some basic physics; and my artwork started. I’ll keep banging away today until I finish the character logic and get started on the baddies. That should leave tomorrow for sound and polish (and time permitting: music).

–homepage–