Mini LD 16 Teaser: Constraints
Mini LD 16 is fast approaching!
It will kick off this Friday, February 19th at 9pm EST (GMT – 5)
The theme of this competition is Constraints.
Major goal:
- To explore what game designs we are able to create given a certain set of arbitrary constraints
Minor goals:
- To have the games share a common control scheme
- To have the games share aspects of look and feel
- To have total designer freedom of genre and topic
I won’t be announcing the final constraints until this Friday at 9pm EST but I’d like to provide a teaser of some of the things you may encounter.
Possible constraints:
- Must work with a specific color palette
- Limited to specific control inputs/keys
- Music length limits (looping allowed)
- Numbers of sound effects
- Specific screen dimensions
- Sprite or game object size requirements
- Background graphics
- Text limits
- Levels / Waves / Rounds requirements
As I mentioned in my minor goals above–I have no intention of specifically limiting the topic or genre of the game you create. I want there to be at least that one axis of complete freedom for the designer as they work within the constraints. I’m looking forward to this weekend–see you all soon!
Tags: constraints, limits, MiniLD, teaser
Comments
16. Feb 2010 · 20:06 UTC
I am FECKING PSYCHED!
16. Feb 2010 · 20:28 UTC
You just cannot disappoint, can you? It must be some sort of compulsion.
17. Feb 2010 · 02:18 UTC
Looks like it’s gonna be interesting 😀
17. Feb 2010 · 06:20 UTC
What is that photo of?
Sparky
17. Feb 2010 · 14:51 UTC
This looks fun. I’d like to participate. I’m wondering, would it be possible for me to enter using the same time limit but a different pair of days? I’m not going to be available Sunday.
17. Feb 2010 · 18:37 UTC
re: your question about my aesthetic intent… yes as a minor side effect I’m hoping we’ll end up with a series of game entries that will share far more in common then a lot of the compos that are linked by theme only. I feel it would be interesting to play a series of games with a common control, palette, dimension, and other constraints but where each designer implemented a completely different genre/topic within that. We’ll see what happens… 
TenjouUtena
17. Feb 2010 · 18:13 UTC
This sounds like fun, but PLEASE ON PLEASE no more ‘One Button Only’ … Please!?! It’s been done to death, and isn’t really that innovative anymore.
Doumo
17. Feb 2010 · 22:20 UTC
I was planning on making an ASCII game anyway.
18. Feb 2010 · 17:19 UTC
This sounds really interesting. I might have to participate. I like the color palette idea. It’d also be cool if there where three or so pieces of art to use.
19. Feb 2010 · 10:16 UTC
Actually arrow keys + space is a problematic combination on standard/cheap keyboards so that should be avoided.
18. Feb 2010 · 18:17 UTC
Very neat. Not sure if I’ll be participating, but I hope to.
romer
19. Feb 2010 · 12:44 UTC
I’m liking the idea behind this mini-LD. This sounds like it could be awesome.
19. Feb 2010 · 13:13 UTC
I think I will participate in this mini LD. It is my first LD but I hope I will make it. I hope that there is a color pallet restriction… that would be cool.
crackerblocks
19. Feb 2010 · 20:43 UTC
Pretty sure I’ll join in the fun. The more arbitrary restrictions, the better.
19. Feb 2010 · 20:54 UTC
I’m pretty sure I’m down for this! I really enjoyed it last time, and hopefully, I’ll make a real game, instead of a neat sandbox.
snowyowl
19. Feb 2010 · 23:47 UTC
Drumroll please… if someone can find a drumroll that lasts 15 minutes