LudumData

Mini LD13: It’s Educational

[raw] LD15MiniLD 02. Oct 2009 · 15:49 UTC · 35 days after compo start by nilsf · 0

2009…

200 years ago Charles Darwin was born, 150 years ago he published “The Origin of Species”.

400 years ago Galileo was the first to gaze into the heavens with a telescope.

To help commemorate these important birthdays for Science, your task will be to write a game that’s not only fun, but also educational. Bonus points for teaching us about astronomy or biology (or astrobiology :) ).

Collaboration with non-programmer scientist friends is allowed and encouraged.

As I mentioned in my previous post, there is no fixed deadline this time; post a message just before you start and then post your game at the latest 48 hours after your announcement post. However since much of the fun of Ludum Dare is hacking along side others, I propose next weekend (9-12 October) as the preferred period.

Finally, since one of the really cool things with the real LDs that we (or I at least) miss during the minis is feedback, as compo host I’ll commit to reviewing all the games posted. (Unless there are a bazillion entries in which case I’ll review the first 20 or so.)

Unfortunately I lost my home internet connection so I’m not online as much as I’d like, but feel free to contact me either in a comment or by email (nils dot fagerburg at gmail) if you need any clarification.

Happy hacking!

– – –

Submit Entries Here:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/minild-13/

View Entries Here:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/minild-13/?action=preview

Comments

Almost
02. Oct 2009 · 16:44 UTC
Educational things usually have very specific audiences. Trying to teach something that everybody knows is useless, while trying to teach something more complex without being sure that everybody knows the stuff that builds up to it is similarly useless as they may not have a clue what I’m talking about..

That said, I’d like to try to make a game on this theme, but I’m not sure where to start
02. Oct 2009 · 17:13 UTC
Dwarf Fortress taught me which minerals are ores of metals.
JMickle
03. Oct 2009 · 12:56 UTC
ok i’ve got a really good idea for this i’ll be entering.
04. Oct 2009 · 06:12 UTC
As usual when a theme is something I’m actually interested in, my mind’s a blank.
05. Oct 2009 · 22:30 UTC
Cool, I’m really interested in making educational games, so maybe this would be a great way for me to get started with Ludum Dare. :)
05. Oct 2009 · 22:56 UTC
Cool theme! I think I’m free too for Oct 9th – 12th so score! :) It is always more fun hacking in simultaneity with others…
dertom
06. Oct 2009 · 03:39 UTC
I’m in as well! Actually I don’t have a clue what to do! (But that won’t prevent me from doing something :) )
06. Oct 2009 · 19:45 UTC
Hmm, I have a question. Is it allowed to use existing open source code libraries for physics, such as Box2DFlash? What about using an existing physics engine that I wrote myself?
dertom
07. Oct 2009 · 04:25 UTC
Yes, you are allowed!
06. Oct 2009 · 21:08 UTC
This is a very cool idea. I’ve had an idea for an educational game for a while. But you could definitely argue that your zombie-shooting game is educational because it teaches you that you need to shoot zombies in their heads to kill them, etc. Just like John Evans said with Dwarf Fortress.
dertom
07. Oct 2009 · 14:12 UTC
Hmm,… what’s about contents? Is there (like usual) a restriction to do them also on your own, or can we take let’s say something like textures out of the net?
07. Oct 2009 · 23:22 UTC
The normal LD rules can be modified by the host of the mini-LD. It is best to check with them on what (if any) rules they may be relaxing or re-specifying.
nilsf
08. Oct 2009 · 08:38 UTC
Reuse of content (and code for that matter) is discouraged but allowed.
Spydog
08. Oct 2009 · 20:15 UTC
I think I might enter this but I won’t be starting until tommorow (the “preferred period”). I’ll post another comment when/if I actually begin working on a game.
Almost
09. Oct 2009 · 20:27 UTC
I’m going to try to make something this weekend, starting right about now. I also feel like trying to learn flash in a short time; this’ll be the first game I’ve made with it, hopefully things work out..
10. Oct 2009 · 04:44 UTC
Almost, good luck with starting Flash! I don’t know which route you’re going with it, but I actually just wrote up a quick guide on where to start if you want to learn Flash game programming with only free tools. I’d recommend FlashDevelop and the Flixel engine, which is what I’ve been using lately.
dertom
10. Oct 2009 · 05:27 UTC
Ok…I will start now! I think it is really a challange to build the bridge between education and fun / game. For me it was (beside coding) most of the time two contrary tthings…. :D.
Almost
13. Oct 2009 · 01:50 UTC
Any more entries almost done? I thought I saw a bunch more “I’m in” comments than I now see entries..
14. Oct 2009 · 16:46 UTC
I didn’t try making a game last weekend, but I still might try making one next weekend! I’ve been thinking about how I might make a protein-folding game in 48 hours… :)
Superfeeder
17. Oct 2009 · 00:40 UTC
The entries discussed so far seem to be concerned mostly with the sciences. I’m going to try to make a game within the realm of the humanities this weekend. See you guys Sunday :)
Serilyn
17. Oct 2009 · 01:59 UTC
I’m going to try making a game that teaches about genetics this weekend, starting now!
ramkin
21. Oct 2009 · 15:40 UTC
Is the compo still on? 😛