Since everyone is sharing tips now, I decided to add some of my own. I have finished LD around a dozen times, most of that with a team and tried a lot of different things, even a multiplayer shooter once (did not end up well, don't try at home, kids)!
Preparation
Coming into the jam prepared can save several hours of time and, most importantly, nerves. Most of these are pretty obvious, but a good check list always helps
- Update all necessary software (including rebooting Windows)
- If using, setup a Git repo and share an empty project with all team members
- Install any plugins or assets you're going to use
- Do a test build, upload it and have someone test it
- Learn or re-learn workflows for the most important apps
- Check a few places for assets, even just for placeholder ones
Concept & Planning
First off, check out these tips.
Second, a thing you can see a lot of people doing here is coming up for an idea for each theme. That takes some off the actual jam and gets you going faster. Also, you can use the same ideas for multiple themes.
Deciding a genre beforehand
This is somewhat depending on how you approach the jam: if you really want to go in theme-first, it will mostly dictate the genre, but if you consider the theme more of an inspiration or a guideline, it can be useful to decide upon a theme or even a mechanic or two beforehand.
The advantage of this approach is that regardless of the theme (and as someone commented on the post linked above: the theme always sucks), you'll end up with a game. And that is the main purpose of Ludum Dare anyway. I also find it quite motivating.
Depending on your engine of choice, of course, you may need to do this anyway. Twine or RPGMaker lend themselves best to certain types of games and even with general engines like Unity make certain things easier than others.
Platform
My platform of choice has always (my first LD was in 2009) been Web, which mostly now means WebGL for games. If you want as much feedback as possible, it's the best choice.
- Multiplatform without extra builds and hassle
- Safer than downloading random games
- Fastest to get playing
The best place for distributing web builds is Itch.io, as its no hassle, no ads and reliable. Additional things to consider:
- Check that your game fits the window without need for scrolling at least on 1920x1080 resolution. I usually use 1024x576 but a bit larger window sizes should fit too.
- Have an option to turn sounds off.
Unity Tips
Here's a bunch of small tips for those of you using Unity:
* 3D real-time is the most native way to do things. Sure, there's plenty of support for 2D too and making a turn-based game just needs some extra scripting, but you're also giving up things like NavMesh agents.
* Make use of 1st/3rd Person Controller (pre-install!)
* Unity Events are hand for level scripting, make a few general scripts that use them
* Choose a font and at least placeholder UI assets early on so you don't need to waste time later to replace them
* Especially important to test WebGL build before the jam, since there can be hiccups
Misc Tips
Start From the End
I know this sounds like a theme, but it's something I've been thinking about recently. Basically, when you test the game, the further you go, the more you have to play through the early content, or throw in some debugging options to skip that, which takes a lot of time that adds up during the weekend. So, if you make the ending first, and build back from that, you'll only need to test the new content (except occasionally, of course).
Onboarding
When judging, people play a lot of games and seldom have time to commit to a single one more than a few minutes, which makes player onboarding all the more important. Don't just throw all the info to the player in a single image or wall of text in the beginning, make it available as it becomes relevant, or, at the very least, have an option to review the how to play and controls.
Keep It Short
As said above, people don't have time to dedicate even an hour for every game, so make sure your game delivers its main selling points within 10-15 minutes. If it's a story-driven game, the whole story should be playable in this time.
In Conclusion
There's plenty of more I could prattle on about, but this post is already getting quite long!
In any case, the most important thing is to have fun! Making a complete game, even a small one, is an incredibly rewarding experience and the community here is quite amazing, so you'll get plenty of good and encouraging feedback.
See you at the finish line!
https://youtu.be/CwqTd4QpuJE
