Prototype for Battle Mode(unfinished)
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/helldigger-idle
Ludum Dare 57 April 5–8, 2025
Streaming Ludum Dare Games
Somehow this seems to have gotten somewhat unpopular. So let's do it our selves.
Come in, show your game, let's chat a bit.
Live at https://www.twitch.tv/eizach
Almost there!
This is my first jam and I am almost there help me https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/sub-mersed
Total Ratings
Votes on your game so far
Overall: 19
Fun: 19
Innovation: 19
Theme: 19
Graphics: 20
Audio: 16
Humor: 16
Mood: 17
HARD WORK BRINGS REWARDS. OH WAIT THERE'S ANOTHER PARTY STARTING
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/home-deep-home
Come play our game!
Come play our game Amigasa! It's a 3d top-down rogue-like shooter with cutscenes and an interesting story!
Feel free to criticize, rate and leave comments, we will read every single one of them!
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/amigasa
Wanna try something different?
Play Cadet Mizuno in your browser :smile:
- Move heavy objects to clear your way out of each level:
- Attract small objects to you and use them to take down enemies:
You have to think beyond the usual rules to complete this game
You can try it by your own: link
Just keeping in touch
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/depth-of-deb
18th compo in a row!
This time, I wanted to try a genre I’ve never explored before. Although, as always, there are things I didn’t finish in time, I’m quite happy with how it turned out. Enjoy exploring the depths, mining valuable resources, crafting drones to automate your survival, and defending against hostile fishies. :)
Go through random web game entries :)
I made a little website to go through random web entries and just play them in the browser right away. Give it a try and let me know what you think
So cool to see so many different and awesome entries!
Downloadable games receive 2 times less ratings(
Rate my first Ludum Dare game made on Python please - https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/echo-of-fallens
List of the top twenty games played at the end of the jam
Will there be a list of the games from most played to least played.
Not the games who were rated the best, but most played. It could give developers an idea of what games people are drawn to. I realize it will be skewed because the players are mostly all coders, but still it would be interesting
Post-Mortem: Descent Protocol
Hey everyone! Here's a quick breakdown of our experience making Descent Protocol for Ludum Dare 57.
🕳️ What's the game about?
You descend into a dangerous, vertical dungeon using your trusty grappling hook and rope -- your only lifeline as you swing, jump, and navigate deeper and deeper into the unknown. It’s all about momentum, timing, and not falling to your doom. 😅
🧰 The development ride
We built the game in Unreal Engine 5, and while it gave us some great tools, it also threw a few curveballs our way. Specifically, the rope physics were a huge challenge. UE5’s physics system has its quirks, and making a grappling hook that feels good and behaves somewhat realistically was... let’s just say “an adventure”.
That said, we’re super happy we managed to get it all working within the jam window -- rope mechanics, movement, level flow, the whole vibe -- without any major issues. (Okay, maybe a few “grappling into the void” moments during testing...)
✅ What went well
- The core mechanic swinging around with the grappling hook came together in a way that feels more orless satisfying.
- Atmosphere and level design helped give it a real sense of danger and depth.
- We hit all the features we planned without crunching too hard.
🤔 What could be better
- The rope physics still feel a bit unpredictable at times (Unreal, we love you, but... why tho?)
- More tutorial or feedback to help new players get into the swing (literally) would be nice.
- We'd love to expand on this with more hazards, enemies, and maybe upgrades down the line.
Thanks to everyone who’s played and left feedback -- it really means a lot!
And if you haven’t tried it yet, swing by and check it out here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/descent-protocol-1
Hey, no moles allowed in my field!
Bugs, bugs, bugs
Turns out coding on no sleep results in bugs. Who would have thought?
Well here's what I've fixed so far!
- Sea creatures no longer attempt to path onto land or into the sky
- Setting the resolution scaling quality no longer breaks the menus and loading screens
- Last patch broke the intro logo screen, fixes that break
- Fixes incorrect disabling of Profile select menu option, disables menus for incomplete features (replays, inventory)
- Grab with both hands should now work correctly
- Fixes water shader rendering slowdown
- Fixes fur color select slider not sliding well
- Fixes sea creatures having wrong mass
Whew! That water shader issue especially was a big framerate killer, and now the game runs so much better!!
When half your map ends up on the cutting room floor...
How much did you have to cut during LD?
In my LD57 game —Depths Scraper — I had to scrap half the entire map (and a chunk of gameplay with it) just to make the deadline.
Swipe to compare the before and after:
📷First image: me, confident and optimistic.
📷Second image: me, staring into the void of all the cut content.
Anyone else feel that post-jam sadness for features and levels that never saw the light of day?
Hmmm, what does the X do?
You know how in platformers you can only go left or right?
What if… the world had depths you weren’t seeing?
Press X and fall into new dimension!
Only 6 more ratings needed!
I only need six more help me
Overall: 21
Fun: 21
Innovation: 21
Theme: 21
Graphics: 22
Audio: 18
Humor: 17
Mood: 19
Rate my game : https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/sub-mersed
My Playthrough... but...
Here is my own playthrough of my LDJam57 entry Midnight Amplifier I just noticed that I put too much multiplier for the mental madness shader and yeah it does affect the eye a bit lmao...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g4iGx2xSlw
and you can play it here:
https://hernandack.itch.io/midnight-amplifier
Can you complete my game ?
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/deep-blast
Do you like updated cover for my game??
Before and after ^^
https://caffeinetrip.itch.io/echo-of-fallens
Embrace the call of the void
How I made my game!
https://protzz.itch.io/hark
Hi everyone!
I took part in Ludum Dare 57 — one of the most well-known game jams focused on creating games in a short time. It happens twice a year. Some say it’s the biggest event in the indie world, others prefer alternatives, but Ludum Dare has definitely become a part of game dev history.
Participating is easy if you know where to go and how to upload your game. But it’s always stressful: you want to finish in time, make sure everything works, and hope people actually notice your game. If you'd like to support me, I’ve published my game in browser format — no need to download anything or worry about viruses. Just open the page and play. If you feel like it, there’s a “Rate this game” button that helps boost visibility. Every little bit helps — and of course, I’d be super happy to hear your feedback.
Preparation: Idea and Inspiration
Preparation started on April 3rd, a day before the jam began. I knew I wanted to make a card game — that much was clear. Why? Because I’ve been dreaming of creating one for a long time. I’m a big fan of Inscryption and Balatro — both have a special place in my heart. Inscryption inspired the dark vibe and the idea of animal themes, while Balatro brought that addictive poker-based mechanic. So even before the theme dropped, I was pretty set on making a deckbuilder or something close.
When the theme was announced — “Depth” — I instantly knew I didn’t want to go with a literal water-based idea. I wanted to interpret “depth” as psychological depth, narrative depth, or even atmospheric madness. A surreal, slightly creepy card game. That idea hit, and I jumped right in.
Development: First Steps
I started with the mechanics. I didn’t want to copy Balatro directly, but there were too many good ideas to ignore — and let’s be real, poker foundations are timeless. I added a few challenges: collect less than a certain number, get only even-numbered cards, play at least one spade, etc. This made the player think more strategically about what cards to pick.
At the same time, I needed a setting. I didn’t want the classic “table and deck” look. I remembered the game Deceit, where the rabbit is kind of the mascot. That inspired me to add a rabbit too — not just a character, but a mysterious host. For visuals, I looked to Where Water Tastes Like Wine. Not the most popular game, but its art style is stunning.
Adding Features: TV, Transitions, Tarot
Once the core mechanics were working, I realized the game felt a bit flat. So I added visual effects, screen transitions via an old TV aesthetic, and brought in the Rabbit as a shopkeeper. Then came the idea for Tarot cards. I was burned out from coding and needed a break — so I started drawing, aiming to add some atmosphere. I ended up making 10 cards, but only 4 made it into the game due to time limits.
Surprisingly, the Tarot cards became a major feature. They affected gameplay so much that they changed the game’s rhythm and strategy. Some could block suits, others would steal coins (which are hard to get — you only earn one every 40 points). Players had to think more carefully to maximize their income and improve their deck in the shop.
Combos and Deck Building
Later I added card combinations — directly inspired by poker and Balatro. These combos brought more strategy, and every 40 points earned you a coin for upgrades or Tarot cards. Then I had an idea: what if combos could level up over time if you used them often? After a few dozen hours, the game began to feel like a nearly complete prototype.
Final Stage and Results
In the last hours, I focused on polishing visuals and sound. To me, those are essential in card games — without satisfying animations and atmospheric audio, it all feels flat. I couldn’t implement everything I wanted. There were supposed to be 10 Tarot cards, more Jokers, extra modes — all of that is still on my to-do list.
In the end, I completed about 50% of what I planned. But honestly, for two sleepless days, that’s a win. Thankfully the jam happened on a weekend, so I didn’t run into any scheduling issues. Though yeah, I felt like a wrung-out sponge afterward.
If you’ve made it this far — thank you! If the game sounds interesting to you, please give it a try. You can leave a comment, rate it (1 to 5 stars — but hey, 5 is nice!), and help it get noticed. The more exposure it gets, the closer I am to releasing it on Steam — even just as a demo or wishlist page. The game has potential, but there’s still a lot of work ahead. https://protzz.itch.io/hark
That was my Ludum Dare 57 journey: two sleepless nights, lots of cut features, but a playable prototype that already grabs attention. If things go well, I’ll keep developing it into a full game — with a deeper challenge system, a bigger deck, all the Tarot cards, and new modes.
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you enjoy the game. Good luck at your jams too!<3
The Signal
A small atmospheric exploration game set in an abandoned space station.
Play & Rate: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/the-signal
Looking for a short browser game to rate?
Search no further.
Keep Hopping
LD Rating Page: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/keep-hopping
Game: https://gjammer25.itch.io/keep-hopping
Check it out! :smile:
Github Compo List
Hello!
I’ve started putting together a list of Ludum Dare 57 entries that I have played (mostly from the Compo / HTML5 genre) that include a GitHub repository. I really appreciate when developers create a repository to share their sources—it's a great way to learn from each other and keep the spirit of open development going strong. I like to read the commits messages as a sort of glimpse in the game making process.
You can check out the list here:
👉 My GitHub List of LD57 Compo Repos
Why share your repo?
- It's a great way to see how others approached the development process (though sometimes there is only the release commit)
- You can dive into the source and learn from each other’s code.
- Repositories are easy to fork if you want to explore or remix an idea.
- ⭐⭐ Starring repos is a simple way to show appreciation for someone’s work. ⭐⭐
If you’re sharing your game’s repository, consider including the following in your readme
- A link to your Ludum Dare submission page. So people can come and vote or see the results in the end (or use the https://badges.jaxs.onl website to embed the rating after the competition is over)
- Ludum Dare badges to quickly identify the edition and mode:
md
- Screenshots or GIFs
- Instructions on how to run or build the game
- License
Recommended GitHub Topics
Using tags can make your repo easier to find. Some helpful ones for this jam:
game
game-development
ludum-dare
ludumdare
ludumdare57
ludum-dare-57
ld57
If you used GitHub during the jam and shared your code, that’s already awesome! If it's HTML5 / or playable on a Mac share it in the comment. I'll come play, rate and star your repository!
And you can also go check My GitHub List of LD57 Compo Repos , see the amazing repos from other participant, play and star as well the entries you like!
Interesting facts
In our game, you play as a fisherman, whose goal is to catch anglerfish!
Play now!
We have collected some interesting facts about these creatures that you might not know.
Bioluminescent Lure: The anglerfish is famous for its bioluminescent lure, which is a modified dorsal fin that emits light. This irresistible glow attracts prey in the dark depths of the ocean, making it easier for the anglerfish to catch its food.
Males and females: In many anglerfish species, males and females are drastically different in size. Males are much smaller than females and often fuse to the female’s body, allowing them to access her nutrients while.
Deep-Sea Habitat: Anglerfish are primarily found in the deep-sea environments, often at depths of 200 meters (656 feet) or more. They are well adapted to this dark habitat, relying on their lure and excellent ability to detect movement in the water.
Diverse Species: There are over 200 species of anglerfish, each with unique characteristics. Some have incredibly elongated bodies and others display vibrant colors or unusual shapes, making them one of the most diverse groups of fish in the ocean.
Adaptations for Survival: Anglerfish have developed fascinating adaptations for survival in the deep sea. Some species can expand their stomachs to accommodate large prey and can go for long periods without eating, making them highly efficient predators in their challenging environment.
These features contribute to the anglerfish's status as one of the most intriguing and bizarre creatures in the ocean!
Try our game out!
We've mixed a boss fight with an endless runner! Play and rate!
It was very fun to make. For a while now (mostly outside of Ludum Dare), I've strived for my jam games to look as close to a finished product as possible. I think we've come very close this time.
WE NEED STORAGE. COLONY EXPANDS. GOOD.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/home-deep-home
Finally I won fight against bugs!
All the time i've been fighting so you can play and not experience the cringe of goofy bugs
🏅 Here it is, my achievement list:
If you have only played the first-day version, or not played at all, I invite you to play the polished product|Bugfix|Comment|
|---|---|
|Replaced the monster sound due to copyright issues| no comments |
|Added more hints for players|yea, at the beginning I didn't expect that I would need to place so many hints)|
|Baked the light differently due to visual bugs|That was a big problem bc i dont know what is baking and what affects on it, now im better at this, thanks for jam|
|Pixelated post process was disabled, enabled it||
|Changed the balance to make the gameplay more enjoyable|Most likely, I will change more and more|
|🧨Fixed bugs with dynamite, now it explodes correctly|💥💥(correclty)|
|Deleted the developer's progress widget|Yea, i forgot to delete it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯|
|Changed the stamina widget to 💅🏼beauty💅🏼 one||
|I deleted Unreal extra assettes so that the game would weigh less|This piece of garbage took up more than !600! megabytes in the raw project and 110 mb in packaged one|
|Fixed developer settings for debugging|That i forgot too, sorry|
|Increased the range of picking up items|Bc of my lazy ass is too tired of getting closer to objects than I want to|
|Changed the offer widget because it did not wrap lines| And then upsized text size to easier reading|
This post was supposed to come out a day ago, but I only now have time to write it
Thanks for all of your feedback 💋
i will wait for more of it, also i want from you new ideas how to upgrade game after jam)
The next post will be about what I wanted to do and what happened in the end. See you soon
My top 5 games I've rated
I grade for now 29 games and here my personally top 5 for now.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/scrab-the-scrabbler Balatro + scrabble + arcade. For me, as a not-native English speaker, It was a good balance in difficulty: I chill in arcade part and hard thinking in balatro+scrabble part. Definitely good game experience.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/floor-22 Most stylish game in jam. Simple, but music + art works very well.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/fantastic-general Opposite of previous game. Not so stylish, but complex and full-content turn based strategy like generals or Eador. Good game in rare category.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/deeper Old styled flash game. Brave provoking game.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/grimm-syndrome Full-content narrative rhythme game. Style story-driven experience.
The haunted mine in The Last Descent holds secrets long buried in the dark.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/the-final-descent
Playing your games.
Playing your games on Stream!
I enjoyed the Jam and now, I love to see what YOU all made. If you want your game played, just leave it below. I hope I'll get to it!
You can watch on my twitch here! I'll be live from 6pm - 8pm CET
Bugfix patch!
First of all, thank you all for the feedback! We tried to take everything into consideration and fix it as much as we could.
So, hopefully, your experience with the rhytm and minigames will now be easier and smoother! 🎵
If you haven't played yet or want to check out the unraveling story, we welcome you to try our game here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/grimm-syndrome
List of Fixes:
| # | Fix Description | |---|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1 | New note timings to better match the music | | 2 | Added visual feedback for pressing correct and missed notes | | 3 | Fixed colliders in the cleaning minigame - now items won’t get stuck in the wrong places | | 4 | Minor dialogue placement fixes (when the camera moved with animation, or when you were captured by a certain someone. Spoilers!) | | 5 | Added walls in the club, so you won't run away behind the screen
Have a fun party night!❤️💙
Cool games I played.
I want to share some interesting games I tried during the jam:
1) A great platformer with satisfying tactile feel.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/graffiti-tower
2) Another engaging platformer.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/cave-escape
3) A cute game about berry picking.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/save-the-queen
4) Looks atmospheric.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/absolve
How I came up with the idea for my game.
Hello! Congratulations to everyone who participated in the jam.
I want to share how I came up with the idea for the game.
Before the jam, I decided to get some sleep. I voted for the jam theme and went to bed. Different thoughts about what kind of game I wanted to make kept popping into my head. The only requirement I had was simple controls—all actions had to be done with the mouse. I couldn’t fall asleep for about 4 hours, thinking about what kind of game I wanted to make. I decided to latch onto this very moment—"pre-sleep contemplation"—and build a game around this part of our lives. But I only settled on the setting and the general message of the game at that point.
When I woke up and saw the theme, I had to figure out the gameplay. I thought about which mechanics I’ve wanted to implement for a long time and which games I could reference.
1. Dungeon Crawler (I’d been playing Wizardry for the past month)
2. Undertale (I’ve long wanted to pay tribute to a game I loved as a kid)
If we’re talking about whether I’m satisfied with the result... it’s more "no" than "yes." I managed to implement about 40% of what I had planned.
Why did it turn out this way? Lack of preparation. Take the controls, for example—I knew what they would be and could have prepared the scripts in advance.
I’m glad I was able to add the main ending—I would have liked to add more gameplay. But the jam is over, and the game will remain as it is. During development, I thought that I’d be happy if at least someone appreciated the game’s overall message.
Thanks!
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/light-in-the-dark
Godot-tools extension for Codium/VSCode
Hey, just wanted to quickly shout out an awesome VSCode/Codium extension that really helped me out when trying to learn GDShaders.
https://alfish.itch.io/godot-files-vscode
"Godot Files extension for Code is a free VSCode/Codium plugin with syntax coloring for Godot Shaders and assets/config files, as well as some extra convenience features."
I am not affiliated with the project in any way other than having donated to support its continued development, but I think it is amazing what this guy is doing, and it deserves more attention, so if you have a use for it, check it out!
Going Down protocol music/sound journey
Hello, I'm Momo and I was responsible for the music, sounds and ambience in the game! :notes: I wanted to share some of my postmortem thoughts on how the process went for me and what were the inspiration points during it.
For me the process always starts with composing the main theme/song - different people approach this differently, but to me the main theme is an acoustic and stylistic cornerstone of all other sounds in the game. It sets the mood and tone for the rest of the sound design and also helps me to get in the right mindset :D
With the main song I wanted to convey a feeling of loneliness and of a lingering anxiety, and at the same time it's supposed to be an "elevator lounge waiting music". So it was important to make it minimalistic, with only occasional heavy accents on violins or vocals: Main theme - Elevator is your friend :musical_note:
After the main theme was somewhat done it was time for a sound hunt! I personally prefer to record as much of real sounds as possible and then postprocess them as opposed to engineering the sounds from a scratch. So...my house has three different elevators in three different places, and I rode them up and down to see which one makes the most creaky, cranky and heavy sound and then rode that one for a few times more, here's how it sounds:
Elevator ASMR :musicalnote:
There's nothing simple about the combination of all the little sounds a moving elevator cabin makes, yet once you hear it your mind almost instantly can recognize it.
The rest of the sounds were either me yapping into a mic, hitting metal objects (my favorite trashcan!) or postprocessing sounds into oblivion beyond recognition. I feel I still have a lot to learn in terms of a sound design, while I'm quite comfortable with composing, sound engineering often is complex, technical and requires a lot of trial and error, I would say that's where I've spent the most of my time during the jam, learning a few new tricks along the way. In the end, although I'm not fully content with my work, I think it's a decent result for a three days run and it was incredibly fun for me, as the theme hit a melancholiac note in me and fed my brain worms well :D
Cheers!
p.s. please try our game and let us know how do you like it:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/going-down-protocol :video_game:
p.p.s. bonus menu music: Menu music :musical_note:
Small Steam game? What do you think?
I have some unused Synty packs 🤔
Proto: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/depth-cores
Something is out of control 😬
This is my First LD jam, please help me with rates and feedback 💖
Riches From Below now with a Mac version
Given how Mac builds are usually a mess to get working, we usually didn't bother with them, but one of our team members wanted to show the game to his work colleagues who have Macs, so now we have a Mac build.
Check out the game here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/riches-from-below
Looking for fast and hardcore action?
Depth of Sin delivers exactly that - but there's one catch: you only have 1 HP. Just like everyone else.
Test your reflexes, get thrown into unpredictable situations, and use your wits to survive.
Uncover why the main character is drowning in his sins, descending into ever-deeper layers of guilt and despair.
Have you already played my game? What bosses would you like to see in my game?
https://caffeinetrip.itch.io/
Drill to Hell with Netflix
Added a Windows build so you can keep drilling to hell 😈 in the background while working or watching Netflix
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/helldigger-idle
This is the first time I've ever done graphics on a jam.
Please rate, I need feedback
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/explorer-of-the-depths
Playing your Ludum Dare games! Day 1
https://www.twitch.tv/xpmonsterx
First day playing your games :)
Drop a link to your game on stream!
~Xp
We did a sketched tutorial :)
We got some questions about how cards works during a fight, so we did a little sketched tutorial (before being able to update our card game "Stolen Heart" and make it more obvious). What do you think ?
Playing and rating games now!
Drop links directly in chat and have fun! :)
I NEED COINS I NEED COINS I NEED COINS I NEED COINS I NEED COINS
YOU NEED COINS YOU NEED COINS YOU NEED COINS YOU NEED COINS YOU NEED COINS YOU NEED COINS YOU NEED COINS YOU NEED COINS ALL NEED COINS ALL NEED COINS ALL NEED COINS ALL NEED COINS ALL NEED COINS ALL NEED COINS ALL NEED COINS
GET COINS: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/coin-grind
Shelter from the Blight
Our First Game Jam: Shelter from the Blight
For a long time, my friend Yiraa and I have shared the dream of making a game together. We’ve been close friends since engineering school, and every now and then we’d talk about cool game ideas, build some lore, and say, “We should make a game!” We’d start something, tinker for a few hours, three, maybe four, and then it would quietly fade away.
But this time was different.
A few weeks ago, Yiraa said:
“Let’s join a game jam.”
It felt like the right push. Unlike our past attempts, this would give us a deadline and a reason to actually finish something. Ludum Dare was coming up, and it felt like the perfect opportunity.
Neither of us had any prior experience in game development, but we're both developers. I'm fairly experienced, but Yiraa is excellent, especially when it comes to quickly learning new concepts and solving tough technical problems.
To work efficiently, we decided to split tasks. I had touched 3D modeling briefly more than a decade ago, so I took on the modeling and helped shape the game design, while Yiraa focused on the core systems and logic.
The Game:
The theme was “Depths”, and that’s how Shelter from the Blight was born, a 3D hex-based strategic building game where players dig down through the earth to escape a creeping corruption from above. Each new depth unlocks new resources and buildings, creating a satisfying sense of progression and pressure.
We didn’t want the game to be too easy. In fact, our goal was to create a kind of die-and-retry experience, where players learn through failure and slowly master the systems. That said, we didn’t have time to fully tune the difficulty or resource generation, something we’re excited to work on in the future.
Creating Under Pressure
We were realistic about our ambitions. It was our first game jam, and we knew we’d be up against the clock. To save time, we reused and adapted design ideas across levels. The only thing we knew about a jam is it is all about making tough calls quickly, and sometimes that means recycling mechanics or models to keep momentum.
That strategy helped a lot. I even had time to do some sound design, using random things around my apartment to make effects. I probably annoyed Yiraa by banging on furniture, but it made him laugh, and it was part of the fun.
Learning by Doing
Creating even simple 3D assets was a challenge for me, especially early on, but I learned fast. With each new model, I got a bit more confident and efficient. Maybe I have strong instincts for modeling, but for sure i can thank my last experience, the fact that necessity is a great teacher, and the jam pace forced me to improve quickly.
One unexpected bonus: my dog. Thanks to her, we had to go outside every now and then for a walk, which turned out to be the perfect excuse to take breaks and get some sunlight. These little pauses helped us reset and come back with fresh ideas.
Of course, doing a game jam after a packed week of our full-time jobs was intense. It wasn’t exactly relaxing, but it was energizing in a different way, a creative rush that made the effort worth it.
Looking back
We’re incredibly proud of what we made. Shelter from the Blight may not be perfect, but it’s a complete, functional, fun game that we built from scratch in just a few days. That alone feels like a massive win.
We're already thinking about a V1.1, where we can polish the gameplay, improve the balance, and expand on concepts we didn’t have time to explore.
More importantly, this experience gave us a lot of confidence to keep going. Some of our friends were hesitant to join the jam, worried they wouldn’t be able to contribute. Now that we’ve been through it, we know they absolutely could. And hopefully next time, they’ll join the adventure too ...
Because in this kind of experiences you can surprise yourself with what you're capable of.
Short gameplay video
We put together a short gameplay video — mostly to better show off the atmosphere and animations, since we put a lot of love into them! Hope you enjoy it and get a clearer feel for what we’re going for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msSY79oMjRY
Also, feel free to share your ideas for mini-games, puzzles, or even fun little secrets we could add!
Fan art
I wanted to draw some fan art of the games I've played so far. They've all been very enjoyable and I recommend checking them out:
P.S. I hope I've done your characters justice. Please let me know otherwise!
RPG with Training
RPG with training, play as a ball character and train each arm individually with elements. Workout then battle to win the belt!
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/depths-of-strength
Made a fun little guide to playing our game
Maybe worth checking out? Idk??? https://youtu.be/nDT4S9DODdE
Gobbo's Roadmap
I drew up a roadmap in excalidraw for my game. Imma draw this out in aseprite later but I felt like sharing anyway :3
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/gobbo-steals-a-drillship
“Take the Blue Pill. Then Shoot Everything.”
Ever wonder what a midlife crisis actually looks like from the inside?
Welcome to MindDive — where therapy is replaced with plasma rounds, and repressed trauma is just another level to shoot through.
You’re not a doctor.
You’re not a friend.
You’re a Net-Runner with a gun and a deadline.
Descend into the burning wreckage of one man’s broken implant, fight flying bugs made of regret, and maybe — just maybe — help him stop crying in his sleep.
Or make it worse.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/minddive
Honestly, the REPAIR program didn’t read the manual either.
Deeg Deep Dig Dig
A game about... well... it's better to show you...
https://youtu.be/9PeMQ9S7S9M?si=3RUHaQJtuyACaDxL
Made with Godot by a team of 3 people. First time with Godot and it was such a nice experience. Everything went smoother and faster than our past experiences with Unreal and Unity. Tried to learn how to pixel art during this jam, and damn this is hard. Struggled quiet a lot with shading and color palette composition. But I loved it anyway and I'd like to pursue my journey in the land of art. We did a great job at scoping the game this time, and even had time to include fmod and a leaderboard connected to a server. Big up to our musician who spend his weekend recording, editing and mixing those (tasteful) noises... and a legendary music loop! Since release, we did quiet a lot of user testing, and might push another version after the jam is complete with some adjustements and features! Overall one of our best and funniest game jam! Loved it!
Death & detective - is there a better combination out there? (Of course not)
Have you ever felt cheated by life, because you never got to learn what happens when these two words get combined? Be desperate no more!
Because, from the creators of... well nothing aside from this game yet, comes the greatest release in the history of greatest releases -
Deathtective!
Crime is an everyday thing back here on Earth, but what about the afterlife? Who should be called to the scene when a murder occurs in the depths of the Purgatory? Well of course the so called 'flawless detective' itself - Death!
- Interrogate all the suspiciously suspicious suspects
- Search every corner of the crime scene
- And solve the mystery by finding the culprit
But seriously, we worked really hard on this game and it came out rather nicely, you should try giving it a shot :)
Little post jam update for our Sega Master System game
Our submission turned out great, but we had a few art assets that were made during the game jam that didn't make it to the final build. Our sleep deprived brains also missed some obvious performance optimizations. So we made this little update for the game as it deserved to be polished up a bit.
Gameplay and level design have remains unchanged.
Changelog:
- Player two sprite is no longer corrupted
- Map tiles that didn't convert correctly now convert correctly
- Pollen and enemy bullets are animated
- Main menu art implemented
- Story text animated
- Performance, especially in two player mode, has improved notably
Thanks for everyone who has played our game already!
To those who are having nighttime now - good night!! hehe - sleep is important^^
https://caffeinetrip.itch.io/echo-of-fallens
Ratings!
This is my game, Captain Death! It's just a cute little fishing game <3
Anyone that plays/rates and leaves a comment on my game, I'll DO THE SAME BACK!
I can't wait to check out your games :3
Micro Devblog
Have you ever wondered what lies after death?
Come check it out (it's playable on web!!):
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/a-walk-arround-the-pit-with-your-friends-head
Thallas. My first jam experience and impressions
You can play and rate the game here: ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/thallas
It was interesting to try our hand at development in such a short amount of time, considering we've never done a full-fledged minigame before.
There were a lot of plans at the beginning of development, but unfortunately a lot of things were not realized
The most interesting part was to apply my new concept art skills in the development, everything was created using different photobash and the result was impressive.
During the development I managed to learn to work in programs for rig animation and it was a very interesting and useful experience. With little effort you can create really impressive animations
The biggest challenge for an artist is coming up with a gamedesign. Unfortunately it didn't work for me, I had a visual idea of what the game should look like to create an interesting visual experience for the players, but I completely forgot that I needed to create interesting progression and rewards for the players for their efforts. The game ended up being very conceptual
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the experience I had and visually the game did come out interesting. Events like this are a good way to test your skills and abilities and make something interesting in a couple days. I think I learned a lot for myself and something I can apply in the future.
And you can rate the game at the link and write your feedback. I will be very happy to hear what you liked and what you didn't like, it will be very useful and I will try to take everything into account in future jam sessions
Thanks for playing our Game!
Thank you very much
We understand the gameplay feedback and the lack of interactivity. We have plans to add and improve on this in the future. We focus on delivering a complete experience of what we have at the moment. Please continue giving us feedback, we are really happy that you played our game!
Remember, there is a new version out: 1.0.3 with some other bug fixes.
Conquer the surface, little spawns!
My Favorite Games from Jam – Part 2
Funny robo drill https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/super-mecha-diggin-dodge-idle
Where Are Your Hands, Bro? https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/record-depth
I Don’t Understand How to Play, but the Atmosphere Is Cool https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/sub-silence
Wonderful Cozy Game https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/hollowspire
A game about rolling dice and hitting balls
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/d6-pool
Here is some pixel art for you :3
Click pic for more!
Playing your Games!
Stop by the stream and I'll play/rate your game :)
First time participating!!!
Remember starting watching game jam process videos on YouTube about 12 years ago, sadly can't find the specific video. But was amazed at how one person or a team could create a game in such a short timeframe.
And then finally this year I had a friend who were willing to participate with me, which made it so much more doable in my head! And man I can only say we had a blast creating our game! We discussed a lot how we could create a game that was 2D centred around the theme, and eventually land on we should just make a 3D game!
Been sometime since I worked in Blender and created 3D models, but time was not in any participants favour and definitely not ours with no experience in game jams. So the only reasonable thing was booting Blender up and begin creating low-poly models. While @pizzabudet420 began working on the core mechanic.
After a great weekend and some frustrating hours getting everything to work and fixing merge conflicts in GitHub, we actually finished and uploaded for our first game jam.
And man am I happy being finished and seeing what all of you manished to create, from story-driven, endless scrollers to balatro inspired games.
If any of you would like to try it out: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/blurred-escape
And please suggest any good games you tried, would love to give some more games a go!
Microgames, microgames, microgames
Do you like past paced minigame collections with a variety of goofy artsyles and playstyles? Then you should try our WarioWare inspired game! see how far you can make it!
Play it here
First 3 days from release
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/helldigger-idle
Explodicaves - cool lil' trailer
Made a neat lil' trailer of the jam game we released:
https://youtu.be/JaeuHXGb-yw
Thanks to everyone who enjoyed (or hated) our game! We appreciate every person ^^
New bombastic cover and other variants
* I was trying to make a new cover for Lisiy *
And there variants, which is better?
Was:
Current:
Considered:
Last one maded with chatgpt
walking simulator...
A hint to owners of cool rtx GPU cards: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/walking-simulator
My entire game is a single HTML file with no dependencies
Play the game then click view source in your browser to check it out.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/sokobound
You can simply download & edit the html file to add your own levels or mod the gameplay. Just double click the html file to run the modded game
I made a Compo entry in 30 mins and you can play it for hours...If it's playable
It is, actually, in another way - This is a playable Game Rooted in Depth, of course
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/bottomless-tetris
“The first block, after falling off-screen, can never reach the bottom,
The second block never spawns. No rows are ever completed. No lines are cleared. The score never rises. Nothing remains.”
A joke game featuring this: youtube.com/watch?v=1QGTpdzDE7Y
Enjoy!
D.U.G.: Doug Under da Ground has hit 20 ratings!
D.U.G.: Doug Under da Ground has officially passed 20 ratings!
Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to play/review our game! With your help we’ve passed the first hurdle!
This has been an amazing challenge for our team, and we’re so proud of what we were able to produce, especially since this was the first jam for a few members, myself included. Getting to read everyone’s comments and feedback has been a valuable experience, and we’re so happy D.U.G. has been so well-received.
Going forward we plan to push a barebones polish to fix a couple of bugs and other issues, and long term we hope to add more features, levels, and characters for you to enjoy! We’re also looking into basic mobile controls and some other quality of life features to make the experience even more enjoyable.
If you haven’t given D.U.G.: Doug Under da Ground a shot, we’d love for you to check it out! I promise you’ll be pleasantly surprised, and if not we’ve got a money back guarantee!
Thanks so much for your time and your love, and Happy Ludum Dare! 😊
LD Page
(If the game doesn't load, try our mirror on itch.io here)
Github
My Depths need HELP.
Hei, can anyone help me with this art work? Look, it's not about caves or diving. SOME ONE really need HELP.
LD page:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/depths-help
Itch:
https://leo-ding.itch.io/depths-help
Thank you for your help.
The Signal
A short atmospheric exploration game set in an abandoned space station.
Play & Rate: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/the-signal
Me want your games.
I'm doing a jam marathon today, Share your game in a comment and I'll give it a try at some point today!
I'd be nice if there is a web build. Also you don't have to but it would make me happy if you can play my game as well.
Happy Ludum Dare everyone :heart:
Edit: thank you for submitting your games, there are enough games to keep me occupied for a while so I'll stop adding new games to the queue.
There are 9 left, will we finish this?
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/shes-downstairs
20 ratings achieved!
Thanks to everyone who has given our game a try, we've reached 20+ ratings! And even more importantly, we've gotten some great feedback in the comments. We love that - we love it more than the overly positive comments people make. So if you haven't yet, go give Riches from below a try and let us know what you love and what you'd improve. The divers are waiting for you!
Thanks everyone!!
Hi this we my first jam and I just reached 20 plus in 3 days and I want to thank everyone who rated me!
I had so much fun making this game
The other day I participated in Ludum Dare 57. This was my second Ludum Dare, but this time I prepared thoroughly.
First of all, I started to study what was wrong with my games, and that's what I realized:
1) My games have too many mechanics. Dude, this is a jam game, it will take a maximum of 5 minutes, no one will see your mechanics. Therefore, I have clearly decided that the next game will be as simple as possible.
2) I haven't worked on game feel at all. The game is just not interesting to play. We had to do something about it. I have identified for myself the main rule of 20% development and 80% polishing. This way the game will be simple and interesting.
3) I'm trying to come up with something that hasn't happened yet. Of course, it's cool when the game is unique and has no analogues. But this is only for the developer. The player has nothing to compare the game with and does not understand how to interact with it. By the way, there is another problem with this.
4) There is no tutorial in my games. Since I mostly spent time on mechanics, I didn't have time for the tutorial. Therefore, I either did not make it or wrote it in the description, which absolutely did not work. I decided that it was worth doing it on the second day of the jam, so that I could definitely make it.
As a result, having formed all these rules for myself, I started working as soon as the jam started. I decided to make a tactical roguelike because I love roguelikes. You can see the result here https://funbanan.itch.io/ld57 . I think it turned out very cool. 
NEED HELP!
We need some more ratings to be graded! Help us achieve this milestone and play Hooky Fish!
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/hooky-fish
And, we have a simple question. Why do you guys rate 1-2 categories and leave other unrated? That's so strange to see every jam.
Hey guys, I could use a bit of help!
My LD57 game Cave Escape is public and getting great feedback, but it’s still not showing up in itch.io search or tags and even by direct title — even after a three days.
I made a post about it here – would really appreciate any reaction and comment to get visibility boost or advice. Link 👉 https://itch.io/t/4755746/game-is-public-played-ranked-yet-invisible-on-itchio
Thanks a ton! 💜
53 lines!! Wow!
In SIRTET, our reverse-tetris digging game, we started adding an online highscore, but we were out of time at the jam. However, we advanced enough to at least log the anonymous player scores in our server.
We just saw someone who has played 30 times already make 53 lines in a game, which is more than twice our highscore.
So dear stranger, if you ever read this: congrats!!! We love you! That's what we make the games for 💖
Have you been able to overcome this creepy face yet?
https://caffeinetrip.itch.io/echo-of-fallens
Updated the game page
To new jammers: How to get your games higher on the queue
If you're having trouble getting plays in your game, you should familiarize yourself with the Coolness system (or Smart Balance)
By default, games in the rating queue are ordered by their Coolness score, which is put in place to prioritize games made by people who give quality feedback! Remember we're a community, giving is just as important as receiving.
I don't know exactly what the formula behind the Coolness score is, but the main things that affect it are:
- How many ratings you give to other people's games.
- How many hearts you get in your comments on their games.
This second part about getting hearts is usually what new jammers don't get, it's not only about giving star ratings. If you don't leave a comment, your smart balance will not grow as fast. ~~So don't even try spamming ratings on games you haven't played! 🤭~~
For example, here are the metrics for our game, since we've rated a little bit less than the ratings we have, but we have a lot of karma (hearts) from our comments, our game's Smart Balance is about 0, which means it's equalized, so new players will probably slow down.
If you rate and comment on a lot more games than you have ratings, your Balance will get into the positives and it'll shoot up to the top of the queue! And then with more people rating your game, it'll naturally come down as it equalizes itself.
So yeah, to get plays it's really quite simple, just play other games and give good feedback! Even if you don't think you have much to say, just leaving a comment will make that person's day, I assure you. :grin:
Ah and remember to give hearts to people in your comments too!
We changed our art style during the jam
We started out with a different art style, but then decided to use a low poly asset pack. Also the game was way darker in the beginning making it a lot harder. However on some monitors you were barely seeing anything.
Try our game Dungeon Cartographer here
Toilet Theme
A few pixels for no reason
This is certainly not Doom on a calculator, but it seems cool..
Although the link is visible there, I will duplicate it, that's how kind I am!!
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/graffiti-tower
A game for blind people
In The Well you'll find yourself lost in a well, so deep that not even a sliver of light can reach you.
Play using only audio as feedback and try to escape to safety.
The following is actual in-game footage:
Oh by the way, the game is a 2d platformer, it might not be that obvious without visual cues.
I didn't get a chance to say a thing this jam! Now to overcompensate.
Hello everyone. I used to be suuuper into posting a tonne of in-progress journal stuff during the jam, and I do still enjoy that! However this time around I had barely any time to spare, and violated more than a few of my usual healthy rules when it came to eating and sleeping :skull: not to be repeated, but this time I'd say it was worth it.
Making journal posts has become much more difficult since moving to UE4/5, because trying to fit high quality gifs that show off complex gameplay is near impossible with only 4MB to play with, and webm/mp4 animated embeds like imgur still don't work. :frowning2: I hope that gets sorted soon! Else I spend half an hour trying to compress a single gif and it takes all the fun out of it.
As a result, I have no fun progress shots unfortunately! But I did want to talk a little about my entry. And by a little, I mean I'm overcompensating massively and writing an essay to get all my post-mortem thoughts about the game on paper.
The premise
So I have a bad habit of tending toward combat systems whenever I'm given full creative control of a jam game. In truth, this is usually a bad idea, because complex combat systems are extremely difficult to make feel right in short order. In LD56 I resolved to do something I'd never tried to do before - focus more on a slow paced, narratively focussed game with absolutely no combat whatsoever! My friend and I achieved that nicely enough, so I kind of took this jam as... well, you could view it either as a nice treat, or a total relapse :laughing: because I decided "hey, what if I just tried to go all out and make as cohesive a melee combat system as possible?"
The novelty
Not only that, but there had been one thing bothering me about my game development skillset. I can make incredibly bad programmer art, I can code. I know enough about UI to at least... like, make it. I found I have a great passion for composing music, even if I'm not amazing at it. I even know a little about VFX. But I have always hated the visual side of things - and now I work pretty exclusively with 3D games, it was becoming very frustrating, feeling stuck with UE5 default assets, primitives, or using things like MagicaVoxel (which I've put to very good use in the past with Potion Seller and Necrowizardry!), but I'd bounced off Blender tutorials so many times. i'm not sure precisely what clicked this time, but I found a workflow that finally fit right for me. This was my first time doing the 3d modelling for my game, and I'm quite happy with how it all worked out! I've never thought myself capable of being able to make anything visual, and my models are totally functional! I actually had a blast making them too.
You can actually see that his turban doesn't have the tail or the side flaps. Originally I was intending for him to have them, plus a cape, plus a tabard thing. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to get cloth physics working. Technially the turban he's wearing in the game has cloth physics, but they don't really work, and it's something for me to look into!
The devil in the details
So yes! I felt that for all of my comfort zone of combat, I had a lot of big firsts in other aspects. Not to mention I don't think I've ever quite managed to nail satisfying melee combat before, and I think this time I might finally have cracked it. Even without VFX (flew solo this jam) I feel I managed to get a good balance of all the different aspects. When it comes to combat gameplay like this, prolonged interest and fun comes from a combat system complex enough to punish button-spamming and constant adaptation, but especially important is then having a variety of enemies that force you to use all of your toolkit. It's the number of enemies that really keep it interesting. This is why the second enemy type plays such a key role in the gameplay loop - even if you were good, you couldn't just stand still and parry, because of their unparrybale, very damaging special attacks. The third enemy type forces you to move and make use of the environment. The environment itself is definitely the weakest aspect of the game. Environment and level design is another weakpoint for me, one that I tried to tackle last jam but dind't wish to here.
It's interesting just how many subsystems are important to making combat feel cohesive and fair. You can be swarmed by enemies, but a key system I had implemented early was what I called Engagement. Enemies only actively attack you if they're engaged with you, and only a limited number can be engaged. Other enemies would remian close, and try to keep nearer engaged enemies with low health, so they could take their place. If the gap between you and the enemy grows too large, they'll disengage, allowing closer enemies priority. This Engagement syste mhas a huge impact on difficulty, and ensures the player shouldn't ever be totally overwhelmed, whilst still feeling powerful, like they're taking on a bunch of enemies alone. I could scale it up as difficulty increased, but not by much.
Other little nuanced subsystems one might not think about are things like points at which attacks become uninterruptable, the amount attacks thrust you in directions, i-frame balance, and particularly the way you choose to heal. I knew I wanted my healing system to both be directly connected to combat, and to be a good reason to force the player to move. It was a bit crude, but it was how the Shifting Crystal came about.
The setting and narrative
I have always wanted more representation for south-asian and middle-eastern aesthetic characters, and so I figured this would finally be a good opportunity to help contribute. I sadly didn't get time to weave in more of a narrative, but I had this idea from the beginning that you were the character from a fictional myth, the sort of demigodlike figures people tell stories about like hercules, stuck in the short story your life has become. Fights would take a day, then the sun would set and the player would reflect by the oasis as they healed. Each night there'd be a voiceover as the player reflected on themes of isolation, and of the expectations placed upon you by others. That all kind of got lost due to time, and so the remnant of that is just a momentary 10 second breather to get fully healed between days.
The result
In the end I'm really happy with the resulting game. For the first time in a long time, I have a real desire to keep working on my jam game, if only to make it what I wanted to originally - proper plannin allowed my system design to easily take in new enemy type, so I'd like to make the game a 7 day narrative experience with tonnes of enemies, maybe some bosses. I want to fix up some of the less great sound design, and - most importantly - redo all the voice lines! I've been super sick since last Saturday and you can hear it :skull:
If you've read all of this, then thank you! I typically dislike the posts that are just veiled "play my game" posts, so don't feel like you need to, I'm continuing to rate games. If you do want to check it out, I'd love to see if anyone can beat Day 5. It's bloody difficult! You can see it here
Also, I'll take this a chance to plug the two excellent jam entries by friends of mine! Nine Lives Deep and Archaeologic. Thank you, and looking forward to seeing more of your entries as I go through the smart filter.
And now... I can rest.
Debth
TW: Depressive plot
I've tried to interpret theme in social context and ended with story of a man with many debts.
Took much more time to finish it than usual, and it is still not finished as I wanted it to be.
Texts were translated from Russian to English using ChatGPT.
Game entry: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/$410264
Do you like my new itch.io page?
https://caffeinetrip.itch.io/echo-of-fallens
Playing your Ludum Dare games on stream / Day 2
https://www.twitch.tv/xpmonsterx
Submit a game via our Discord server and be present on stream :)
Empyrean's server: https://discord.gg/4h5scpz6ek
~Xp
Red Alert: Brain Soup Imminent.
Inside his head, it’s chaos. Outside? HR says it’s not their problem.
In MindDive, you're not here to help. You're here to clean up the mess — with bullets, bad decisions, and zero psychiatric training.
Dive into corrupted memories, dodge floating trauma, and try not to ask why his ex-wife keeps showing up in boss fights. (You’ll lose. Emotionally and physically.)
Every glitch is a cry for help. Too bad you brought a plasma revolver instead of empathy.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/minddive
MindDive - because mental breakdowns are more fun in first person. Red Flags? We Dive Into Them.
What if this castle is huge? But not only in height...
You can find something at the bottom here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/were-at-the-bottom
