Everyone prepares differently.

As the final hours and minutes tick down, bringing us ever closer to the theme announcement and subsequent frenzy, each jammer finds peace in their own way. Some choose to meditate, reflecting upon the path that brought them here to this place and moment. Others choose to party; to stave off dread with alcohol and drugs and petty street crime. Some indulge in just unrelenting sexual escapades with several [INSERT READER'S PREFERRED SEXUAL PARTNER] at a time... like, seriously, an absolutely unhinged amount of coitus... get a room, jeez.

But me? Oh, I'm a humble guy. What do I do? Well... I post absolutely idiotic suggestions for the final round of themes. That's what I do.

And here they are!!!! :sparkles: :sparkles: :sparkles: :poop:

Shelter – So what the game is, see ~yawn~ … well, like, there’s this roof and ~YAWWWWNN~ Oh, sorry, I dozed off there for a second. Anyway, so you have to find shelterrrr… ~SNORE~ (In case it’s not clear, I am not fond of this theme)

Break the cycle – Hammer. Bike. Go!

Underground – Play as Jim, a downtrodden apprentice at a spice grinding factory. The problem is, Jim is weak. He has no muscles. His boss always yells at him: “You are such an earthworm Jim! Why is your spice always under-ground?!”. Poor Jim.

Strange machines – It’s time to sell some stuff to idiots! Is this a brick? No, it’s just a strange machine! That’ll be $500 please! What do you mean it’s just a snotty tissue? You’re clearly just not familiar with such a strange machine! $2000 or keep walking, bud! It’s not a con if your customers are too stupid to realise it’s a con!

Paths – Wow! This one is fun for the whole family! A sure-fire rollicking good time for young and old. It’s what we’ve all been waiting for. That’s right! Finally, we’re going to gamify GRAPH THEORY! WOO HOO!

Signal – Smoke signals… something something… semaphore...

Folklore – You are Johnathon Folk. And this… is Folk Law. What’s that? Oh, it’s lore? Oh. My bad. I got nothin’...

Overgrown – A game about drinking soup with a seven inch long moustache. Is it possible? Can it be done? Why hasn’t someone made this game already? (Answers: 1) No. 2) I said, no. 3) Just no, dude, jeez.)

Sanctuary – The mighty ship Tuary. Pride of the fleet. Bastion of order amidst the writhing chaos of the tumultuous ocean waves. What’s that? OH NO! A torpedo! RUN! FLEE! SAVE YOURSELVES! ~glug glug glug~ Now she rests on the dark and lonely sea floor. But who, oh, WHO was it that… Sank Tuary?! A jaunty point and click sea adventure investigation mystery. Hold on, is this actually a good idea? …. Naaaahh.

Salvage – The names Sal. Sal Vage…. Wait… I don’t really like where this one is headed.

Reflect – Step one, capture player’s webcam. Step two, show player’s webcam stream to player. Step three… well, that’s as far as I got actually. Eh. Let’s just call it an arthouse game and take the rest of the jam off.

Locks and keys – A match the pairs game where the only cards are pictures of Sean Lock or Alicia Keys. That’s right there’s four cards. A pair for each person… Game of the Year?

Keep the light on – You hooked up light beer to the full-strength beer tap at the pub. The barflies are starting to sober up. Their angry muttering is becoming almost coherent. Just how long can you keep the light on?

Tiny Creatures – Play as a single-cell amoeba. Float around. Respire. Float around some more. Over seven hours of gameplay, see if you can achieve your goal of moving 5 micrometres. Riveting stuff!

Limited space – Atypinggamewhereyouareonlyallowedtousethespacekeyonceper sentence.

Absorb – Now, wait… hear me out… Sanitary Napkins: The Game. (Wanna know something funny? I actually suggested this theme and I didn’t even vote for it in the final round)

AND THAT'S IT, FOLKS!!

Good luck with the JAM everyone!!!

And if you're one of those folks who's engaging in just utterly mind-boggling amounts of sex to prepare of the Ludum Dare... you need to seek counselling... really... we're worried about you... it's a cry for help

Yes, Godot 4.1 will be used.

My Framework

For some reasons my posts don't show up in the feed even thought I made several of them and I'm just trying to break through

If you're going to use Unreal Engine, as well as our team. You can try out my collection of plugins for rapid prototyping!

Tricky Prototypnig Collection on itch.io

Our team used this collection to build our previous LD games:

1. Goblo The Harvester
2. DeliverEgg

This will probably get swallowed up by all the LD54 posts, but "Foxcrate" (made from our LD53 entry of the same name) is now available on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2598050/Foxcrate/?curator_clanid=4777282

Hey folks! My apologies for the "radio silence". I was extremely excited to get many of you to help me test the new beta website, until the unexpected happened: I caught COVID-19. :cold_sweat:

This was a first for me. After getting over the flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, etc), I was left with a sore throat, body aches, and some serious fatigue. The good news is I have been getting better, but thanks to the fatigue it has been tough to work. :sob:

So again, my apologies for the lack of ... everything.

Final Round Theme Voting

Final Round Theme Voting has kicked off! Cast your vote here:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/theme

Invitation Codes

If you need an invitation code, visit one of our social media accounts and check for a pinned post with one.

• https://jammer.social/@ludumdare
• https://twitter.com/ludumdare
• https://bsky.app/profile/ludumdare.com

Wrap-up

Leave a comment below or send me an email if you have issues signing up or activating your account. I'll do my best to get to you.

Shelter is the best theme possible... :smiley:

I want Shelter so bad!

(But if underground wins, I'll be able to do the same shelter thing anyways, so that's why I flagged it with +1 as well)

So, first Ludum Dare I'll do.

Tools:

Code: Custom Pygame engine.

Art: MSPaint.

Music: LMMS.

SFX: BFXR.

Good luck people.

So excited to make a game with my son this weekend!

This is mostly geared toward people using frameworks rather than engines, but the question is open to anybody! As someone who enjoys writing my games from scratch in game jams, I was wondering of some of the other tools that people who enjoy the same use. C/C++ and SDL? Python and Pygame? I'm also curious if anyone else uses Java to make their jam games. I always like watching Notch's archived streams from past Ludum Dares. Does anyone else use Java to make their games, or am I just weird? 8 hours to go! Good luck everyone!

First Ludum Dare I am doing.

Tools:

Code: Custom Pygame engine.

Art: MSPaint.

Music: LMMS.

Good luck to everyone!

Imma do it on Godot all alone, I'm excited!

Excited to get to it!

I have no prior experience in coding, so I decided I want to join and work with AI to help with code and art. Are there any limitations? Also, I chose Game Maker to develop the game. What do you think?

Themes Suggestion Round

I suggested Blink, Sink and Jinx without thinking too deeply about them. I thought that people may come up with interesting gameplay or interpretations.

Slaughter Round

The Slaughter Round was fun to fit into my breaks, though the number of repeats and bad themes were surprising. So much DisUnity! First time that I managed to slaughter to the finish line!

Theme Voting Round 1

Theme Voting Round 2

Final Round of Voting

Waiting with much excitement. What do you think will get chosen this time?

Hello. For a few days - and to celebrate the next LudumDare, my puzzle game Theorem is available on Itch.io for free. Not the best game which has never been made, but it’s fun for a while. Take a look at the reviews from players - or its main page on Steam. Just a gift for you, my friends. Have a nice day. Stay safe. I wish you the best during the LD session. Bye ++

https://geckoo1337.itch.io/theorem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVeq4l7NPsk

Haven't attempted one of these in a while, hoping to submit my first game this go around.

lets make some games!

The last few years I participated in the Jam with my high school students - this is the first time in a long while I'm participating solo! Here goes!

Hi. I falied previous time, hope this time will be more succeful.