Never "finished" a game before. Lets see what happens. Good luck everyone!

It's been over a year since my last Ludum Dare, and over 4 years since I rounded out 5 years without missing a single LD! Wait a second, I've been doing LD for nearly a decade now! :open_mouth:

In any case, here's what I'm rocking:

Tools:

• Unity
• Rider (C#)
• Blender
• Photoshop
• Audacity
• Trello

Rules:

1. Game finished by Sunday night! I'm joining the compo but I make games full time and need to be there for my team on Monday.
2. Keep it casual, cozy, and lighthearted. I'm going to be working from the couch instead of my desk when I can, taking nice long rests, and getting a good night's sleep each night.
3. Gameplay complete by Saturday night. I want to keep my scope small enough that ideally I can get the core gameplay done in just a few hours, then expand and explore. Sunday will hopefully be totally for polish.
4. Let the engine do the heavy lifting! Unity physics can provide a really nice base sandbox for fun play. I don't want to get bogged down by anything too technical this time.

Team

I'll be doing most of the heavy lifting on this one but I will be working with a composer for audio help.

Let's connect!

I'll be watching and posting here and on the #ldjam hashtag on Twitter this weekend. All the progress pics/gifs are super inspirational. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone cooks up!! I'm on Twitter @20c109 if anyone wants to follow along with me.

Take care of yourselves!

If I've learned one thing in these 9 years it's that you gotta take care of yourself when you jam! I used to pull all nighters and slam energy drinks but all of my best jam games have come from jams when I got enough sleep each night and took breaks when I was stuck. The creative process demands time to stew! Take a break when you have a problem. Drink water. Pet your cat.

I've got more tips for JAM SUCCESS in my LD39 keynote:

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

First time doing this. I’m super excited and anxious. I have some obligations this weekend I can’t avoid but I’m confident I’ll finish a game in time. Any helpful hints?

Really excited for the jam, it's a little bit annoying that it begins at 1am but still hyped for it. This is my second ludum dare, the first ludum dare was the first game jam I entered and made a game for. :v:

Never entered a game jam before, This will be my first, really anxious about not finishing in time, but still really hyped for it, will be quite an experience. Good Luck Everyone!

Tools: Unity Aseprite Bfxr Audacity

Recently finished University and now I have more time to take part in more game jams. Still have some obligations during the weekend and Monday but going to try my hardest. By myself for this so hopefully I won't get judged to harshly for graphics and the like since I'm mainly a programmer lol. Good luck to everyone!

I've participated in Game Jams before but I'm new to the Ludum Dare!

The tools I'll be using are: Gamemaker Studio 2, Aseprite, and sfxr!

I'm super excited to make a game and play y 'all's games!

Man okay so I'm thinking of ideas for all of the themes in the final theme voting so I can come into the real "planning" phase of the jam at 6 with some ideas, but I have absolutely no ideas for if the theme is summoning. Anyone thought of anything cool they want to share?

I'm happy to join another Ludum Dare! I've been working as a software developer for the last few months and I really miss making games more regularly.

Team and Tools

• For the art I'll be joined by my wife who's an illustrator, I think she uses Illustrator and Photoshop, but I'm not completely sure.

• In the sound side of things I'll try to create some music and SFX myself using Reaper and a MIDI controller.

• For the engine and IDE I'll use Unity and Rider.

Lately I've been kind of stuck on coding in my job, so I'll take this game jam as an opportunity to have fun with game design, music and writing. Can't wait for the theme reveal!

*Great Ludum Dare for everyone! :heart: *

I'll be participating to this edition, steaming live on twitch the whole dev! It will be in french but I can speak english if you drop by :)

I'm going to work alone and do simple concept but push the polish as far as I can. As usual I'll work with Unity, Reaper, Blender & Photoshop.

I wanted to do a Compo but since I have a free Monday, I'll probably participate in Jam.

See you this week end!

Hallo-you-weenies!

Last time Ludum Dare was running i was unfortunately hospitalized and had to sit the LD out. Now im back with full force! 🙌

Because people love these, here are the stuff im using:

💀 GameMaker: Studio 2: Gamemaker is game engine i've always used, and love it dearly!

💀 Aseprite: A very nice pixel art program, i like it…10/10!

💀 BeepBox: I make music right inside there, in that little spot right there!

💀 Bfxr & Audacity: With these, i make beeps and boops and crazy sounds!

💀 Trello: Here i do my game concept, ideas and to do lists!

💀 itch.io: This is my go-to place when uploading my games, very nice!

Have a wondeful Ludum Dare y'all! I'll be posting updates here on my feed of the progress!

After moving from my hometown, getting a new home office job and finally managing to finish my PC Setup, I'm happy to be able to participate in a game jam again! This will be my second Ludum Dare (although my first one wasn't much to brag about), and here are the tools that I'll be using:

:whitecheckmark: Unity - I love C# and this is my main game engine ever since I stopped using RPG Maker when I was a kid, I'll probably be making a 2D game in this.

:whitecheckmark: Aseprite - Hands down, the best pixel art software in the market, with all the functionality you'll need and for a low price too.

:whitecheckmark: Notion - The app I use to organize everything in my life, and yes, that includes game jams! I'll use this to make a board system similar to Trello and to note anything I'll need. I HIGHLY recommend this app to anyone who wants to organize their studies/work/finances!

:whitecheckmark: BFXR & Audacity - For sound effects, really simple and intuitive software that I've been using for the last year.

:whitecheckmark: BeepBox - If I decide to make my own music, I'll be using this software as it provides everything I need to make simple, quick songs for my game!

Wish you all good luck, have a great Ludum Dare experience!

This is my third time Ludum Dare Jam. I use Unity 5 and Asperite :grin:

Good luck with the theme and HAVE FUN YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

https://discord.gg/S6MCUHDE

Going to be working with the same partner as last time, going to be using LOVE again and adding Milkytracker to the mix to hopefully produce a game that's not 'mute' this time around. Best of luck everyone!

Here's hoping I can actually finish. Goodluck folks :smile:

First of all, welcome and glad to make your acquaintance! In the past few Ludum Dares, there's been a great influx of new developers joining around, and I'm half expecting this to continue with that trend. While it's not much, I'd like to share some words of encouragement for you. And heck, even if you've already participated before or are a veteran, it might give some extra insight. Maybe even share your experiences below? That'd be great.

Remember that there is no "right way" to participate in Ludum Dare or game jams in general. Some people come here to try to learn how to get into game development. Others want to experiment with new mechanics. Some have tried to go beyond their boundaries of skill, and some even want to put their skills to the test to get the top positions in the jam.

Whichever is your reason to join, *I hope you feel welcome and at home while surrounded with all of us. * Do not feel discouraged if your end project is not as great as you thought it'd be. It happens to hundreds of people here, every jam. We're all learning, just like you.

If it's your first time participating in a jam, and you're not used to these short game development bursts, you might want to make things very, very simple. There are some people that do grandiose stuff solo, and there are teams that work as well-oiled machines (and I don't want to brag, but my team at Whales And Games has made some jam games that have been praised for their extra polish. I love ya, fam!).

For most of the newcomers, consider scope. If you're just getting used to certain tools and finding your sea legs, the process of learning and getting used to what you're doing will get in the way of development. I'd recommend you to start with something simple and bare bones, and build from there. Your game doesn't need to have a dozen levels and 3 game loops from the start. It can, but one of the main skills you should try to learn on the jam is to work under a very strict, unforgiving deadline.

The jam lasts for a few days, but your game and experience can continue evolving past the deadline. A lot of people take their game and continue updating and polishing it beyond the jam. I'm not telling you to try to make a commercial game out of yours, specially if it's your first jam. But, say, some people think they could have learned more with just a bit of time. Others don't make it to the deadline, yet decide to make their attempt work or be more presentable. Even "giving up" doesn't have to be the end. There are always more jams and more Ludum Dares, so keep participating.

Speaking of jam games that got support post-release, let me quickly pitch ours to you. We made Townseek, our casual exploration trading game, during the Global Game Jam. Done in a very tight schedule too. We updated it post-release, and we're further enhancing it for Steam! Do check it out!

Basically, all I want to say is that you should participate in this game jam however you see fit. But the core of the jam, the spirit, is that you are not alone in this, and we're all learning together. By the end of the jam, you should really get into playing other people's games. I mean, aside from the 20 ratings requirement to get your score. You'll find games of all skill levels, likely have a great time playing many of them, and maybe even learn a trick or two for your next project! Get to know people too! We've made a lot of connections thanks to Ludum Dare!

You be you, and do as you can. While my team won't participate this time around, we're still looking forward to seeing what pops up from this jam. If you'd like to share your stuff with us, you're more than welcome to join our Discord Server! Some people there are participating here too, after all!

So get ready, and we hope that you make a lot of jam! :whale:

I was planning to join this jam, but I was wondering. Do you need to use a game engine?

I will be streaming some level design for our submission throughout the jam at https://www.twitch.tv/happydoesgamedev

hi all,

I'm an architect studying game dev for over a year now.I've took part in 2 jams so far but this will be my first ever ludumdare. im really glad to be a part of it i hope i can make it in time!

huge thanks for anyone who is making all this possible and have fun all!