It’s done, and it’s not great, but that’s life.

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/minild-37/?action=preview&uid=5267

I think it was the 42nd submission! O.O

Got sabertooths in. They start the chase from further than the deer start the running, but they are still visible when they start chasing you, and they run slower than you, as opposed to the deer that run faster than you. If you get caught by a sabertooth, it’ll kill you and cause the game to reset.

I also added a way to get back to the cave, and fixed the day part of the day/night cycle (sunrise/sunset worked, but I typed something wrong and day was night :P).

Onto level design and interactivity!

-Matt

I know it’s a bit late, but just posting to show the results of http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-24/?action=preview&uid=14205!

I got #26 in the graphics category, which for me was huge ( even tough I was so close to the top 25!!).  I never thought I would get such a nice ranking, tough I confess I was expecting it to be the best rated category in my game.

#137 overall is great for a first LD game! Thank you so much, I promise I will be here in December, this time with a web game and not so horrible music 😛 Great community!

 

#26 Graphics 4.24 #91 Mood 3.36 #127 Fun 3.34 #137 Overall 3.44 #219 Humor 2.55 #260 Theme 3.18 #395 Audio 2.33 #480 Innovation 2.60

Here’s the game I put together, didn’t get to do all I wanted to do, but the basic idea is there. Ambient light will change depending on your time of day.

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/minild-37/?action=preview&uid=17113

 

Caveman Not-game Download

Alright, so it’s sort of done. It works, it has some interactions, and I’m not really sure where to go with it now. If you’ve got an idea, leave a comment.

Oh, and you’ll notice that I included all the images, sounds, etc. Yeah, I figured I’d package it all up.

And since I’ve been fighting with sounds to behave right, don’t stand on the gray pedestal thing too long or it’ll crash.

Mostly, I’m wondering if it really needs more for this jam, or if it’s sort of good where it is. It’s only the first day I’ve been working on it just yet, though, so I’ve got time to implement stuff tomorrow if I can come up with anything, or I like an idea posted here.

Oh, and arrow keys to move, Spacebar to throw your spear, walk over your spear to pick it up.

-Matt

When we say “post-mortem”, we mean “whatever we want to say when we finished the game”. This time, it’s really post-mortem.

I failed to finish my MiniLD #37 game.

What went good:

• Idea: in my opinion the idea was awesome.
• Interface: Construct is very good for games like this.

What went bad:

• Experience: the game started from the experiment. It was my 1st (if not less) time doing anything web-related.
• Engine: I have no idea how could I make it using Dropbox. Dropbox is an one-side door.

What I learned:

• How to download data from the Internet.

I think I was right doing it. Because MiniLDs are made for (or suit excellent) experiments.

I think I’ll have a rematch when I’ll learn more. But for now, my project will stay calm.

And here is an extra! You can download the demo-version of my game! (Username is “Test”, no password).

If you really want, you can ask me for registering you. Saying an username and a password.

We managed to finish our MiniLD “A New World” yesterday night. It’s a bit crazy, but we sticked to the original ideas we had, and implemented almost everything, so it’s pretty awesome. (edit : the link http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/minild-37/?action=preview&uid=14514 )

Give us some feedback

Also I’ve just played Ditto’s “Let nothing wear you down” and it’s very very very cool.

 

You know what this is? Look carefully:

Yeah, that’s a weird haired dude pissing on an alien. But it’s also much, much more than that: it’s McPixel, a game developed by fellow Ludum Dare veteran Sosowski being sold on Steam!!! Wait, let me say it again: it’s on Steam! STEAM!!! Here’s the link, go see for yourself (and while you’re at it, support one of our colleagues and buy it!)

This game was originally created for Ludum Dare, then Sosowski gave it a real polish, added tons of content and submitted to Steam’s new Greenlight system (for everyone living in a bunker, it’s a new ‘popularity evaluation’ system that Valve put in place to detect promising indie games that aim to be sold on Steam, basically based on ‘how many likes the game gets’). And McPixel is the very first game to actually be added to Steam through that new popularity method. It all started here, right here where we stand, in the Ludum Dare community! How great is that?!

There are no words strong enough to describe how FUCKING PROUD we are! I’m sure someone who’s actually important in the LD community (maybe Sosowski himself) will announce it here with a better explanation, better English, better wording and useful links. So Sosowski, in the meantime we’ll just leave you with our humble encouragement message:

Congratulations, best of luck with sales! We’re really proud, and I’m sure I speak for the whole community on that.

Gabriel and João Pedro – aka Pixel Cows 
@pixel_cows

What will probably be the final release of my Ludum Dare 24 entry, Karyote is now up on my server.  It’s quite a bit different, and much improved, compared to any previous versions which you may have played, so I encourage you to give it a try even if you’ve played the game before.

HTML5 Final Version

Windows Final Version

The Windows version is definitely the better of the two. The HTML5 version has some limitations with color blending and the hit detection has a bug due in GameMaker HTML5’s sprite creation which causes the collision mask to not be set properly.  So play the Windows version if you can.

If you like the game or have any feedback to give me, please drop a comment here, or over at csanyk.com

Thanks to everyone who played!

As fate will have it, some unexpected situations got in the way over the weekend and I wasn’t able to get any work done on the Twine story. Literally, all I added was the start screen and the beginnings of a first page. Normally, I’d just finish it during the week, but of course, I have the October Challenge to prepare for (which my relatively silent partner and I are very psyched for, by the way.)

Sometimes, it seems like I can never myself for MiniLD’s. I just don’t always hype myself up for them like the real things, I guess. Oh well. I have a lot of stuff to do this week if I’m going to commit myself to making a commercial game in a month. At least we already have the story and basic design set! Anyone remember Lifezone?

P.S., does anyone have any decent instructions on getting a business license and other stuff you have to do to sell a game? Most things Google brings up expect me to know a bunch of technical terms. Unfortunately, I’m technically just a kid, and I’ll probably have to do it all under my parents.

Play Caveman.

So, I finished. I’m not sure it’s much of a game at all, let alone a not-game, but I managed to come up with another idea and finish the game. And throughout all of it, I managed to keep the awesome 50×50 resolution.

Anyways, here’s a small post-mortem, done through bullet points:

– I didn’t have enough time to work out all the technical stuff. I was trying to add some more life to the world, which is what the birds are for, but I didn’t have the time to come up with some good ideas.

– I only spent like 6 or 7 hours on it in total. Out of two days, I only worked 6 or 7 hours. I probably spent at least half of it working out all of the details of the real-time system. I only worked when I had new ideas and all, so it makes sense, but it feels a little lacking in time spent, and the game probably reflects that.

– For some reason, the “pixel-perfect” collisions weren’t exactly pixel-perfect. I have it set to do pixel-perfect collisions, but the caveman keeps catching on things at the borders of his invisible box.

– I’m not sure how much of a game or a not-game it is. It’s not much of a game. Just explore 4 small rooms and then return to the cave and it’s over, pretty much, but at the same time, I feel like it’s too much of a game to be a not-game. I started out thinking “YEAH! I’m going to have a ton of ideas for not-games!” Nope. Not good ones, at least.

-Matt

I finally uploaded my entry for the Mini Ludum Dare #37 – it’s a 3D model viewer with a game-y museum atmosphere. I reused the music my brother made for “The Sun Is Deadly”, and the texture are all created with images from cgtextures.com.

The Modeleum is pretty empty right now, I only uploaded three characters I made some time ago. They are in the “Characters” section. You can submit your own 3D models (OBJ format, if there are textures they must be JPG or PNG ).

Tags: MiniLD, model-viewer, Modeleum, not-game

During weekdays, only have limited time to work on the game, and I doubt that I’ll manage to finish it until Friday. Regardless, I’ve uploaded some minor updates during the last days. Just check it out! Now the motivation vs. energy system works, you can get into submenus, and you can actually finish a work shift and go home. But you still can’t go on to the next day, instead, you keep looping in the last phase of your first day.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to implement the proper looping mechanics tomorrow and I can finally start to write the game content – and then only polishment would have left. Well, it’s tight, I don’t think I’ll be able to finish it, but I keep working on the game and share updates of it.

Oh boy, where to start?

Well, I guess an image and a link is good:

Note that there’s a HUGE WALL o’ TEXT here and an even bigger wall on my submission page but you shouldn’t need to read any of it.

Like I say over there, my very-lofty intention was to make a raw, wild world that users would build from the inside out. A wild land into which a community could band together and start making goals and rules for itself. Admittedly, it has a long ways to go, yet. I’m drawing on many inspirations here; I feel like I have to give a nod to jplur right off the bat.

I’m abondoning the 48-hour framework in hopes that this can maybe, possibly, be lovingly crafted and molded into something that will complete the October challenge. I’m favoring a direct-to-the-public, pay-what-you-will approach (because I hate ads).

For LD24, I wasn’t really able to participate during the actual competition, which really pissed me off at the time. I decided to just post up what I had and dedicate myself to perfecting the post-compo version. Something really interesting happened during this process – I was able to actually respond to feedback and shape my game from something that was getting pretty bad reviews, to something that people seemed to actually enjoy playing!

This is a big deal for me, because it’s the first time people seemed to really understand and enjoy my gameplay. Yay!

So, with the hopes of being able to complete the October challenge, I’m trying to take receiving and implementing feedback to the next level, because the player is always right!

Players can press ‘b’ and leave feedback from right within the game. It’s totally anonymous, too. This is in contrast to the feedback you get on the LD site, which is almost always positive. (LD IS essentially a popularity contest, after all)

Only positive comments are really not helpful, so I wanted to give players a totally anonymous way to slam my not-game if they don’t like it. Because I will need to know if nobody likes it!!!

In addition to incorporating feedback, I’m hoping to incorporate anything else that lets players change their environment and experience, especially things which will give a sense of “multi-user continuity.”

I want it to be a multiplayer experience, even though, let’s face it, you probably won’t run into many other players at this point. To that end, I’m going to add a bulletin board in the game and — I need to think of some other things as well.

Well, what you waiting for?

I successfully did not make a game.  I did not, however, manage to make a not-game.

Looking forward to the October challenge!

If you’d like to share a resource or opportunity, post a comment below or send a tweet to @mikekasprzak (or if you prefer e-mail go here).

Opportunities and Contests

• PC (Windows) – Ultrabook and Windows 8 App Innovation Contest – Pitch your Ultrabook Game/App idea and win one of 300 limited edition Ultrabooks filled with Sensors (touch, accel, GPS, etc)! Then make it and win one of 50 cash prizes ($1000) and potentially one of 8 larger cash prize ($10000, $20000)! Pitches due October 24th and ASAP (early)!
• Mobile (BlackBerry 10) – $10,000 Guarantee – RIM guarantees all quality certified apps (that earn over $1000) will earn at least $10,000 their first year. RIM pays the difference.
• Mobile (BlackBerry 10) – Free PlayBook and Marmalade BB license – Free 6 month Marmalade BB license and PlayBook to publish an app for BlackBerry. C++ or HTML5.
• PC, Mobile, Web – Independent Games Festival – Highly regarded Independent Games event with cash prizes, due October 17th! ($100 Fee)
• Web (Flash) – Epic Flash Game Contest – Build Player.io Multiplayer Flash Games with Micro-transactions and win one of 10 Cash and CS6 prizes. Due February 18th
• All – Sellbox – Sell from your Dropbox or Google Drive Account. Deal: 1% Fee! *NEW*

Launching Soon

• PC (Win8/WinRT) – Windows 8 – Integrated store. Launching October 26th! ($49 year)
• Mobile (WP8) – Windows Phone 8 – RTM was Sept 14th. Estimated launch November 2012

Marketplaces (Mobile)

• Mobile (Apple) – iOS App Store – iPhone, iPod touch, iPad ($99 year)
• Mobile (Android) – Android Marketplace – Android phones and tablets ($25 Fee)
• Mobile (Android) – Amazon App Store – Amazon Fire Tablet (First year free, $99 year?)
• Mobile (BlackBerry) – Appworld – PlayBook Tablet and BlackBerry 10 phones (SDK)
• Mobile (WP8) – Windows Phone 8 – TBD
• Mobile (PS Vita, Other) – PlayStation Mobile – Target the PS Vita, Phones, Tablets with C#

Marketplaces (PC)

• PC (Win8/WinRT) – Windows 8 – Microsoft’s Integrated Store ($49 year)
• PC (Mac) – Mac App Store – Apple’s built-in App Store ($99 year)
• PC (Linux) – Ubuntu Software Center – Selling Linux Games (Guide)

• PC (Windows & Mac) – Steam Greenlight – Community voted PC Distribution ($100 Fee)
• PC (Windows & Linux) – Desura – PC Game and Mod storefront with a Steam-like client
• PC (Windows) – Intel AppUp – Windows and Ultrabook Apps
• PC (Windows) – Indie City – Indie Games portal from Blitz Games
• PC (Win, Mac, Linux) – Indievania – No Cost Indie Game Portal (just Paypal fees)
• PC (Win, Mac, Linux, Android) – Gameolith – Download store with many options

Marketplaces (Web)

• Web – Chrome Web Store – Sell content to Chrome browser users ($5 Fee)
• Web – Firefox Marketplace – Mozilla’s Web Store (Preview)

Portals w/ Ad share

• Web (Flash, Unity) – Kongregate
• Web (Flash) – Newgrounds
• PC (Windows) – GameJolt
• Web (Java) – Static Void Games

Licensing/Sponsorship

• Web (Flash, Unity, HTML5) – Flash Game License – Put your games up for auction

Payments

• Paypal – Old Faithful
• Amazon Payments – Payments powered by Amazon
• Google Wallet – Payments powered by Google
• BMT Micro – Long time favorite of many PC/Shareware authors
• Google IAP – In App Payments by Google
• Sellbox – Sell from your Dropbox or Google Drive Account *NEW*

Hardware Surveys

• Unity Hardware Survey (Q3 2012)
• Steam Hardware Survey
• Android Hardware Survey

Resources

• Photon Storm’s HTML5 Game Sponsorship Market Guide
• MakeGamesWithUS – Tutorials and assistance for making iOS games
• Pixel Prospector’s Indie Resources

October is nearly here, so it’s time to kick off for October Challenge 2012!

The October Challenge is a special Ludum Dare event I started two years ago. More and more people are making games today thanks to Game Jams and events like Ludum Dare. And more and more people talk about selling games, but don’t do it. Well, it’s time to start doing it. Put simply:

Finish a game — Take it to market — Earn $1

That is your goal. That is the October Challenge.

Disregard all the usual Ludum Dare rules (no restrictions). Finish any game you previously made during a game jam, something else you’ve been working on, or heck, something entirely new. Your goal, if you choose to accept it, is to not only make something, but to finish it and do everything necessary to start earning money from it. That’s all. No specific rules or platforms. Make good on that goal or promise to start selling games.

Finish your game before November 1st, and submit it to your respected market. That is the challenge. And once you earn your $1, you’ve done it! Easy as that. You’re now a pro.

I’d like to invite everyone to share resources and discuss markets, business models, advertising, and anything related to making that $1. I’ve collected a list of marketplaces, vendor services, and even some opportunities you can take advantage of over here:

October 2012 Resources and Opportunities

If you need a place to start, you can check out this guide I wrote for our first event. Selling games isn’t just finishing it, but there is often paperwork and fees to take care of, and those take time. Do them early to make the most of your time.

Also, do share your progress on your upcoming game with us here on the site. I’ll be opening a submission form soon to collect a list of completed games as they happen.

Keynote Invitation

What’s a Ludum Dare event without a keynote? On deck for the 3rd October Challenge event is Breakdance McFunkypants. Check out what he had to say here:

I’ve posted a few FAQ answers in the comments, so look below. Good luck everyone!

Tags: keynote

October challenge is comming (it’s on ?)!

I’m going to participate and actualy if I succeed at collecting 1$ it will be my first dolar earn from making my own game. So very excited about that!

In short, game I want to finish and publish is AniTower:

Which will be kind of generic Tower Defense.

Main platforms/devices that i want to focus on are:
– Android/Nexus 7/Tegra devices
– Apple/iPad
Optional:
– RIM/Playbook
– PC (Paypal)

So in general i’m shooting for “tablet” market.

Idealy, I would like to finish game till 15th of October and spend rest of the month creating advertisement materials and then .. advertising.

Tools i’m planning to use:

• Shiva 3d – Engine
• Blender 2.53 + Vray thanks to http://vray.cgdo.ru/
• Photoshop
• Logic Pro 9
• After Effects

Ok, that’s all. Wish you good luck guys. October will be awesome!

So, a couple of months ago, I started work on what I hope to be my first iOS App Store release. It’s called A Blob Well Done, and right now it looks pretty ugly:

 

That said, I’m working with an artist now, and I should have a much nicer looking screenshot by Monday! It’s sort of RTS, but the units (Blobs) are generated in stats and appearance by what ingredients the user puts into them.

 

I told myself I’d finish this game before I started anything else. I hope that wasn’t a lie.

I’m not sure… The idea of not working directly on The Journey of Eko for an entire month is kinda scary, to be honest… But I admit I’ve been having a lot of fun working on a Singularity post-compo version for the last weeks! Here’s how it’s looking now:

 

 

For those who don’t remember, here’s what the LD24 version used to look like:

 

In short, what I did from a graphics standpoint was importing assets from The Journey of Eko, and adding some shaders and particles. And of course removing the silhouette look.

As for gameplay, I did a new combat system from scratch, now based in directional sword slashes and combos. For those familiar with Smash Brothers Brawl, it now plays somewhat like a fast Ike (“We like Ike!”). I’ve also focused a lot on visual feedback for the fight.

 

I was very, very impressed by deepnight’s Strike of Rage. If you haven’t played it yet, you definitely should! He was able to pull off a great, professional level look and feel for his beat-em-up in only 48 hours, it’s really freaking amazing. I played it over and over again, and decided I would implement some of his ideas in Singularity’s combat – specially particles and camera shake. Deepnight, sorry for reverse-engineering your animations aesthetics – that’s the price you pay for being so good! 😀

Anyways, the game that used to be Singularity is becoming quite decent now. I’ve been further developing it initially because I wanted it to be all it could be without the LD time restriction; then I continued because it was serving as a decent prototype for The Journey of Eko’s combat system. Now I don’t know the reason anymore, I think I’m doing it just because it’s fun!

So, I thought: maybe I could turn this “Singularity / Journey of Eko crossover” into my October Challenge game? I could work on it for a month, get some experience on actually trying to sell a game, and get community feedback that could then be directly applied in our main project. Or I could just stop working on Singularity and get back to the ‘real’ Journey of Eko. Ohh, cruel doubt!

 

 

Tell me what you think! And while I can’t decide but can’t stop improving my sword combat prototype either, do let me know (tweet to @pixel_cows or something) if you are willing to receive the most current build to test / provide feedback. It will be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Gabriel
www.pixelcows.com