As mentioned in my first post, I set an hourly alarm to remind me to post and to save.

So far I have brainstormed a few ideas and I am narrowing down on a couple. Here is my current brainstorm –

There are two main ideas I want to try to fit into one game… a few more thoughts and then I think I will start building…

I was hoping the theme would be either this or “Deep Space”.

It’s 4 A.M. over here, so I’m not going to do any coding before I go to sleep. For now, I have the basic idea charted out, and I’ve noted down some thoughts on the system and the overall scenario.

I’m going to try creating a pshychological drama with two characters having a picnic on a lovely day, having a conversation. How the conversation proceeds depends on what happens beneath the surface of their minds, i.e. in their subconscious. As a player, you won’t be able to traverse the conversation tree freely, but you will be able to influence the character’s mood and intuition by choosing which parts of the subconscious have the strongest voice. The couple may end up arguing, debating, or reconciling, depending on whether they can reach an agreement on the subconscious level. I’d like to create an illustration of the relationship between text and subtext: what we say is often a distant reflection of what we actually mean.

My next step is to write down draft dialogue so that I can see what kinds of decisions I need to allow the player to make. I think I’ll divide the game into four sections: one for warmup, and one for each of the three key choices that the character needs to make. The game mechanics are going to be very simple: I need to track where the characters are in their conversation and how each of them is feeling at the moment. I also need an input system for dragging items around the screen.

The maximum goal is to make both characters playable so that the player can see the same situation from two distinct perspectives.

First Ludam Dare, I figure I’ll jump right in. My goal is to produce *something* after 48 hours, whether it be something with actual gameplay value or just to say that I’ve finished.

I have to say I’m a little bemused by the theme, but hopefully I’ll come up with some concept that I’ll enjoy working on….

Here’s my obligatory tools list:

• Unity – Game Engine
• Photoshop + GIMP – 2D Graphics
• Garageband + Audacity  – Sound

Good luck everyone!

I hope there’s enough toast for all of this jam I’m about to bring!

The only game jam I’ve done before was a mini-LD, so this is my first “real” Ludum Dare. And I’ve already come up with what I think to be a pretty solid and feasible idea for my game too!

Tool wise, I’m going to probably go with the freebie version of Game Maker because I am cheap and haven’t bothered to learn how to use Unity in time. As for audio, I’ll probably just find some royalty free stuff. I dunno, that’s a time permitting thing for me.

Good luck, everyone!

So, I usually just make a platformer. It’s easier on me and I always found a way to fit the theme that way (in a way that made sense to me is a better phrasing). it’s also the first thing that come to me mind. This time though, I might take a different approach. I’m thinking about making a more story driven game, and maybe even an RPG (more like a visual novel with JRPG battles)…

The problem is, can I write well enough? Will I be able to draw all the sprites? I’ll try to think more about it…

So the initial brainstorming is done. As usual a hard timed 15 minute session of just firing out ideas on paper while listening to the Hackers OST.
I love my hard rock, but I find it too distracting for brainstorming, so having something smooth and without lyrics worked a lot better for me.

The main three themes that came up during the brainstorming were Mining, Under Water and Psychologie, so I’ll run with that.
I’ll keep them all noted down, but I think Mining and Under Water will be massively overused and I don’t really find them that interesting.
Guess that leaves my with the psychological aspects of “Beneath the Surface”. I’ve got a couple of ideas that I need to flesh out, so I’ll
post again once I’ve got them nailed down.

Here’s my initial brainstorming sheet if anyone else needs some extra ideas.

Alex Out

First proper Ludum Dare here (entered previously, but never really even started).

I’m going to be using Unity, Ableton, Photoshop and Illustrator.

So far in the middle of brainstorming a bunch of ideas. The ones that have the most potential are underwater focused, but these seem to be a bit unoriginal based on a lot of other people’s posts, so I want to spend a little more time brainstorming.

First time participant, I’m not too worried about what to do but I haven’t done anything art-related in at least 3 years, so I’ll just have to make up with the game itself.

I’ll be using Ren’Py to make the game, Photoshop for the assets and Sonic Foundry Vegas for the sound. I’ll probably freak out update on my twitter

I’m a little late with the post, but I’m totally in.  This is first time I’ve done the Jam rather than the Compo, and that I’m doing this with someone instead of by myself.

I’ll be using Unity, (which is also a first,) and various other tools for other assets.

got basic movement down, and the aim indicator now rotates .. fancy!

Without getting too much into it after lots of thoughts this is what we came up with.

The world is falling apart, once you wake up you are on a cliff with only only way out, a cave. To get to the surface you’ll have to fight and try to survive.

I’m using LWJGL top to down view.

lang: java?

prog: eclips?

art: gimp?

sfx: sfxr?

ye

Just finished my tile map editor. You can find it on itch.io here.

It’s really awesome and easy to use.

It has two versions. A free version, and a pro version. The free version limits the amount of tiles you are allowed to have in your tileset to 10. Anything above will make the program prompt you to buy the free version.

It’s pretty great and you guys should download it and spread the word about it! Thanks!

Some screenshots:

I have a concept ready and now am working on a quick design document.

The game will be a platformer / metroidvania.  As you progress through the game, there will be obstacles and challenges that will hinder the player.
The player then will be able to open portals or rips in the current reality to reveal various parallel dimensions.
The player will collect various items that will allow them to open various dimensions, such as hell worlds, heaven, water worlds, rocky worlds, forest worlds, and worlds that dilate time.
So one idea was the player would come across a river and then open a hell world and bring a lava flow to quench the river.
Another idea was that something is falling fast at the player, and they could open a rip to where time slows down near the rip.

Little bit ambitious at the moment, but will trim down some of the dimensions to make it in the time limit.

Haven’t had a chance to do much yet, but here’s some early mockups.

obviously not the actual game title.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 26th, 2014 at 12:27 am and is filed under LD #29. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

I have a few game ideas for Beneath The Surface, but they all need a little more thought before a game will come of them…

My first instinct is to go for a water based game, either taking place under the water, or just on top and the major threat is just under the surface…

If I go this path, I want to have a PC that is not a human based character – No diver, no subs – so I would have to go with a fish…
Perhaps this fish is tired of living beneath the surface, and wants to escape, which the player helps with by guiding them through levels, evolving the fish, and getting them out.
Some sort of “Thomas Was Alone” story game, just without the awesome voice over.

My hardest idea is probably more suited to a jam team: A Film Noir point and click murder mystery adventure, where there is something more sinister going on Beneath The Surface.
This would need good writing, good art, and a fair bit of programming to get the game working… I really only have time for one of those things…

Or, some sort of underground exploration game, 2D side scroller perhaps, where the player is looking for something – a cure for a disease, or maybe the source – and it can only be found underground…

We shall see… It is time for a shower to wake up properly, and let the subconscious do its job for a while…

I’ll be using Phaser for this entry, Photoshop for any art, and audacity for sound…

It’s my second attempt to do LD
What i’m using :

– Gimp and Paint.Net
– Sfxr
– Construct2 or Stencyl ( I’m still thinking about it)
– Abudant-Music

The theme is really hard, but interesting. Hope i can make it :3

Creepy post heading aside:  I’m sharing my only slightly censored thoughts/brainstorm/game doc! See my thoughts vomit on your screen in real time!

The current idea in progress is about the superficial interaction between humans and being able to delve beneath the surface that to befriend/utilize others.

I’m going to take a step back and try to make a text adventure this LD so I actually finish something (in theory). I might also make two games if I get this one done…

Tags: compo, LD28

Okay, second LD here, and I’m going to do something very dumb and silly.

LET’S USE UNITY FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER YEAH!

Let’s do this.