First off, it’s a been a long time since I’ve been active here xD Forgive my absence, I’ve been working on perfecting my skills and some really large projects that may finally release sometime within the next several months! Here’s a quick preview:

As you can tell, the past several months for me have been about improving my games in terms of graphics and visuals/effects. I’ve learned that detailed worlds take hours and hours of hard work detailing even the smallest, unseen items. And I’ve learned tricks to work around modeling every item, such as repetition and implication. However, I’m not here to talk about my new game, I’m here to ponder why the gaming community has changed, specifically within the past year.

Improving the graphics in my own game made me think…

Why are people so obsessed with graphics?

E3 2015 just ended, and all I heard about the smaller games was “What??? This is 2015, games should look better!!” I’ve seen hundreds upon hundreds of comments about Fallout 4 and how it looks “bad” or “I’m not getting this because it’s no better than Skyrim.” Now whether you think Fallout 4 looks bad or not, the point here is why care? When Minecraft was released did people bash it for its graphics? No, because the focus was on gameplay and innovative mechanics. There was also a stylistic decision to the 32-bit look.

When I play a game, for example Shadow of Mordor, I don’t play to watch stunning visuals. Sure, it’s awesome to have something that’s nice to look at, and the particle effects make gameplay more satisfying, but in the end… I play to unlock more upgrades. Or I play to advance the story. Or I play to see all the unique bosses generated. Some developers have claimed that graphics pull in the audience, and mechanics keep them there.

But why has it become a competition? Why are downgrades and optimizations and particle counts making/breaking the game for some people? Why does it matter what resolution your shadows are or how many polygons your characters have? I’ve always gone by the rule that the graphics in your game should fit your game. But I’m seeing people that hate Watch Dogs because the shadow quality was lowered for the final release. And I just don’t understand why.

Why do Resolutions/Framerates/Specs matter?

Yes, I’d much rather play a game at 60fps. Yes, I’d much rather play a game at 1080p. But why is it causing people to cancel pre-orders? Fallout 4 was just announced to be 30fps on consoles. Can you guess the comments? “Unacceptable for a 2015 game!” “Bethesda sucks! These are current gen consoles!”

People don’t seem to want to accept any framerate lower than 60 for anything, even if it means not playing one of the most anticipated games of the year. And I don’t understand why it matters in the slightest. As someone who grew up with games running in a 400×600 window, I can get immersed in any decently made game, no matter the resolution or framerate. I played Mount and Blade with a constant 23fps in 400×600 stretched fullscreen just a year ago, and it’s still my favorite multiplayer game of all time.

What is it about gamers these days that they won’t accept lower specs? It’s not even that they care about the gameplay or mechanics… they just care about the graphics and the “hours of gameplay”. They want something that looks good and lasts a long time with “new content”. Maybe it’s just because I’m a developer, and this is hate towards developers… Or maybe I’m not as spoiled as some of the gamers out there nowadays. But to me everyone seems to be angry.

Why do Gamers hold Grudges against Companies?

Finally, I’d like to address Ubisoft. Literally everyone hates Ubisoft. Why? I have no clue.

They’re mad at the Watch Dogs downgrade. They’re mad at the quality of Assassin’s Creed Unity. They’re mad at the glitches in Assassin’s Creed Unity. They’re mad at the length of the South Park game. They’re mad at… what exactly?

Sure, none of the items above are good. But they were things expected of a company like this. Companies are not evil, they’re not out to get you, they just want money. And they’re going to take action to make the most money no matter what, so why is everyone upset when they do something like this? Konami confirmed microtransactions in Metal Gear Solid 5. Suddenly people are canceling pre-orders and shouting at them to stop being greedy. Really? Optional payment to get stuff faster is bad? Might I stress “Optional”??? You’re going to not buy a game because somewhere in the code is a “pay” button?

What do you think?

These are just my OPINIONS so please don’t judge me for my OPINIONS thank you ^-^. But honestly, is it just because I’m a developer that I’m siding with developers here? Or am I simply not in the AAA industry so I don’t expect AAA quality? What is making gamers nowadays so focused on graphics? Why are they so spoiled?

It seems like I just woke up today and everybody was angry at people in my profession. Or maybe they’re angry at publishers. Either way, there’s nothing good in the comments anymore, just hate. Hate and strong opinions. I’d love to know what you guys think! (P.S. I don’t know everything about these incidents, so I may be wrong about the opinions of some players)

And soon I will start posting more about my upcoming game Thanks for reading!

Tags: community, motivation, progress, questions, screenshot, update

We have just uploaded a demo of the first few levels of the reworked version of our LD32 jam entry, Glorch’s Great Escape: Walking is for Chumps! It’s available on itch.io.

>> Get the demo here <<

Here is the most recently updated gameplay trailer to help refresh your memory:

You can also support us on Steam Greenlight if you feel so inclined. All votes are greatly appreciated!

Hello! I know that Halloween is a little bit more than a week away, but I’ve decided to participate in this year’s October Challenge! Some of you might remember my LD30 entry, Boulevard of Broken Themes— a game where you traversed your world through games based on potential LD30 themes. It did very well in the Humor department, but I bit off slightly more than I could chew and only finished ~60% of the game’s levels. As a result, I’ve decided to finish up the game in the few months days before November 1st is upon us.

A big feature I intended to implement in the original game was a telephone system. If you paid attention during the various levels, you’ll have noticed that there were phone numbers scattered throughout the game. But even if you noticed that you could call 377-3774 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Pepsi, there wasn’t any way to call him up mid-game. But now there’s a phone in the hub that you can use to dial all those numbers! There’s also a skip line that lets you go through levels, and there’s a help line if you’re stuck on a level, as you can see in the screenshot below.

I’ve also been working on the game’s earlier levels. If you played the original game, you may remember being frustrated by Level 3 (No One Can See You), where you couldn’t find yourself in the stage. In the updated version, you can see your position by noticing where your body covers up cracks in the background; this makes the level’s difficulty precision platforming rather than remembering where the heck you are.

If any of you run Windows and have an interest in playtesting this game, please send me a line at thingo@plippi.com.

An excellent platformer by developer @adriannovell that has been making waves as of late.  Play it for yourself! http://gamejolt.com/games/skyrider-the-journey-to-the-aircitadel/75697

A.I. is hard…who knew?

Trying to explain to a computer how ice hockey is properly played…

Hi!  I Druid_CZ  and team Dombee just created new game! If you want to be in our release party online…

WINTERSTONES RELEASE 15:30 (GMT + 1) http://www.rizon.net/chat  (on #Dombee)

        Or twitch stream!

So I’m in for the MiniLD and so far it’s going well, I fell that I’ve gotten off to a good start, this is the first time I’ve done one of these mini ones and so far it seems far more relaxed then the bigger scarier LDs

So you can see my game (so far) here http://h2n0.itch.io/mld60 

I’m looking forward to your feedback

-h2n0

p.s sorry for the poorly worded post

Tags: #MiniLD60

I will be participating tomorrow, and have chosen the “Enemies as weapons” theme from Ludum Dare 18.

It’s only a #MiniLD but it’s still exciting!

Hey everyone, I’m just a random CS Student taking the moment to introduce myself. I will take part in this MiniLD and make my first game ever.

Yea, you heard that one right. I usually do web and JavaScript, manage servers or work on CPU’s.

I’ve long been following the Ludum Dare but was a coward too many times now. I want to expand my horizon. Game development has never been done. not in my university and not as a hobby. I’ve always wanted to but I failed miserably when I noticed that my games would always fail on my ‘way too high’ expectation of the end product.

Not yet decided on the theme, but as I am from Europe.. I got a full night to sleep about it.

My Tools will mainly be LOVE2D and Inkscape as I really enjoy working with Lua and Inkscape might mask my limited graphical skillset.

Sound effects will be done with one of the many tools that were referenced here thousands of times I think I might go with Sfxr.

Music is a problem, maybe far worse than my artistic skill is my Game Score Composing skill. Might add it as a bonus goal.

Stay tuned and I will fire off updates as I go.

Thanks for reading and thanks for making dreams possible.
shig

Download here. It’s flash by the way. My MiniLd entry will be this with a bigger map and acceptable graphics.

A new update for my LD32 jam has been released! Get your download here!

If you are a developer who makes platform games,  check this one out.  There is a lot that can be learned from this simple yet elegant piece by 2spooky Lightsout Games.  Pay close attention to the timing of the enemies,  the contrasting color palette, and the choice of music.

My original idea was a demake of the NHL series, but it turned out that getting AI players to correctly play hockey in a weekend almost certainly would have been beyond my admittedly limited skills.

So that’s canceled.

All’s not lost, though – I have a friend helping me with art and voice acting, and we’ve switched to an alternate set of themes: MSPaint As Level Editor and Monochrome. No screenshots yet, but soon!

Tags: #MiniLD60, MiniLD, monochrome

hey.LOL I can’t make a song!This was suppose to be a funny song!
http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/168203
Now it turns out to be a sad one!
lol I still haven’t made the code!I’m so dead…

I’m excited to say that I’m participating in my first Ludum Dare gamejam I have chosen the theme of exploration for my game.

Can’t wait to play games by you awesome people and have people play mine and get feedback.

Hey people!

I am relatively new and have been planning on participating in the August Jam. Being currently stuck in Florida, I’ve now also decided to try out the June MiniLD for practice. I’m making all the sounds and images (SFXR and Paint.NET). It’s going okay. In terms of actual coding, I sadly have only a crappy laptop with only the Java JDK 7 on it (not even Eclipse). While I normally work with LibGDX, I’m currently typing out an entire game in notepad with Java2D. It is quite a process. My theme is “It’s dangerous to go alone, take this”. Hopefully I can get done.

Very simple graphics, but I like them.

//SomeLad

I’m excited to participate in this miniLD.

I was pretty late to start, but with all the hype managed to come up with
an idea and complete my game today in just about 12 hours. It was really a fun experience
just as the full Ludum Dare compo was, and I can’t wait for the next one.

Everything was written in LWJGL/Java/Slick2D, and a friend of mine helped make
some nice sprites for the enemies.

Now it’s time to have some more fun playing everyone else’s games!

Ultramom and her baby

Ultramom is a puzzle-platformer in which you play a mother with superpowers trying to defend her baby. The theme for this game is “10 seconds” from LD #27. I started with the “Guardian” theme from LD #1 but changed when it was time to make levels.

There are currently 3 levels you can play as well as a tutorial.

This is my second game jam ever  – my previous one was about a year ago ! – and so far both have been really fun. This one was especially instructive since I made this game using Unity, which I only started using about two weeks ago. I used my own engine for all the previous games I’ve made and I have to say, using a professional engine like Unity feels a lot better. I’m looking forward to using it some more.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it ! If you decide to try it, please leave a comment if you have anything to say about the game, whether it’s positive or negative. Anything is appreciated ! Good luck, and have fun.

Tags: #MiniLD60, Ultramom, unity, Unity 2D

Check out this miniLD #60 entry by @TajamSoft

Fuuuuu ! After a long week-end, we finally finished our entry for the Mini LD 60 ! It’s a small thing where you play as Grumpy Cat and you need to slice every kittens in the map without getting… err… loved by the kittens. Anyway !

Go check it out ! : http://ludumdare.com/compo/minild-60/?action=preview&uid=54390

We really enjoyed making this, so… Thanks =D !

Welp, this is a post-mortem for dungeon of ricochet, also, i will explain the lighting!

If you haven’t played the game, here is a link.

Here is the Timelapse:

The planning phase:

I started by brainstorming the game, not really that it worked, i ended up changing the idea while designing the art…

It went from a combat RPG to a dungeon crawler, i think the idea is way better, as procedural generation is always fun, and I had been planning to make a dungeon crawler, so it was fun to make!

The prototype phase:

It went really good, i managed to get a prototype with most features working by the first day, i just got into the work, and tried to keep away from the “Idea fairy”! That worked nicely, and i managed to not went from a dungeon crawler to a platformer game! (Like what happened to me on the last LD… BitGun was really meant to be a dungeon crawler…)

The development phase:

With the prototype as the base I started to implement features like better graphics, proper AI, and most important, the level generation. I  tried to make a ‘Binding of Isaac’ like dungeon exploring game, not a game like the good old ‘Rogue’, as i found generating dungeons a bit to hard.

The generation is simply done by placing props around the room.

I also made the music, this time using orchestral instruments instead of 8 bit waves.

The Final Phase:

The hardest part of game development, refining the game. I ended up adding new gameplay features in this phase, ‘the shadow’, basically a re-textured ogre that moves a bit faster, and the kitten, which, if you have played the game, you know it attracts ogres and ‘shadows’. It was easy to implement both the kitten and the shadow, but I should have done it during the development phase, as i had to rewrite some AI.

The publishing phase:

The most boring phase of game development, making screenshots, builds, testing on different computers, and uploading. The game is on Flash, compatibility is not a problem, so building was fast, and easy.

I uploaded the game to GameJolt, and later to itch.io, and found that for some reason GameJolt refuses to work in firefox, so i had to install Chrome, not a big problem, but it was 2 am, and I was really tired…

Everything went quite well, no issues uploading, or similar, just the Chrome thing.

The “marketing” phase:

I don’t think one really “markets” a LD game, i just made some posts on twitter, not much.

Future:

I doubt i will continue developing the game “seriously”, juts maybe an update to fix some bugs, or add some features.

Conclusion:

It was very fun to develop this game, and to learn a new Framework!

Remember, don’t be scared to try a new engine/framework/language, just give it a try!

Welp, that was it…  Now the lighting thingy

Lighting:

Lighting is one of the biggest features of this game, it really adds to the gameplay to not be able to see what’s coming!

I have been asked a lot of times how I did it, it’s quite simple actually!

Flixel has an awesome thing called “sprite stamping”, that does what its name says, “stamps” a sprite on top of another, making all the pixels from the “stamp” sprite attach to the target sprite, at the coordinates you want.

So what you have to do to achieve the lighting effect, is to first create a ‘darkness’ sprite, just a huge black sprite that covers the entire screen, and add it to the scene on top of everything. I recommend setting that sprite’s blend mode to Multiply, it seems it’s the best for lighting.

Then, you would create some light sprites, using a white (circular) texture, and stamp them over the darkness sprite every frame, just after the darkness sprite is rebuilt (Using <sprite>.makeGraphic(), if you are on flixel), to make sure the lights don’t persist. Also, make sure that just before you stamp the lights you set their alpha to something opaque, and then after the stamping set them back to 0.0 alpha, else they may look bad.

Example (HaxeFlixel):  (Untested, should work)

var darkness:FlxSprite;

var light:FlxSprite;

public function override create():Void

{

darkness = new FlxSprite(0, 0);

darkness.makeGraphic(FlxG.width, FlxG.height, 0xff000000);

darkness.blend = BlendMode.Multiply;

light = new FlxSprite(15, 25);

light.loadGraphic(“assets/images/light.png”);

light.blend = BlendMode.Screen;

add(darkness);

add(light);

}

public function override update():Void

{

darkness.makeGraphic(FlxG.width, FlxG.height, 0xff000000);  //Clear the darkness sprite

light.alpha = 1.0;                                                                                      //Make sure the light is visible!

darkness.stamp(light, light.x, light.y);                                             //Attach the light to the darkness sprite

light.alpha = 0.0;                                                                                   //Make the light invisible again

super.update();                                                                                

}

NOTE: That code is not on a FlxSprite, is on the State, if you want to add lights at real time just add them to a group and cycle through them!

This concept could be applied to any engine/framework.

Cheers!

The submit button was enable so i uploaded i game

GW: Cloud

Made in Java using JPCT Engine, the theme.. April 2015 An Unconventional Weapon.

Ya’ll might wanna go check this baby out!

Humble Bundle

(from humble bundle website below)

Humble Game Making Bundle

Let the games begin! Sure, playing games is fun, but what if you could easily make your own games? You could have action, romance, weird plot twists and plot holes, and even half-centaur/half-apricot monsters if you so desire. The options are aplenty! All you need is the software to get to work, and that’s what we’ve got here (plus some games too!).

Pay what you want for a Game Dev Starter Pack; Stencyl: Indie Edition One-Year License; Humble Store coupons for 90% off RPG Maker 2000, 2003, and XP; a Humble Bundle Starter DLC Pack; an Indie Game Maker Contest ’14 Finalist Pack featuring Remnants of Isolation and Last Word; andLabyrinthine Dreams. Pay more than the average price to also receive RPG Maker VX Ace Deluxe Edition, Game Character Hub, a Humble Bundle Sci-Fi DLC Pack, Humble Bundle New DLC Pack, Aveyond: Lord of Twilight, and Crimzon Clover WORLD IGNITION. Pay $12 or more for all of the above plus App Game Kit 2, Spriter Pro, Sprite Lamp, Humble Bundle Fantasy DLC Pack, and Goats On A Bridge.

Pay what you want. Ordinarily, this collection of software costs up to a whopping $1,985! Here at Humble Bundle, though, you pay what you want!

Win moola (optional). Make a super sweet, totally gnarly game with your new software? Enter it into the Indie Game Maker Contest 2015. The prize pool for the contest keeps growing, so you could take home some big money if you win.

System Requirements. There’s a lot of software here (and even some games!). Some of it is DRM-free but some of it isn’t. Please check out the full system requirements here prior to purchasing.

Support Charity. Choose where the money goes — between the developers, the Indie Game Maker Contest 2015, and two charitable causes (Extra Life/Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and Child’s Play) via the PayPal Giving Fund and The IndieCade Foundation via Tides Foundation. If you like the bundle or like what we do, you can leave us a Humble tip too!

I’m going to start making timelapses/devlogs for the games I make and start putting them on youtube. ;3.
I’ll be sure to share them on here with all of you lovely people when I start. ;3.

Hello, We are looking for a final member to complete our jam team for Ludum Dare 33.

We currently consists of an music artist and a programmer, so we need a graphics artist.

Our programmer has 3 years of experience in game development, and successfully finished 3 Ludum Dares, he programs in C# and will use unity for the jam.

Our music artist has 2 years of experience, and has made some awesome songs! He also made music for some games.

Can you make good game art in 2D or 3D? Do you dare to take your skills to the ultimate test, of making a game in 72 hours?

If your answer is yes, than we want you in our team! Send us an email to ** !

Tags: gameart, jam, Team

After several Ludum Dare compo entries, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s really difficult for me to make an entire entry by myself.  So to that end, I’d like to know if there are any Jam groups out there that would like to have an additional member.

My strengths are in music/sound design and game design, with a little bit of programming.  I’m most well-known for all of these in “Slender: The Eight Pages”, and I also did the music and some of the game design in “Slender: The Arrival”.

Please view some of my past compo entries to see examples of my other solo work.  Lately I’ve been doing a lot more with music than just having a looping soundtrack; I’ve been making tracks that change along with the gameplay (particularly with my entries Seed, Dreamshift, and Finish Your Project).  On other non-LD projects, I’ve also had some experience with sound effects and ambience.  Also, in terms of game design you can see some good ideas in my former LD entries that could probably have been executed better (particularly where it comes to graphics).

Anyway, let me know!

Howdy Game Developers & Gamers!

I challenged myself to finish a game from start to finish with no breaks and this was the outcome. “YOU HAVE 60 SECONDS”

Tools:
– Clickteam Fusion 2.5
– Adobe Photoshop
– BFXR
– FL Studio 10

The game is pretty self-explanatory really.. but features some cool fx and music all created from scratch!
overall took about 6-8 hours to complete

YOU HAVE 60 SECONDS is currently entered in the Weekly Kongregate Contest!
Go check it out, rate & comment Thanks!
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Keehan12/you-have-60-seconds

Also if you have the time, check out my development blog!
http://keehanroberts.blogspot.com.au/

So, a while back I purchased Game Maker Studio Pro and was having a lot of fun with it. But during the steam summer sale I bought Clickteam Fusion 2.5 and it seems to be a lot easier to make games, but I would have to learn the entire interface. Because MiniLD 61 is fastly approaching, I was wondering if I should stick with Game Maker, or move on to Clickteam Fusion. Give me your opinions below 😛

There might be a way to report website-related bugs, but actually I have hardly anything to report. Everytime I open Ludum Dare on Firefox (my operating system is 64-bit Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon version), it freezes. I cannot click any buttons or scroll or anything, although fortunately I can close the tab, so I can continue using Internet. But I have to use Chrome if I want to browse this site.

I’m just wondering have anyone else encountered a similar issue?

As MiniLD 61 is starting, I recently bought Clickteam Fusion 2.5 as I would like to make the switch from Game Maker Studio Pro. After messing around with Clickteam Fusion 2.5 for a good couple of hours, I made this game to practice for MiniLD 61. I now feel confident that I can use Clickteam Fusion 2.5 for MiniLD 61! If you would like to play the game, you can download it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xl81klel2ca0dra/Don%27t%20Touch%20ANYTHING.exe?dl=0

Also, to make the game more pretty, you can download the font I used here: http://www.dafont.com/04b-30.font

Now, here are some screenshots (Most are from older builds of the game):

Appears when you win the game

This is an older version of the main menu :P

In game screenshot

When you die, this is the screen that appears!

I started working on a maze generator (for MiniLD 61). I have programmed almost thirty games in Html5/Javascript, so this time I decided to use C# and Monogame.

The generator can currently create mazes like this one:

(Click image to see it in the full size)

It’s still need a bit work. As you can see, the first line and the last column only have “empty” tiles, no walls.

What kind of game this will be? I’m planning to make an action-rpg game with an overworld inspired by the original Legend of Zelda, but that’s just a plan. So that maze determines the formation of the rooms, not the actual shape of walls.

Work in progress

Well trying to get an interesting level, the idea is to make a quick FPS and get a good level of detail in the textures and models as well as some animation.  In other words get it to look good (so the gameplay might be a bit poor).

Got the gun in and ‘shooting’ grenades and bullets, basic movement with standard components, and the basic level models done.

No sfx, music or enemies.

What’s a great ‘FREE’ tool for quickly texturing models PBR style, using Blender and Xara at the moment?

Added spikers with basic animation!

Playable ‘Pre Alpha’ in WebGL here   (note weights in around 40mb uncompress and 10 mb compressed).  No Sfx Yet.

Tags: #MiniLD61, unity3d

I’ve been in a rut creatively recently. The theme for the minild really speaks to me, because I have a major floor in game dev, which is I can never finish anything. I hope to overcome this or perhaps use this for my MiniLD Game.

ArnoldC,

It’s a programming language based on the one-liners of Arnold Schwarzenegger. I challenge you guys to make a game with it.

Link to it is: http://lhartikk.github.io/ArnoldC/

NOTE: This is NOT mine, I just though it cool and would like to share it.

Hey guys,

I just finished a game that I made for the Indie Cup 2015 Jam on GameJolt. I made it in under 72 hours to warm up for the upcoming Indies Vs Gamers Jam and it turned out surprisingly well. It was a ton of fun to make and I hope to add more content and further polish it in the future. Feel free to check it out Here if you want and constructive criticism is always welcome!

Tags: #GameJamTips, gamejolt

Yeah. I have only like 3 days before a holiday/family visit which will take all the time limit for this MiniLD. And i am not in a full time jam mood so i cant make a game in this 3 days. I’ll have no active usable computer there so i will not be able to make a digital game from pc. I will have my Lumia(Windows Phone) with 250’ish MB limited internet connection there and some spare time for studying and stuff. Maybe i will try to make something physical with playing cards/chess set or something to keep it real. It will not fit in theme or anything but i don’t wanna be out from a LD event. I am actually a pretty new guy here but Ludum Dare is the best thing ever.(Did LD32 and last 2 Minis) Any ideas on how can i make a game with my phone or a pyhsical game? I dont know maybe i can do something simple now to be able to make a game on my non-computer time?

Rest in Peace, Satoru Iwata.

Satoru Iwata (December 6, 1959 – July 11, 2015) was a Japanese businessman and programmer who served as the fourth President and chief executing officer (CEO) of Nintendo. He worked as a programmer at HAL Laboritory early in his career before joining Nintendo in 2000, succeeding Hiroshi Yamauchi as the company’s president in May 2002. Iwata directed the company to pursue development of the Nintendo DS and Wii consoles in 2006, helping the company to become financially successful among other game console manufacturers. He served as company president until his death in July 2015.

OK I have just created a trooper and dropped a few into the level (with a very basic ‘run’ animation), but what do they do run past the Spikers and then dance around the objective!

Leaving me trapped in a swarm of Spikers.

I have also worked on the textures of the level and gun.

The troops are a work in progress, need texturing and normal baking as well as improved animations.

No web update yet as I need to get the squad to fight the Spikers and the Spikers to fight them.

Tags: #MiniLD61, unity3d

I need help I’m kinda new to using this site. I’m thinking of making a devLog about my game, MobEatMobz/NomNomMobz(Temp name) that I made for miniLD60.

I’ve just read an article about how ludumdare.com/planet is used for devLog, this article. The thing is /planet doesn’t exist anymore? Any alternatives other than wordpress/tumblr? Also how do I activate my Ludumdare profile? The community is awesome by the way.

Sadly yes, this is another one of those pesky “where can I learn to make games” however it’s not exactly like that either, I am beginner in Photoshop, beginner in Unity, and beginner in Blender.  I do have about 2 years of messing with python up my sleeve, and about 6 months C#. I would not consider myself great at any of this, but then again the biggest critique in life we have is ourselves. I do have weak spots, a lot of them that include: Sprite Sheets, Making an interactive GUI and HUD, making large projects, importing graphics and sounds, creating my own graphics and sounds. I noticed that there is a ‘Tools’ Page and on there it is equipped with quite a few things that might help, and I am not interested in big Unity games, more of a low-poly platformer (and there are tools to help) however, I guess I just need pointers on where to go from here, how do I begin my first big project, how do I start a small project. Are there any good recommendations for beginners.  I have always wanted to be affiliated with game designing ever since I was in middle school, I have had very little opportunity to learn from a proper mentor.

I restarted my MiniLD 61 entry. I didn’t abandon my maze generator, I just encountered some problems. So I started a new Html5 project. Let’s see if I can finish this before Indies Vs Gamers jam (that’s a good deadline).

Here’s a screenshot:

I’m pretty busy this month, so I’m not quite sure if I’ll finish my game. I’m going to try anyways. I’m focusing mainly on graphics. Here’s my main menu so far. I’ve only developed for about two hours so far (most of it has been drawing in Paint.NET since I’m focusing on graphics).

Quick update, I have added troopers and enemy fire so now you start with a platoon of NPC soldiers who help you storm the beach.

But the complexity of having two armies battle is a bit two much for WebGL at least on my PC, so I have built a PC version of the ‘game’.

Needs improved AI for troopers and enemy, animations, sound effects and lots of other fixes and improvements but for about 4 days work it’s OK.

Any and all feedback welcome.

Have Fun

Update – WebGL version ‘trimmed down a bit’ and updated, seems to play a bit better in Firefox than Chrome but still not smooth.

Tags: #MiniLD61, progress, screenshot, unity

…and another screenshot:

Let’s see if I can finish this before my deadline (before Indies VS Gamers jam begins, still 32 hours left).

I literally have only worked a total of three hours so far, but my game is looking decent. Considering I’m not an artist. I’m rather pleased with my current prototype.

When is LD 33 Theme suggestions coming ? Its going to be LD in about 5 weeks and the Theme suggestions aren’t up yet…

Get ready for Ludum Dare 33 !!

Tags: Backgrounds

PLAY

Because you want to play it, right? Click the “Play” link to see some screenshots and more info.

My deadline was Indies VS Gamers jam, and because that jam hasn’t started yet (it starts tomorrow), I succeeded, don’t you think?

For my MiniLD entry, I’ve been working on a simple dungeon generator. Taking a look at the screenshot, you’ll notice the grid. There’s nothing random about that grid, but since the game takes place in a sewer (usually something that is plotted out carefully), it was a nice way to make sure 99.9% of the rooms connect without extra work. The rooms are generated by a simple algorithm found on my GitHub account. Why the random rooms in an orderly sewer? Mysterious bugs have chewed through some of the piping to create nests for their young. I still have a few tweaks to make but everything should be rendering with the correct sprite sheet by the end of the day.

Hey!So LD 33 is coming!

Wow!It past so quickly!Well let’s see what the theme is for the next…This will be my second LD…

Guys… so, there is this game I made… and I JUST PUT IT ON GREENLIGHT.

Yeah maybe you aren’t so excited… but I am, and I hope after looking at it, you will be too!

Greenlight Page

PlayStore Page

So I hope you think its a good idea!

Thanks guys/gals

So, whats the difference between this screenshot and the last? 2 things, actually. 1, there’s that big blank spot towards the top. 2, if you look at pixel 550,550 on the grid you’ll see the green dot surrounded by a green square. The green dot represents the player and the green square just makes him easier to find. The biggest difference isn’t visible, its in the underlying code. This takes more than 10 times as long to draw because its actually being saved into an array ready for the actual game. Don’t even ask how long this took me, I’ll just say it was harder than writing the actual generator (at first I was trying to save the JFrame contents to a BufferedImage and then analyze that).

TL;DR: I’m THIS close to rendering a proper sprite sheet here and not just white dots

Also, I have no idea why that blank spot is showing up

Righto. So I’m doing that Gamejolt Let’s Player jam thing. Since it doesn’t have a similar blag system and the interface is garbage and I don’t know anyone there, I’ll blag about it over here.

So as the gif shows, you’re in for some next level dodging in an arena that keeps shifting around you. Don’t fall out or get crushed. This part of it is just about complete, but I can always tinker with the controls and try to rid of some collision quirks.

I knew I’d struck gold with this idea cause it seems kinda unique for relatively little work and I’m already having fun replaying it. Early playtesters seemed to find it addictive.

Next up is some variety in the form of upgrades and moving enemies, perhaps. At some point, you’ve got to clear out the shifting blocks to maintain a survivable state. And since I just bought a new keyboard with jams in mind, you bet it’s gonna have fitting music too.

Oh right, I’ve also gotta jam in the Gamejolt API for high scores, which is kind of the point of the event. Turns out making a game like this is a neat and relaxing bit of twiddling in the middle of my recently busy life, and doubles as LD preparation.

I’m not gonna be a tease, you can playtest it, too.

Tags: inter-website diplomacy, vidio geims

As the title says, I am looking for jam partners for the next LD occuring on august 21.

A little about me, I’m from Georgia. I study computer science and am a pretty neat programmer. I have competed in 2 LD compos and I competed in the global game jam. I am looking forward to meeting people online and working on a game together. You can see 2 of my entrees on my profile page.

I would like to work with a group of 2-5 other devs for the jam. I’m pretty much open to meeting anybody with the one caveat, that they have finished atleast one small LD game before (jam or compo). Just want to make sure everybody has an idea of how much work it takes, and isn’t likely to quit halfway through.

If you’re interested, make a response here, or shoot me a PM (if that’s possible here)

For those who have tested and liked the game UltraFlow, I wanna show a little project which I did recently so as to increase my understanding about some physics on Unity 5. These scripts allow me to generate some sprites with behavior so as to create all obstacles and more. For the physics on the bullet, I use a drag&drop script. This way the project works fine on mobile device and WebPlayer. It’s an alpha, but you can see the first steps on screen. I think that it’s good enough. Try it if you want. See you later for the next Ludum Dare session…

I would like to know your point of view ++

UltraFlow Clone

When the bullet is blocked near of a corner, you can attract it to the center by using the C key :

void Update() {
#if UNITY_STANDALONE || UNITY_WEBPLAYER
// enables/disables the epicenter force field so as to attract bullet to the screen center
if (Input.GetKeyDown (KeyCode.C)){
if (_epicenter == false)
_epicenter = true;
else
_epicenter = false;
}
#endif
// point base so as to define where is the bullet
Vector3 viewPos = _camera.WorldToViewportPoint(target.position);
var vm = target.gameObject.GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>().velocity.magnitude;;
// limits velocity – more or less
if (vm >= 5.0f)
vm = 5.0f;
if (vm <= 2.0f)
vm = 2.0f;
// adds a force on the bullet so as to create a force field
if (_epicenter){
if (viewPos.x > 0.5f)
target.gameObject.GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>().AddForce(-Vector2.right * vm);
if (viewPos.x < 0.5f)
target.gameObject.GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>().AddForce(Vector2.right * vm);
if (viewPos.y > 0.5f)
target.gameObject.GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>().AddForce(-Vector2.up * vm);
if (viewPos.y < 0.5f)
target.gameObject.GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>().AddForce(Vector2.up * vm);
}
}

Man, I got a lot of free training for the next Ludum Dare! First, I made my MiniLD 61 entry in three days, and then I finished my entry for Indies VS Gamers. In three days, of course! So I have released two games in six days. That’s much, probably my record.

But you wanna see my new game, eh? Here it is:

Jam page

Game page

Wow, it seems like forever since I wrote one of these but I’ve been super busy working with monsters. As you’ll see in the gif (hosted here), I’ve added monsters, collisions, and a basic GUI. The GUI needs work (the defense stat overlapping the health stat is the biggest problem). The monsters attack you when you run into them (I used a random generator for those values too) but I have yet to write the attack-back code. So there we go, I still have a ton to do but I really want to finish within the constraints of a normal LD. Happy coding and good luck!

I recently got a MacBook and since Gamemaker does not run on Mac platform, I decided to try out Unity for a couple months. I am not a fan of Unity 2D because of several reasons, no Map Editor and it feels clunky to use. Is there any game engines similar to Gamemaker: Studio that are compatible with Mac and Windows possibly an HTML 5 port too?

I’m really happy with my final submission, though it still isn’t quite up to my standards. I encourage you to check it out (search the submissions for Within The Pipes). Good luck to everyone else still coding and feel free to check out my sloppy code on GitHub.

It’s done, yo. http://gamejolt.com/games/footh0ld/80530

Pretty proud of it, such a simple scope yet I’m replaying it as if it were a real game made by a real game developer. Some of the tweaks and stretch goals had to be cut out, but there are no known bugs that would affect scoring. Featuring the first track I’ve made on my new music equipment (which I’m gonna keep humblebragging about).

Play it, accidentally log in and vote 5 stars aww yeaa, go generate some buzz on the social medias.

buzz

BUZZ

Tags: buzz

just a curious thought. what do most of us use for making game music?

ableton? flstudio? anyone use browser based apps?

if i were to make 1 with prebuilt chords and other fancy gimmicks(for browser use) that helps creating music faster/better without any knowledge on theory at all(from what i can tell, most software still requires u to choose each key just to make a chord) would you be interested? basically you just need to click on a few different chord buttons and listen to see if you like it, then an arpeggiator to run through those selected notes(so you wont get a dissonant) for some inspiration. some of us might know what i’m talking about, some don’t.

i think those that has no idea how to make music at all(or doesn’t own an expensive software) would benefit? has this been made already? if so let me know in the comments.

like if you think you want it. just so i know.

Hello LDers!

As you may know Gamejolt.com is hosting a game jam right now and I just submitted my game, Der Wagen! Go check it out! Here’s the link to its GJ page! Der Wagen’s page

Hi! I made game for #indiesvsgamers too! And… Here is

Game made for #GM48 and Pew pew pew jam. #indiesvsgamers

Controls :

W – GO GO GO!
S – STOP STOP STOP!
Mouse left button – PEW PEW PEW
Mouse right buton – KABOOOM (sometimes)
Mouse… Mouse – Turn and aim

You can take parts of your dead enemies!

Try to beat my score 😀

GAMEJOLT PAGE

LD 33 couldn’t have come at a better time due to the 7 week school holidays! I have been learning C++, C#, JavaScript, Unity and Python so far (I’ve been busy!!) but I’m gonna stick at what I do best, which is Game Maker. Who else is hyped ???

Tags: LD #33

I’m in! And a tsunami of “I’m Ins” are coming soon

Hey guys! My name is Tanner Daniels and I am a 16 year old Dubstep producer! This will be my 5th official Ludum Dare! I’m super excited for this iconic number, and I can already feel this is going to be my lucky Dare. I began my music production because of Ludum Dares, so I never miss a opportunity to participate. I would never have taken an interest in audio if it weren’t for Ludum Dare… AND THATS WHY, EVERY LD, I CREATE A EPIC SONG TO ANNOUCE THAT IM IN! This year, in the spirit of Ludum Dare, I decided to try something new… I’m experimenting with different ways to make bass growls, choppy bases, and VoCodeing. Another small feature of this song is, I tried a beat-down in the chorus, and it ended up great. I tried hard on this song to keep a Gamey root too it, while giving hardcore Dubstep touches to it. Here’s the song…

I hope you enjoy the song!

Happy Daring!

Last week a bird pooped on my friend’s head. That day five people stared at their smartphones in the metro. One was only holding it tight like Gollum would hold the ring.
Add the jam theme “Arcade” and 72 hours of madness to get this:

Bird vs. Zombies

At its core it is a Side-Scroller, but your “Ammo” is basically bird poop. If hit, the “Zombies” will throw their smartphone at you. And will be free!

I have no fancy intros, you get 100% fun for your entertainment dollar. I am happy that I was able to create a progression of 5 levels which each have a new experience. To beat the high-score you have to finish all 5 Levels. The more “Zombies” you “free” the better your score but also the harder it gets.

I am very proud of my first game jam entry ever. Game Jam Survival Guide saved me the worst nightmares.

I used Unity 5.1 with nothing more than VS and the GameJoltAPI package (which is great but not stable at the current state! Beware of some quirks). I was very happy that most of the logic was done with a single smart “Spawner” behavior that could spawn randomly or with constant delay – in order or randomly from a pool of prefabs. This was used for spawning Smartphones, poop, the street, the actors, drone beams, powerups and the background.

The AI for the various parts comes from individual behaviors on the gameobjects.

For the bird I used a super neat State pattern from Game Programming Patterns. Highly recommended book! This made it easy to create hit state behaviour or the finishing landing.

I love the little details: Like the “bombs” and smartphones explode on impact with the ground, you can poop the smartphone mid-air, or the smartphones also kill the drones …

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Timelapse Making of (spot the Unity crashes )

Tags: #indiesvsgamers

Good thing LD33 is in a few weeks, cause I start working on my portfolio this Fall! I hope I can get some help by then!

I decided to participate in the IndiesVsGamers Jam recently and I was very excited because I missed last years big jam on GameJolt (IndiesVsPewDiePie). One of the requirements was that your game had to use GameJolt scoreboards which was hard for me to implement because I had never used it before but ended up being worth it in the end. I created an endless runner called Rooftops. It was a very enjoyable experience for me and I learned a ton as a result of this jam! I think my game turned out pretty well and i’m excited to see where the community decides to rank it! You can check it out Here if you want to

                   GAMEJOLT PAGE

Tags: #indiesvsgamers, gamejolt

Hi fellow gamedevs!

I recently participated to #indiesvsgamers gamejam and developed a simple game, and thought that I could share it here as well.

In summary, I wanted to create arcade -style sports game which pays homage to old nintendo games such as “track and field”. As it stands now, the game has only hurdling as a sport. But, it could be easily extended if people want’s to. The game uses gamejolt high scores API and the results has been interesting to see as a developer; I am not even close to be a best player. 😀

Have a fun playing it, plus it would be awesome if you drop a comment & rate it. After all, gamedev is a learning process.

Play link: http://gamejolt.com/games/chubby-olympics/80249

Cheers!

Tags: #indiesvsgamers, GameJam

OK I’ve been off doing the Game Jolt Indies Vs Gamers Jam and in 3 days managed to make Spearhead the battle for fido.

Give it a whirl, but be warned I’m trying to stay #1 on the scoreboard (well it is Indies Vs Gamers).

Any way back to Take the Beach!

I still have a week to improve it.  It has the basic gameplay working.  So as well as improving the textures, animations, fx, sound fx, music and performance of the game. What do you think could improve the gameplay?

Tags: #indiesvsgamers, #LDMini61, unity

Play the game right here!

Put on your 3D-Glasses. Ready? Set. Seizure!

An homage to Robotron 2084. This arcade game will relentlessly try to destroy you. Being the Last Gamer, you’re tasked to save the last 3 Let’s Players (and one pug) from the evil forces of the Independent Super Computers. Plenty enemies, endless amounts of waves and non-stop freakin action will have you in a daze when you finally get that High Score.

And don’t forget to leave a vote! It helps a lot!

Controls: Gamepad or Keyboard, both work like a charm and get explained in-game!

Keyboard:
Shoot: Arrow Keys
Move: WASD
Pause: P

Controller:
Shoot: Right Stick
Move: Left Stick or D-Pad
Pause: Start

Escape quits downloadable versions.

Made for #INDIESVSGAMERS in 72 Hours

Tags: #indiesvsgamers