We're pretty excited about Don't Be Rash making fifth place in humor, even though our overall score jumped down a few places from LD39. @rosypenguin is working on an interactive chart for exploring stats on all our past 10 jam entries; stay tuned!
If you need to scratch that itch, be sure to check out Don't Be Rash here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/dont-be-rash
My first ever LD and second ever game jam has come to a conclusion, I am so glad that so many people gave my game a rating, I have NEVER had this many people play a game I made ever. I learned SO MUCH about game jams, game development, and most importantly time management!
My best category is overall with an average score of around 3.5/5 and I placed 510th out of 1,852 games!
But more importantly is all the amazing feedback I got! Please if you got a score you didn't like, just look at all the people who gave you feedback! Feedback is 100X better than a score!
I tried to get as many of you in the pic as possible <3
Thank you everyone!
If you haven't had the opportunity yet, 'Theme - The Game' is still a fully web playable game (and for those that are wondering, yes, there's actually a small game hidden within it). I assure you, it'll be fun, trust me - it was only the 13th worst rated in the fun category. :smile:
These stats are accurate and have been fully verified:
Overall: 1152nd (2.149 average from 113 ratings) out of 1158 rated jam entries
Fun: 1146th (2.072 average from 113 ratings) out of 1158 rated jam entries
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/theme-the-game
P.S. I AM proud of my entry.
And to all the players with their wonderful comments, thanks: @chubby-stick, @compufreak, @be3n2, @nikchernyakov, @cameronjsamuels, @mc-crash, @shaolin-dave, @cklidify, @kolbjorn, @eldogg, @rolle, @nekoballs, @neecko, @porcus-pie, @justking144, @nikorasuchan, @juancarlosgdm, @safrmo, @refinedsalt, @fdr, @ratbird, @edmond00, @sayomgwtf, @jebouin, @tulipekoni, @ethan-kennerly, @gris, @petr-belohlavek, @jk5000, @shinyogre, @red-fan-games, @broccoli, @blubberquark, @casper, @ronanrorry, @kromeboy, @pvtroswold, @ddrkirbyisq, @sgadrat.
Thank you all for taking the time and effort to try my game and provide feedback - it was all informative. I appreciate it and it has proven to be more useful than any numbers.
I haven't really done one of these before I thought it could be a useful learning exercise, so here it is.
https://isaacjw.wordpress.com/2018/01/04/ld40-postmortem/
Let me know what you think! Thanks for an awesome jam and looking forward to many more.:sunglasses:
Thanks for everyone who played and voted on my game, you guys are awesome and thanks for the great feedback on the game! See you in 106 days!
Following this thread I have suggested an improvement to a rating system to fix an "issue" with different people using different criteria during rating which results in some people strongly leaning towards giving many 5-starts left and right.
The proposed solution to this subjectivity of ratings was to add an extra step after the ratings are given, but before the scores for the games are calculated, to adjust all participants ratings so that they average at 3, and them use those adjusted scores at game level to compute average scores.
This way if a person was handing out 5-stars left and right those high ratings will actually not be that more valuable than 3-s. Similarly if a grumpy Grinch was 1-starring everything for no reason, those ratings would also not be harming the big picture.
As I mentioned, I suggested this "solution" mostly as a joke in answer to a person complaining about those "generous" raters, but it looks like the other participants of the thread (all 3 of them) actually liked the idea, so I am bringing it here for a broader discussion.
One thing that was pointed out by @huvaakoodia is that the system should not be set up as a black box. Meaning people should be fully aware of the existence of the system, and how it would affect the ratings they have given. And I fully agree, because there are drawbacks to this system.
The obvious drawback of this system is that is some "happy" rater 5-starred a game that actually deserved it - this well-earned 5 star rating will also be degraded down to about 3.
Second drawback is - more calculations required to put this system into place. Though it is actually no that many calculations. I didn't describe the math in the previous thread, but here I will. Feel free to ignore this bit if you aren't interested.
So, first of all, just to get this out of the way, what I am about to write is not the only way to "fix" the ratings to force them to average to 3. Actually there is an infinite number of ways to modify the ratings. For example we can just treat every rating as 3 and this will do the trick. A bunch of 3s will always average to 3. This is not a reasonable way to do the trick, but it is a way. :) But let's not use it.
Instead we take the exitsing ratings and compute their average. Let's call this existing average as X. Now we can multiply each value by 3 / X, and this will actually do the trick. But it might give us ratings that are out of bounds. For example if a rater was generous and the average is more than 3, then the rare 1 she might have given will turn into something less than 1. And if a game accumulates enough of such degraded 1s it might drag it's final score below 1 which will be... really discouraging to it's creator - scoring less than minimal score...
So how do we avoid this? Easy. Before we compute the average of existing ratings we substract 1 from each score (treat 1 as 0, 2 as 1, and so on up to treating 5 as 4). Then we use the step like previous - multiplying each of those ratings by 2/X and ((Notice that since we subtracted 1 from everywhere we want to force the average to be 2 rather than 3) and then we add 1 back to each value. This way we get come values for scores that are all no smaller than 1, and all average to 3! Yay! No?
Actually no. We are not yet done. Notice how we only checked the situation how a 1-star ratings from a generous rater were degraded below 1 and fixed it? But there is a possibility of an opposite scenario, when a rater was grumpy, gave a lot of bad marks, and so the correction is supposed to increase it's values - including pushing occasional 5-stars beyond 5. And once again - this introduces a possibility of a game scoring more than maximal rating, which, while not discouraging to the creator might have a bad effect on everyone else. So we don't want this to happen as well.
So how do we fix it? Actually the same way we fixed the problem with 1s! We just modify the rating before the multiplication turning 5 into 0 so it can't be modified by multiplying. Previously we subtracted 1 from each rating to do the trick. And now we need to subtract each value from 5.
But that leaves us with two possible modifications. Which one do we use? This question is pretty simple to answer if we know the average of original scores. This X we defined originally. If X is greater than 3 than we need to push the ratings down, so we are worried about preserving 1s and use the first modification. If X is less than 3 then we want to push scores up and are worried about preserving 5s.
So to sum it up, here is a step-by-step algorithm: 1. Compute X as average of existing scores given by 1 person. 2. if X > 3 then Vm = 1 + ( (V - 1) * 2 / ( X - 1) ) 3. if X < 3 then Vm = 5 - ( (5 - V) * 2 / ( 5 - X) )
Here Vm is a modified value of rating and V is corresponding original value of 1 to 5.
Additionally to make the system even less intrusive we might set up a margin within which we just let the rating be. For example we might be fine if the original ratings average is between 2,5 and 3,5 and we don't want to modify such ratings. And furthermore - for people whose averages are outside this margin we might want to push their average only to the edge of this acceptable range. To do this let's define this margin as m (for the 2,5 to 3,5 being acceptable m is 0.5). This will modify the algorithm a bit:
Please not that in the second we still subtract m from 2. This is because we are inverting the scores by subtracting them from 5...
Phew...
The math class is now over.
So what do you think about this system? Do we need it? Will it do more harm than good? Is it too complex to implement?
If you ask me, I think the best way to test this system would be to run it along some existing data and see what effect it has on the final scores. And I can even volunteer to write a set of DB queries computing those modified averages if I get access to a table with ratings given. I don't even need to have the people/game names for it (I would require some unique IDs to replace them though - to be able to tell which ratings were given by the same person... but I guess there are such id already in place...)
I'm actually pretty surprised by how close to 3 all my averages were. xD
You can see a fairly clear bell curve in my ratings given. I tend to save my 5 and 1 stars for the best of the best and the worst of the worst games. I've been criticized a bit in the IRC for my "questionable" voting methods, but I think this is proof that I still rate games fairly. ^-^
Also, I don't think I ever posted my results.
I was aiming for mood and graphics this time. I'm planning on going for fun next time. I'll be practicing my music skills until the next LD though.
Mah Game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/the-crushed-sky
Full-HD! The Flash Season 5 Episode 1 | S05E01 Online – Nora. Here we go then fans for sure as we are ready to watch for it, The Flash season 5 episode 1: Nora. After an unexpected guest from the future appears at their home, Barry and Iris must figure out how to get her back to the future without disrupting the timeline.
The Flash (season 5) is amazing for you all to watch, The fifth season of the American television series The Flash, which is based on the DC Comics character Barry Allen / Flash, is set to debut on The CW on October 9, 2018 and will consist of 22 episodes.
Working Here:
https://bit.ly/2zYzhgp
https://bit.ly/2NzTTPW
The season follows Barry, a crime scene investigator with superhuman speed who fights criminals, including others who have also gained superhuman abilities, as he deals with the consequences of his future daughter’s time traveling.
It is set in the Arrowverse, sharing continuity with the other television series of the universe, and is a spin-off of Arrow. The season is produced by Berlanti Productions, Warner Bros. Television, and DC Entertainment, with Todd Helbing serving as showrunner.
The season was ordered in April 2018, and production began that July. Grant Gustin stars as Barry, with principal cast members Candice Patton, Danielle Panabaker, Carlos Valdes, Tom Cavanagh, and Jesse L. Martin also returning from previous seasons, while Danielle Nicolet, Hartley Sawyer, and Jessica Parker Kennedy were promoted to series regulars from their status as recurring characters in season four. They are joined by Chris Klein, who will portray the season’s main antagonist, Cicada.
What are you waiting for? Let’s make it happen to watch for The Flash season 5 episode 1. At the Television Critics Association winter press tour in January 2018, The CW president Mark Pedowitz said he was “optimistic” and “confident” about The Flash and the other Arrowverse shows returning next season, but added that it was too soon to announce anything just yet. On April 2, The CW gave the series an early renewal for its fifth season. Todd Helbing will serve as the season’s showrunner.
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It’s been a while since I posted here. So, here’s a short chill/lofi soundtrack I did with my brother.
Feel free to download and use it in your projects. But, leave me somewhere in the credits 😉
Enjoy!
Twitter: @NeilMarkCorre
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/neil-mark-corre
Tags: background, chill, lofi, music, soundtrack
I sacrificed one more day to balance the game a little & I published a Web build (Finally, heh?).
Should have probably published a Web-build sooner to get more ratings, but anyhow since this was my first Ludum Dare I had a blast and I am pretty happy with the results (So close to cracking Top 100 in a few categories).
Thanks to everyone who rated and commented with a critical feedback!
Now that voting is over and things have slowed down again, take a moment and quickly find any LD game released since 2009!
Try my LD games browser to find old games you loved or to get some inspiration for your current project.
Type any word and the search results will filter immediately. Also filter by platform and by type (compo, jam or both.)
Okay, Android version is finally published! Ios version will be available hopefully this week. Feel free to download it :)
->> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sakont.dontgetdrunk <<--
-
RULES
https://itch.io/jam/ue-jam
Submission open from January 19th to March 4th 2018
Let's have fun!
For Ludum Dare 39 I tried to hide away in my sound effect recording room over the weekend so I could test one LD with full focus. Only a few hours in to the event my kids found me and that was the end of that :) They found it even more exciting to run in and out of there compared to where I normally sit so needless to say I'm not bothering to set up my gear in that room for any more LD events =)
Hey all!
I've just finished writing a massive post-mortem writeup for both Samurai Shaver and Goodnight Sheep...so massive in fact that it won't fit on this site!
You can view the full post-mortem writeup on my own personal website here:
http://ddrkirby.com/games/samurai-shaver/post-mortem.html
It also includes a fun set of animated gifs that show the progression of each of our games in their various states! Games really change a lot in short time when you're jamming for LD...just look at these comparisons:
Again, you can view the full post-mortem writeup here.
Just two hours remain before Geta Game Jam starts! Geta Game Jam is a game jam that goes for three days where you make a game based on the theme of Chaos and Order. Make sure you join before it's too late! :D
Hi guys! Here’s another one. Whether you just woke up or you’re on your way to your bed, don’t forget to have that little dose of relaxation. 😉
Have a great day or night ahead! 😀
Feel free to download and use it in your projects. But, leave me somewhere in the credits 😉
Twitter: @NeilMarkCorre
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/neil-mark-corre
Tags: background, chill, lofi, music, soundtrack
For LD40, I recorded a ton of video about my dev process. Like a whole bunch. Like way more than anyone would think is reasonable. I've finally cleaned up and uploaded the potentially interesting bits to youtube. So if you want to watch entirely too much video about creating a Ludum Dare game, then I have you covered!
If you didn't play it during the rating period, Triage Towers is the game I'm talking about. If you want to spend an hour playing a simulation game about building a hospital, I've uploaded a more complete post-compo version with a lot of new features and things to build.
(I'm having trouble not embedding videos via youtube links - sorry for making you copy and paste URLs :disappointed: )
https://youtu.be/DsghbC89b-Mhttps://youtu.be/HbFClGAHFzAhttps://youtu.be/AP0PnJUb68ghttps://youtu.be/i24rvy3elnwhttps://youtu.be/WYSr7R8Ipws** - While not in chronological order, the post compo one is probably the best place to start and maybe the most interesting, as I give an overview of the game:
https://youtu.be/i24rvy3elnw
Hey LD jammers!
I know some of you are keen for a post-LD game jam, so I'm hosting the Movie Game Jam from February 2-12, where you make a game based on your favourite movie scene! :clapper: :projector: :sunglasses:
which everyone will have a random chance to win just by participating! :trophy:
PLUS we've organised 28 YouTubers and streamers to play your entries and give you great feedback!
You can also join our Game Jammer Discord community and follow MovieGameJam!
There is also a follow-up game jam in March called Meta Game Jam ->
I had already participated in another game jam before (Global Game Jam) but The Weight of Greed was my first Ludum Dare game.
In my timezone, the theme was released at 3:00 AM but frankly, I was not motivated enough to begin working during the night, so I started thinking about it the following morning.
Basically there's this Mega Drive/Genesis Japanese RPG game called Super Hydlide which featured a "weight" system that makes your character move slower as he carries more stuff, and that includes items, food and money. "Le Joueur du Grenier", a French YouTuber who reviewed the game, joked about the idea of getting penalized for carrying too much money, and remembering this gave me the idea of the game.
I paid tribute to my country's culture by naming the main character Harpagon, from Molière's famous play The Miser. In fact, posterity had it that "harpagon" became a word in French for "cheapskate".
I wanted to make a 2D platformer, lightweight, in-browser game, so my choice went to the open-source engine HaxeFlixel which I had tried before for an earlier project. I thought HaxeFlixel would do the job because of its HTML5 export capability and its many routines for easier game development. It turned out to have some drawbacks due to its cross-platform nature (which I didn't need here) such as routines that were not fully implemented for HTML5, or the Haxe language itself being more difficult to work with than I expected. Moreover, HaxeFlixel is originally adapted from Flixel, which is a Flash game engine, and it still shows a bit.
In retrospect, if I were to make another 2D HTML5 game, I would rather look into Unity (although I find it far from lightweight) or Phaser which seems more suited for the job.
The sprites were made with GIMP because this is what I'm most comfortable with, although I might look into a pixel art-oriented editor in the future.
For level edition I used Tiled, another tool I'm familiar with, it's compatible with HaxeFlixel and I find it quite solid and simple to use.
The few sound effects were done at the last minute with FamiTracker, a chiptune-making software. I first tried SFXR because it's a popular tool, but I was quite new with the software and I couldn't figure out how to generate a satisfying coin sound. I didn't have much time left, so I went to FamiTracker instead because it's a software I already knew, and I thought it gave me more fine-tuned control for sound generation. It was mostly because of the emergency of the situation though, I wouldn't advise others to do the same because this software is not really meant for that. Maybe look into other tools such as SFXR or BFXR.
Frankly, it was the end of a long week and I had learned to value my health, so I wouldn't say I really "jammed" during that weekend... what I mean is that I didn't work full-time, and I put my priorities on keeping a proper sleep schedule, to make up for the rest of the week.
I also thought the Compo jam would be from Friday to Sunday instead of Saturday to Monday (at least in my timezone) so I didn't think of taking a work day off on Monday, effectively taking almost 1 jam day away from me because I just wasn't going to develop my game at the workplace.
In a time-limited project like this, it is obvious that the most important thing is to keep your project on a strict schedule. I have noticed that when I start making a game, I usually spend a looooot of time polishing the graphics and sounds instead of actually working on the game mechanics and level design. Yes, I like making nice graphics. This time, I tried to go easy on the bikeshedding and made some basic placeholder sprites so I could focus on the programming.
At first it was quite easy to set up a basic project, but later I stumbled into the aforementioned programming issues. When these were fixed, I made a first level which I was quite satisfied with, with a "negative learning" mechanic, as one commenter put it. Basically you can't just take all coins, instead you have to make a choice about which coins you get and in what order. That's the kind of puzzle I wanted for my game.
I wanted to implement other puzzles about the fact that the coins also slow you down, but I was running out of time. Furthermore, I was having some sort of "writer's block" when it came to designing new levels, so I began making proper graphics instead.
The next day was the last day, and coming back from work I had to rush designing and testing the remaining levels, with a fixed goal of having at least 5 playable levels in the end. Those levels are less complex, and I am not too satisfied with them, but I'm still glad I could reach my goal.
Here's what went well: - Finding a concept that goes with the theme - Making a functional game in time - Presenting enough content to players - The graphics - Getting enough ratings to get a score :smile:
What needs improvement is the time management. I think taking breaks is very healthy, but sometimes I would just go over and do something completely different instead of developing the game. In retrospect I think I could have spent more time working on the project.
In the end I'm quite glad with how the game idea turned out. Of course there's still room left for improvement, which I'm planning to implement in the future. So, keep an eye on the project... In the mean time, the Global Game Jam is coming soon and I'll probably participate in that as well.
I hope you found this post-mortem interesting, happy jamming and see you next time! :smile: