Third time's the charm !

Locked and loaded for LD40 lets get it everyone!

Going to be making another 2D game using SFML and C++ so I think its time to start preparing my framework ready for it! Will defiantly be brainstorming ideas within the next week in order to prepare for this! I hope I can figure out a great idea this time round, my creative abilities aren't very decent.

After being unable to actually do anything for the last one, I'm in. Using Paint.net, BFXR, Eclipse.

https://discord.gg/9mPX39Q You can join if you want, for dev and art related ! cya and good ld to all of you !

College, work, and sleep are going to have to wait. I have a trash game to make!

Ludum Dare Discord

Hey guys, some may know me, some may not and if you don’t then we must duel it out.

Anyways I’m ieyfo, I run the official unofficial dicord for Ludum Dare it was stared back for LD36 and we have grown as a community to over 520+ members and growing more everyday. I personally love the community we have formed and I want you to become a part of it :).

Last Ludum Dare was amazing 100s of new people and so many good chats and opinions. We hope to continue this for teh next Ludum Dare.

Just recently we were asked to partner with crowdforge.io and now there Ludum Dare area has a direct link too our discord. Also we have been added to the side bar for the Ludum dare reddit the next step would be a link here.

Why Discord and why my discord for LD?

First I know many people loooveeee IRC well for you if you don’t wanna switch don’t that is up to you but know change is happening and more and more people are switching over every day. I think now is a good time to join us :).

Next Discord is an amazing place with voice chat, video chat, screen share, all super fast and better than anything Iv’e ever used. Also discord is amazing for sharing project assets or anything you wanna no need to link images like IRC just paste them in. You’re not just a name and a string of text you are you and people can easily get to knwo you.

Next why to join our discord well we are the biggest 420+ strong and growing. In a non biased opinion the most fun and organized discord with section and channels for everything you could need whether you’re doing Ludum Dare or game development or programming in general we got you!

We hope to see you there INVITE LINK-> https://discord.gg/kwSW9SR

Cross posted/ Reposted for relevace.

Development on main game must pause!

Hello, we try to create a developer community, we are not a lot for the moment and we want to make the community grow up. If you want to join us, there is the link : https://discord.gg/9mPX39Q Happy ludum dare and best of luck everyone

It's that time again, time to make a game!

I started game dev 3 months ago. I remember watching tutorials by the twitch streamer GamesPlusJames to learn Unity. I then went to seek him out on Twitch and found he was competing in Ludum Dare. It made me want to get involved, but at that point I knew so little. 3 months on, I've gained a lot of experience. I am still very restricted in what I can do - but feel like I am capable of creating something on my own for the competition. Looking forward to it <3

In hopes to improve the situation when the next voting stages come, thought I'd write about my Theme Slaughter Experience™.

Most themes are really, really bad. The biggest issue I've seen is that they're just not inclusive and welcoming to all kinds of game concepts. Which I think is quite sad because variety of games is what makes playing them much more interesting. And it makes development much easier too.

Before I go into detail, here's a summary of my Slaughter Experience™:

Now, let's start with all the reasons why I'd slaughter a theme:

Reasons:

• I do not want to see 1000 programmer art versions of said object or place.
• It probably took a lot of time just to do the art for that thing/place for most developers.
• This isn't an Etch A Sketch competition, it's a gamedev competition - the focus should be on the game.
• Many people probably hate that thing/place. Examples for me: water/space (both very common in theme list).

I get it that someone loves a game or genre enough to request more such games. I also get that it's purely selfish and shuts out tons of people who aren't into making such games.

It gets old fast. Revelation can only work once, so it's not a foundation for any kind of gameplay.

This usually limits genre options, which may put people off for having no experience developing such games.

Since the core gameplay is always some kind of loop, such a theme would require to overcompensate on the repetition part, basically demanding a boring and (you guessed it) overly repetitive process.

It's no more helpful to game design than choosing cutlery is to decide what to eat for lunch.

Also, developers should not be stuck with bad controls just because the rules say so. Controls generally change as design evolves so it's really hard to commit to a specific scheme up front, so the design is likely to suffer.

This is similar to the very first issue - themes with object/place.

The time to develop the prerequisites takes time away from developing the most important parts of the game. Some people are good at, say, drawing characters, some are not (like me), hence it's not very inclusive.

I believe jams and competitions such as this one should be light-hearted and thus keep politics and heavy discussions out of the process. It should be a choice of each developer if they wish to tackle a heavier theme in their creation.

I get it that whoever picked that theme liked that thing. Most people probably would. And yet it doesn't get anyone closer to figuring out what the game should be about. Do you make a game about the specific situation, about the lyrics of a song or the story of the movie? Do you interpret it literally? Not a lot of options, all very restrictive.

Bonus points for trying to be inclusive though.

Someone has probably tried to be clever again. Unfortunately, this means that more time is spent on trying to understand the theme than on making the game.

And even then, chances are someone might disagree with your interpretation, or find it hard to rate how well the theme is used.

There can be themes that are too specific, as well as ones that are too vague. If it's not limiting the creative choices somehow, it's just not doing its job.

So, all these rules for what a theme shouldn't be -- what should it be then, you ask? Well, it's quite simple. Even if coming up with one is hard. Here's my attempt to define it:

• A theme should be frictionless. Easy to read and understand, even reason about.
• A theme should be a concept. Not something concrete, but an idea of an abstract structure.
• A theme should carry no weight. No prerequisites that take time to develop.
• A theme should have room for a conflict. Something that invites a collision of different opinions.

To conclude, I have two examples from the last Slaughter Experience™ that I still remember. Having seen 3000 themes, it's hard to remember all the good ones, and I forgot to write them down.

The reason why I like this one is because you can make just about everything with it, and still keep things exciting.

The player character (if there is one) can either work for such a corporation, possibly as a double agent, trying to destroy it from within, or fight against it from the outside.

This idea can also support tycoon/strategy/clicker games and even puzzles.

Location is also unrestricted, giving people the ability to make games set in space, ocean or both (whatever floats your ship).

Instead of the theme trying to be clever like some others do, it's letting developers be creative about interaction design themselves. I couldn't wait to think what other people can come up with.

I hope my little post has inspired someone to be more inclusive with their choice of themes. I'm leading by example and I've slaughtered every single theme that was a game genre/object/situation that I like.

This is the end of what I have to say, so - thanks for reading!

If you want to know what I think about your theme, or if you disagree with me, please let me know in the comment section.

Last Dare, I tried. This time is no different!

We competed in LD37 and LD38 (@dregs, @juri and I) but the team missed out on LD39 because reasons. So this will be our third jam. Getting a feel for how things work, even if our guys hit the middle road, still feels an accomplishment to finish games!

Not sure if this is a thing, or should be, but i developed a tool with @dregs to make slaughtering the themes easier, including being able to change votes (hate clicking and being all like meh, accident!), viewing all the themes at once, and also, viewing votes for previous rounds, and suggestions i made back then, because i keep forgetting and it amuses me.

Its a standalone website that does EVERYTHING front end - literally no server side code, so no storing or any details etc, no danger of naughtiness, and obviously does nothing the API doesn't allow (and all credit for the functionality on that side of things goes to Mike (@pov) and the Boys of course).

Feel free to use it, download the code to see for yourself (i have a standalone, static page version if you want it), or dont, thats cool too - and if i have stepped out of line here, just shout and ill take the site down, it was a personal project for me and @dregs but figured it might be useful. You can use the page to log in, or you could just load the page in the same browser you are already logged into LD with and it will use the same session to retrieve your themes and votes.

Anyhoo, if its useful to you, great. See you on the other side!!!

http://ludumdare.silentsloth.co.uk/

Nate

Finally finished the theme Slaughter (first time completing it), While I agree with nearly everyone that will be moaning about the themes - I also must admit it was fun!. SOOO many neat ideas for future games. That to me is the best part of the slaughter, with every theme thinking (unless it was crap) ooooh, how can/would I make a game from this.

I am curious to know how my three suggested themes faired against the onslaught. @POV, can we please have that feature - I think it will help people to make better suggestions in the future if they see how badly their suggestion got shot down.

Anyways, time to sit back and wait for the final rounds to begin!

LudumDare 40 is coming: Because that I will try participate as last two LD... what I improve those last two LDjam?

That is the main idea about this note;

First LD was a dissaster, yeah... I asume that, I am also happy with that, because at 1st LD I was entering at the world of Unity and 3D game-programming and 3D scripting... so, I do my best, and I try much more than what I can made at these time... What I learned?... most of the basic stuff but something more about 3D vectors and how to move the player and things like this... yes, the physics was the worst error but... I learned another interesting thing about "FixedUpdate" and "Update" funtions... the 38 LD game can be improved much, I know... but at least the game have completed his mission...

At second Ludum Dare, What I learned?... at same way at my first Ludum Dare I learned about this "the first idea is not the best idea to use at game making for the jams"... what that means?... that means the first idea I got at two LD was too "BIG" for jam... also, was over... greatest that I can hold and plus I can made... my knoledge was too small to make a 3D game that use something called vector and some like "quaternions" and those strange things that have a 3D desing... but... even on that novice mistake and others more... I learned about vectors, and plus, I have learned much about UI and canvas... until the last weeks I was trying to make or fix the pink UI errors, so, I learned how to fix that :D too...

I learned a lot... I tryes a lot more... and still working on these "minor" errors to fix... I need to learn some other thing at next LD I know... but I will take the next one with another perspective... this time I will focus on jam... why?... because the time... and because this time I will try to use a particular model to make the game... Iodesha the robot girl below this post... and making some "side quest" for her or "side history"... I don't have a cientist model now but maybe during Ludum Dare I will work on them...

What I plan to do at Ludum Dare: Acording to the theme result I will try to use o discard the posibility to do something surrounding the theme... but I will focus on the main idea, the idea behind Iodesha side history... so I plan to do some 3D game like a thirth person game like an FPS but without weapons, some sort of aventure game... or maybe action... Iodesha can't use long range weapon and maybe she is a "Limitated" 3D model to make animation or other stuff but I guess It will be ok... the bones she have are low ammount and the limitation can make her hard to animate, I tryed a lot but it's really hard model at Blender using my PC... or maybe it's me? :'D

So... that is the main idea, I will still using the basic idea for LD 38 and LD 39... the history will continue focus on these groups of robots... and the same history behind Sammy the Sputnik from LD 38... this time... focused on Iodesha... !https://static.jam.vg/raw/377/3/z/9245.png

What have Iodesha to give: In other words... what can do Iodesha?... Iodesha is a "hard" rock robot from the preview robot legions... a difference of -simov https://static.jam.vg/raw/377/3/z/61ef.png she is full metal and she have a higger HP or resistence... she is called a "assistant social" or "social robot of company" but like Sammy the SputNik... they two were made with old ways to make machinery... and because that they are more strongest than the fragil body of -simov... because that, Iodesha and is "failed hands" to take a weapon, and is robusted body... can only use a first like weapon... owhever... the history?... Idk really much what I want to do... but... let's enjoy and let's see what happen :D

Ideas to make at LD 40 Iodesha's Game - 3D simple enviroment - 3D action game with 3th person camera - Simple dialog screen with a RPG style... - at least 3 scene... three maps - at least two enemies... - a history reference to -simov or Sammy the SputNik... - some dramatic dialog xD - some side history dialogs about the war history... - maybe... Iodesha inner conflicts... :v - yeah... maybe the game turns into a drama :'D - simple animations... (because my animation levels) - audio?, music? xD ok... if I save time I will make a ringtone :D

I guess it's all... this time I will use some code... I guess dialog screen from last two games can still be used, same as the models... now I can control the camera... it's not so hard... I must start soon make the models for the maps, the enemies?... well, I have a "failure turret" or two, at least... they can appear :D using the same code from -simov the 39 LD game with changing the movement angle of course... history references? well... I must think about that... the basis idea is put the history after Sammy fly to the moon (38 LD game) and -simov still frozen or without power (39 LD game)... dramatic dialogs?... Maybe the doctor that make Sammy and Iodesha dies during the history... no?... sounds like a good idea... the fallout?... Mmmmm... Iodesha conflicts?... Thinking about her... she wants to?... she wants to do?... mmmmm... what she wants to do?... follow Sammy?... support -simov?... do she wants? turn the game in a drama?... well... if 'unnamed' doctor die... could be a drama... if Iodesha cry... it's became a drama... Animations... needs to make them all... Iodesha don't have any animation... so... even walking to running, and all face expresions... well she is a robot but still... hard, because I am the problem at animating things... jajajaja... audio? I forgot the web I used last Ludum Dare... but... as same as always... :D I don't really care about sound and music, these two are not what I am seeking for... let's enjoy the Silence Jajajaja

Make the game together: If someone is seeking for make the next LD with another person or group of persons... and want to join the project... ask me... let me know... and let see if we can work together... I will still wainting before the 1st of december... of course, after LD start I will stop seeking for a partner or someone to make the game together... I can change the game and the history, even I can participate at your own game if you wish... but... only if the idea and the game type I wish to do... so... put a message here... and let see if we can work together :D

I really wish do a game with other peoples... maybe is a good idea learn how to work with others

I forgot mention the tools?: Unity 2017.1.0f3 (if necesary I can update), Blender... Photoshop 7.0 (it's my last version :'D), Word & Excel (2010), and Google translator

Hello, we try to create a developer and artist community, we are not a lot for the moment and we want to make the community grow up. If you want to join us, there is the link : https://discord.gg/9mPX39Q Happy ludum dare and best of luck everyone

Oh boy am I excited to get down and dirty with another Ludum Dare, August was the last time I've had a chance to program and my last Jam was in January as the artist! Wish me luck.

I'll be keeping it simpler than normal with my crash course needs in Unity C#, and probably editing some traditional arts work within Photoshop. I'll figure out what to do about sound on the day...

GLHF homies, looking forward to playing everyone's work.

Can't wait for next Friday, have been looking forward to this since LD39 finished. I actually landed a job in the game industry in between, and I think the experience gained in LD39 played a key part in that.

My LD40 project is all setup with a collection of free libraries that I might need and highly recommend (is there anything more exciting than File > New Project...?)

• Dot Tween
• InAudio
• JsonDotNet
• LeanTouch
• TMPro
• Thread Ninja
• More Effective Coroutines
• Unity UI Extensions
• Probuilder Basic

...as well as a few general utility scripts for Monobehaviour Singletons, Object Pooling, StringToInt.

I also own a number of excellent paid libraries but that kind of goes against the idea that someone can download your project from Github, play with and compile the thing, so I won't be using any of those.