need a team !! I m a 3d artist

... I will try to create a game in the time-frame and scope of the theme again. :P But, like the last 4 times, I have something on my calendar this weekend. Yes - I know the date is long known, but somehow this happens to me all the time...

Lets just see if I manage to get something done.^^

Anyways, I'm looking forward to all the awesome stuff you guys will create for this Jam!

Have fun, everyone! :)

Sorry if the formatting has gone haywire.. just copied from word?!?!

Automation (0)

I would be worried about this being AI heavy – but as well as the others – this would be interpretable – could be used as a story part instead.

Break the cycle (-1)

This one I struggle a bit with – but that comes down to lack of game dev experience; I can think of a couple of things.. but wouldn’t have time for them

Control the environment, not the player (0)

A bit divided on this one; Might also be a bit difficult with my skill set; But doable – if I can avoid a too AI-ish implementation for the “player”.

Each playthrough builds on the last (-1)

Another mentioned scope creep on this one – I would have to agree.

Everything grows (0)

If you literally have to make everything grow here – this is a definite -1 – however if it’s ok to fiddle around the word everything it might actually be ok.

It only changes when you aren’t looking (-1)

Gut feeling on this one; not sure it would be a fun theme.

Sacrifices must be made (0)

This could be fun and doesn’t lock down too much on the mechanics; Also doesn’t dictate game type.

Absorb your enemies (0)

This would cause the need for specific enemies … or you could do some interpreting here as well. (Time could be the enemy … level filled with clocks and you need to carry out some tasks before time runs out and the speed of that is dictated by the number of live clocks)… Oh well – we’ll see.

Darkness is your friend (-1)

With @birdwards on this one. Probably a LOT of stealth games.

Don’t trust the game (-1)

Just no.

Magic, but at what cost? (-1)

Setting would most likely end up being pretty similar across the board – it would probably involve a lot of people with pointy hats.

Making connections (1)

This could be fun – not sure if my brain would melt down during storming but could be a possibility. Gut feeling says this would be fun though. My favorite I think.

One item, many uses (-1)

I’am not entirely sure on this one – “many” is kind of a big word.. would worry a little about creeping here as well.. and with my skills .. holy moly

Take one, leave one (1)

Mostly just like “Making connections”. Although not the favorite. For my brain it does restrict the possibilities a bit.

Two connected worlds (0)

For me this is a restricted version of “Making connections”.

Evolve (1)

This would most likely be a good theme for my current skill set; Not saying it would be easy but I guess .. a bit more manageable. Jinx jinx jinx

Excited to see what other people think about the categories. For most of the above it’s based on gut feeling.

Since it was very interessting to read all of your opinions on the themes here, i decided to publish my view, too. :)

0 Automation: I think this theme is not very kind to beginners, but can lead to very interessting entries. However, my guess is that there would be some number of idle-games.

+1 Break the cycle: Has great potential. Multiple options to work in this theme. You could go for it in the story, - or in the gameplay. Also, there is a potential to "mind-blow" :smile:

+1 Control the environment, not the player: This would make a good theme, in my opinion. There are many opportunitys even for beginners like me and I think many of those are relativly easy to create. But also, for the advanced LD-creator, there is some great stuff to do here, like playing around with physics. :)

+1 Each playthrough builds on the last: Like Break the cycle, this one can be great, too! You also can adopt the theme for Story or Gameplay. Or even toy around with the controlls or so.

-1 Everything grows: I can't really imagine some great entrys from this. Also, afaik there was already a similar theme. I would not have a problem, with rolling up an old topic, but I read about this in other posts and i guess they would be upset. (No - I did not vote because of this. I voted because of my first point to this theme. :))

-1 It only changes when you aren't looking: I think this would spawn many "Slender-Likes" or "SCP-Likes". There are some neat ideas behind it, but this is a kind of hard topic for beginners, anyways, i think.

-1 Sacrifices must be made: To make it simple: I don't know why, but I kinda don't like it. ~ Sorry.

0 Absorb your enemies: It is more like a 'meh' situation. This is some specific mechanic that we already saw many times in other games. I would be ok if it gets the theme, but I would not care as much.

0 Darkness is your friend: Expected genre: stealth. :smile: But there are some good ideas or opportunitys. No must, but would be ok.

+1 Don't trust the game: This is some funny theme :smile: I can imagine some fun stuff in this. But probably there will be many games like "Unfair Mario" or so. I would love to see some "consitent" games that do not exploit unfair situations like this.

-1 Magic, but at what cost?: This theme has some potential, but i think it is not quiet enough. Its kinda like Sacrifices. To do somth. you need to take a hit. Im sure someone can come up with a great idea for this, but it's to hard, i guess.

0 Making connections: Again, a topic that we saw already many times in other games. But sure, why not. I would not mind. :)

0 One item, many uses: Ok, this one is a bit different than the other "0"'s. I guess you can do much stuff here. But it just did not take my interesst as much as the other +1's I would not mind. :)

+1 Take one, leave one: Looking forward to this one. You can play around with mechanics or steal / give the player movesets or somth like this. This could be fun! :)

0 Two connected worlds: More like: 'Meh'. Can be done, some nice ideas. But not very mind-blowing or unconventional.

-1 Evolve: I think this one has some options, but overall will result in many simillar entries. Also, i think this could be very hard for beginners. :)

I might participate again this time, and I will probably use a new engine that I've never worked with before... It should be fun!

I've been lurking around the past LD's. It's about time I participated!!!

If real life doen't intervene, I am gone make my first LD game this weekend! To start off, where's the faq section!? :-)

We will join LD43, and we'll be creating our game in Unity.

Hi all,

I would love to change my nick name - and it kind of looked like you could message Mike (@pov ?) (but I'am guessing he's quite busy at the moment) - is it the only way to change it?

I don't know, but this time I guess the theme will not make me very happy. Anyway, I'm not the type of guy that wait the theme to say: I'm in! So I'm in! :)

What do you guys think about the themes?

And there's some very interesting stuff. A couple I think are too restrictive, but other than those there's a lot of potential for ideas.

It seems like a good time to share a post I wrote a while back, called 10 Ways to Prepare for a Game Jam. Would you add anything?

Also, do say hi on Twitter - I love meeting new jammers!

I find very interesting to see your opinions on the Theme Voting, so i am sharing mine as well.

Automation (0) - I like this kind of one word theme because it is very broad. This particular one could provide an approach on automating machines in order to obtain a result. However, it seems to me that it would take too much time coding, i'll probably do something story-related to automation if this is the theme.

Break the cycle (+1) - Another simple it broad. It can be implemented on breaking mechanic cycles in-game, story-wise, conceptually-wise.

Control the environment, not the player (-1) - Too restrict in my opinion. Will probably lead to a lot of games where the "player" has to go to a place and you change pieces of the path and remove blockades. NO!

Each playthrough builds on the last (-1) - Don't get me wrong, the theme is good. Broad. Many possibilities of what you done once will affect you later and replay value. But i really don't think i can implement something nice in the Ludum Dare time frame. Probably would led to a lot of clunky games.

Everything grows (-1) - I don't like this "everything", "nothing", "everywhere" themes. The obvious answer would probably be a plataformer where the scenario is non-stop growing and would led you to be smashed on the roof or something. Or that kind of game where stuff are growing and you are running out of space (last Ludum Dare theme). Also no.

It only changes when you aren't looking (-1) - This reminds me of Slender. You are doing your stuff and you turn and BAM! jumpscare. It would be really fun to play the games of other people. But i wouldn't like to implement this.

Sacrifices must be made (+1) - OH YEAH. That's what i would like. It's broad. What kind of sacrifices? Your items? Your friends? Your limbs? How the lack of one of them would affect your gameplay? Your mobility will be reduced? Your skills will be removed? Like it.

Absorb your enemies (+1) - Yeah i know many people dont like it, it requires enemies, it requires that you absorb them, it narrows what you can do. But i would like to implement it so i am updooting it. Hate me.

Darkness is your friend (+1) - Another hate topic leading to stealth games where you hide on the shadows. But is that the only kind of darkness that can be your friend? Maybe the player is a vampire that would burn in the sun. Maybe darkness can be a concept that is your friend, like a place where you run from your problems.

Don't trust the game (-1) - No. No no no no no no. I can only imagine lots of games that have instructions on what you should do, and you do them, and you lose. Ha ha ha, not funny. I would probably think in something more like a concept in game, as the "game" is a deceiving something but, whatever. I really hope it sink into the bottom of forgetfulness.

Magic, but at what cost? (+1) - I little like Sacrifices must be made, but requiring magic in the mixture. I know it narrows a bit but it could led to questioning the player if is it really required to use magic. Would magic kills its friends? Its planet? ITSELF? I like it.

Making connections (0) - Its broad, i can think in a lot of options, connecting paths to progress, make connections to people in order to obtain data, anyway. I just think is meh.

One item, many uses (+1) - I saw this and though: McGyver! Ok, it would require some item system that you would operate in a lot of ways, like a swiss army knife, or water (water has many uses), which could be really code demanding but i think it's a fun theme.

Take one, leave one (+1) - Take WHAT? Leave WHAT? Heh, nice. Would led to questions to player, what to get and what to leave, what would be the drawbacks of the decision. It could be people that are you partners, and the one left behind DIES? It could be weapons and you have to work around the weapon weakness? I like it.

Two connected worlds (0) - It would require some good brainstorm to develop a cool way of two interconnected worlds operate in order to require the player to travel for one and another in order to progress, but, as Automation, i think it's too demanding for the Ludum Dare time frame. Lots of clunky games on the way with this theme.

Evolve (0) - Like the previous, very interesting but time demanding. Deal with evolving mechanics where you have a new set of skills, movement, anything requires time for polishing and we dont have time. Another set of clunky games on the way with this theme.

Lets hope for the best!

Also, would like to know your opinions on my opinions, even if is a "F*CK YOU, NANANA THEME IS GOOD".

https://www.strawpoll.me/16940384

Hi ! I'm in for the LD 43 !

But the 1st December I have my Christmas Party with my job. So... I'll lost few hours.

I want use these tools : - Monogame, C# - Inspiration of the tutorials from SixOfEleven (http://gameprogrammingadventures.org/) - Visual Studio - Bosca Ceoil - Inkscape

Maybe other, but normally all is here.

My goals for this LD : - I want have a menu : Play, Exit for the minimum - I want animations for my sprites

It's upgrades compared to my game from LD42.

I think this time around I'll give Liko-12 a spin and see how things turn out. I've been playing around with PICO-8 and the features of LIKO-12 look like fun. And since I like to use the built-in IDE for such fantasy consoles, it will be nice to have more text on screen than in the PICO-8; because that becomes unwieldy pretty quick.

See diagram for my expectations:

My start time says it starts at 10am Saturday in Western Australia - does anyone know if that is correct? Wasn't it supposed to start way earlier, like 6am or so? Did the time change again compared to last LD? That's a bit unfortunate... :/

I'll be on the Jam category this LD with my friend (@jonathas-t), but we don't know how to become friends in the site. We've tried follow each other, but don't show us like friends! How we do that?

Here we are with final round of casting away the subjective matter that is opinion!

With final round I set myself a limit of just 3 choices to really limit what I'd want to work on. Everything else gets downvoted, because it's the last thing I'd want to see. Choices came out OK, surviving the previous rounds so it was actually an easy picking and I can generally repeat myself below.

• Break the cycle gives a clear goal which can take any shape or form.
• Making connections take it socially, take it mechanically.. take it however you want and it can make for a good theme for variety of people.
• Take one, leave one choices are fun to build around and this is nicely limited.

If I had to declare a winner the "Break the cycle" would be it by a hair.

I wish everyone a great jam, whatever theme will end up on top!

Someone posted this strawpoll asking people which themes they voted for. If you're interested in answering, here it is!

https://www.strawpoll.me/16940384/

Again with no time at all really, so probably doing a 'half a day jam entry', hehe.

Traveling on saturday and sunday by plane and train, but i so want to make at least a simple game using my new favourite (since the previous to last LD) game engine Godot Gfx will prbly be gimp, audio audacity, but as i will be on the move i will have to see how much audio and gfx i can cobble together.

I will probably try to focus on finding an interesting gameplay idea, as i will have enough time off-computer for that, just sitting around.

Hope we will all have a lot of fun being creative and productive,

goeth forth and designeth

I went ahead and looked through the final themes, and went ahead and wrote down at least one game idea for each. And I have to say that some are much easier to come up with a cool game/mechanics, and some are much more complicated.

My biggest struggles were: - Take one, leave one (very American theme, as I have not heard this phrase anywhere else) - One item, many uses - Sacrifices must be made - Break the cycle

The ones I had best fun coming up with ideas: - Magic, but at what cost? - Control the environment, not the player - Each play through builds on last - It only changes when you aren't looking

What are your thoughts, any themes you struggle with or enjoy?