Hello, I've been learning game development by myself from knowing nothing at all for about 4 months now, this is my first game jam. Should I join the jam or the compo? Thank you very much! Have fun!

2nd game jam, 1st ludum dare. I'm gonna try to do compo, and probably overcommit to something ambitious and end up submitting it for jam instead lol. gonna post a lotta updates on my bird page, swanijam

Teaming up with @seandalf this time around. Now we can get twice as much done! (note: 2 * 0 = 0)

Tools: - GameMaker Studio 2 - Pyxel Edit - BFXR - Bosca Ceoil or Rytmik or whatever

Looking forward to game jamming regardless!

Good luck and have fun!!

;þ

I have such a busy weekend, but I really wanna try and make something happen this time around! I'm in! let's get hyped!

This is going to be my first Game Jam ever! I am definitely looking forward to it.

This is what I will be using: - Unity Game Engine - Visual Studio Code - Bosca Ceoil - Photoshop

If you have any tips or tricks for this jam, please tell me. I am heading in with the intention to participate in Compo but in the case I need more time, I will transfer to Jam. Have a great time jamming!

Thought I posted this but I guess not, gonna try to finish this year. :)

Hello, currently we are a team of 2. I'm the programmer and my friend will create every auditory asset required for the game and we are looking for an artist to participate in this and future Ludum Dares. If you are interested, you can contact me from:

Discord: No-life Dev#4218 Crowdforge: crowdforge.io/jams/ludumdare/teams/2647

Hey LD community! I'm excited for this Ludum Dare as I have not participated in a few years. Usually, I code in ActionScript, but this time I'm going to attempt HTML5 with javascript. Can't wait to see what everybody makes this weekend!

Hi Everyone!

This is Beaver from Boston, MA. This is my first time join this amazing group and I am looking forward to share my skill and game ideas in this weekend~

I am going to use : adobe illustrator / Photoshop Unity 2017.2 Visual Studio

I plan to work alone (Compo) and I am looking forward to making friends during this weekend Hopes everyone enjoy this upcoming weekend Cheers~

Hello :D this is my first time join Ludum Dare. I always want to join it but always forget when the jam would start. So the moment I remembered it the jam is over. But finally I can :D join it now. I am learning some game development and I will be using Unity3D, I love to code :D Can't wait to start the jam :D

I’m going to be using this code: https://github.com/Jeffrey-Sardina/PacaisteTeanga for the Ludum Dare. It is able to manage multiple language packs and change languages instantly, and I think it is very useful for porting games to other languages. Feel free to use it if you want! Note that right now it is written and documented entirely in Irish—I hope to update it with an English source code version so that more of you can use if if you want before the Dare begins.

Good luck all!!!

Beidh mé ag úsáid an cód seo: https://github.com/Jeffrey-Sardina/PacaisteTeanga chun LD 43. Té sé in ann teangacha a athrú go diair—mar sin creidim go bhfuil sé úsáideach chun cluiche le cúpla teangacha a dhéanamh. Más maith leat é a úsáid, tá sé ar fáil saor in aisce!

Go n-éirí an bóthar libh!!!

I'm In for the 5th (?) time, but now with the (amazing) artist @eyalunya!

Here is some of his art:

Besides Floating Islands, of course.

Hi everyone! We're in for this weekend, with a full team of 3, and this will be our 20th LD in a row. I just got nostalgic looking back at all our entries over the past 6 years, so made a little montage of all the LD thumbnails:

One-man game studio from Vienna, hyped to create another unsettling game/experience over the weekend.

Ingredients used: * Asus Zenbook * libGDX * Acoustic Guitar * Audacity * Coffee Cup :-)

I thought LD happened later in December, but this works too! With classes winding down, this will be the perfect end to the semester.

As I expected, my game engine project has gone nowhere. But that's okay, I got a lot of experience with Rust and Piston last time around, so I think I'll be just fine using those. I will do my best to get that project finished before April rolls around!

Be sure to tune in during the competition: https://twitch.tv/tokumei64

Back again for my 13th round of LD! Super excited to make something new!

But here's the thing... I'm seeing a lot of you people giving "1 vs 100" bad votes.

Sure, it sounds like we'd see a ton of games about fighting 100 bad guys all by yourself, but that's just what a theme does for you.

Allow me to sway your opinion by spouting of a bunch of ideas that fit this theme.

• What if there was a super-unfair sports game where you're trying to beat a team of 100 people all by yourself?
• Or maybe a battle-royale spoof where everyone else sucks and is teaming up on you?
• How about a chess game, where you can only have one piece?
• Perhaps a stealth game where you want to kill as many of your enemies before breaking cover?
• Or maybe a tower-defense kind of thing where you are trying to defend your little town all by yourself?
• What about flipping it around, where you have 100 lives to kill a super-tough and smart bad guy?

See? There are SO MANY different interpretations to this one theme.

Hi

This will be my first Game Jam, but I think I'm ready for this challenge.

I feel quite confident with coding and 2D art at the moment, but I'm struggling when it comes to sound :smile:

I also have little experience with 3D art, so I hope MagicaVoxel will do the trick.

Tools: - Unity - Microsoft Visual Studio - SketchBook - MagicaVoxel - Abundant Music or Bosca Ceoil - ChipTone or Bfxr - Audacity

Wish you guys all the best.

BR Backurio (FireTotemGames)

This is my first game jam ever!

Tools I'll be using: 1. Programming - C++ with the SDL2 library 1. Art - Aseprite 1. Sound - Audacity and sfxr/bfxr 1. Misc - Tiled map editor

Looking forward to this!

Super excited for LD43! Im handling art and code while my friend is handling game design and mechanics. Good luck to all!

SOFTWARE:

1.Unity2D

2.GIMP

3.Audacity

(:

don't set your bars too high and don't get too stressed out. Manage your time and submit anyway even if it isnt finished. the theme isn't required if one you don't like wins. just make games and have fun.

I wanna play your games :v:

Once again I will be using my base code that I have built up since LD 26. It is written in JavaScript and can be used to create HTML5/canvas games. You can find the base code on github: https://github.com/ZYXer-/base-code-2d

Features: - a simple game loop - mouse/keyboard input processing - image/sound/webfont preloading - dealing with different screen resolutions

Additional classes for: - playing sounds (using SoundManager2) - loading and displaying PNG fonts - particle systems - pathfinding (using A*) - image processing class to generate 8-bit style graphics - utility functions for procedural map generation - simple one-body physics - a text class that is way more powerful than fillText() - scaling to easily display pixelart at various screen resolutions

I’m distributing the code under the GPL2 license, so feel free to use any part of it for your own project. And please – like always – report any bugs ;)

Tools I’ll be using:

Engine - Unity 2019
IDE - Visual Studio
Art - MagicaVoxel / Photoshop
Sound - BoscaCeoil

Some years ago I loved doing these compos. Learned a lot about different tools and systems. Sadly life happened and had to work very hard on real games.

But now, I try my luck again and write my own crossplatform engine. I expect a lot of improvement during this and several other jams in the next few weeks.

The goal is to have an engine that: - can compile in Visual Studio on Windows, with make on Linux and with Android Studio anywhere - runs on desktop at least imitating Android devices and on Android - uses OpenGL 4 / OpenGL ES 3 - handles basic mouse, keyboard and touch input - can render basic 2D/3D gfx objects and lighting - handles a basic camera - animates/moves stuff - plays mono music/sfx as Android devices are mostly mono - only basic asset file loaders

What will not be the goal on this jam: - no physics - no particles - anything advanced from the above stuff - absolutely no fancy debug displays or logging system - no advanced error handling - no editors - no save feature - no scripting - no multiplayer features nor social media integrations

That is for a first design statement. What I already have is the basic OpenGL hello world triangle example running on Windows and Android without input handling using glfw and glew.

Don't expect me to blog too much..

Wish me luck! Enjoy the jam!

We will be opening our doors at 6 p.m. so you can have a chance for a little meet and greet before we get started. Once the theme is announced we will brainstorm ideas centered on the theme for about one hour and then break up into groups based on the ideas you and other like-minded game designers choose. If you would rather work alone, you can still enjoy the camaraderie of a crazy group of indie game makers who think sleep deprivation is fun! We’ll provide internet access, M&M’s, Mountain Dew, and bean bag chairs. You bring your creativity and your love of games! If you are interested in joing us for a fun weekend, please RSVP at: http://classegames.com/GameJams.html

Just did the Blackthornprod game jam two months ago to practice for this! Can't wait to get started. 48 hours is really intense and I hope everything goes well. Good luck everyone!!

I am a noob game developer that uses Unity. I know some basic programming, audio, and art. I am looking for a coder and an artist. I am fine with my team members being noobs as I am myself a noob. However, these team members should have Unity since I am using Unity. I might have a flexible schedule during the weekend but I will have plenty of time to work on the game. I do value sleep so I will not work on the game for the whole jam period. I want to be the director of the game and manage the project. I might do a little bit of art, sound, and especially coding. I am more likely to code more for the project than to do the art and sound of the game. If you want to see how experienced I am with game making, please see my games here: https://d-studios.itch.io/

If you are interested to work with me, please contact me in Discord. My username is: D-Studios#9881

If you can not contact me in Discord, contact me by email. My email is gamefun7102@gmail.com

Excited to participate in my first Ludum Dare! I'm really excited since I can get more feedback on my games. Although I kinda suck at making games, I'll still try my hardest!

Otto Lilienthal was a pioneer of flight, and developed some of the very first successful flying machines. Of 2000 successful flights he accumulated a total FIVE HOURS of flight time (impressive for the 1890s). But his flying career was cut short when his glider stalled and suddenly nose-dived from 15 meters! Otto's neck was broken, and before he died he exclaimed to his brother, "Sacrifices must be made!"

R.I.P. Otto Lilienthal 1848-1896

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Lilienthal

I failed last time but gonna try again for EXPERIENCE

Hi! Wow, is it really that time again already? Lets-a go! :postal_horn:

Final Round Theme Voting has started. Go over here and cast your vote:

:ballot_box: /events/ludum-dare/43/theme

For rules and other info, visit the event page:

:trophy: /events/ludum-dare/43

For those new to Ludum Dare, the website will become slow/unusable during the minutes leading up to the Theme Announcement, so we highly recommend you follow our Twitter account for the reveal:

https://twitter.com/ludumdare

The theme will be announced when the clock at the top this page reaches zero.

Busy-busy, site-work, Twitch

My apologies for being so quiet these past few months. Earlier this year I had to pick up some work, and lately we've been crunching, and we finally soft-launched a game a few weeks ago (heh). But as many of you know, the work doesn't end as soon as the game is released, and it's been keeping me busy... too busy. :sweatsmile: :sweatdrops:

Either way, I have 2 big things I'm working to fix before we kick-off on Friday.

1. Many of you will remember the downtime/poor uptime we had last event. Fortunately I've been knee deep in server work at work, exactly the kind-of stuff we need to survive a Ludum Dare weekend (high availability, clustering, etc). Unfortunately I don't have enough time to rebuild the entire setup (learned this the hard way weeks ago), but I'm shooting to at least get the database clustered, failing over, and running more smoothly.

2. Recently Twitch broke how we used their website (hence the endless spinner in the sidebar). I'll be doing my best to get that up and running again before Friday. The video aggregation used to be part of an esports aggregation project I was working on (privately), but if there's time I want to make that code public alongside the Ludum Dare sources.

That's the plan. ~~There might be a little bit of downtime tomorrow as I switch-over the severs, and eventually the video plugin will just work again.~~ EDIT: Servers upgraded... though not exactly as I wanted.

UPDATE: Oh! Well it seems Twitch's new structure is quite broken if you're an event like ours that needs multiple categories (art, "science"/code, audio, etc), so it's time for plan B: ~~Everyone, set your game to Ludum Dare.~~

The Ludum Dare "game" directory can be found here:

~~https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Ludum%20Dare~~

I've updated the sidebar as well, since the communities feature is now very dead. :sweat_smile:

UPDATE 2: I stand corrected. You can search by tags on Twitch, you just need the UUID. So, if you include a Ludum Dare tag on your stream, you will show up here.

https://www.twitch.tv/directory/all/tags/c8d6d6ee-3b02-4ae7-81e9-4c0f434941cc

I've again updated the sidebar to point here.

HOWEVER, the sidebar widget only shows the top 3 streams with their game set to Ludum Dare, so feel free to do that too. :wink:

Keynote, hosted by Christina Neofotistou (@christina-antoinette-neofotistou)

Keynoting our 43rd event is Christina Neofotistou, also known as castpixel over on the Twitters. I've been a fan of her pixel artwork for many years, and I was thrilled when she volunteered to do a keynote for us. For this keynote she designed a game, and collected a bunch of tips and tricks along the way, and compiled them in to a video. Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B52QmMbiq3E

That's it for now. Final vote time!

... You know, if nothing else... the real reason I wonder why this theme got so far is basically that it's using its words wrong. The game doesn't have a player in it, it has bots, objects, characters, and barriers. The player is the guy sitting at his desk pressing buttons to make the game do things. You are the player, the thing you typically control is not called that. I'd still be shocked if this theme was called "control the environment, not the protagonist"/"avatar", but it could have at least said what it wanted to say properly. It's unsettling how difficult it would be to work with such a confusingly-phrased theme for people who understand this.

This will be my third Ludum Dare, started with LD41 which means I will do all 2018 LDs if I don't fail this one!

Here are my quick views on the themes. I really want to play a bit more with 3D and character controllers this weekend, so my voting was heavily biased towards 'can I make a 3D game with a controlable character in this theme'.

Automation 0: no strong feeling for this one, I have some ideas I could make within the span of the weekend, but it doesn't fit my learning goals too much.

Break the cycle 0: this theme is nice because it can be either mechanics or story driven, but I don't have a clever idea yet, only cheesy ones.

Control the environment, not the player -1: I want to control the player.

Each playthrough builds on the last +1: This is a really good gamejam theme, open-ended enough to let devs make game in almost any genre/gameplay style, and also promotes coming up with one solid idea.

Everything grows +1: Hey I make incremental games, +1 for the home boys.

It only changes when you aren't looking 0: This is an interesting idea, but I feel many games (including mine) would be kinda same-y, yet the basic idea fits my learning goals to the point so I wouldn't feel any motivation to come up with something more clever.

Sacrifices must be made +1: Fits my idea of a good theme, simple, open-ended, focused. This can be anything from really mechanics-focused, to completely story-driven game. Gives guidance and enough limitations, without alienating any devs.

Absorb your enemies 0: I like 'you are what you eat' better.

Darkness is your friend -1: A worse 'It only changes when you aren't looking'

Don't trust the game -1: A bit gimmicky, I may end up changing that to 0, the more I think about it the more I accept it as a possible theme.

Magic, but at what cost? +1: Not the strongest +1 on the list, but it mostly meets my criteria of a good gamejam theme.

Making connections 0: A better 'Two connected worlds'

One item, many uses +1: I feel like most of my +1s are similar, we are playing with choices, consequences and permanence this weekend!

Take one, leave one +1: Opposite of previous theme, equally good.

Two connected worlds -1: A worse 'Making connections'

Evolve 0: This is close to +1 for me, but I felt it's a bit more vague then other themes I like.

Gonna try to keep it simple this time! In my first two jams I was able to finish and submit games, but since then I've been too ambitious and ended up unable to finish in time. SO this time around my goal is to make something simple, solid and FINISHED. I hope you'll play it when it's done :)

I really like the one item one, as well as the automation one, actually. I can work with just about all of these, so I sure hope you all can too! Good luck, we have less than 2 days until we go!

IT IS JUST A BAD VERSION OF LUDUM DARE 30 CONNECTED WORLDS.

thx.

Fortunately the themes that made it to the final round weren't all horrible; however, I was much more critical of them so as to give my top choices a better chance.

Automation -1 - Less open to interpretation than I originally thought.

Break the cycle +1 - Although it may conclude with a lot of games of blowing up two-wheeled vehicles, it could be fun.

Control the environment, not the player -1 - I only downvoted this because it didn't have a chance of winning anyway and if I downvoted it it would give the other themes a slightly better chance or something.

Each playthrough builds on the last +1 - By the final round, I have quite a few ideas on how this could work.

Everything grows -1 - Would be better if something grew but not everything

It only changes when you aren't looking -1 - This is just not a very good theme.

Sacrifices must be made -1 - Way too vague; describes maybe 40% of all games.

Absorb your enemies 0 - This would be rather amusing to play around with.

Darkness is your friend -1 - "Darkness" means exactly two things: "The partial or total absence of light" or "Wickedness or evil."

Don't trust the game -1 - Leads to a lot of cheesy gimmicks in which the instructions tell you something that you specifically need to not do.

Magic, but at what cost? -1 - Basically just "Magic" but slightly better.

Making connections - FREAKING +1 - My personal favorite theme overall due to the massive versatility of it.

One item, many uses +1 - My second favorite theme next to the above; the said item can be a vast number of things and it has an equally vast number of uses.

Take one, leave one -1 - I would have rated this higher but it's not nearly as good as some of the other themes.

Two connected worlds -1 - Basically "Making Connections" except confusing and much more limiting.

Evolve +1 - In the screenshot I accidentally had this marked at [0]; this is actually a really powerful theme.

Hi this is my first Ludum Dare, I just hope that i can actually get at least 1 part of a game.

THIRD TIMES THE CHARM!!

The last two game jams I've done ended the exact same way, only about 50% finished by the end of the jam. Since the last jam I've participated in I've worked fairly hard on prototyping and ideating, so I feel like I can definitely get something out quickly this time.

THE TOOLS I SHALL USE: - Love2D - Aesprite (My trust steed @Dozabro is busy with crazy school stuff, so I may be doing my own art for the first time) - Photoshop - Some sorta music stuff (Beepbox maybe?) - My creative spirit

I am super determined to get something done this weekend, good luck to everybody!

Looking forward to this weekend, and I hope the Theme will allow for a Christmas type of game. As always, I will wait to see if I will do the Jam or Compo. I am very excited that my son is going to join this time and build his own game. Wish @gamingvoidplayz. Good Luck to everyone!

Cheers!

The Tools:

• Godot 3
• PyxelEdit
• Sfxr
• Bosca Ceoil

I never expected that theme to make it into the final round!

Mine are Prelude of the Chambered (nostalgic to a certain year and emotionally significant) and Angry Tracks (spooky game, cheeky).

I'm in for Ludum Dare 43. I will be doing my usual: web-based game (JavaScript, HTML, CSS), probably with pixel graphics (using Pickle or Photoshop), probably with no sound, and probably using some libraries like RocketBoots, Pixi, AStar, etc.

I am hoping to make some kind of a "top-down" 2d type game with building elements, but if it looks like I won't have much time I'll resort to making an incremental/click game.

I would be very happy with any theme that comes out of this... In the end, I was just voting for my favorites out of a bunch of great ideas

I would like to start by saying how proud I am of y'all for voting in the best selection of finalists I've seen in quite some time.

Tools!

GameMaker Studio 2 Photoshop CS5 sfxr Audacity Alcohol

First jam I've attempted in a while. Maybe this can help reignite my muse - we'll have to see.

Looking forward to comparing what I can do in the time allotted vs what others can do..

Tools: Game Maker Studio 1.4, Asesprite, LMMS, and maybe SFXR and or BFXR.

All resources will be produced during jam to practice rapid development techniques.

I really promise I'm going to finish making a simple game.

Hey everyone! I'm looking forward to jamming with you all!!

This isn't my first rodeo, and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone makes!

May the best game win!

You can check out my social media and past entries below!

• Website
• Twitter
• itch
• Gamejolt

Ludum Dare 42

When Life Gives You Lemons

Ludum Dare 41

Super Slime Slasher Ultra

Ludum Dare 40

Cult Classic

Ludum Dare #43:

Poisons of pleasure...

• Music: Ableton
• Image: PaintShop Pro
• Sound: Audacity
• IDE: Eclipse, Eldian (my own IDE).
• Art: Pencils / Paper and a Scanner.
• Input: Keyboard, Mouse, Gamepad
• Platform: Java

2D Arcade Pixel Art focused

Jamming for now, if things go well might push for the 48.

Eat, Sleep, Ludum Dare, Repeat ...

This will not only be my first game jam but the first time I will try to actually finish a game! I am going to stream my experience on twitch if any of you will want to come and give me an advice. I am going to use Unity Engine, Bosca Ceoil and Photoshop.

Looking forward to making something for this LD. It will be my 6th entry. I'll use Unity, Photoshop, Visual Studio Code, Bfxr, and Audacity. Good luck everyone!

I get it. I'm supposed to come up with a game idea in 48 hours. Wait, what's that? I'm supposed to make a complete game in 48 hours...from scratch? My coding skills are in mothballs gathering dust and rust. I haven't made a game or coded anything significant in years. I am terrible at anything graphical. My music and sound creation skills are not much better. Make a game in 48 hours and present it to the world? I'm in.

Really excited to join again! I've been having a great time voting on the themes, and even took a stab at suggesting a few back when submissions were being taken. (Surprisingly, one of them -- "Transform your surroundings" -- showed up in round 3!)

Ludum Dare #42 this past August was my first game jam ever, and shortly afterward I wrote up a detailed postmortem dev blog post about how it went, and some lessons learned. One of the biggest items in the "things to do differently next time" section was to use an actual game engine. I had used ReactJS for my last Ludum Dare submission -- which worked reasonably well for UI stuff, but not so much for animations / sounds / general polish. And I've been using SpriteKit pretty heavily for an iPhone game I'm making, but it's not very well-suited for a game jam where ideally you'd want something that could be played directly in the browser.

So after some research and recommendations, I decided to give Godot Engine a try this time around. I've started reading the docs and playing around with it a little these last few days, and so far, I'm really loving it. But I'm also completely new to it, so part of the challenge for this Ludum Dare will be to see if I can learn an entirely new engine, and make a game with it, in the span of less than a week. It'll be interesting to see how this goes or if I'm completely biting off more than I can chew.

Normally I gravitate toward RPG mechanics and progression systems in my projects, but since I'll be going solo on a single-weekend jam using an unfamiliar engine, it'll be all the more important to keep it as simple as possible. Currently I'm thinking of aiming for something my daughters (ages 4 and 7) would be able to play and enjoy... Their latest obsessions include unicorns and slime, so I might see if I can work some of those in too depending on the final chosen theme!

This is my 3rd game jam, and I'm excited as heck. I don't really like the themes this time though. I will be using unity, paint.net, and (if it's going to be 3d) blender. I usually use obs to record clips of the game's progress and show it to my friends. Would anyone be interested in seeing them?

DDRKirby(ISQ) here, reporting that team Cocoa Moss is in for LD43! I'll be teaming with @xellaya again this time, using the usual suite of tools (Unity3D, FL Studio, etc.), along with our usual janky starter code. I've just recently updated to Unity 2018, which hopefully won't cause any issues! (knocks on wood)

This'll be my 20th time entering Ludum Dare, which is pretty exciting! By this time I've go nothing specific I'm really aiming to get out of LD, just hoping to keep on making things and experimenting.

TODOs left before the event starts: - Create the new project from my template and commit to Bitbucket - Go shopping for groceries and snacks! - Take care of one or two other unrelated things that I need to get done so I don't have to worry about them over the weekend

See you all at the starting line!

Since everybody's been giving their thoughts on the themes, I thought I'd weigh in for the final round. I'm pretty confident in my ability to come up with something I like no matter what the theme is, so the two main questions I ask myself when voting on themes are:

• Could a complete novice to both programming and game jams make something with this theme?
• Do I want to spend the three weeks after Ludum Dare playing dozens of the over 3000 games that will result from this jam?

Here's how I think the themes stack up.

0 - Automation

This theme has some versatility, but it does encourage games that are reliant on AI, which is a bit challenging for beginners (and one of my personal weak spots as a developer). It also encourages genres with more passive gameplay styles, such as tower defense and clickers, which aren't my favorite.

+1 - Break the cycle

This is a good theme because it could apply to either the gameplay or the story. There are lots of different types of cycles, both physical and social, so I think this would result in a good amount of variety.

-1 - Control the environment, not the player

I suspect that this one would also be a challenge for beginners, but that problem alone would only bring it to a 0. The main reason I really don't want this one to win is because I just spent the last two years working on a game that (mostly) fits this theme. I want to do something different!

0 - Each playthrough builds on the last

I have a feeling this one is going to lead to a lot of scope creep, especially for more narrative-driven games, but it has some interesting possibilities.

-1 - Everything grows

Part of me is voting against this because I already did LD34, where one of the two themes was "Growing" (the theme vote was tied, and I incorporated both themes into my entry). The other part of me is voting against this because the addition of "everything" makes design and implementation a lot trickier under the constraints of a game jam.

-1 - It only changes when you aren't looking

This is too mechanically specific; I'm skeptical that there would be enough variety in the entries. I'd expect to see a lot of games with Weeping-Angel-like enemies from this theme.

+1 - Sacrifices must be made

I almost gave this a 0 because the "...must be made" part strikes me as a bit unnecessary, kind of like how a lot of theme suggestions in the slaughter were "It's all about [X]" or "[X] is the key". I wish they just suggested "[X]"! But nonetheless, this is a pretty versatile theme.

-1 - Absorb your enemies

Also too mechanically specific (not all kinds of games have enemies). I'm struggling to come up with an idea that isn't a knockoff of Kirby, Katamari Damacy, or agar.io.

-1 - Darkness is your friend

There are other things that you can do with this theme, but I'd wager that at least half the entries would be stealth games. Not enough variety.

-1 - Don't trust the game

Of all the finalists, this is the one that I am most strongly against. A good designer can make a great game that deceives the player, but most of the games would be nearly guaranteed to be frustrating, unintuitive experiences.

0 - Magic, but at what cost?

Interesting, but it's a bit restrictive with regards to setting- if there's magic, it pretty much has to be a fantasy setting. I'd vote -1 if it was even more specific about setting, but I suppose there is some versatility even within the fantasy genre. If this one wins, I'd encourage participants to think beyond medievalesque settings with elves and orcs and whatnot.

+1 - Making connections

I believe this is the best theme in the finals. There are so many possible interpretations of "connections"! Are you making connections between romantic partners? Electrical components? Clues in a murder mystery? Airline flights? This theme can easily fit into any genre but still gives enough information to provide inspiration.

0 - One item, many uses

I really liked this theme at first, but I have since realized that "many uses" implies "many mechanics"- not the best theme for beginners, and (per my "I'm in" post) the exact opposite of what I want to be doing this Ludum Dare. I still think it would encourage a good amount of variety, so I won't -1 it.

0 - Take one, leave one

I've been going back and forth between 0 and +1 on this one. Is it versatile enough? Maybe... the "one" is vague enough, but it does imply a pretty specific mechanic. That mechanic could be applied to a lot of genres, though... It's certainly not a bad theme.

-1 - Two connected worlds

Like many others have mentioned, this is strikingly close to the LD30 theme (which was simply "Connected Worlds"). I didn't participate in that one, but I'd like to give its 2,538 participants and teams a chance to do something different.

-1 - Evolve

The theme for LD24 was "Evolution". Maybe the statute of limitations has passed for this theme; it was six years ago and had less than half the participants of modern Ludum Dare. However, I participated in LD24, and not only do I not want to repeat a theme I've personally done, but I also remember it being a particularly difficult theme to brainstorm for and to execute. If this one wins, maybe I can at least take solace in the fact that I get a second chance to do this theme after my first attempt turned out so poorly.

...so, what do you all think? If you can make a strong case for any of the ones I've downvoted, or against any of the ones I've upvoted, I'm open to changing my mind.

LD 43. It's about time right? After my first Ludum Dare (42) I got addicted and I'm in once again. This time I want to focus especially on music and sounds since it fell flat in my first submission YTTRE

Which tools I'm gonna use? * Engine: Unity * IDE: Rider * Graphics: Aseprite/Photoshop/Illustrator. It really depends on the artstyle * Music/Sounds: LMMS * Coffee, coffee, coffee and some beer

One of my sidegoals this year is also to release my submission as a mobile app if it suits the game within the submission phase but my biggest goal is it to finish something once again.

See you around then!

https://github.com/HybridEidolon/love2d-vore-template

it's called vore. it requires node 8+ and npm at minimum.

• "watch" build support for automatically rebuilding scripts and assets
• compile tiled maps to .lua modules
• compile moonscript sources to lua
• share a module path for lua and moonscript sources seamlessly
• compile aseprite files to animation json and sheet png
• bundle windows and mac fused executables, .love redistributable
• publish fused games directly to itch.io with butler

sorry, I can't get linux appimage fusing working before the jam. all you should need to do is use squashfs-tools to extract the love2d appimage and then append your .love file to the love, then mksquashfs the directory again. but squashfs-tools is not available on all platforms, so I have opted to avoid it for now. 7-zip on windows supports modifying squashfs archives, so you might consider that as an alternative.

I'm trying to get some other base code done (asset and module hot reloading systems for tiny-ecs in particular). that will be stored in a separate repo with just moonscript sources you can copy into your project. no guarantees though. you'll have to go pure data-driven entities to make full use of it; think storing asset paths as strings in your entities instead of image/sounddata references, system modules pure w/o side effects on require, etc.

Hey folks! I'm happy to say I'm joining this jam, making it my second Ludum Dare attempt and first time doing so working with Unity.

I figured I'd pass along some tips that even I forget sometimes:

• Take breaks. Even if it's just walking back and forth from the kitchen to get a beverage (see next tip), giving your eyes a rest and stretching will do dramatically improve your productivity!

• Keep hydrated and nourished! Whatever your beverage or snack of choice may be, make sure you have enough to enjoy during the event. :)

• Sleep is a friend that you might hate in the moment, but you'll thank yourself for getting some of it later.

• KISS. It's better to be able to add features later than to start with loads of "key components" and have them all be only half-functional or buggy.

• This kinda goes with number 1,but get some fresh air! It does wonders for the brain.

• Cliché though this may be, I'm still gonna say it: Have fun! You're doing what many others wouldn't even attempt, which makes you pretty awesome.

Good luck out there and happy jamming!

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?

Hey guys ;)

This will be my second Ludum Dare, but this time things are different :O
This time I will work all alone and with Unity instead of libGDX, so there is much to learn and to do :D

I hope I will create a game that is worth getting called as an entry :P

I wish you all happy jamming and I can't wait until it starts!

Though they weren't exactly my favorite themes out of the bunch, I think that there are some really solid choices in that list. Only one of the themes there I upvoted in it's respective round, but another look really sold some of those other themes that I 0'ed previously. While there are definitely some themes I don't want, they aren't as bad as a lot of others that were in the first 3 rounds.

https://www.strawpoll.me/16940384

Currently the top 3 is a three-way even split between: "Automation", "Sacrifices must be made" and "Take one, leave one".

That's it. I'm in for the first time, alongside @Sapphiris. I've made games for jams before, but not for a 72h jam, so I'm excited and also scared!

Will be using Game Maker for sure. PyxelEdit/Aseprite for graphics, bfxr for sound effects, FL Studio for music?

Allrighty, let's see how this goes. I'd be pretty happy if we made a functional, small game. Honestly I just want us to be able to finish it in time!

See you all and all your games ;)

In case you were wondering.

Hello everybody, this is my first tine participating, and I got a quick question. Is source code necessary for the Jam, and what exactly is it, as I found the sites description not very clear.

This is my first time Wishing us all the best of mental clarity in the coming days 🙂

Excited for tomorrow's Jam!

Heres my votes for the categories:

Twitter : https://twitter.com/ojaypopedev

I'm stoked to join my 3rd Ludum Dare! Here's hoping it goes better than the last.. I'm planning on using:

-Gamemaker 2

-FlStudio

-Aseprite

Best of luck all!

My second Ludum Dare I'm so excited for this jam

None of the themes work nicely with the idea i was hoping to work on. :cry: surely i can't be expected to generate more than one idea??

I will be teaming up with @RedRising in our first time participating. Hope the theme won't be too abstract!

After my teammate @thrainsa missed Ludum Dare for over a year, and I only joined LD42 as a relaxed composer, we're back together for a full week-end.

Thrainsa & I have jammed over 12 times together. Taking a nerd week-end off for gamedev every once in a while is a tradition for us :smiley: This time, close friend of ours Eagle is joining the fun as a game designer. And lending his place for the occasion.

We should be using Unity3D, possibly TilEd, plus Photoshop & Propellerhead Reason + Audacity.

Have fun everyone!

List of @thrainsa and @wan's shared game jams:

Our LD39 entry King of Mithril:

I'm in for my 10th Ludum Dare. Double digits! I'll be using my custom C++ game library and a variety of other tools, depending on what kind of game I make.

I've learned a lot over the previous nine LDs. Here are some tips for those of you who may be new to game jams:

• Get enough sleep. My first time participating, I only slept 6 hours during the 48 hour compo. I was basically useless the following week and I'm certain my productivity over the weekend also suffered. There's an intense time crunch with the jam, but don't let your body suffer. Get up from the computer occasionally and rest your eyes as well.

• Make sure you eat well. Don't load up on sugar and caffeine. Eat healthy and keep your mind sharp.

• Spend some time brainstorming once the theme is announced. The theme is going to suck. It always does. Don't let that stop you, but also don't settle on the first idea you have. Think outside the box.

• Once you've settled on an idea, lower your scope. Then lower it again. The weekend will fly by and you won't get nearly as much done as you'd like. The smaller your scope is, the more likely you'll have something to submit at the end. If you do end up having extra time, you can add additional features and polish.

• Get your gameplay mechanics implemented as fast as you can. Once your gameplay is there, you have something you can submit. That takes a lot of pressure off. You can then spend the rest of the jam improving and polishing.

• Stick to tools you know. There's nothing more frustrating than spending two or three of your 48/72 hours trying to figure out why this one particular thing isn't working the way you think it should. Experimenting with game mechanics is great and encouraged, but not new tools. Make sure your existing tools are ready to go and use what you're comfortable with. If you do decide to try new tools, accept that you may end up not submitting a game at the end of the contest.

• Aim for a game that can be played to completion in 5 or 10 minutes. Most people won't play for longer than that anyway, and if your game is short, more people will see all of it. Also err on the side of being too easy vs being too hard, again, to maximize the amount of your game people will be able to play and see.

• At the end of the contest, be sure to play and rate games. Give other people good, quality feedback and many will return the favor. Be honest in your review, but be kind. I always try to lead my review with something I like about the game before giving some constructive criticism if I see areas of improvement. You need at least 20 ratings to get ranked at the end of the judging period, and you'll get those by rating other games.

• Most importantly, have fun! Game jams are for learning, fueling creativity and having fun. If you're too stressed out and not enjoying yourself, you're doing it wrong.

Good luck and have fun everybody!

Excited for Ludum Dare this weekend, it will be my first, but I'm confident we can achieve this. I will be doing this with two schoolmates, all of us being apprentice programmers. We'll be using Unity for this. We are versatile on the art software depending on what will fit the theme. Good luck to everyone and have fun!

Just asking if we can use ClickTeam Fusion

Unfortunately I'm working pretty much the entire duration of the jam but to be honest I'm not all that upset about it. Last jam had pretty much no good theme suggestions and this one had loads of them. HAD is the key word there because somehow they all got voted out while "Don't trust the game" managed to get a top 10 spot right up there with "bum wiping sim" for great theme ideas

Engine: GameMaker 8.1

Graphic: Paint Tool Sai 1 + traditional materials

Music: Bosca Ceoil

Sound Effects: actually i dunno, maybe i'll get it from free sound libraries. Or maybe some of you can suggest me tools for making it myself?

Right now i'm working in GameMaker, i haven't use it for a long time. But anyway my plans are to make a game with 1 core mechanic which will reflect the theme.

-Unity for Game Making

-Studio One 2 For Music

-Visual Studio For Code In C#

-Audacity and Maybe Youtube For Sound

-My Brain... ;)

-Piskel or Gimp For Graphics

Hey all,

this will be my second ludum dare (last one was a few years back). Here is what I will be using

-Unity

-Blender for models and texturing

-Photoshop and illustrator for art and textures, maybe pyxel

-Visual Studio for code

-Ableton Live 9 for music, possibly sound

-Pro Sound Collection and Game Music Stingers and UI SFX Pack Pack 2 for sound

I'm soloing so we shall see how this goes!