My 7th Ludum dare jam and got my worst scores overall nearly every category...depressing

Guys I can't even express my gratitude for all your glowing reviews. Thank you all so much! Josh and I worked very hard on crafting a soothing, zen experience that people would enjoy playing with loved ones (or alone!).

Wow. I'm actually so thunderstruck by this haha.

If you're interested in seeing more from us in the future please check out our Twitters:

twitter.com/flightyfelon :bird: twitter.com/qkjosh :bird:

Josh is currently working on a game called Moonflight, which deserves all the hype! So please go check him out.

See you all next Jam!

Ludum Dare #41 - Post Entry Write Up

Conceptualization

We imposed the limit of only a few hours to spend on this and made this a priority of Friday evening. Determined to settle on a concept that had a lot of potential, fit the theme, and provided a level of scope that was doable became our top priority in the dare’s first few hours.

Quickly, we began coming up with genre combos that made us laugh or delivered some kind of inspiration. We got stuck on the idea of doing an 80s era text-based RPG around several truly incompatible genres, including sports, replete with cardinal directions based navigation, old-timey names for other characters, and old rpg flavor text that’s pseudo formal.

The idea for Modern Fairway was sort of cemented we we discussed how to mix and equal amount of FPS with an equal amount of golf. The best idea came to us when we nailed down the mechanical mix- shoot the golf ball with FPS weapons. Using FPS theming for the menus, sound, and UI assets juxtaposed against the cutesy golf look sold it for us, and we knew the jarring difference between art styles would only raise the impact of the humor.

Framework

Saturday - Begin 6am Terrain Generation FPS Engine Ball + Physics Main Menu Graphics Logo and Button Design Terrain Sculpting

We decided to drop the load out screen as it didn’t bring anything meaningful to the actual game.

Sunday - Begin 3am Create win condition Create second environment as level two Trawl internet for free use music and sfx for menus and during gameplay Amass free use low-poly models to populate course with

Monday - Begin 6am Sculpt paths in terrain Populate terrains Lighting UI tweaks Build Credits scene Screencaps + video footage for social media posts Post game Run Dread game as promised like a FOOL

Prioritization

We prioritized anything that served the Ludum Dare theme and/or built on humor. We trimmed or let go of ideas that didn’t directly offer payoffs in these two priorities. We specifically made the text and menus as dramatic and over the top as possible so that it would play off the cute, low poly look of the golf courses and in-play music.

In addition to the load out screen concept we had, we also had to trim extending the variety of weapons in the game. A true scoring system also didn’t quite make the cut.

Obstacles

Our biggest hurdle by far was distribution of skills paired with the stipulation of not purchasing assets and the absolutely oppressive time crunch. We’ve differentiated our skills as much as possible but neither of us are artists. We relied on free commercial use assets, models, sound, fonts, and music when we needed. All assets were used with permission.

What Went Right

Our ratings have surpassed our expectation. What we completed during the dare period is not complete, but stands alone well. Social Media/Marketing outreach. No bug-fixes or improvements have been made to the game after submission. Many people have offered well crafted critiques should we push forward with the game Networked with several devs on various social media.

What Went Wrong

Several UI bugs that we did not have time to fix Floating tree/cactus models that we didn’t have time to fix Terrain Size Lack to time to familiarize ourselves with FPS games and their typical feel, leading to mouse sensitivity issues.

Final Takeaway and Results

Rankings are up now and we were very pleased with the results:

406th Overall (3.6 avg rating of 82) which is the top 13% of all games and top 21% of games that ranked. 362nd in Fun (3.5 avg from 82) 200nd in Innovation (3.788 avg from 82) 57th in Theme (4.341 avg from 84) which is top 3% of ranking games 80th in Humor (3.987 avg from 80) which is top 4% of ranking games 349th in Mood (3.545 avg from 80)

Total Ludum Dare Submissions: 3050 (Jam: 2019, Compo: 1031) Total Ranking Games: 1898

Ludum Dare was definitely challenging but I take some pride in knowing that we were organized and crafted a workable scope that allowed us to finish a salient product within the time limit with limited resources. Even though we are still before the official judging period, we’re happily surprised by the response we’ve been getting and the connections we’ve forged during the rating phase.

If we decide to do another Ludum Dare- which is probably likely, though maybe not the next one- we’ll likely try to implement the same mode of attack, so to speak. Conceptualization was highly satisfying as was submitting a mostly finished product.

We want to leave Ludum Dare #41 with a shout out to all the cool people we've met here, who've carefully critiqued and commented on our game and whose game's we commented on. Ludum Dare #41 hinges heavily on its community and it was a really great experience working with and connecting with all you designer/devs. As always, hit us up on twitter --> @SoftDutch and see you next jam!

DARK SOIL, our LD41 entry that merges Dark Souls with a garden game got 1st place Overall, silver medal in Graphics, bronze medal in Fun and 12th place in Audio! We still can't believe it :o

Play DARK SOIL

From the Dark Soil Team, thank you so much, there were so many amazing game, one of the best gamedev community ever for sur ! See you soon on a next LD !

PS : That's the 3rd time I worked on a game that got Gold Medal Overall in Team category, thank you so much <3

Pietro Ferrantelli - Game Design, Programmation Twitter : PietroFerrantel

Sylvain Guerrero - Game Design, Programmation & Tech Art Twitter : Zylvaingue

Robin Chafouin - Character Design & Animations Twitter : NoNameNoSocks

Joachim Leclerc - Environment Art, Title & UI Twitter : MoJo

Boris Warembourg - Music & SoundDesign Twitter : GrizzlyCogs

Thanks so much! Out of thousands of games, this is awesome! Nearly the top 20s in Mood, and nearly the top 100s in Innovation!

I'm glad the feel of the game got through to you guys. I have an Extended Version up! I watched several streamers play my game, got their feedback as well as many others, and molded the game accordingly. I also added some new things to add to the feel of the game, adjusted the difficulty, and added a little more to the story. You can play it here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/operator. Thanks again :).

There were really good and interesting games

I really enjoyed it

* Thanks*

This was an amazing experience! I got a lot of fun coding this mix of an arcade and card game.

Thank you for your feedback, I am now working on an new post Ludum Dare version!

New features :

• A new intuitive UI and 3D graphics :
• A shop to buy new powerups and special characters :
• New mechanics ( fold, blackjack mode, roulette gameplay )
• An official Android release
• And....... a Multiplayer mode !

For more updates about the post ludum dare release, follow me on:

Twitter
Facebook

Thank everyone for playing and participating in Ludum Dare (twice to those, who crossed my game), especially those who commented (twice to those, who comment and rate ... as just rating is pretty much pointless).

See you in August!

First, recapitulating: Blind Faith is a stealth god game. You are a deity. Your worshipers always thought you were invisible, which is unfortunately not true. So, you must do your god things while hiding from your worshipers, as being seen would reduce the faith they have on you.

Recapitulating even further to the past: "This time I’ll try to come up with something simpler, and spend more time making it more enjoyable. Let’s see how it will go!" Aaaand, I failed miserably. Or did I?

• Blind Faith is still too complex for a compo game. All the compo games I really enjoyed playing were simple, but quite polished and well-balanced. I simply cannot do this with a game as complex Blind Faith (or Metal Fear, for that matter). But, hey!, I don't want to make simpler games! So, should I forgive myself for this? Yeah, maybe. After all, this is all for fun, right? Right. But I still know that going simple and polished would be a wonderful exercise -- one that I must do some day, either in my next LD or in my "normal free time".
• I spent too much time doing the graphics. But, hey!, I had just got a new drawing table, and had a lot of fun using it. I forgive myself on this one.
• The game is not enjoyable. Maybe some people could enjoy it a bit, but most people wouldn't (and for good reasons). I'd say the biggest issue was that most players wouldn't know what to do. Metal Fear was better in this regard: the very concept was more familiar to the players, and I even added some tips in each screen, explaining the mechanics as new elements were introduced. I'll count this as a lesson learned.
• On the positive side, and still related with enjoyability, I think Blind Faith is much more successful than Metal Fear in giving feedback to the player. The players might not know what to do, but (generally) I think they know what is happening!

So, what about the scores? This time I opted out of Mood and Humor (incidentally, humor was my best score for Metal Fear). In the other categories I improved my score and ranking:

• Overall: 3.146 (up from 2.328)
• Fun: 2.708 (up from 2.438). So, while not really funny it is funnier than my previous entry.
• Innovation: 3.739 (up from 2.453). My best score. I liked the idea, indeed. Maybe I could try to work further on it.
• Theme: 3.583 (up from 2.75). OK, fair. I not-so-humbly think the concept was 5-stars in regards to the theme, but 3.5 is very good for the execution.
• Graphics: 3.28 (up from 2.094). Quite an improvement, but I really hope to spend less time on graphics next time.
• Audio: 3.104 (up from 2.71). Not bad for a theme song played on a kazoo and a Pilates ball! And this time I even had the time to make the audio play from both speakers!

All in all, again, I am very pleased with the results, the overall LD experience and with the learning! Thanks so much for everyone who player Blind Faith and left comments!

Thanks to all who took the time to provide some valuable feedback. I'll make use of it when working on the post jame version :wink:

Gimme a follow on Twitter if a (multiplayer) bullethell squash sound like your cuppa tea.

But I joined the jam anyways:

I'm glad I did.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/the-imaginary-room

Woah! :O Thanks so much everyone who voted and played Darkade !! This was an awesome LD with a heap of great games. Whoever suggested the theme, I grant you three wishes! As soon as I become a magical fish!

See you in August!

Meanwhile, | _

Thank you very much!!! I am extremely happy and thankful for the results!

After 12 entries I have finally made a nice game haha!

I will probably write more about the game itself later, right now I am just feeling :)

Here are the final results for Type 'n Jump!

Thank you so much everyone! We learned a lot during this journey!

We hope you had as much fun as we had!

See you guys soon!

Feel free to add us on our social media and keep in touch with us, we'd love to keep in touch with other devs!

Richard Nunes da Silva​

Eduardo Scheffler​

I hope those who tried Honest Dan's Trout will remember the frustrations it caused them!

Very pleased to be within top 100 in a few categories - but even more pleased with the many kind words that I've received in over 200 reviews of the game. It's so rewarding when you think about the time people took to play and hearing about their experiences and the joy (or frustration!) it brought to them.

This isn't my first Ludum Dare. For those of you who feel disappointed by your ranking - try not to take things to heart. There is always going to be a lot of variance in rankings; when some games come 1st with 150+ ratings, and others come 1st with 20 ratings... but there isn't anything you can do about that. Be proud of your own efforts, read the feedback you got from others and think of the positive experiences and accomplishments this game jam has given you.

Stay classy all, and if any of you want to keep in touch with my development, I stream daily on twitch. Links below.

Twitch Twitter

PLAY TROUT

I'm so friggen ecstatic! For my very first jam, I think this went super well!

I'm super happy with the results for the FUN category. That's the one that mattered to me the most at this stage. The graphics are just placeholders (in hindsight, probably should have opted out of graphics since it's all just blocks), and the theme is more of a suggestion, but the fact that people found the base game fun is the best result I could ask from a 48 hour prototype!

I'll be spending my time before the next jam polishing this prototype (already gotten started! You can see it below). I can't thank you all enough for your feedback! I feel so energized, and I can't wait to come back in August to do it all again!

Thank you all!

Thank you very much for your feedback on our game. We really appreciate it. Too bad we were not able to implement all the stuff we wanted to. We will do better next jam.

We decided to bring out our game CornWars and we appreciate your help (sharing or caring ;) ) for it! We started a kickstarter campaign - Feel free to have a look and ask any questions.

See you in August for LD42 - Be prepared!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/ld41-1

The image links to our kickstarter campaign!

Elite Beat Zombygons

Just wanted to post for anyone that may be interested... I've made some changes to my game based on the user comments I received. Thanks for another great Ludum Dare! Looking forward to the next one...

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/order-up