This'll be my second Ludum Dare. I'm gonna make a better game than I did before!

I'll most likely use Unity. Animations: Spriter Artwork: Photoshop Audio/Music: Possibly FL Studio Code; Visual Studio 2017

Might as well give it another crack. :)

Life seems to have gotten in the way, during the last few Jams. But this time it is lining up well. Now let's hope to get a decent theme.

• Godot3
• Aseprite
• Real instruments (recorded for music)
• Audacity
• Misc. Items for FX

Here's to grabbing my towel and not panicking! This is my second LD, schedule permitting. I'll likely be joining the comp rather than jam as it fits better for me, though I'll be pushing for the jam. I'm planning on using: - Gamemaker Studio 1.4 - FLStudio for music/sound - Inkscape or Aseprite depending on art style

Here's to another great jam!

Much better this time. I'm not going to post exactly what I put, mostly because I'm still changing them, but overall much happier with them. "Decay" in particular is one of my favourites! I'm slightly more optimistic than I was from the previous round :wink:

Switching from Unity to Godot and now decided to use Game Maker Studio 2. Hope it goes well!

Could someone explain please?

Thanks.

Light is Key (+1): Down voted at first, found out it was pretty clever. Besides the Light is used as a key, or a game with light as main mechanics, this is also a term in photography (key light). So there are quite a few things you can do with this with different directions to think about.

Evolve (-1): We had something similar a couple of years back (Evoland anyone?). It is one of was one of my favourite LDs with many creative entries, although I didn't join that one. But it being a repetition should be a down vote.

You start with everything and end with nothing (-1): Pretty much the reverse of a theme in round 1. Again, everything and nothing are quite hard limitations, so a grain of salt must be added. This has the pro that I don't think we will see a lot of Minecraft clones, but I think we will see pretty much the same as with Decay, which is a better version of this theme for me, that is a bit less sharp on the edges.

Four elements (0): There are actually at least 118 elements, you dummy. But in all seriousness, I think this theme has some potential, but we will see a lot of Alchemy games (I believe another rather large jam had this as a theme.), and maybe some Magicka demakes. So I've got to go with zero points.

Decay (0): The better version of You start with everything and end with nothing, with a bit less strict nothing-everything rules. (Typical clickbait words) But has some Running our of Power vibes, which is the theme we had ~12 months ago. In direct version I think we will see some half-life (scientific, not game) mechanics, which could be interesting and maybe some rotting bodies (potentially walking around). But I fear nothing really special.

Use the enemies to win (-1): I think a lot of people don't want to have enemies in their games... Although if you vote for it maybe you can become my enemy, and I can make a game about themes.

Duplication (0): I think this could be really interesting, however I fear that most games will have really similar mechanics. I do think that such mechanics can have different nuances so it's an okayish theme.

Expanding environment (0): Similar to It's Spreading from round 1, but with a emphasis on the positive side of it and a limitation where "It" is an environment of sorts. Due to these differences I think it's worse and deserves a lower score.

Safe in the dark (0): Safe implies danger, and maybe I don't want danger. But still the light/dark idea has some potential for some interesting mechanics and settings. So I'm not gonna fully dismiss this one.

Tiny machines (-1): So you're still there, eh? You pesky theme. I don't feel we need another Tiny or Small variation and machines are quite limiting too. So I still (after many rounds) don't see potential in this one.

3 Rules (0): I can come up with a lot of really interesting ideas (not sharing, I feel they are quite good). But I do think something with rules in it will scare away quite a few people, we game devs like our freedom.

You can't control the player (0): This either doesn't make sense. You are the player, but you don't control it. Or the main character is not controlled by you, which makes the main character not the player, because you don't control it. Or is this Fate vs Destiny in disguise? Either way I think due to the ambiguity of it, and thus multiple interpretations, I'll just give it the neutral treatment and hope for many creative ideas if it makes it the the end.

Alchemy & Magic (-1): Like a said earlier, Alchemy was a recent theme in another big jam, I don't like people doing direct ports or improving on those ideas during this jam. This is for original ideas and learning (in my opinion). Also I feel that Alchemy is a kind of magic, so the implied equality of the two is kind of weird to me, but that could be a matter of perspective.

Four-colour palette (0): A bit better than the "Colour as gameplay feature" from the previous round. But not enough for a full 1. It can be used for both art and mechanics, so I guess that works. But I feel such a limitation will put off a lot of people. So for artists, just be a bit lenient and use 20 shades of each C, M, Y and K (or whatever your colours are). Or work together with you programmer and designer to make something really awesome with colours. Desigers will probably already use colours quite a bit in their designs, so tweak that a bit.

What you create you must destroy (+1): Being Creative Lesson 1: Do not ever destroy your creations, even if you think it's the ugliest, stupidest, inspirationlessest idea ever, you might regret it later, when you wanted to reuse some of it. Of course if your creations turn against you, it's another story. there are quite a few ways to approach this, so it think it's decent.

One of you is a traitor (-1): Implies multiple entities that are capable of treason. I think that is quite limiting. This reminds me of some old LD "You are the monster!" games where you had to find a murderer in a crowd.

Hi! I'm in for Ludum Dare 42. It's been a while since I've done it, this place sure has changed!

I'll be using Photoshop, Game Maker and FL Studio. Looking forward to it!

Are you on Twitter? What's your handle? I want to follow more people doing LD! Let's be friends!

Here's mine for those interested.

So, I'm the opposite of a musician, but I would like to try to make my own music for a game. Do you have any suggestions for an easy music software? Something for action, ambient but sound effects as well.

Thanks :)

Hi all! Ludum Dare was so lovely the first time around that I've decided to do it again; birdpun is back and working at beak performance! I'll be going at it solo this time as a fun challenge to myself. Very excited to see what everyone is going to make!

That is all

Light is key (0) - Meh. I like using light and there is still enough variety, still it seems oddly limiting and I don't think I would like most games based around this theme.
Evolve (+1) - Usually I wouldn't have given this a plus, but since there are so few themes I like, I guess I gave it a plus.
You start with everything and end with nothing (0) - hm. Sure it's a twist, it leaves enough space... but it's just not terribly exciting.
Four elements (-1) - overused.
Decay (+1) - originally gave this a 0, but actually quite like this.
Use the enemies to win (-1) - too specific. People keep suggesting similar things thought.
Duplication (0) - meh. Expanding environment (0) - meh.
Safe in the dark (+1) - Might actually be a tad too specific, but could be fun.
Tiny machines (+1) - Probably a really bad idea. And yet, I just like these ideas.
3 Rules (0) - Lots of possibilities. Could be mechanical (as in go) or narrative (as in asimovs laws of robotics), but otherwise a bit bland.
You can't control the player (-1) - Themes that make jam games more clunky are just not a good idea.
Alchemy & Magic (+1) - not very original, but I never got around to making a dedicated alchemy game and always wanted to. So yea selfish plus.
Four-colour palette (-1) - nope. almost the same as four elements, but more restrictive and in a way I dislike.
What you create you must destroy (0) - meh.
One of you is a traitor! (0) - Nice idea, sounds like werewolf or mafia, but most ideas are multiplayer based and thus it might not be the most suitable for everyone.

Round 2 is here! Another round of opinions coming up.

Light is Key (+1) : I'm really intrigued to see what ideas may come about with this theme. All it tells us is that light should be the vocal point of your game and I like that. I think we can see a wide Variety of ideas stemming from this theme.

Evolve (+1) : Ideas based around cells or creatures will be plentiful but it gets really interesting thinking how people may implement these ideas into their game, that's definatly where most of the creativity will come from. Though it is slightly vague (as many games have evolving in some form (yes, progression trees count)), great ideas will truly shine with this theme.

You start with everything and end with Nothing (-1) : Too specific.

Four Elements (0) : I'm not sure whether I'm too convinced by the forced "4" amount. I think it would narrow down many ideas into the obvious "Water, Air, Fire and Earth" category. The "Elements" part interests me, as there can be a few ideas around 'what' these elements could be. This is a theme that allows me to incorporate it into a story or into the gameplay, nice.

Decay (+1) : Originally had it as a 0, however when I read it as "decay-ing" my mind was instantly filled with ideas. Maybe a game where __ is decaying and you have to stop it from decaying. How about your character is decaying and you become weaker as the game goes on? How about a decaying world? This is a very good theme imo.

Use the enemies to win (-1) : I think this theme is dumb. This theme doesn't tell me anything it's just forcing me to confine my game idea. Nope.

Duplication (0) : Very much a gameplay theme. I'm not always a fan of that , however this theme can have a good set of ideas based around it.

Expanding Environment (-1) : Too vague. Tells me nothing.

Safe in the dark (-1) : The "Safe" part ruins this theme. I'd rather have "Light is Key" as a light based theme. While Light is Key only tells us what Light 'is' (key), here it's specifically telling us what should happen in the dark instead of letting us fill in that blank ourselves.

Tiny machines (-1) : Automation is an objectively better theme that isn't so specific. I'm not sure why the size of the machines is specified, not like it springs more ideas in my mind, it just pointlessly adds more specifications. Also what is and isn't a "tiny machine" can be interpreted differently on a person to person basis.

3 Rules (-1) : Wow! The very definition of forced game rules on the developer! No!

You can't control the player (-1) : No.

Alchemy & Magic (0) : Again more of an idea that will have different forms of implementations rather than concepts. Sadly Alchemy ruins this theme. Magic could have been interesting though vague, however there could have been a better limiter than "Alchemy".

Four-colour palette (-1) : Stupid, stupid, stupid.

What you create you must destroy (0) : Originally -1 but decided to stay neutral on this one. Destroy can mean "clean", "explode", "kill" some fun stuff here. Also, what am I creating? Bullets, dirt, blocks? I think this can be a fun limitation to mess around with though not one I want to personally work with.

One of you is a traitor! (-1) : Non theme. Murder Mystery Game.

What are your thoughts. (Also, sorry for the probably terrible spelling in some parts, in Germany right now with German autocorrect)

Is anybody to organize a meetup on the East coast of USA? Please write here.

It’d be great if you could comment your twitter or instagram handles; I’m still relatively new to the community and would love to check out the works of fellow devs! - Twitter here - Instagram here

I haven't voted yet but I always enjoy reading everyone's takes on the themes and some of the ways that you like and dislike them. It is always eye opening to hear other takes on themes and sometimes a statement someone makes sparks an idea that I like when previously I couldn't come up with anything.

I'm not one to complain about the theme but there have been a couple in the past that I've had lots of trouble coming up with an idea for. The pre-theme discussion helps to get in the creative zone immensely. Thanks everyone!

I'll be returning from a 4-days metal festival on sunday evening (Brutal Assault, anyone of you there too?), so I'll pretty much only have a hungover Monday to create a game. :)
Still, I'm super excited and it's gonna be a valuable lesson in scoping (all the way down ^^).
I'll be using Unity, GIMP, FL Studio and probably my own little Unity Library, that doesn't contain much yet, but has a few helpful classes and stuff: https://github.com/Erkberg/UnityLibrary (feel free to also use it and / or leave feedback what I could add / improve)
Looking forward to jammin', let's do this!

So first, that's my first 'real' Ludum Dare. So glad I could participate ! Secondly, I just wanted to publish my round 2 list. Nothing much to say appart for the "safe in the dark". If anybody wan't to talk, I'm there ! don't by shy 😘 !

Round 2.png