Oh look, the last lot of themes. It's a shame they are all bad. I can't think of anything positive to say about any of them, and I usually try to find a silver lining in everything :sweat_smile: I genuinely hope none of these themes win.

it's not a bug it's a feature: -1. Having to explain that something is not broken is bad for any game, let alone a whole game built around it.

you can't save them all: -1. Too limiting.

you are the final boss: -1. What if you don't want to make a game that involves combat? Too limiting.

Death is useful: -1. Too limiting.

Find it, protect it: -1. No.

Shadows: 0. Not terrible, but at the same time it's a bit boring.

Light is dangerous: -1. Similar to the one above, but more limiting.

The game rules change after each failure: -1. I'd score this far lower if possible, that's just a bad idea.

Floating islands: -1. Boring.

The more you use an action, the worse it will perform: 0. Again, not terrible but pretty boring

You control the environment, not the player: -1. Repeat of "you can't control the player" but somehow even worse

Craft your own magic: -1. too limiting, again

I have been here before: 0. I can't think of any positives or negatives for this one. It just is.

You are not the main character: -1.

Shelter: 0

Night is coming: 0

I spend the last two months watching game jams and postmortem reports, it was so uplifting. Cuz I make games all the time, but never find an excuse to finish them, so it seems futile to resurrect my old projects. Maybe i could for this occasion. This time I'll use:

Blender (for 3D), Photoshop/Illustrator (for 2D), Blender Game Engine, Bosca Ceoil (maybe?)

Good luck to everyone! Happy coding!

I'm super excited, and I can't wait to play everyone's game!

Is it recommended to do LD42 as a team?

I voted for You Can't Save Them All for obvious reasons (see my games tab).

Please write here if you plan any meetups, I think that the official post is a bit late.

Gosh, what an atrocious set of themes. This marks my first voting round where I haven't +1'd a single theme. Well, here goes:

*It's not a bug it's a feature (-1): *Trash.

*You can't save them all (0): *Not, terrible. It adds an interesting twist on the usual "You Won at Everything!" message we get at the end of most games. However, it doesn't give me many interesting ideas or concepts. Bit subjective.

*You are the final boss (-1): *A more specific and even worse version of "You are the enemy". Specifying that you are not only 'a' boss but also the 'final' boss kind of ruins it for me even more. If it was just the previously mentioned theme this is clearly inspired from it would've gotten a 0.

*Death is useful (-1): *Non-theme (rogue lite), also too vague.

*Find it, Protect it (-1): *Too Gameplay specific. I also don't like how it sounds more like an order than a theme, though that's a bit of a personal qualm.

*Shadows (-1): *Vague one-word theme.

*Light is dangerous (-1): *Same as 'Safe in the Dark' from yesterday.

*The game rules change after ea.. (-1): *God, what a sentence, specific, tells me a mechanic. Trash.

*Floating Islands (0): *Floating is a random pointless requirement that ruins an otherwise workable 'place' theme. Otherwise if 'floating' was slashed it could have been a good theme.

*The more you use an action, the worse it will perform (-1): *LAWL TOO FUNNY.

*You control the environment not the character (0): *It got a +1 last time round. Now I realised it could force many games to have unfun game mechanics. Though it is workable otherwise.

*Craft your own magic (-1): *Game mechanic, not a theme.

*I have been here before (-1): *Vague as all balls.

*You aren't the main character (-1): *Someone already made a post on how this theme is physically impossible to implement.

*Shelter (0): *Could be interpreted as "Taking Shelter" or "Protect the Shelter" some interesting stories or mechanics can come from this but it's not my taste.

*Night is coming (-1): *Day and night cycle. Vague.

Let's hope none of these themes go through.

*It's not a bug, it's a feature (-1) *- How is this a theme? This has long stopped being original or funny as a comment, but as a game theme? The only outcome I can imagine, is that every bug (and there are a lot of bugs in jamgames by nature) get's blamed on the the theme in a forced trying to be funny way, so: No, thanks.
*You can't save them all (-1) *- can be a solid gameplay feature, but having hundreds of games based upon this concept? I wouldn't wanna play a dozen of those.
*You are the final boss (+1) *- technically a bit restrictive as in "there has to be a boss", but if interpreted loosely enough, it's easy to stay true to this themes in a bunch of ways besides the obvious. I see especially strong narrative options with these, as in overcoming lethargy, self doubt, etc.
*Death is useful (-1) *- a good perspective for a specific type of game, btu not a good theme overall.
*Find it, protect it (-1) *- to sepecific.
*Shadows (+1) *- probably a bit to vague, but I like it =)
*Light is dangerous (0) * - a strictly worse version of the many light/darkness based themes already in the race, including "shadows".
*The game rules change after each failure (-1) *- nice gimick, but a) not a theme, b)if to be pulled off well not very suited for jamgames and c) too specific.
*Floating islands (+1) *- not original, but I like it.
*the more you use an action the worse it will perform (-1) *- too specific, too restrictive. This can be a good ability-management/balancing feature, but for many games this wouldn't apply very well.
*You control the environment, not player (-1) *- too restrictive.
*Craft your own magic (+1) *- a magic-based theme I actually like. Good job.
*I have been here before (-1) *- ominous sounding stuff can make good themes. But this is just too dull.
*You are not the main character (0) *- why do so many people want to do this theme all the time? Or is just one person suggesting it over and over? It's not really bad (a bit restrictive in regards to gametypes), but not really inspiring either.
*Shelter (+1) *- Solid suggestion. Mechanical as well as narrative options to use this. Many possibilities to build upon it, yet few restrictions. So far one of my favorites.
*Night is coming (0) *- hm. Sounds like a GoT-rip-off. Quite a few possibilities, but meh.

So I guess that is it! My favorit themes from rounds 1-3 are: * Shadows (Round 3) * Shelter (Round3) * Decay (Round 2) * Fragil (Round 1)

I guess I like flavorful, yet unspecific one word themes, huh? I wouldn't have thought that of myself but it kinda looks like it =)

Runner ups for me were: * Dying planet/Ancient world * Two points of view * Craft your own magic * Alchemy (& Magic)

Looking forward to the final round =]

I am very excited about this because this is my first LD.

If you wan to join us add me on Discord bombonjera007#8755

this is actually kinda sad

I was really excited to do my first ludum dare a month ago but these themes are astronomically bad... idk how ill survive

The only one on this list that I would actually maybe make a game for would be floating islands... I mean at least it is a theme and not a restriction like the rest of them. although its kind of a restrictive theme in a way because the only type of game people would make are platformers... which means the only way out is to make a game that isn't a platformer... so actually this theme is restrictive too! please let the final voting be our savior! idk how it can though it seems like everybody is having the same comments as I am

Here are my thoughts on the 3rd round of theme voting:

My favorite was probably "You control the environment, not the player."

Tools: - Godot (main development) - GIMP, Inkscape, Piskel, MagicaVoxel, Blender, and Krita (graphics and animation) - FL Studio, Audacity, BeepBox, and SFXR (audio)

Good luck to everyone!

It's been a long time since my last LD. I was confused for a second when I first opened the new site! (Do people still do I'm in posts?)

Tools: IDE: Game Maker 2 Music: FL Studio and Bfxr Art: Fireworks and Krita

Good Luck everyone!

In all seriousness though, why is there always so much complaint about the theme? It's almost as traditional as the "I'm in" posts before the competition. Remember that even seemingly restrictive themes can have a lot of leeway in their interpretation.

Take, for example, "Shelter": Is the shelter physical, emotional, or something else entirely? Is the shelter one specific thing, or are there multiple? How effective is the shelter? Does it change over time? Are there multiple things that need sheltering? Are there any drawbacks to utilizing the shelter?

Or, "Floating Islands": All that the theme implies is that there should be "islands" and they should be "floating". What are the islands made of? What is on the islands? Why are they floating? What are they floating on? How difficult is it to get between them? Is the floating a problem, or is it desirable? What separates the islands? Do they interact with each other?

Remember that there are "theme" and "innovation" categories for a reason. If the theme seems to point to one specific kind of game, get a little creative with your interpretation. If it doesn't, then what's the problem? You can make your game as abstract or emotional, as intense or relaxing, and as simple or intricate as you want. The theme is just the flavor of the competition, and how you use it is entirely up to you.

Theme voting undefined.

Do you use a Python + JS stack for web development, Mike? That's probably the worst choice ever.

It looks as if the final round of voting will include the most voted for themes of rounds 1-3. Is that right?

Hey, is there anyone who would want to jam in Miami? Just askin'.

My first ludum dare I got 760th place I just barely made it though. My second I got 296th place with around 70 comments giving feedback and genuinely enjoying my game. This one I'm going for top 100. Good luck to everyone entering!

Yeah, I agree that they are very mediocre as Immortan Joe would say - "MEDIOCRE!".

They are lackluster at best and my votes reflected this mediocrity as well. Not many of them are intriguing and feel stale in a stressful way.

My thought processes were:

It’s not a bug it’s a feature - It's possible to get creative with this twist, but it feels like a poor excuse to make a low-quality game.

You can't save them all - Then what's the point of winning? Burn this down.

You are the final boss - I get to be a villain? Sounds cool.

Death is useful - Too vague and boring. It really depends on how do you make death useful. Pass.

Find it, protect it - Basically an escort mission or finding MacGuffin shit kind of story. Pass.

Shadows - May sounds too vague for some, but not a bad idea.

The game rules change after each failure - It gets my vote for sounding challenging, but not entirely fitting for a 48/72 hours game.

Floating islands - I could imagine that most entries were a bunch of Laputa: The Castle in the Sky knock-offs. Pass.

You control the environment, not player - So the environment is the player, not the protagonist. I like that.

Craft your own magic - Sounds good on a paper, but too challenging for me.

I have been here before - I have no ideas for making games that invoke the deja-vu feeling.

You are not the main character - Too similar to "You are the final boss". But it still gets my vote.

Shelter - Like "taking shelter" or "protecting shelter"?

Night is coming - What night? Dark night? Stormy night? M. Night Shyamalan? Is this the Game of Thrones reference? Pass.

Okay. Some of them at least have merits but felt like they have done a gazillion of times before.

This person is depressed by them. And this user hates (almost) all of them. And there are some people who tried to stay optimistic on the themes.

As you can see, I am one of the people who tried to be optimistic but can agree that they should have put more thought into them.

What can the LD theme submission be improved? Which factor that made users submit half-assed ideas? How did we come to this? What are better ways to make people suggest creative ideas?

What's your thought on this?

I was quite excited for ludum dare but due to some unfortunate incidents, I am gonna have to create a game in a unfamiliar Operating System (Linux) and in a new Game Engine (Godot 3). Since i running linux from a USB I don't think Unity will be able to run smoothly, Hell the browser lags like shit.Anyway I hope the theme would be good.