Well... It's been fun =] My fifth Ludum Dare comes to an end.. and with it the results and well Even if I'll rank pretty low I think I earned my skill during these compos I participated in so far. Kinda weird but I wanna start from the take-away of LDs as a whole.

The take-away from LD as a whole

For the first time (dare I say - in years, since I participate in every third LD) I feel like I managed to fully realize an idea and execute while still being pretty chill and having fun during a Ludum Dare. I feel like throughout the Ludum Dare compos my time management and overall attitude has changed and slowly but surely I'm able to bring a product that is thought through and designed. I feel that I've earned these skills that might turn really helpful during sprints of game development outside Ludum Dare and the community's support over the years encouraged me to make my games enjoyable and even simply realizing that they are! Making a game engaging in a sea of other indie games is pretty tough and well, when you get a nice comment you know that even if you rank low that you're in the right direction as an indie developer.

About my entry "Powerless"

What went right

Time management - The time management went pretty well, especially considering my previous Ludum Dares! It went so well that even with all the terbulations (in the next section you'll see what went wrong) I had time to complete a decent product. I was pretty satisfied with that, if everything went smooth I think I would've made everything I wanted to make in this LD (options menu and so on)

Coding - coding improved a lot, especially because I didn't manage big masses of JS code untill recently, and I feel like it's going pretty well. My custom engine made progress lately and during the compo I actually was able to improve and fix some stuff in it and still keep my game interesting mechanics-wise. I became very familiar with unit and unit modifier code that the design of games for LD became much easier!

Polish/Feel - Even without the menu I wanted to have the game feel relatively slick. I was very happy with the controls and the comments seems to reflect something similar so I feel pretty satisfied about that. The feel of the game of non-stop action and responsiveness is there.

Theme - highly related to the theme and managed to intergrate it in multiple meanings and ways.

Sound - I succeeded surpressing time-consuming recording difficulties and turn them to an advantage. Lo-fi problems became scary cracks after spending time effecting them and using them in a creative way. As a piece the soundtrack isn't really complex but I was satisfied that I didn't hold myself from doing whatever I want and pulled off odd time signatures fluidly. I didn't compromise on the feel I wanted to give to the game up to the tiny parts like the time signatures (pretty varied: 7/8, 15/16, 11/16, 4/4, ...). As always it's available on soundcloud.

What went wrong

Art - usually I'm pretty bad at art but somehow manage to get something out there. This time I feel as if I was too much bothered with perfecting such minor things that ended up pretty much indifferent and improve effectively a very tiny part of the game. Next LD I'd love for the art to be more original. The art right now is sorta lively, but I'd love to get it to be even more lively the next time: animations! effects! interesting lighting systems and so on!

No Internet/expect the unexpected? - well my internet provider was cutting the internet cause they literally ran out of power (there was a powercut)... ironic? well I thought it was funny untill I realized how hard it is to do an LD without internet. I spent 4 hours uploading my entry via LTE instead of making the menu I wanted. sigh. They stopped providing for about a week if you're interested to know what's it like to time travel and stuff..

Sound - wait.. this was on the "what's right"... wth? Well, it's true that the outcome was cool but really I had a struggle with recording and time was wasted due to this. I have to improve my recording process.. so tedious and have to be more prepared.

Links

• Entry Page - ~19 hours left to rate
• Soundtrack - free to listen, download and use
• JSCF - my own JS engine github. Feel free to use, hate, open issues, join development etc..

the end of the jam is near i just wanna thank u all we only need one vote to get 110 ratings and experience in ludum dare in general was amazing i cant thank you guys enough for all this amazing comments and ratings you guys are the best

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/drain-2

It's a bit late ofc but if u r surfing this site wondering how to make any difference and make someone's life more happy - please leave your first expression in the comments and rate our game https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/answer-me

We're proud this 2-days effort got a lot of positive and open-minded feedback. If u'd like, please, leave a link to your game too.

Last hours guys!!

Thanks for all the feedback!! See u next LD !!!

Don't forget rate my Captain Lettuce

I'd really like my game to get to 50 votes. If you've got a soft spot for pixel art, RPGs, or pretty cool video games, I suggest you check out my entry. If you leave a comment on the game Ill be sure to play your game as well!

Thanks so much!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/p-o-w-e-r-arm

I've choosen a random list of games, which are in danger zone. And I got this list :

Help these games get ranked : - (RagooP) Ranked - Everybody plays golf - (Wired game) Ranked - (Lost connection) Ranked - Running out of butter - Lightbulb - Doctor duck and the pitiful power production

* If you have a game that is under 20 votes, don't forget to add it in the comments *

* This post will be updated if some of these games get ranked *

* GOOD LUCK EVERYONE :heart: *

Post-mortem for my LD39 entry, I Need A Charger! (There's still time to play it!)

Things that went well

• Music, as always. This is the first time I've used Reaper as my music writing tool (my old software stopped working after a hard drive crash), and I was pleased with the results. It was a good test of its abilities.
• The random map generator works well, even if it isn't balanced. I was happy enough that I got it working in time, but I also have code in place that allows it to be used with different sized maps, allowing for larger cities and such.
• All the random shop names, and each one has a unique purchasable item (if you have to buy something to use their wifi). It's all text, but I feel like it really added something to the gameplay to make it more fun.
• The phone interface worked great, and I have enough knowledge about how camera layers work in Unity that I was able to get mini maps and such working accurately and displaying different things.

Things that didn't go well

• Graphics are always a weak point for me. Although I felt I did okay with making the phone interface look suitably authentic, the game graphics themselves are pretty bad. The buildings don't even look like buildings.
• The gameplay is a little confusing, so it should have had some kind of tutorial, but there was no way I could do it with the time I had left at the end.
• The game can feel boring in spots when you're looking around for the shops. There were probably a lot of ways I could have made things more interesting, but I just didn't have time to implement things. I should have at least made the player move faster (and the battery drain quicker in exchange).

Things to change if I were to make a post-compo version

• As stated above, faster player and slightly faster battery drain to compensate.
• Allow the player to select different map sizes, with a smaller map used for a tutorial.
• I wanted people wandering the streets and traffic to avoid. Maybe with such obstacles, I wouldn't even need to increase the battery drain.
• I wanted to have a feature where you could do things on the phone to reduce battery usage, such as dim the screen or turn off data connections. Then the game would function as an instructional tool as well.
• More usefulness to the GPS. Right now, all it does is show your position, but it'd be nice if it also kept track of the path you took through the city, or marked important locations you've visited.
• Having one outlet always at your starting position, so that you can always default back to it if you can't find another one... so long as you remember where you started (or the GPS is updated as per the previous change).

Hey! This was a fantastic Ludum Dare, kudos to everyone who participated.

I have over 20 ratings in every category except for mood. I would greatly appreciate it if you pushed my game over the edge! I'm pretty proud of it and i'd love to know what you think :grin:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/asteroid-scavenger

Video of most of the games that I played for Ludum Dare 39.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3rlLsaMvXY

In these final hours, I thought I might as well write a little something thanking everyone for a great jam! This was my second LD, and it ended up turning out numerous times better than my first. I just wanted to congratulate everyone on creating all these different games and thank everyone that took the time to play and rate my own game!

I've been able to obtain quite a few more ratings than I did last time, and I would like to think that the overall quality of the game I've made has gone up quite a bit as well. The polish I've been able to achieve compared to my last game (it actually has sound now!) is much higher, and the goals that I had with the game were pretty much able to be fully realized. Hopefully this can lead to even greater improvements in the jams to come!

Thanks for taking the time to read my little "postmortem" I guess you could call it. If you would like to check out my game, Potential Energy, you can find it linked below. It is a very atmospheric game with a large focus on story and mood. If that sounds like your cup of tea, I'm a couple ratings away from reaching the big 50, so if you could take the time to try and get it up there that would be freaking fantastic!

Also, if anyone wants to comment the link to their own game, go for it! I prefer web games, but Mac ones can work as well. I'll try to get to playing and rating them all!

Thanks again for a great time and great games. Here's to the next one!

Potential Energy: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/potential-energy

Hi everyone, hope you all enjoyed this game jam as much as I did.

It would be great if you would check my game "Mission Power On" and leave a comment and I will check your game as well.

Thank you :)

Overall, this jam went well. My biggest issue in all of this was getting the game to upload before the compo time limit, but I managed in the end. The game can still be played here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/$34441

What Went Well

-The game turned out looking and sounding like I wanted. I had an idea of how to make a twin stick shooter sprite that keeps the angle of light uniform instead of just rotating a sprite without having to literally draw 360 different frames; And I am glad to see that it paid off, and next time I can even make it better.

-The game is fun. Pretty much all the feedback I've received has mentioned how the game is either well-polished or smooth and that it is fun.

-It has no bugs (that I could find). It is always nice to have a game jam game come out working as intended with no unforeseen problems. However, this could either be because of or in despite of my awful programming. I am not a programmer by any means; I know enough to get me by in Game Maker, but that is it. It isn't pretty and probably has HUGE memory leakage, but not enough that would be noticeable for this kind of game. But, what this might also mean for the game is that the code is so rigid that it can't possibly goof, even if that means it isn't very modular. Again, I don't know for sure because I went to college for game design with a concentration in art not programming.

-Though I thought of another title a few days after the jam was done, I've actually grown attached to the random title that I came up with in the spur of the mentally-drained moment. And, while "Electromite" would have perfectly sufficed for the game, I think that an obscure title that literally no one can pronounce actually gives it more character. Sure, "0|0|0|0" means absolutely nothing and doesn't tie into the theme of the game at all, but I think it's actually more memorable.

What Could be Fixed

-Programming as mentioned above

-I got some well-deserved critiques to my control scheme that deserve attention. First, the fact that you can't just hold down the fire button to shoot automatically. While I understand how it would make the game easier or less strenuous, I specifically decided on this way because it gives the game more visceral feedback in having to literally click every time you want to shoot. In the future, that option may be added, but it will still be slower than if you mash the fire button. Second, the aiming seems off. I completely agree with this, and may get around to increasing the visibility of the reticule to try and alleviate the issue.

-It doesn't use the theme very creatively. For this jam I decided to make a fun, polished game instead of spending too much time on utilizing the theme in an interesting way. In the end, it paid off, but I still wish that I would have had the extra time to come up with something really special.

I'm out of LD39-related gifs, so here's a pic of my cat.

In the unlikely event of me continuing development what would I do?

-Fix all issues of course.

-It's a good start, but it really is quite bare-bones and could use more mechanics. Maybe add levels and different arenas with more enemies. Power ups? There are honestly so many places this could go, I'm not even sure which way I would want to go with it.

-more polish. You can never have enough polish. The sound and feedback could always use a little touch up.

-Online high scores list. This is really just a pipe dream as I do not have a server and I also just don't know how to do it anyway. So if this ever ends up on kongregate or something, it probably will only have the dumb best (local) score/your score screen.

In the end, this was a very fun Ludum Dare and my first time doing the compo. I am very pleased with the end result and look forward to seeing the rankings Tuesday (if it doesn't get pushed back again). Thank you to everyone who played and/or ranked my game; I hope you enjoyed playing it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Health issues and work had kept me away from the majority of the LD voting period. Still, with a little more time left... I'll try to play as many games as I can. People who leave comments on my game take priority, of course!

Without further ado, I present to you Battery Life. Be warned, this game is kinda difficult, and can get a bit frustrating at times. But yeah, that was somewhat intentional in design. Enjoy!

Only 7 hours left and I have 39 - I even made a trailer for it. Help me reach 40, even 50! Leave your game in the comments and I will rate it. Thanks! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/get-energised

While we're waiting for the results, maybe you'd be interested in answering this quick poll for Alakajam!, a new competition we're organizing in between Ludum Dare events.

Among the topics we’re trying to figure out, we’re wondering what would be a good improvement over the current rating categories, which are as we speak: Overall, Graphics, Audio, Fun, Innovation, Theme, Mood & Humor.

If you have suggestions, make your voice heard by answering this quick form! Thanks for your contribution :)

EDIT: The submissions are now closed, thank you everyone! You can see the results over there. If you’re interested in joining us, the first competition will be held on the 22-24 September week-end, see you there!

Hunt for the glory of Ull, the god of winter, in this nordic-themed action game !

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/berzerk-hunt

Your Fury is the only thing that keeps you alive in this harsh environment. How long will you maintain it to survive ? Squash rabbits and fight wild animals using your powerful abilities !

We dearly hope you enjoy our creation. Have fun !

If you have played this game, please read the post. So, i have a question, please answer in a comment.

Did you finish the game? And how hard was it?

Thanks in advance!

I have a challenge for you. In my game you have to do 90 kills, the highest score that anyone got was 86. I tried (my maximum score was 74) and challenged my friends, but no one beat this challenge ! Also a youtuber tried my game and he got 84 in it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsVdvk1wZtI

If you want to be the first one to beat this score, play my game *here !*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u-A0M4I388

This is my LD39 compo game. If you think it looks interesting please check it out: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/travel

New post above!

For your convenience; here are some games between 10 and 20 votes. I think together we can give them their last few votes to get a ranking! All with HTML5 or multi-platform builds. Go rate them!

Please check if the game has 20 votes already, so we can be an efficient machine and rank as many as possible!

Round 1 Chapter Complete!

Round 2 Chapter Complete!

Round 3 1. Long Island Iced Tea Get! 2. India Pale Ale Get! 3. Water Get! 4. Four Roses Get! 5. Macallan Get! 6. Ginger Ae Get! 7. Ristretto Get! 8. Gin&Tonic Get! 9. Martini Get! 10. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/the-last-question-1 (3 needed, oops reqs macOS, Download and with --allow-file-access)

Round 4 1. USS Enterprise Get! 2. Tardis Get! 3. Axiom Get! 4. Icarus Get! 5. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/solaris-dying-sun (2needed, no macOS) 6. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/cyborg-apocalipse (2 needed, no linux) 7. Death Star Get! 8. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/balance (2 needed, no linux) 9. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/power-hamstro-a-hamster-point-and-click-adventure (6 needed, HTML5 available) 10. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/dont-go-flat (4 needed, HTML5 available)

Round 5 1. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/the-last-ship (7 needed, HTML5 available) 2. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/inefficiency (7 needed, no macOS) 3. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/powerless-professor (9 needed) 4. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/assault-and-batteries (9 needed) 5. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/lost-light (4 needed, HTML5 available) 6. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/staminaaid (6 needed, HTML5 available) 7. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/robotilab (7 needed, Java jar) 8. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/not-enough-cat-lives (8 needed) 9. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/intercontinental-birdsman-competition-2018 (8 needed) 10. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/power-running-youd-better-go-get-it (8 needed)

Successful Missions: 34

Last update 13:00GMT

(x needed) are quick approximates (if you opt out from several categories they only count as n/8 points).

I'll update this post with more when games reached their required 20 votes. Or create a new post when this post drops off the main page. Is your game almost at 20 votes? Add them in the comments and I'll update this post!

You might need to cache-clear-refresh your browser to see updated versions of this post.