So it's now time to open registrations for our P&R-Streams.
Submit your game here: https://forms.gle/PgdWaAii8MmPm5Lc9
Unfortunately this time we will only have two P&R streams. One tomorrow, one a week later. And do not forget to be there when we play your game!
https://www.twitch.tv/firesplashtv
Hello everyone,
I am Monish Vyas, a wanna be indie game dev from India. This post is about my first ever Ludum Dare experience, I would like to share what I went through in those testing 72 hours and despite not been able to complete and submit the entry why I feel content.
I started my game dev journey in 2015 when I started to learn Unity, Since then I have worked on more than 30 mobile game projects for a client. But don't get impressed by this number, most of them were kids games which were basically point and click and an animation starts to play. Though this work was good for me as it brought good money for me, I was never happy with what was I doing, so one fine day of September 2018 I stopped working for clients.
I thought I will have all the time in the world for myself and the games I wanted to make and I will make some quality games for myself, boy was I wrong. Since that day I was never able to finish any project and I kept running in circles and was getting nowhere for different reasons. Finally not anything going my way at one point I started doubting myself and I questioned myself again and again that do I have any skills to make a game at all?
Finally I took break from the programming and picked graphics design as a new skill to develop, I always suck at graphics design so I thought I should give it a shot. I went through a couple of tutorials for a week and learned a few things in vector design. Now I was able to at least draw that was 40-50% close of what I intended.
In the meantime I came across Ludum dare 44, I was following Asbjorn from Brackeys and Noa from BlackThornProd as everything I learned in Unity, I learned it from them. But every time for different reasons I didn't participate. One time I chickened out after almost being determined about it. So Ludum dare 44 was my ultimate test and this year I forced myself to participate as I had all the time in the world.
It was still a week to go so I cancelled all my schedules (not that I have many) for the weekend, and I was ready to dive in head first. After the theme was announced which was 6:30 in the morning where I live, I poured myself some tea(yes not coffee), I started sketching ideas and settled on to make a space game where you go to different planet and trade items from the planet with the oxygen you have (to fit the theme "Your life is currency"). I quickly started prototyping it and made some basic scripts like Camera movement travelling to different planets.
After the half day passed, NOT finishing a single project paid off big time. I started feeling the game does not fit the theme well, the game may not be that good etc. All the motivation I had was wearing off. But as time was running out I had to focus on the game and have to somehow complete it. So...? You guessed it right! I scrapped the idea and started to work on a new one.
I came up with an idea of a "Plants Vs Zombies" kind of tower defense. To fit the theme I decided to allow the player to buy stuff but at the cost of the hit points of the object you are defending(which is even today Im not sure what you are defending). At the end of the first day I had enemies and units ready. Next day I spent to design the enemy which did not take a lot of time as I had a week of practice so I already had become a pro. I managed to design 3 enemies (same shapes different in colors), a shooting gun and a shield like looking thing. I swear if Picaso was alive he would have killed me first and then committed suicide after watching these "artwork".
Shamelessly posting a screenshot. ENJOY!
At the end of day 2 I had some decent spawning and buying / selling mechanics ready. I was happy that I will be able to complete the game (boy was I wrong). After the basic concept was ready I started to balance the game but also I was aware that some of the graphics for background and stuff still remains. At this point I had no idea how will find or create game music or SFX.
After some hustle and the last day was half gone, I had a working game but it wasn't balanced. Some graphics done (looked decent given my skill set), no sounds. At this point I was testing the game to determine the variables I need to tweak to make this game somewhat balanced (Spoilers: I never found any tweaking). But finally I was ready to submit my duct tape patched entry hoping and praying this will not fall apart. I built the project and was ready to upload the game, I created everything required and was filling up details and guess what I slept before hitting the "Publish" button (In my defense I was tired).
Now the REAL reason I wrote this long ass post is that despite I could not submit my entry I was so much happy. I never worked this hard on anything before. This made me realize that if I can make something this close to a game given only 72 hours, I can one day make a decent game that people can really enjoy. For the first time I was able to build something from scratch, and was able to join the pieces together to make it work. This was close to a complete project for me which I was never able to do in past so many months.
I take away so many positive points from this experience. The first and foremost is that if you keep a strict deadline for something it gives you a push to work through. I learned to break something big into smaller tasks you can get it done one at a time. Second is that I shared this with a couple of close people who were constantly nagging me about the progress and it made me responsible for my actions and kept me focused. In contrast to regular working days where no one knows what I'm doing. I did not feel alone going through this journey which is very important given how game dev sometimes can feel when there is no one there to hear about the progress or updates. And last and the most important is to visualize the end product that you are creating. When you know what you are set out to make, you get motivated just by the thought of it. There were couple of times I felt like I wanted to give up but when I thought what I will achieve I was able to guide myself back into this mammoth looking task.
I sincerely apologize for engaging you in this 1259 words long post, (YES! MS Word told me), but I hope you read this and can relate to what I've been through and what miracles can happen if you just stick it till the end. I wish all the best to all the participants and hope to see you everyone in Ludum Dare 45 silently hoping I don't screw up next time. Have a good day all.
At LIFE Corp, we only value one thing : the human Life.
That's why we made the L.I.F.E, what does it stands for ?
Well, discover it while playing our game!
Play it now !
Come and say hi. Also you'll get the chance to watch my horrible code and/or help me!
https://www.twitch.tv/thevinter
how we got to the final outline, read the previous post here
In Zoltan we have cats of different colours, all using the same animations. That's why I filled my outlines with grey. The final colour is set inside Unity.
I generally select the outline and fill the shape on a different layer I leave underneath. To put all together In the final spritesheet, first I tried out the animation in Photoshop (I hate the Photoshop timeline, but it's all I have), then I created the spritesheet with GlueIt and imported in into Unity.
Many animations are made of two spritesheets one on top of the other (for instance the crazy typing cat, that changes colour while the laptop stays silver or the evil and good cats that need to have overlayed features)
This was a bit of extra work for us, but we liked the idea that if you picked an orange cat you will play all the games with an orange cat! :)
As I've mentioned in my few blog posts and in my game page, this was my first Ludum Dare. But not only was it my first LD, it was my first time "finishing" a project to a standard that I felt was acceptable. I had previous entered one game jam before this on itch.io (it was a "Square Jam" where all art had to be made using squares) that was a tower defense game. The version submitted to the jam didn't even work after about the third wave and was based fairly heavily on YouTube tutorials.
That's why I was so determined to make and finish something for this jam - and to do it in time to submit it for the Compo. I had looked at the themes about an hour beforehand and wasn't particularly excited about this one. But when it was selected, it took me about all of 30 minutes to decide that I wanted to make a card game, where the cards were limbs/body parts that you could sacrifice to cast spells and such. That much I thought I could accomplish, but everything else was ambitious.
Deck control: Not only did I get the deck to work the way I wanted to, I was able to give it a little flair with a card flip mechanic. Getting it to draw cards turned out to be a slightly bigger hassle but I found a solution that worked about as well as I hoped. I also made it able to possible to "steal" limbs from enemies through the Siphon spell.
What I would change: There were a couple things that I would have liked to add but either ran out of time or didn't get to work. A Hearthstone like randomized selection at the beginning of the round, a bonus card for winning the stage, and potentially more logical balancing (how can you still sacrifice fingers if you've already used the hand cards?) There was also a regeneration card that is in the source code, but never implemented that I would have liked to include but never could decide how to balance.
Spells: I was able to come up with a couple spells that I thought fit the game and were able to use them all to their intended effect.
What I would change: Well - a lot. For starters, there was supposed to be a leveling system that unlocked spells as you went along and made them more powerful. For instance, only the firebolt and shuffle spells would be unlocked at the start, and the more you leveled up the three basic skills, the more you would unlock. This somewhat exists in the code but wasn't working and was scrapped at about 8:30pm. It would have been no fun to play a game with only 2 spells and the other 4 arbitrarily locked. There would also be tiered versions of the existing spells that I would have included. For instance - firebolt level 2 would be stronger, and level 3 would be an AoE spell. Each level costing more essence than the previous.
Enemies & Level Design: I was able to get different types of enemies, for three basic stages that you could replay.
What I would change: Again, this was another area where I simply ran out of time. I never play tested any of the enemies outside of the first stage so I have no idea how fair they are afterwards. I also wanted a slightly longer stage selector. Maybe like six levels that branch out and lead to a final boss, kind of like FTL. I also would have liked to give them attack animations and attack one at a time, not just as a group each turn.
Other: Art and sound are two areas I have little experience. I would have loved to make better sprites and animations but that is just not my strong suit. Also would have liked to make some sort of backgrounds - not just flat colors. Same with music. I was able to use some midi generators that I thought sounded okay but would ideally like to learn how to do some basic composition.
Also, as far as I am aware - there are no unexpected crashes or game breaking bugs. The only bug I know of is sometimes the enemy sprite color change doesn't reset after the end of a turn.
This was an absolute load of fun, and I would love to do it again next time if I have the time. I actually felt proud of what I was able to come up with in 48 hours, and the general support and feedback I have gotten from the community has been fantastic. I've already reached the 20 feedback mark in all but one category (not humor, but I didn't try to make this funny so that's not a big deal) but would love to have some more. If you have a few minutes, please give it another shot.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/bloodmage-human-sacrifice
As the title says, please link your favorite LD44 game so far in the comments (don't link your own):
Here's mine:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/sacrifights
Hi everyone! We made a rhythm game inspired by Sekiro. You can play it and rate it here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/catiro
I've starting working on a Ludum Dare iOS client. With 6 months now till the next LD I should have this working and looking pretty good before the next one.
Here's the link to the GitHub Repo: ludumdare-ios
Let me know what you think and any features you'd look for in an app like this.
Calling all Commanders! The Ludum Dare fleet needs you! It's time to step up and do your part!
WebGL and Win https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/lifeforms-in-space
What do you think of this idea? Tell us by completing our strawpoll: https://www.strawpoll.me/17951911
Also you can play our game here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/the-money-hole
Hey guys I want to rate some games so tell me yours.And heres mine: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/space-rabbit
If "your life is currency", then what happens when that currency undergoes...inflation?
Find out in "Inflate Me to the Moon": https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/inflate-me-to-the-moon
Hey all the “most fair and critical” LD’Jammer is at it again, and I’m ready to play what ever games you’re willing to throw at me from LD44. So join in lets chat and have fun playing some games to night! https://www.twitch.tv/jacksendary
A big thank you to all for your good comments and sharing
And if you have not tried yet, come and test it !
Available HTML5, Window and Linux https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/underbreak
Dying is a thing. Escaping from hell is another.
Underbreak is an Action/Shooter game with rogue-like mechanics, where you have to deal with demons on each level to improve your character (but at a cost : - )). More than 28 different runs !
As a newcomer in hell, you’ll try your way out of the underworld. Shoot the imps and get the keys to go higher and closer to the surface. But freedom has a price, and some pacts with demons will need to be signed…
Will you spend your life wisely enough to get through the circles of doom? Or die trying?
Here is a video featuring UnderBreak and nine other games made during the Ludum
Link YouTube LesAventuresDeRed
Available HTML5, Window and Linux https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/underbreak
https://www.redstudio.xyz/jeux
Thousands of "thank you" for the hundred views for "The strange life of Bill the postman".
If you didn't play it yet, you can play it here : https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/the-strange-life-of-bill-the-postman
this Ludum Dare, i made a rhythm game.
unconventionally for me, i started by making music at early Saturday morning.
this time, since i had to load audio files into the game, i switched from TIC-80 back to Löve.
what was successful is that each encounter has a different solution. i created the puzzles first and then designed characters that i thought fit the personality of those puzzles.
i discovered a charming artstyle and will use it in the future.
compared to the development of my previous Global Game Jam entry, i had to do more whack-a-mole coding. making a rhythm game is pretty tricky with the timings, and my drummer friend says the timing might still be off in the final build..
i kept the design language and interface as simple as i could. but based on playtester feedback, it seems that the game isn't as intuitive as i'd hoped.
because of that, and because i'm personally proud of the game, i am keen on developing Panic Percussion Deluxe! it will have a tutorial, some fixes and more content, but i'm keeping core gameplay the same. it might be a paid (but cheap) game.
please look forward to it! and in the meantime, leave me comments about what i could improve in the deluxe build. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/panic-percussion/
Here comes the first major update for S.H.R.O.U.D.
We added two things that were heavily requested by the community
Also we fixed lots of bugs. Animations now work correctly and guns can be picked up and fired.
There are still bugs regarding bullets but we're working to fix them asap.
But yes, we're still developing the game. What new features would you like to see added into the game? Let us know in the comments!
Check out the game HERE
It's actually a great time to play the post jam version if you're interested. The game is now beatable and almost balanced!
Have fun,
See you in the wasteland!
Just wanted to say that I am beyond stoked that so many people have downloaded the game, played it and gave feedback. I know some people might think this number isn't that big , but for me it's huge. I have never had that many people play anything I've made.
Thank you to everyone who played the game. Who knows maybe we can get past 100 downloads!!!
