So the fun is about to start; madness is just around the corner.

Like half of the people here, this is going to be my first Ludum Dare. </Excited, Pants Wetting Squeal>

Unlike half of the people here, I’m going to be a heretic and not use python. This is partly because I want “I didn’t use python” as an excuse if I fail and partly because I don’t know python.

Thus far “Evolution” is looking likely. A few mad ideas are running around in my skull, trying to establish dominance and a supply of crisps. Hopefully one of them will evolve into something useable and full of awe (but not awful).

Good luck everyone, let the source be with you.

Tags: hello world, introduction, LD #12 - The Tower - 2008

Tags: motivation

Unfortunately I’m away from home for this competition, so i’ll be using my tablet pc instead of my proper pc. That’s not a big problem, but Eclipse does feel a little cramped at only 1024×780. The other snag is that it’s got a bare-bones graphics chip so I can’t use fancy shader magic. Although I suspect that’s actually a good thing since otherwise I’d probably waste far too long messing around with some trivial graphics tweeking instead of focusing on the gameplay.

My tools will be:

• Java 1.4 and OpenGL for the game
• Eclipse and Ant for an IDE and build scripts
• ArtRage and Paint Shop Pro for drawing
• Sfxr for sounds (if I get time)

I’m also toying with the idea of using Inkscape as a level design tool. I’ve seen it used to great effect in a couple of other games, but I’ve not used it before myself. I’m going to spend some time today toying with it to see how it is and see what kind of file format it chucks out. I don’t want to spend hours trying to figure out how to parse it’s file format and waste a lot of time. Of course I might want to do something tile-based, in which case it’ll probably be regular ascii maps FTW.

Hey guys, long time no see… I’ve been away from the 48-hour compos for a very long time (since compo 8), but I sure hope I can participate on this one… Only doubt is that because of work, I’ll have to be on Ireland (Dublin, more exactly) on Monday, so I have to take a flight on Sunday… As such, I’ll have to interrupt the compo for 6 hours or so, and I’m not even sure if my hotel has Internet so I can post my final entry… Oh well, the challenges of the 48-hours…

Anyway, I did a small framework, nothing fancy, just canibalized the DX9 init code, added a blitter and a particle system, some keyboard stuff and sound through fmod and voilá, here’s a framework… Window init and such is boring…

So, here it is, for all that might want to muck with it: Framework

Cheers all, and good luck!

I see that a lot of people here are new, just like me, so it will probably be a very interesting week end.

I intend to use the Löve game engine, which is a Lua wrapper for SDL (it’s a little bit more, actually, but I love SDL and Lua, so I couldn’t not love Löve). If I fail, I can still fall back to my usual C + SDL or Objective-C + SDL setup.

Other than that:

– Multi OS (I’m on Linux, but Löve is for Windows and soon Mac OS X too)

– Graphics (or lack thereof) with GIMP and Inkscape

– Music/sound (or reeaally probable lack thereof) with several Linux audio tools, including Audacity, Ardour, ZynAddSubFX, a MIDI keyboard and a mic (I’m supposed to be a musician, but…). I hope I won’t lure myself into losing too much time for music.

– Photos for the food contest, and to show my messy environment.

– Idling on IRC.

– Sleep. What for? The compo starts at 5am here, anyway.

– Erm.

Oh by the way:

Oh, and please vote for Evolution. It seems to be a nice theme (and yeah, I have an idea for it…)

Tags: intro, motivation

It would seem that I will be another heretic not using Python. I’m not a fan of scripting languages, so I’ll be using good old C++ with OpenGL 😀 I will be trying to do something in 3d and I’ve prepared myself a small framework using SDL (loading models, loading images, window initialization etc.) Apart from that I will be using only free ( as in freedom ) tools, so no Visual Studio or Photoshop for me. But that’s ok, I always prefered KDevelop and GIMP.

It’s still a couple of hours till the compo. I just can’t wait. It’ll be my first LD actually. I tried to participate in LD10 but due to some circumstances I wasn’t near my computer through the weekend.

I hope I won’t be the only one developing on a Linux powered machine Good Luck!

Tags: 3D, linux, opengl

Tags: motivation

Yoyo yo all. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to do this LD since I still have no internet. *sigh*

The last time I participated in LD was around like LD4/5 or thereabouts. Back then I was still in college, and I used Python/pygame 😉 This time around…I’m in commercial gamedev now, as a designer. My first shipped title is a License: The Game, and I used some pitifully underdeveloped level editing and scripting technology to create gameplay for it. My view of commercial game design from this experience: your role model is MacGuyver, as you often have so little to work with.

But as for LD… as a hobby project I’ve been developing some technology for Flash 9 that uses both Flex mxmlc and haXe. It’s not quite as done as I would like…also I’ve had a mystery illness(first tiredness, diarrhea, vomiting – later, mild fever and dizziness) that I might not be recovered from….I left work early yesterday and when I got home I slept for about 12 hours.

Either way, I feel now that LD is not really about making a good game in the time period – rather it’s about going from no game to the beginnings of one. That makes it a good test-case for the tech I’ve been working on. Especially since the ultimate goal of this tech is: “A game per week, every week.” Once-per-week – at a good quality – will probably become possible only after I’ve done a few games with it, though, and I have some ready-made gameplay/menus/etc. to work off of.

For LD I’m only starting from my graphics work. Since I do not use the Flash IDE it is easier to generate pixel art — and I feel that it is also easier to make pixel art look good, if you keep the resolution low. Hence I’m using a 348×276 resolution with 12×12 tiles. I’ve already set up a pipeline for tiled maps using the program Tile Studio. And I have a pipeline for bitmapped fonts using Angelcode Bitmap Font Generator. The challenge will be in the actual gameplay.

Tags: LD #12 - The Tower - 2008, motivation, motivator

Tags: LD #12 - The Tower - 2008, motivation, olympics, owls

In case anyone asks, not my workspace.

Tags: motivation

Tags: LD #12 - The Tower - 2008, motivation

Tags: motivation

Tags: motivation

(starring my fellow Nestor, psych support for the week end)

Tags: motivation

Name: destroysound
Language: Python
Libraries: PyGame, PGU, perhaps a physics engine if I am so inclined.

I will be webcamming the whole nasty affair for purposes of posterity. Below the cut we have my live feed.

Refresh for the latest.

Last meal before the games start.

Only 8.5 hours to wait, most by sleeping :P.

Tags: foodphoto

Tags: foodphoto