Depths? The theme is Depths?

So, this is a phrase search game. Each phrase in the search has something to do with 'Depth'. As an example, "Understanding grows in the Depth of Perception"

I want to know what you guys think. The game is like seventy percent finished.

The game is done, uploaded to itch.io Page is completed.

1. When you make your zip file for UL make sure you have all the files to run the game. Pick a folder and unzip into the folder and run it to make sure it works
2. When you UL to itch.io make sure you can DL the zip file. There is a setting on the bottom that defaults to draft. You need to change that to public

1. DL the file from itch.io and run it make sure it will run.

2. If you change something then go through the entire process again. When you UL to itch.io again make sure you delete the old zip file as they keep them all.

Every year there are so many developers that miss out because they forget a few little things like this. I know them because I have done them all.

There were some problems with the resolution of the game not matching the game board. I hard coded a resolution in. Hopefully that will work.

The link is on my game page as well as itch.io

Will there be a list of the games from most played to least played.

Not the games who were rated the best, but most played. It could give developers an idea of what games people are drawn to. I realize it will be skewed because the players are mostly all coders, but still it would be interesting

Is there a list somewhere that would have the top 20 games.

It would be good to know what genre of games received the top scores. Next jam perhaps make a game in the genre that the audience here prefers. Something more enjoyable for the players.

Secondly, of the top 20, how many were either originally web games or converted to web games and how many had to be downloaded and played. That would also be something to look at for scoring as well as how many times the game was played.

Finally, on a game by game basis how each player scored the game. It is not necessary to know the players handle, but just a list of the scoring. Were there a lot who gave it a 5 star rating and a lot that gave it a 1 star rating? Were the ratings about the same? We have an average sure, but that does not speak to any type of min/max differentiation which can be helpful in making the game better.

All of the data is there, it would just be a matter of releasing it and allowing the participants access to it.

It would be interesting also to allow for an in depth look at how each of our games were scored. I don't want any formula, I just want to see the raw data and then come up with my own conclusions.

Ultimately we want the best game we can make in just a few days. However, we are still human and want the best score. Everyone likes to win. These numbers could help us achieve that.

As the Title says, when do we start the process of giving our 3 Jam themes that we would like to see in this Jam?

I have done a lot of different jams and there have been some that have been good, and some that have been okay

Alakajam: was fun but there were like 35 entries. I did it because 'DaFluffyPotato' recommended it. The community was fun, but it was only the website, no Discord

OLC Codejam 2025 was excellent but in a different way. Javidx9 has a great YouTube Channel and he is a coder extraordinaire, and has his own engine. The jam ended up being 80 percent frame work C/C++ coders and a few engines. It was great fun because his Discord Channel was pretty busy and there were some amazing entries.

Kenney Jam 2025 was a jam put on by Kenney and Kit Kat, who hopefully everyone is aware are the folks who give away superior free assets. The Discord in that jam was pretty amazing and they did one thing which I believe is essential to a successful game jam. Kenney and Kit Kat played every entry themselves and scored them. They had 755 games to play. It took them 4 weeks but it was well worth it.

GameDev.tv GameJam 2025. Was the very best jam I participated in. Their Discord was was always very busy and they gave away a free course for everyone who participated. They also graded the games themselves if I remember correctly. Some amazing games came out of that jam.

FishFest was cool because it was my best game, but I really enjoyed it as well. Small, no Discord

Ludum Dare was my very first jam years ago and I do it now for nostalgic reasons. That being said...

The grading system for the jam is horrific and allows for bots to skew the results. Recently it has been a hit and miss situation with what is becoming a bit of a drama magnet.

So, how does this get fixed?

1. Discord is essential, no Discord and you have pretty much signed your own death certificate.
2. A precise schedule announced at the very least 4-6weeks in advance.
3. Grading system that cannot be messed with optimally the sponsors playing and grading every game.
4. Although this is not necessary a small gift to every participant. Even a silly graphic that says "I survived LD58" would be enough.

The jams I had the most fun with were longer jams, 7-10 days. Having a longer jam does several things: 1. Discord community has a chance to grow 2. Exchange of ideas has more time to mature 3. Gives coders a chance to try something new rather than doing the same thing from the last jam 4. Allows for the itch.io game page to be worked on, which is important. 5. Allows for the coders to adjust their goals mid development.

As a final note, during the voting period some of us who had YouTube channels live streamed the game play of several games. That was a lot of fun and with a few of us doing it the jammers got to see their games being played and could find improvements. We would post the links in the Discord channel.

I am aware that Ludum Dare has been a Game Jam staple for years and has a wonderful following. I also believe that it could be something even more engaging if some updates were made.

Going to use Godot 4.5 this time around, no SDL3 Framework so I can easily export to WebGL soon to be WebGPU.

Graphics will probably come from Kenney or Kit.

Music and Sound from Freesound probably

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuRmq2lphTU

and so it goes....

Marching toward Friday!

1. Get your itch.io page ready. Create the page, set up all the parameters, build some LD58 graphics. Setup your html to make it look nice. You can do a lot before you have a theme.

2. Decide on a game genre, platformer, top down scroller, side scroller, 2D or 3D. You can make those decisions now and then just plug in the theme.

3. Setup your project. Whatever engine, or framework you are using set the project up in the genre you are going to use. Get your screens set up and working. Block out the game and then substitute the graphics, sound effects, and music when the theme is announced.

4. Setup your game title screen. Use a generic screen and place your buttons for 'Start', 'Exit', 'Rules', and 'Play'.

5. Setup you Credits page that can be accessed from the game through a hot key and then you can return.

6. Set up your End Screen page buttons with 'Exit' and 'Play Again'

7. Setup your Rules Page, how the game is played. Make it simple

8. Optional, a 'High Score' page that can be accessed from the 'End Screen' page

9. If you are not making your own Music and SoundFX then make sure all the links for you assets are working for your SoundFX and Music. Freesound is a great place for sound FX

10. If you are not going to do your own graphics then find a place that has a ton of free assets, Kenney for 2D and Kay Kit for 3D are very good examples.

Finally. When the theme comes out keep your project small. REALLY SMALL!. For example, if the theme is 'Doors' then have maybe three levels of a rogue like game with doors that open only when all the treasure is found. Maybe have some enemies.

Stay away from inventory systems, RPGs, ARPG, games where you have to build up a reputation that takes time. Most of the developers on here are not going to spend more than 10 - 15 minutes playing a game because there are so many games to play, and your 'karma'\page rank depends upon the number of games you play. So make your game so that it can be played to completion or at least the first level in less that 15 minutes.

This is a game jam, a 48 hour game jam, and not standard game development. You goal is not to write your dream game, your goal is to finish something with a little polish that gives a few moments enjoyment to your player.

Hope this helps...

Pretty exciting...

As the title

If I post my game on itch now and then update it later, can I upload the new post up until 6 PM this evening for Jam?

I am going to continue to work on it until about 4:00 PM EDT then UL my final version.

The game runs, it just needs a lot of polish, but for 72 hours it'll work

https://beebster.itch.io/ludum-dare-58-2025

Is there a place to see how may developers joined the jam and how may actually submitted games?