Tomorrow I will be entering Ludumdare with a few friends for the first time! I haven’t really finished a game before so hopefully this will be a good source of motivation and a great learning experience.

Last night was terrible. I didn’t get to write any code as I had to finish a dumb English essay. This morning I woke up around nine and just started programming. Since this is my very first LD and I am working with a language / framework that I am largely unfamiliar with I am going with a very simple idea. Basically you play as a giant monster and all you do is kill a bunch of cute bunnies. If I have time perhaps I’ll add some mega-bunny boss or something. Anyways here is what I got so far:

Got a monster that the player can move around the screen.

Oh no, poor bunny! (place holder graphic)

I’m about to work on bunny logic and then sfx!

Our game is pretty sweet! Now with walking animations and goats!

We have a goat! Bonus xp!!!

Jesse is awesome for making all of this art!

Woohoo!

Sorry about how buggy and unpolished it is, but I hope you guys at least find it mildly entertaining.

Click here to view our entry!

Can’t wait for the next LD!

This will be my second Ludumdare! I will probably be entering it with VILLAINTHROPY if I can get him to do art for me.

Tools:

AS3 + Flixel using FlashDevelop

Paint.net

Well, we’ve made sooome progress. While other people are cramming away we are puttering along slowly. At least we have the most BASIC mechanic down so far! Collecting potatoes!!

TODO:

• Level switcher thingy
• Enemies? Player attack?
• Background and Foreground
• improve player movement
• Sound effects
• Levels and Tile Sheets
• Transition States

I got the main menu thing up and running! The Phantom is going to work on some more maps and stuff. Anyways, things are going well right now.

Well, we did it. We pulled it together (sorta) and made a game in 72 hours. Anyways, you can see the entry page here. 

If you haven’t played it yet I would really appreciate it if you rated and commented on my game!

Play Now!

The Challenges:
Originally I had hoped to spend the entire weekend making a low poly 3D game. However, I had the following time obstacles, most of which would separate me from my computer.

* Homework! I had to write an Android App and an Essay before Monday.

* Local event I wanted to attend on Saturday morning.

* A prior engagement spanned the entire day on Sunday.

* I hate Mondays.

Despite these challenges I still manages to create something that somewhat resembles a game. Woot!

The Good:
I felt like this Ludum Dare was a success and here are some reasons why

* The Concept. I’ve been wanting to explore a game that takes places through simulated text messages for a long time and I finally got started on one.

* “Story is King!” Story telling is a skill that I am trying to develop and my game definitely tells a story.

* Humor. I am glad I was able to work some humor into my game. I try not to take this too seriously. 😛

The Bad:

* Art. I didn’t have an artist so all I had was my rudimentary Illustrator skills. The phones don’t look interesting at all and I think that detracts from the overall appeal.

* Story Paths. A couple comments mention how linear the game is. Alright, I admit that Chapter2 is entirely linear with no possible deviation. So it could’ve been more interesting.

* Writing. I wish I had more time to write more interesting dialogue and more interesting endings.

The Future:

Overall, I’m happy with how this Ludum Dare turned out considering the circumstances. I’m not promising anything but my plan is to keep working on this game for a couple of weeks. I hope to make the story longer, add more effective dialogue and make the visuals more appealing.