So this was LD 23. You can play my entry here: The Island of Dare

It’s the fourth time I participated so I can compare my performance to my previous ones. Overall I’m happy with my progress. Here are my experiences:

What went well:

• motivation: I really wanted to get something done this weekend to push my motivation for other projects. So I was really excited when the competition started.
• technology check: My game has only characters on colored background for visuals. At first I wanted to do this via DOM (so every character is one DOM node), but I did a performance check on this appoach and got only 3 FPS. So I decided to do it with canvas instead.
• time for bug fixing: Like last time, I sat down and took time to play my game over and over again. So I could find most of the bugs and fix them.
• story: I wrote a story this time 😀 It’s not overly complex or innovative but hey – STORY!
• sound: It’s my first game which has some kind of a soundtrack.
• learning new things: I never did procedural content generation before so it was a completly new field for me. I was a bit scared and my motivation dropped when I didn’t understand everything completely, but it was worth going through. PCG is awesome!
• timelapse: After two failed tries to produce a timelapse, it worked. It feels so productive when you see the work of 48 hours in four minutes. Find my timelapse here: Timelapse
• version control: 93 commits in my GIT repository. It’s good to know you can always go back when trying wierd things (like SVG rendering).
• follow the flow: Playing the game is the key. If I missed something, I added it. Planning everything is not a good idea to my mind.
• twitter: I always want to tweet more, but this time I really did it. Yay 😀

 
What I should do better:

• user testing: I did a user testing, but it was like four hours before the deadline. I felt tired and decided not to do add features which were clearly missing. I should do usertesting earlier.
• theme: I still have a hard time coming up with a good idea for a given theme. I don’t know why…
• underestimation: I think I could have managed a more complex game… But well, I guess I was too cowardly.

So – and now I’m going to play your games.

Yay! Ludum Dare! I just returned from my vacation and am super motivated to do some programming. As always, I will do a Javascript/HTML5 game. My goal: Be better than previously and aim higher than last time

A demo of my progress so far. The first time I do something with webGL for Ludum Dare. Also: It’s playable with a Gamepad (tested with xBox controller and chrome). Play it here: LINK

Hi guys,

Rialgar and I really enjoyed developing HTML5 games during the past LD compos, but we were curious what could be achieved with more time than just one weekend. So we gave us some months and developed an HTML5 MMO demo.

The terrain is generated procedurally by a Java server and transmitted via a WebSocket. The whole scenery is rendered by the awesome three.js library I also used for my last LD entry. The server takes care of client synchronization so you can see other players moving around. We also implemented a rudimentary combat system.

To make the world a little bit more interesting, we added an editor so that players can create own structures like houses or trees and add them to the world.

It’s not a complete MMO though as it is missing features like a level system, quests or dungeons, but we think it shows what HTML5 is capable of.

Play it here: http://shards-game.net (best played with Google chrome)

In for the… sixth time? Yeah, I guess that’s right. I really enjoyed working with three.js last time, so I will use it again. My usual toolchain: Eclipse with Aptana plugin, GIT, Chrome, Firefox, XBox gamepad (yeah, I plan to use the HTML5 gamepad api again), Wacom Bamboo tablet and all the tools I think will be useful (and allowed)… thinking of sfxr, paint, gimp, maybe blender (oh god no).

I will also be in a public google hangout, showing some of my progress and chatting with whoever wants to join me. I will post the link to the hangout on my twitter, so check @fenmarDE if you are interested.

Here is a screenshot of my battlefield for this weekend, complete with plush gazelle guarding my cookie supply:

Tags: deskphoto

I have been around for six LDs now and have never made a game more than a few dozen people have played. Am I disappointed? No. Because it’s not about winning the competition or get thousands of people play your game; it’s about personal improvement. And it works!

A chart showing all of my LD games with their relative rating (position / total submissions)

This is why I love LD. No matter how skilled you are, you will always get some honest feedback from the community helping you become a better gamedev. It’s still a long way to go, but I am super excited to find out where it leads me.

On related news: I’m in for LD 26

Tools: Javascript, three.js, tween.js, Eclipse, Git

This entry was posted on Friday, April 26th, 2013 at 7:00 am and is filed under LD #26. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

I decided to make a 3d first person puzzle game. I’m still in the phase of implementing puzzle mechanics, but I like the art style so far. Everything is procedurally textured Find a demo here: Demo

Tags: demo

… now to the other 90%. Which are sounds, levels, menus and stuff. Have a demo: Demo

Onto my 8th LD. Last time I could not participate so I am thrilled to make a game for LD again. Here is a compilation of my past games. You can find all of them on my homepage

Screenshots of my past LD games

To be honest, I am a little nervous, because I really liked my last game and I hope to be even better this time, even if it’s going to be difficult…

I think I see a tendency…

So of course I am in for LD28.

Tools: Javascript, three.js, tween.js, Chrome, Firefox, maybe my xbox gamepad, tablet, sfxr, audacity, paint, gimp, photoshop – depending on the game I will make. I have not decided on an IDE yet. Maybe Eclipse and GIT, maybe my own code editor…

Hi guys,

after not participating in LD for more than a year (what – has it been that long of a time!?), I can not take it anymore and have to make a game again I think the theme is awesome and we can expect some very diverse and innovative games. Here are my tools of choice:

– Sublime Text
– Git
– three.js
– Chrome of course
– probably some sound library, have not decided yet
– maybe blender
– gimp
– tiled
– sfxr
– and whatever public library or tool I think can be beneficial

All right, this is to a wonderful weekend and I am looking forward to playing all of your games 😉