<< Check out our previous Day#2 blog post here

And we're done! Now that the server has settled down a bit, CYBATRON is published. As usual there were a few ideas we had to drop due to time, but that's just how Ludum Dare works. All in all, the game is complete and pretty polished. My hat is off to my fellow developy compatriots @daanvanyperen and @meatmachine, and to @troop and MisterOizo for playtesting/feedback.

🕹️ PLAY CYBATRON 🕹️

Peculiar Day#3

This last day started unusual for us. Normally I work on Monday and @daanvanyperen rearranges his work schedule to do the jam instead. This time I got some time off from work, but he had to go into work. This meant I spent the time improving assets and making new ones that we had planned already, and writing some content we ended up not including in the game. All said and done, I achieved the visual style I wanted.

In the meantime @meatmachine tweaked and improved the soundtrack, and after Daan got back we tackled all the important remaining bits. I designed a few levels, and that was that. Game done.

Reward Time

Today's reward for spending my time and effort in the right way is once again a Sin&Remorse collab by Jopen/De Molen, but this variety is barrel-aged for 500 days on a blend of Ledaig and Isle of Arran whisky barrels. According to my tastebuds, I quite like that they did that. Cheers! 🍻

 

There's plenty of interesting things to talk about in regard to our game CYBATRON. There's mistakes we made and a large number of improvements we could still implement post-jam to have the game explain itself much better. None of the humorous content we had been thinking of even made it into the game.

But I am not going to talk about any of those actually interesting things, I'm gonna talk about the graphics.

A Change in Art Direction

Ludum Dare 42 was a little different for us, visually. Our previous entries are generally x2 or x3 scaled pixelart. Even if they weren’t scaled up, it was still quite clearly pixelart. This time, @daanvanyperen asked me at one point: “Why don’t you try something like your digital paintings?” All right, out of the comfort zone we go! (In regard to game art, anyway.)

As I got started on the graphics, I figured I'd start clean and eventually get to painting over things, but I quickly realized I quite enjoyed the clean style. I only ended up using my Wacom tablet for quick little sketches of buildings to figure out the general design of things.

(I lost a few sketches when I neglected to save the file, so I don't actually have any left that look like the assets I ended up making. D'oh!)

Cyberpunk: It's All The Rage Right Now

80's music, a new Bladerunner, Cyberpunk 2077, the current fad of neon magenta and cyan lighting... Cyberpunk seemed a pretty obvious pick. We'd also brainstormed past Kowloon Walled City, which is where the height of my building assets came from at least. There was more cyberpunk that we wanted to include originally. Tiles that merge together with cables and wires connecting them, etc. In the end, we ran out of time for that.

The Good

I think we achieved a high level of polish for our game. I had taken the monday off from work (first time I did that for a Ludum Dare) while @daanvanyperen did have to go to work (probably also a first time) so I had 8 to 10 hours of doodling extra. I had consciously postponed work on some assets so I could spend the monday doing those, and the extra time paid off.

The game also has a fairly uniform style to it. I tried to art direct myself by shooting down ideas that, while they might look nice on their own, would not fit with the rest of the game. That internal direction worked 90% of the time.

The Bad and The Ugly

There are a bunch of things, graphically, that could do with improvements. Some of might be nitpicking, but I do indeed pick nits.

1. Go Away, Escher

The height of the blocks causing an optical illusion that a block closer to the foreground looks like it's below the other blocks. Reducing the height of the blocks should probably do the trick.

2. Ticks Are Off The Mark

The tick mark on the resource icons hovering over the buildings when they are active does not fit the style of the game. A five minute fix, but it didn't stand out to me until after the jam ended.

3. I Cast Magic Missile, Not Shadow

A more uniform use of shadows. The buildings draw shadows on the tile below, but not on themselves in a bunch of sprites. The casino in the image below was the last building sprite I made ion the last day of the jam; I got careless.

4. Anchor What?!

We have a tile that doesn't allow blocks to be moved away from it. It started with reinforced edges. That didn't look good. Then I reiterated and reiterated. I reached a point where more time spent on it just wasn't worth it. We needed a quick symbol fix. Either a lock or an anchor? Those don't seem very cyberpunky. I clearly saw the anchor in my mind, I went for it. Don't judge me.

5. A Farmtastic Failure

Yes. Yes, that is a farm. It really is. It supplies food to the residential buildings, enabling the population to live there. It started as a regular greenhouse; that looked too present-day. Then it turned into a hazy cylindrical glass chamber; cylindrical did not suit the angular style of the game. @daanvanyperen asked for a biodome, but round shapes still don't suit the style. Righto, some green-tinted glass boxes it is.

6. Where's The Cyber, Punk?

This is probably my biggest gripe with the graphics I ended up making. It may be kind-of reminiscent of cyberpunk, but it definitely doesn't scream cyberpunk. As I mentioned above, there was more we wanted to do with it, and as a result our game merely became cyberpunkish. It's a good thing we put it in the name of the game.

In Conclusion...

We ended up with a pretty good looking game that could have looked better. But of course, the could look better part is always true in a game jam. While I directed my art well, there's more details to keep in mind that I neglected. Step back and try to be objective.

If you made it this far down, thanks for reading. There will be a graphics timelapse video somewhere in the next few weeks. If you like these kinds of things, keep an eye on my YouTube or Twitter.

I finally got around to finishing my graphics timelapse video four our game CYBATRON today.

Lots of Photoshop, some Notepad++ for editing json files, and some oogling my friends' streams as they also worked on the game. Enjoy!

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

We're in! Or I am, at least. We haven't really talked about it yet, so I will reserve the "official" statement for later... but that's not why I am writing this.

It's that time again! The Theme Always Sucks, right? Speaking for myself, our entries have always been guided by the theme and I still stand behind all of them---even when a game ranked lower in the theme category than I'd hoped (You're still very dear to my heart, LD40's Spacelitch). The Theme Always Sucks, but The Theme Is What You Make Of It. That's pretty cliché, but it's true.

My personal approach is to think of something that's ambiguous but still guides a train of thought; some kind of idiom or just a weird combination of words. This time I think I kept it pretty traditional.

See you at the slaughter!

I couldn't resist. I just had to make a Ludum Dare 43 wallpaper. It should be 4:3 compatible as well. (Don't judge me, I use it as a second monitor. 😛) I also added in a bunch of tips to help you keep on the right track, subliminally. I dunno, it might work. 😁

Right, better get back to anxious anticipation for 15 more days.

EDIT: After using this wallpaper myself for a little over a day, the brightness of the text started to offend me, so I made a dark variation.

Day #1 began, as always, about 7 or 8 hours after the theme was announced. 3:00 am is no time to start jamming in polite society, I do declare. We all got on discord and into a shared Google doc, and brainstorming began. After a little while, we had an idea: a narrative-driven social commentary. It seemed pretty ambitious. We tried to figure out the distilled version, the minimum requirements for it to work. Nope. Not a chance in three days. So we went for a wacky arcade game where your bodyguards must jump in the line of fire and protect the president!

Yes, this is a working title.

Don't worry, if you're not excited about either protecting or failing to protect the tangerine marvel you see in this screenshot, I will in all likely hood pixel together an Obama tomorrow. We'll aim to be inclusive.

The Art So Far

I began with some quick sprite work for the bodyguards, limousine and the president. I put together a temporary four frame walk animation for the bodyguard, and then we decided it's more important right now to have a world for this all to take place in. So all in all, most my time was spent on background assets. I created seven buildings while using Google Streetview in the middle of Manhattan as inspiration. And I threw up some posters of our previous LD entries, as per my own tradition.

Got Game?

We got game! @daanvanyperen has been slaving away at whatever demonic rituals you need in order to write code. (I won't claim to understand any of it.) Right now we have a very basic and unpolished game. We have a president to protect and a bunch of bodyguards. We have laser sighting indicating when and from where a bullet will come, and a time-slow mechanic combined with a draw-back catapult system for launching your bodyguards in the right direction. All of this still needs a good amount of work to get right, of course.

Other than that, @meatmachine has made three songs for our soundtrack. Hopefully we can start implementing some sound effects tomorrow.

Tomorrow's Plans

Like I stated above, I plan to add Obama as a choice for president. This is meant to be a silly game, not a divisive one. Other than that I hope to do a lot of character animation. We'd like to have spectators by the side of the road, waving at the parade. I think I am good on buildings for now; more is always better for variety's sake, but there are other priorities.

For now, I will finish my Day #1 Reward Beer, an imperial porter named Je Moer In De Band brewed by De Moersleutel, and then go to bed. Goodnight!

Following up yesterday's report with today's events!

We're still unnamed. I wonder if we'll ever be named.

How Was Your Day, Honey?

Personally, I am struggling a little with a cold. Phlegm, coughing, the works; all that pretty much characterizes my morning. I soothed my throat with tea and honey. But then I got started jamming again, logging into our Trello to see what art needed doing and continuing the work. I binned the old temporary character animations and started on new ones. The bodyguards now have a 6-frame run animation, one frame of crouching, a 5-frame jump animation, and a 7-frame slide-and-stand-up animation. (Warning, unfortunately the animations aren't represented well in the gifs below.)

We now have particle effects upon impact between projectile and bodyguard. Gloriously patriotic particle effects to celebrate their sacrifice. Also, we replaced our temporary round bullet with a fancy missile!

Yesterday I promised you an American president from yesteryear, and today I deliver! His suit kind of blends in with the background, so I will be making that a little darker tomorrow. Additionally, you'll notice the bodyguards' sacrifice isn't necessarily a lethal one - they get patched up and sometimes return to the parade!

You might have noticed it's not just balloons and confetti exploding into existence. Meet Mr. Bald Eagle. I am not entirely happy with the wing flap animation, but I think this suffices for what we're doing here. (It's a 12-frame animation.)

Just One More Day

We've come pretty far today, but there remains plenty to wrap up and complete. One thing we hope to do tomorrow is to drop in a few different enemies, including our little friend below.

And with that I conclude my report. Today's Reward Beer is one I rewarded myself with during Ludum Dare 42 as well: an imperial stout named Sin & Remorse (BA on Jack Daniels barrels) brewed by Jopen/De Molen.

Following up on yesterday's rambling, we managed to complete and submit our game. We didn't figure out a name for it though, so AS OF YET UNNAMED it is. Check it out on our game page.

That's our logo! It took a good chunk of today's time, but it was worth it. It's also featured on the score screen, so be sure to fail to protect the president if you happen to play our game.

Did You Have A Nice Day?

Still got that cold. But other than that, today was good. I managed to get a lot done. The aforementioned logo was a bit of as time sink, but I felt we needed something iconic-looking that wasn't just gameplay elements, that also works as a promotional asset. I also got around to making the limousine prettier, and animating it a little as well as a ton of other little tweaks. There are now two stages of bandaged bodyguards.

I also ended up making some assets we could not use in the end, as there was no time to implement them, but that's okay. That honestly happens each Ludum Dare.

I am really digging how the bodyguards can jump at and grab on to the helicopter to weigh it down and bring it to the ground; their little kicking animation was a blast to make. I also included two more presidents. That's right. One game with a grand total of four presidents. What a bargain!

The game has a soundtrack and sound effects courtesy of @meatmachine, which makes everything happening on screen a lot more visceral.

This Is It, Then?

Nope. Now begins the playing and rating of games. Remember, if you want people to play your game, you need to do them the same courtesy. I usually have some trouble getting motivated for this shortly after the jam ends, but that passes and we always manage to rate and comment on a good number of games. I usually try to give useful feedback at the cost of rating less games in total, but that's just my way.

But more immediately; yes, this is it. I have rewarded myself with a Russian imperial stout called Jolanda Op Een Motor, brewed by De Moersleutel. Once I am done celebrating our completion, I will sleep, and I will sleep gloriously.

 

It took a little while, but I just completed and uploaded the pixelart timelapse video for AS OF YET UNNAMED to my YouTube channel. It's not quite a complete post-mortem, but it shares some traits. I did my best to describe the goings-on in the video in any case. :smile: I hope it's informative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLT3pYCr42g

Issues with the embedded video? Direct link here.

 

This post-mortem deals with the graphics of our entry for LD43, AS OF YET UNNAMED. This is a more in-depth follow-up on my Narrated Pixelart Timelapse video. There's a lot to say, so I separated it into three parts.

• Go to Part 2: Out-Of-Game Graphics
• Go to Part 3: Conclusions

Part 1: The Process

In The Beginning...

The concept for the game is simple: you control bodyguards that run along the president's limousine, which is driving through the city, and the bodyguards must intercept incoming projectiles to keep the president safe. That basic concept determines the minimum requirements for the graphics. * Bodyguard * President * Limousine * Background art * Projectile

We Must Go Deeper

Branching off from those minimum requirements comes everything that elevates those basics to improve the way the game looks (ooh, pretty), feels (what happens make sense) and plays (I understand what to do).

The bodyguard needs a walking animation as the background art will scroll by to indicate movement. They need a jump animation, and for that to feel snappy I want them to crouch before doing so. After missing a projectile, they could just land and resume their walk, but adding a sliding animation after which they get up improves that elusive gamefeel as it adds momentum to the jump.

Here is an example in motion (animated, not in-game action).

I animate the president to add character. He might not be the Mario of the game, but he is our Princess Peach so I do not want him to be a static sprite. I separate the limousine from the president, in order to have the president get launched in the air when he is hit, and so that the projectile can be launched directly at him.

The buildings in the background determine the setting, so I want a decent number of them, but since they are background I do not need a wealth of art here. The player will mostly focus on the foreground, so as long as there is sufficient variation it's fine. The road at the bottom of the screen is part of the building sprites, so we essentially have slices of background art that fill the screen vertically scrolling by.

Our original test version has a round bullet, but we replace it with a missile that has a longer shape which indicates the direction it is moving in.

I create some UI elements to indicate to the player that the bodyguard must be selected, and dragging the mouse (or your finger on a touch screen) back will launch them in the direction of the arrow. Putting this element at the start of the game means we do not need a separate tutorial stage, and will speed up a player's understanding of the controls. We do not want to frustrate the player for a minute before they get how the game works, as a portion of the audience will have given up by then.

Polishing Your Entry Sounds Like A Euphemism

Polishing the game is not a separate act that happens after all the previously mentioned tasks are complete, and simply happens throughout the process. I realize some things I do early on are not necessary at that stage, but I'm aware of how much time I have left and fit in polishing where I see fit.

I duplicate the bodyguard sprites and make bandaged variations that have a chance of returning after they have sacrificed themselves. This adds nothing mechanically, but serves to entertain. It's definitely a this would be fun concept.

We add a bomb as second projectile and a helicopter that launches its own projectiles. These are not necessary either, but the bomb sprite adds visual variation, and the helicopter adds depth to the gameplay, as bodyguards can hang from the helicopter in order to bring it down, which means you momentarily have less bodyguards to intercept projectiles. I animate the dangling bodyguards to breathe some more life into the process.

I add three more animated president sprites, making it so you do not protect the same guy every time you play the game. This may leave a player to give the game a few more tries just to see who else is there, or should a player really dislike a certain head-of-state, give them the option to switch.

I create a graphic for the scoreboard. It turns out to be a pretty iconic-looking asset that I feel we can use it for the game logo as well. It suits and sets the mood of the game pretty well.

Next, I'll talk about the art that's not made to be in the game in Part 2: Out-Of-Game Graphics.

 

This post-mortem deals with the graphics of our entry for LD43, AS OF YET UNNAMED. This is a more in-depth follow-up on my Narrated Pixelart Timelapse video. There's a lot to say, so I separated it into three parts.

• Go to Part 1: The Process
• Go to Part 3: Conclusions

Part 2: Out-Of-Game Graphics

Cover Image

This is the first impression of the game. If a player finds your game through the Games section of the Ludum Dare website, this is what they see first. As you can see in my Narrated Pixelart Timelapse video, I make two versions of our cover image: one showing in-game sprites, and one with our entry's logo. I feel like neither option is a bad decision, which makes it harder to pick one, so I present both versions to @DaanVanYperen and together we decide to go for the version with the game's logo.

I also use a screenshot of the Games page and cut out a random cover image as a template. The cover image has two overlays on that page: the orange overlay in the top-right that shows whether it's a Compo or Jam entry, and the slightly transparent grey overlays at the top and bottom of the image that show the entry's name and which Ludum Dare it was made for. The orange overlay stays overlaid. I do not want to put anything vital in that part of the image. The grey overlays disappear when you scroll over the image, so that's less of a no-no area, but I try to keep the main art within those bounds. Now these dimensions change depending on how many thumbnails you choose to see per row, but I base this on the default setting of four, assuming people stick to that (I have no data to back that up).

Wait, Is My Ludum Dare Game Page Part Of Graphics Too?

There's definitely an element of design involved in how you present the game on your entry page. I do not claim to know for certain what works best here, but I find it's worth the time and effort to consider how to fill this page out. And the best thing? You can do this after the deadline.

Logo, Description And A Big Link

Since we have a strong landmark graphic with which to capture attention, I put the game logo at the top of the page. Then I add a brief description; a short text that humorously captures the idea of the game. Since the logo is pretty big, I use markdown to enlarge this text. I try and keep the description in a similar tone to the game. Don't promote your game about grief with a one-liner.

Underneath this, I add a big, hard-to-miss link to our game with the addition that it's a web client. The official link to the game is all the way at the bottom of the content we add here, so I do not want to make people scroll down past everything if they do not want to. And as people are more likely to try your game if they do not have to download it, the HTML5 tag is pretty vital.

Illustration in Moderation

After that, a single animated gif of the game. Something that shows off the game sufficiently. I used to post multiple screenshots before, but that just makes for more required scrolling again.

Control Yourself

Possibly the most important part of the game page is noting down the controls. Going into the game with some knowledge of how it is played is really important. A large part of the audience will only play the game for a few minutes. If they have to spend unnecessary effort learning controls that they could have just read at a glance, they might be more frustrated playing your entry. Our game can be played in two different ways depending on the platform, so I leave a simple instruction for both mouse controls and swiping.

Credit Where It's Due

Including this time, I have taken part in eight Ludum Dares. @DaanVanYperen has even more titles under his belt. This means that some people may recognize your name, which might in turn make them try your new entry. I add links to social media or other platforms that each individual wants to profile themselves with.

And To Complete The Hub

We usually make timelapse videos of our process, which I add to the game page so those who play our game and are interested can quickly access them. Finally, I do the same for the blogposts I have written, treating the game page as a landing page for everything we post in regard to our entry. These post-mortems, for example, will also end up in that list.

Next, I'll go over my conclusions in the cleverly titled Part 3: Conclusions.

 

This post-mortem deals with the graphics of our entry for LD43, AS OF YET UNNAMED. This is a more in-depth follow-up on my Narrated Pixelart Timelapse video. There's a lot to say, so I separated it into three parts.

Part 3: Conclusions

• Go to Part 1: The Process
• Go to Part 2: Out-Of-Game Graphics

The Good

Looking back, I am quite happy with how everything turned out. My initial idea for the graphics was based on Broforce, but I pretty quickly managed to move away from just copying a style when I made the initial bobblehead characters. And I feel we managed to visually capture the over-the-top patriotism we wanted to achieve.

I had hoped we'd come up with a concept where I could do a bunch of pixelart animation again, like I had done previously with Artax for Ludum Dare 39, and this certainly fit that specific bill. I try to not think ahead before the theme is known too much, but the itch to animate was definitely there.

The Bad (And The Ugly)

Contrast! Particularly the missiles can be hard to see against the background. The time-slow mechanic does make the background art slightly transparent so the foreground stands out more, but when there are multiple missiles on screen it's hard to keep track of everything. I added something of an outline as it was even worse before, but there's a lot of room for improvement. We had thought to add a particle smoke trail to the missiles, but time ran out for that.

Comparing this title to Artax again, the main culprit for having these contrast issues is the bright background. Artax had a similar style of pixelart with no outlines, but it had much darker backgrounds. In all honesty, it didn't really register in my mind that this would be an issue until all the backgrounds were done already. Looking back, perhaps an outlined style similar to our Mini Ludum Dare 50 entry Naturally Selected 2D would have been a better choice.

The Cutting Room Floor

Various assets are on my tile sheet that unfortunately did not make it into the game. I had completed a helicopter, but the next day our fresh eyes revealed how its oval shape did not suit the otherwise square and diagonal aesthetic of the game. Now this is not really a cutting room floor victim, as I iterated on its look and came up with a more suitable version of it, but it does represent time spent that doesn't directly end up in a used asset.

We had considered a pickup for bodyguards to collect that adds an extra bodyguard to your squad, so I made a shiny secret service badge for that purpose. A lack of time combined with automated additions of guards meant it had no use.

We had wanted spectators to dress up the background art from the start, as this was meant to be a parade of sorts, but time also prevented them from attending. In the end, however, it's probably a good thing as more characters on screen would probably make for some visual overload.

I think that about wraps up everything I wanted to say. Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions feel free to contact me!

 

:fireworks: Happy new year! :fireworks:

I am blown away with how well our game has been rated. The feedback had been very positive, so I had fairly high hopes, but to be in the top 100 in all categories with only Innovation dipping just under a 4.0 score I did not expect. Thanks to everyone who played and rated AS OF YET UNNAMED, you've given us a great send-off into 2019!

I assume everyone shooting fireworks into the sky last night was out celebrating that AS OF YET UNNAMED ended up getting the best results we have gotten so far. :fireworks::champagne_glass:

Following up on the comparison chart trend, I figured compare the scores of our last seven entries since LD37. @DaanVanyperen had already taken part a bunch of times before in LD26 through to LD30 and LD33 (Oh my, that makes this 14 LDs in total. He's a grizzled veteran!), but I figured it makes most sense to only compare our collaborative efforts, and my first Ludum Dare was LD36 which didn't have ratings.

The Results

The Comparison

Direct link here.

As you can see, AS OF YET UNNAMED scored well in all categories. Innovation and Mood scored better in LD38/LD41 and LD39 respectively, but the numbers for this jam are putting a big smile on my face.

Not visible in this chart is how our average score for LD43 is a 4.247. Previously, our best average was a 3.976 for LD37's I CLEAN TOILET, so breaking through the 4-star barrier there definitely feels good.

Learn Anything?

Since we performed well across the board, I figure AS OF YET UNNAMED feels like a strong package overall, which may have elevated individual scores. We took a pretty obvious direction for the theme by having to protect the president, which is probably why Innovation is the lowest score this time, but I expected the rating there to actually be be lower. I think the over-the-top patriotism with red-white-and-blue confetti, balloons and balds eagles affected how our Innovation category was rated.

So I suppose the conclusion there is to make sure you shape all things in your game around the central theme as best as you can. We didn't opt for random arcade game music, but got an American-sounding marching tune. We implemented red-and-white striped transitions between rounds. If you have character customization in a game about sorcery, make sure your hat options are wizard's and witches' hats, you don't need baseball caps.

Next April I will definitely make sure to ask myself if the things I am adding onto our spritesheet reflect the core theme of the game. See you then!

We'll make something, probably! :smile: The likely crew as usual:

• @daanvanyperen | coding | twitter, github, website
• @flaterectomy | graphics | twitter, soundcloud, YouTube, website, portfolio
• @meatmachine | music & audio | twitter, soundcloud

I saw Mike post on Twitter that the Theme Slaughter would start today, so I hurried and thought of three suggestions.

Now to get started on the traditional wallpaper!

I at last got around to applying the finishing touches to what, in the end, is a pretty minimalist wallpaper for Ludum Dare 44. I carried over the list of tips (and graphics-related pet peeves of mine) that I had thrown onto my Ludum Dare 43 wallpaper, but for this one they're actually readable. :grin: Like last time, I have two variations: a bright and a dark theme, and I made sure to have both 4k and HD resolutions available.

HD Wallpapers

Bright 1920x1080

Dark 1920x1080

4k Wallpapers

Bright 3840x2160

Dark 3840x2160

imgur link here

Next up is actually jamming next week. Have a merry Easter until then! :hatching_chick:

 

Where we could not figure out a name at all during Ludum Dare 43, we made sure to not repeat the same mistake. Day #1 yielded the title of Necromarket for what will be a trading/crafting game where you will have to occasionally tap into your own lifespan to turn a profit.

We had a slow start to this one. Ludum Dare starts at 3:00am my time, and we always just start somewhere in the morning after we wake up. This time, that meant we didn't start brainstorming until 11:00am. This storm lasted quite some time, and we finally settled on what game to make somewhere after 15:00pm. But progress has been made since then, and we're catching up to our late start a little.

Today I created a few basic background tiles, character sprites and craftable objects. Tomorrow I hope to make some basic character animations and finish the last few background/object tiles.

Meanwhile @daanvanyperen took my art and magicked together an environment in which the player can move around, pick up objects and craft them into something new, and sell them to the waiting customers. Hopefully we're not far from only requiring polish work.

@meatmachine has been making soundtracks as we've been fleshing out the concept, and tomorrow will probably see a bunch of sound effects coming to life.

That concludes day #1. I rewarded my own efforts with a stout named More Complicated Than Your Girlfriend by The Flying Dutchman brewery. I hope those of you who are calling it quits for the day, or will be soon, will have your own rewards waiting - you deserve them! :beers:

 

Day #2 hit me harder than day #1 did. I think it's due to the 104 frames of character animation that I feel I spent about 75% of my day on. Forgive me if the rest of this blog post turns into deranged rambling. :laughing:

Please give a big, warm welcome to the cast of our game: child, young adult, adult, and rather elderly person.

In Necromarket you'll play all of these at some stage, as you'll be enchanting items in your store using your own lifespan. Don't worry though, the magic works both ways, and you can rejuvenate yourself.

They also move up, down and to the left - don't worry. :wink: I hope I will get some time to polish up some of the jittery movement in the animations tomorrow, but I do have to go to work, so I won't have much time left. It's a jam, at some point you have to move on to more pressing matters.

@meatmachine made a bunch of sound effects today, which breathe a lot of life into the gameplay. Meanwhile @daanvanyperen performed his arcane programming rituals to make our art into an actual game. One fateful day I may understand it.

So that concludes day #2. Time passed crazy fast, every time I look at the clock it's much later than I expect. But I can let go and call it quits for now with a good feeling. I rewarded my efforts with an imperial stout named Kollusion, brewed by Boom Island / Maenhout. Good luck to you crazy compo folks, and I'll rejoin you fellow jammers tomorrow evening for a last ditch effort to pump out something gamey. Goodnight! :smile:

 

And as if barely any time passed, Day #3 has come to an end and Necromarket is complete. It could be more complete, perhaps, but this is the nature of gamejams. Looking at the difference between the finalized entry and yesterday's game, we made a ton of progress today. We actually have a story in the game now!

I had to spend much of the day at work, but luckily @daanvanyperen managed to wrangle his schedule so he could really throw down the polishing rag and buff up our ga- ...yeah, perhaps it's way too late to talk in silly metaphors. :smile:

Game is done! Play game here!

🎮 PLAY NECROMARKET HERE (HTML5)

If you read yesterday's blog post, you've seen me mentioning the large chunk of time I spent on character animations. Today I copied all of those and created alternative animations for when the player carries an item. This makes for about 208 character animation frames in total. I swear, our next game is just going to feature a stationary block or something.

Other than that @daanvanyperen had a list of assets for me to create when I got home from work, followed by a lot of tweaking of existing sprites, and @meatmachine slapped together a bunch more sound effects.

All in all, I am very happy, and very sleepy.

Tomorrow we rate!

While the Ludum Dare 44 results aren't even in yet, we have some Ludum Dare 43 news! Back in December we submitted what turned out to be our best-rated entry so far, and since then As Of Yet Unnamed has seen a couple of improvements and has just been launched at Armor Games.

 

 

What Happened Since LD43?

Much of the constructive feedback we received revolved around visibility and contrast, so we took that to heart and separated the background and foreground by lightening the darker tones in the back as well as adding a bright red-blinking effect to incoming projectiles. Some other little tweaks here and there and after tackling a big but luckily easily fixable game-breaking bug, we have a pretty solid result that I hope you'll give a go!

Where Do I Play It?

:joystick: You can play our post-jam Armor Games version of As Of Yet Unnamed here! (HTML5/web)

How About LD44?

While we have gathered enough ratings to qualify for our Ludum Dare 44 entry Necromarket, if you want to have a look you can do so here. :joystick:

Tomorrow I hope to publish my pixelart timelapse video of Necromarket to my YouTube channel, so keep your eyes out for that if this sort of thing tickles your fancy! (Specifically this game art timelapse video playlist, if you don't want to wade through my odd attempts at music.)