Hello!

It’s 06:46 AM here in Sweden, and I just woke up to starts developing. Here are my thoughts on the theme:

The theme is a very restrictive theme, but it’s also a really easy one to do. For the less adept developers this theme is great, since it’s, according to me, easy to develop. I also find a lot of positive things with a restrictive theme. Finding a different take on the theme is difficult, but that also means that if you do find a different take, it will be relatively unique. Those are just some quick thoughts, now I should start deving :).

Alright, so for the latest 2 hours I’ve been trying to get OpenGL to work. I got it set up about 1 and a half hour ago, but it wasn’t rendering. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to fix it, trying every possible solution, and I just fixed it. The problem? I used a IntBuffer for the element array rather than a ByteBuffer, but when I rendered I said it was a byte buffer, it didn’t throw any kind of error, it just wasn’t rendering. Well, that’s one and a half hour wasted -.-

Finally finished…

I won’t say much, just that I was aiming for a lot more, but I am still happy with the result. I’m really tired now, so I’m gonna go to sleep, but if you’ve got the energy, go play Carrot Chaos!

I will write a longer post mortem at a later date.

So this was my fourth Ludum Dare, and I’m very happy with the result. During this Ludum Dare I made the game Carrot Chaos. This was probably one of the most successful Ludum Dares on my part.

So let’s talk about what went wrong and what went right during this Ludum Dare. Let’s begin with:

What went wrong?

Time

I think the biggest constraint for anyone during Ludum Dare is the time. During Carrot Chaos I was especially stressed. I had a lot of features planned which I didn’t have time to implement. I wanted the world to be a lot more beautiful and I wanted more variants of snowmen, but I just ran out of time. I focused a lot on the graphics for this game, and I do not regret this, but it meant I didn’t have as much time to implement more gameplay features. I also prioritized audio before more features which I think did the game good. Some features I planned were:

• Different kinds of snowmen. For example: A bigger, slower, but stronger snowman. And some kind of boss snowman.
• More powerups. Hot chocolate for temperature regeneration, something for increased damage and more.
• A more beautiful world, with frozen lake, abandoned houses and more.

Procrastination

In the beginning I procrastinated a lot. I played games as well, and talked to friends. It did give me refreshing breaks, and gave me some time to think about the game and features, but I might’ve taken a bit to many breaks…

I can’t really think about anything else that went wrong, so:

What went right?

Planning

Yes, planning. I spent a lot of time planning the game and idea before even starting development, which meant that I knew what to do the entire time. I never stopped to think what I would have to do next. The development process benefited from this A LOT, and it went really quick. This meant that the game turned out very much like the original idea, which also means I’m very happy with the result. Although it’s lacking some of the planned features, it got the core of the original idea, and nothing else. This is my advice to any game developer: Plan your game, I didn’t do this before, and I regret it. Planning before you do leads to much easier and faster development, and the it gets even more enjoyable.

Graphics

I spent hours on graphics for this one, and I must say, I’m quite satisfied with the way the game looks. I’m no pixel artist, it’s nothing compared to some other entries, but I’m proud of what I’ve done. I also spent a lot of time designing the GUI, which I think did the game good. It’s not the best UI, but I made sure that it would fit in with the theme of Entire Game on One Screen.

Instructions

The game I made for Ludum Dare 30, I.A.N, had no in-game instructions. I just had text instructions on the post. This meant that a lot of people didn’t understand how to play. For this game, I knew that it required clear in-game instructions early on. I’m very happy with how the instructions work, where the instructions come up as an overlay over the game scene, and doesn’t allow you to continue without pressing the up key. I personally think they’re very clear, without spoiling to much. It’s hard to miss the instructions, and I’ve already got some feedback from people saying they like the instructions.

So that’s the conclusion for Carrot Chaos. Now that you’ve read everything, why don’t you go play it here?

It would also be really nice if you would check out my website.

I know this is late, but this is my I’m in post! The fifth time, and looking forward for this one. It’s going to be fun.

I’m using:

Language: Java (as always)

IDE: Eclipse

Engine/Framework: GoudaGamengine (custom one)

Graphics: Paint.NET

Audio: Not sure, but probably sfxr

Timelapse: Chronolapse

I’m all ready, and all set up. Let’s rock!

Alright.

During all the previous Ludum Dares I’ve participated in, I’ve woken up and checked the theme, and gotten disappointed. There’s never been the theme I was hoping for. But this time, I’m really exited about the theme!

Let’s get to work!

After struggling with physics for HOURS I’ve finally gotten my platformer collision and jumping working! Development should hopefully move faster now.

Too tired to post any progress reports. Am just saying that I’m going to bed now.

Goodnight!

Just woke up. Today I’ll make some levels, add a teeny tiny bit more features, and hopefully, if I have the time, improve graphics and add audio.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the missing menus and GUIs.

Alright, so I lost my motivation and didn’t have the energy to continue working, so I submitted my game as it is. There’s only the tutorial level, so it’s sort of like a tech demo.

CLICKY!

It’s time to go again, this time it’s my sixth Ludum Dare! I’ll be working with the same tools as usual:

Language: Java

IDE: Eclipse

Engine/Framework: GoudaGamengine (custom one)

Graphics: Paint.NET

Audio: Not sure, but probably sfxr

I didn’t get the timelapse to work properly last time, but I’ll try again using Chronolapse! Let’s jam!

I got my idea down now, and it’s time to start developing. Don’t want to spoil to much, but here’s a clue:

They dug too deep!

So far, it’s going relatively good, but I am worried that I won’t make it in time. Oh well, we’ll see.

I’m now back after an about an hour long break. I’ve given some things some thought, and am ready to get back to deving!

After an entire day of development I’m very tired. The time is 01:09 here in Sweden right now, and I’m stopping for today. I got almost all the gameplay and content done.

Tomorrow I will mainly try to improve the graphics, and if there’s time I will make some nicer menus, add sound, and iron out some minor bugs. I will probably not have the time to do any of this, as always, but I will try. Maybe I should take one more day and submit it as a jam entry. What do you think???

Some feedback on wether I should submit it as a jam entry or compo entry is appreciated, since it’s a difficult choice for me.

Anyway, I am going to bed now, really tired. See you tomorrow! Good night!

The game is fully working now, in that all the gameplay and features are in. There’s however a lot of visual stuff left, like menus for example. Audio is also on the to-do list. I really wonder how much I will be able to do with the time and energy I got left.

Finally, my game They Dug To Deep is finished. I won’t write much about it, there’s some information on the game page, and a post mortem will be written at a later stage. For now, enjoy the game here.

I’m tired now, time to go to bed. Goodnight everybody, and good luck during the last few compo hours of Ludum Dare 33!

That’s right, I’m in! It’s my 7th Ludum Dare, and I’m doing it differently this time. Instead of going with the old Java and OpenGL binding, I’m using a proper game engine, Unity! Haven’t used it much, but I think it will be fun.

Besides Unity I will be using Paint.NET for textures and sprites, maybe Blender (haven’t decided if I want 3D or not) and sfxr. Not sure if there will be any music.

Ok, not quite sure want I want to do with the theme. Right now I have to make a choice between hand drawn 2D or poorely modelled and animated 3D?

I’ve been struggling with ideas, and I’m thinking of scrapping the one I currently have and make something simpler in the time I have left. I like the idea, but I won’t be able to reach the level I want to with it, I think I’ll have to figure out something else.