Greetings Programs!

This will be my first ludum dare attempt. I found out about ludum dare only days before LD20. Since then I’ve been very intrigue by the whole concept of creating a game from start to finish in only 48 hours. Seems impossible, but previous entries point to the contrary. Now that I’m out of college and have some experience working with some tools, I figured I’d finally give this a shot.

At the very least I plan to use the time to jumpstart a project that has been swimming in my head for ages (provided it ends up fitting in with the theme). However, I may try and come into this compo cold, with no expectation for what I want to make and just focus as much as I can on the theme (instead of trying to make a pre-existing idea fit the theme). Anyway, the following is a list of tools I plan on using for the compo:

• libGDX (a java game development framework targeted toward Windows, OSX, Linux, & Android)
• GIMP (the poor man’s photoshop…I’m a programmer, not an artist, but it should be fun regardless)
• BFXR (sound effects)
• not sure about music; I might use Audacity or LMMS…not sure though. I might even try using AudioTool or AudioSauna (a couple of chrome apps).
• TexturePacker (the essential version…just got out of college….I’m broke).
• Tiled (map editor…if it is needed 😉 )
• my handy dandy notebook (for sketching out ideas)

I also plan on doing some progress blogs on here and maybe on my own personal blog (not sure yet…depends on how “in the zone” I get). I’ll also try and do a timelapse to show the whole process, but that is also a maybe. I think that is everything. I’ll be sure to post something if any of my tools change.

Release Targets:

• Windows, OSX, & Linux via executable jar (.jar), Java webstart (.jlpn), and as a Java Applet (…maybe…probably)
• Android (maybe 1.5+) – I’ll attach a .apk file that people can download and install on their phones manually (if I can’t get it into the Play store) I have more experience with Android so that will be my main target platform, but I’ll be working on the desktop versions right along side it.

Good luck to everyone! Let’s make some games! Have fun!

Jack

Hello all,

I hope everyone is doing well. I just thought I’d check in and let the community know what I’m up to. I’m sure everyone is hard at work so I’ll be brief.

Since this is my first LD, I figured that I should try and keep my game as simple as possible. So for the past 2.5 hours I’ve been brainstorming trying to come up with something that goes along with the theme of “Tiny World”. I was having grand ideas about a “zelda-like” game where you are trying to protect a small object that was found from being stolen and it turns out that it was indeed a…you guessed it…tiny world. The player, upon finding this out, would be pulled into the world and get to explore it and fight all kinds of monsters, and dive down dungeons, and save not only the tiny world but their own as well.

Sounds a bit complicated? Yeah that is what I thought. So I scratched that (still a neat idea that I may revisit in the future). The last thing I want to do for my first LD is to get in waaaaaaaaaaay over my head and have nothing to show in 2 days. So I started to think small (excuse the pun). The one thing I liked about my previous idea was the basic premise behind it: protecting a tiny world. So what I’ve settled on is a little “god-like” game that involves you trying to protect your own tiny world from the dangers and chaos of space. I’m trying to keep it simple and manageable, but most of all fun.

I’m going to start work on a mock up and a starting prototype to see if I can get the basic gameplay down and see if it will be worth making. So far I’m thinking it’ll be fun, but we’ll see.

Have fun everyone and happy coding!

Jack

Greetings,

Well, I overslept this morning. I was up a bit late working on drawing some assets. I’m planning to finish those up and then get them into the game and moving around and then I’ll start working on the interaction with the player. Since my idea is pretty simple I shouldn’t be too hard pressed to finish. The basic gameplay is pretty simple and I’m not anticipating too many problems to implement it, but if my past experience has anything to say it says, “Always expect the worst to happen.” So I’m going to be working diligently so if I run into any issues I’ll have plenty of time to sort them out.

Like I said, I’m still finishing up the assets, but I’ll at least show you the title screen. No buttons on it though…just the title and background. Goes to show LD is no walk in the park. I’m glad I kept my idea small and simple. Hopefully I’ll have time to add plenty of polish at the end.

I love what I’m seeing come from everyone else! Keep up the good work everyone! Those games aren’t going to write themselves! Oh by the way, does anyone know how many entries we have this year? Are we on our way to hitting that 1000 game mark? I hope so!

Cheers,

Jack

the awesome title screen :)

Greetings,

I figured I’d check in again and post the finished mock ups of the title screen and game play. The game play screen uses some place holder graphics I whipped up. I should have time to go in and replace these with the other assets I’ve been working on, but I just needed some simple little sprites to start coding and getting things moving on the game play side of things. Progress is a little slower than I’d like, but again this will be a simple game so I’m not too worried about it. I’ll try and get a video or some in-game screen caps up in the next couple of hours depending on how long it takes me to get things really rolling.

And now for your viewing pleasure some mock ups:

The glorious TITLE SCREEN! :)

Protect your tiny world from asteroids & UFOs; red bar = health, blue bar = power

Well, time to get back to work!

Cheers!

This’ll be my second LD and I’m going to really try and finish. I’ve made sure to keep my schedule clear and will be trying to keep any and all distractions to a minimum.

Anyway here are my weapons of choice:

• Java
• libGDX (a game framework for Java)
• Gimp (for most artwork)
• Pixothell0 (if I need any tilesets)
• Graphics Gale (if I need complex animations…unlikely)
• sfxr (sound effects)
• audio sauna and audacity (music)
• my Linux box
• Android phone (for testing Android build)

Target platforms will be PC, Mac, Linux (its java so I’ll have runners for each), and Android (probably 2.1+)

Let’s make some games!

I have to work this weekend, and I figured I wouldn’t be able to participate but I’m going to give it a go. Maybe a minimalist theme will give me the ability to get something together in the little time I have to work on something.

Tools:

GIMP

Flixel

a computer

my brain

google

x-ray vision

sporks

Hello all!

I forgot to post yesterday that I was joining in on all the fun for this LD. Anyway, so yes I am in! I didn’t vote on the theme this time around because I usually get too excited for a theme and start thinking of ideas for it and then it isn’t picked. So this time I just relaxed and let fate decide. I am, however, excited for this LD’s theme!

Here are my tools:

1) Unity – Free Version (trying my luck with Unity this time around)

2) Notebook for ideas

3) My brain

Good luck to everyone! I can’t wait to play your games!

Created the player submarine avatar. Looks kind of “space ship”-esque, but I think it still passes as a sea-faring vessel.

Essentially, I’m going for a player controlled ship that you will use to explore the ocean depths. My grand vision for the game will be a Metroid-type game with exploration and upgrading your vessel as the main goals of the game. For LD I’ll probably just have a basic map with enemies and hopefully a loot/upgrade system in place.

Whelp. Since I now have a job that isn’t in the retail sector and I now get weekends off I will definitely be participating this weekend and next for MiniLD 55 and LD 31!

I’m playing it a bit loose with the theme of “Preparation” however. I will just be making a complete clone of Breakout this weekend. I like to use Breakout as a sort of litmus test. I feel that it is a great game to get a feel for a framework or engine. I will be using the Phaser framework, which I’ve used a bit, but I haven’t really completed anything with it. I aim to do that this weekend by making Breakout with it so I can get a better feel for the framework before LD31.

Anyway, I know it isn’t original, but I figured it’s “preparation” so I’ll prepare to use Phaser

And here is a rundown of the tools I’ll be using:

Editor: Atom

Language: JavaScript

Frameworks/Libraries: Phaser.js

Graphics: Pyxel Edit

Sounds: Bfxr for SFX and idk about music…Reason? Or maybe garageband or something like that?

Happy coding everyone!

I’m pretty excited for this theme and ready to go.

TOOLS

• Unity
• Pyxel Edit
• Visual Studio 2015
• SFXR