This is going to be my first attempt at the LD after following it for a LONG time. It will only be my 3rd game, the first Being an old school Zelda style game, the second is a Top down Shump that was originally supposed to be a Roguelike for the 7DRL challenge.
Language: Java
IDE: Eclipse, Obviously
Libraries: LWJGL+Slick2D(OpenGL)
Graphics:Gimp, Gimp, Gimp
Audio: Audacity, sfxr, musagi, and maybe LMMS or Renoise
I can’t wait to find out what the Theme is!
I’ve been doing a lot of reading on LD and I know one of the big things people say about LD is that its important to know your tools well beforehand, so when the time comes, you don’t hit a choke point and need to be spending 100 hours(figuratively) Figuring out how to build for distribution.
I’m currently testing all my tools to see how Quickly I can setup a new LWJGL/Slick2D Project, and then find the easiest way to export into an executable jar file I’m also testing sounds, music, and graphics.
I’ll admit, I’m mostly doing music and sound testing because this would be the first game i’d have ever used music or sound. as i’ve never had enough time to implement them in previous compos.
I also decided to set up a Twitch like a bunch of people, so I will have a live stream going all weekend for you all. 😛
I also have a Tumblr which has some Mumbo Jumbo from the 7DRL(Shadows of Humanity) somewhere in there is a link if you look for it.(link on the right sidebar) Ill be updating less important things tumblr, I generally use it to work out Ideas while I’m writing.
http://liquidfrostbitestudios.tumblr.com/
Only 12 More Days!
For my first LD I’m pretty pumped for the theme(More complicated and I might not finish)
To challenge myself I am making a game type I’ve never worked on before, Platformer. So my first 6 hours have been spent mostly making the basics of a platformer, nothing too fancy. I think im going to call it MiniJump because I’m tired and can’t think of anything better right now.
6 hours later Heres what I have a video for those who want a peek:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3XlE3kFYEo&feature=youtu.be
And a download for those who want to play with it a bit:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/43hscabyxsxtqin/MiniJump_0.0.1.rar
All you have to do is download the Rar, Extract the folder, and run the Jar. Simple! Windows only for now till I can test it on other platforms. Left Right arrows to move, Space to Jump.
I have More stuff on the Game after the Break as to not take up 100 Pages here
Being my first LD I won’t lie, I aimed Pretty low on the complexity scale, I was really inspired by a lot of platformers I had played Recently, and a minimalist theme just fell together with the simple mechanics of a platformer.
For now the game isn’t complicated, Get from point A to point B. Easy.
I do plan to add some Hazards but I’m waiting till I have more ground work laid out, and nothing overly complicated. the key is going to be the look of the levels, I am working on a really interesting design for the blocks that make up the level. I am hoping to make them have a Minimalistic Art feel, Like a Minimalist Painting. Between different levels, I will make the levels with different Blocks with different Textures or colors.
I’m chugging along, and with 16 hours to go, I think i’m going to have to submit my game missing a few features due to time(Sound is the one thing I havent even begun working on.) Here’s a Video as usual of the basics and Pictures of the tile sheets and such after the break:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7BiMMcVceU
and Yes I know the Debug Rectangles and such are still in there.
These are some examples of tiles that the game can choose Randomly for different Platforms
This is the Goal Image, in the game I use a color overlay and have it morph colors.
MiniJump is coming along smoothly, Im trying to buff out the rough edges but its Definitely playable. Im going to take a nap real quick to Rejuve and add more levels. as Always a Video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hMY-6s-0S0&feature=youtu.be
amd the download for the Almost Final Version for LD:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wtvk99ddfptx5do/MiniJump_0.0.6.rar
Extract to a location and run that Jar! Windows currently.
and 
Mini Jump is complete! Congratulations to Everyone else Who finished!
Not too shabby for my 3rd game and my first Ludum Dare!
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=20395
Bring on the Caffeine! I did not migrate to the new Mailing list so I missed the theme on friday. Saturday I ended up seeing a friend since I did not realize it was this weekend. And this morning I wake up and happen to check the site by chance: 10 Hours to go!
Challenge accepted!
The game I’m making is called “Power Trip” and arcade style Hack and slash where you. only get to chose one weapon for the entire game. you progress through randomly generated Dungeon fighting various enemies
Here’s to finishing!
PowerTrip was a massive failure, but I learned a lot about programming in a hurry, this could potentially lead to finishing something like Ohjam never mind future Ludum Dares
What went wrong:
Everything, the 2 biggest being I realized it was this weekend with 10 hours to go, and my new computer did not support Pixel Shaders which I needed for LWJGL.
What went well:
An hour after it started, I was able to get my old computer running and start developing, and my familiarity with LWJGL and Slick2D made getting something running only take about an hour.
Lessons for next time:
Set an alarm for the one in spring so that I get reminded 10PM on friday that its happening.
Mirrors was too ambitious since I started so late due to being sick on saturday. I only had the basics, platforming and pushing objects around, but without graphics and the main gameplay mechanic implemented, come monday morning even taking a few extra hours I couldn’t finish before I had work.
What went well:
The design only took an hour or so to talk out the game with the other 2 gentlemen I was working on it with. We brainstormed a bunch of Ideas, and eventually mashed a couple ideas together to get the final outcome. It was a good time too because we literally came up with a ton of ideas, some of which I may make in my free time. These Ideas ranged from “An Illusion oriented Tetris-Style game” where the blocks are only visible for a short time to, and i’m not kidding, “Hypno-Hooker” a game about hypnotizing people into believing you slept with them and while they are knocked out, placing evidence to make it believable.
Eventually we settled on a game involving 2 paralell universes where everything is slightly different, a ‘Mirror’ world, and you would solve puzzles by jumping back and forth through a mirror.
What went wrong:
Instead of rolling my own physics engine, I decided to use Jbox2D, and I had to fight with it for a few hours just to get things to render due to it using Measurements like Meters instead of Pixels. Making logic like
“if(player.x > 400){/*do something*/}”
become
“if(player.getBody().getPosition().x > 400/worldScale){/*do something*/}”
this made debugging some things REALLY hard.
The other problem is that since I started so late, the theme was kinda difficult to implement in a timely fashion. The Concept that we came up with was definitely cool, and potentially something that could be finished in 2 days, but not if I start 24 hours late. The whole 2 worlds thing would increase development time, as making the levels would take twice as long, maybe longer if we wanted to make them slightly more interesting.
Lessons for next time:
Im sure that next time i’ll have a better handle of Jbox2D which should help make things go smoother, but seriously losing 24 hours due to sickness really screwed me over, and sadly that is something I really can’t control.