Phew, now that this crazy 48+something marathon is over, I finally got the time to think about it without having to worry about the deadline.

It’s time to ramble! ^^

I finished my game just in time, ten minutes before time was running out. Without the extension of the deadline it would’ve been just a row of levels with some hastily written tutorials. There are still a lot of things put in without much testing, but overall I’m quite pleased with the result, it is very close to the idea I had in mind when planning it.

Of course not every feature I wanted to do made it in, the most obvious being the missing background music. I’m not sure if I will expand the concept and keep working on it to make it a full-fledged game – it certainly will also depend on the feedback I get – but I still have the feeling that the concept holds enough potential to keep the motivation up for a longer time (and I mean both my motivation to upgrade it and the player’s motivation to play it).

After all, I’m really glad I decided to participate. This was my first Ludum Dare and it was really a thrilling experience. I guess it’s always easier to get something done when you know that it will have some meaning (in this case, that a lot of people will have the chance to see and play it).

I’d like to thank everyone who played it and would really appreciate some feedback! 😀

Kinta

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Tags: LD21, postmortem

I’ve been playing some of the entries, mostly those of which I liked the screenshots and there have definitely been some really amazing games already. This is why I thought I could share my top11 (why top11? Because I couldn’t decide which one to leave out!) with you. I’d love to see your top5/10/11/whatever, I’m sure there are still a lot of great games I missed.
So here we go!

1. To Hell And Back (Link) by Kayamon:
   This game amazed me right from the start. The graphics might be a bit blurry, but they’re full of retro charme and the character design is really awesome (makes me think of Final Fantasy 3/6). And for 48h it was really well done, the puzzles were not hard, but also not too obvious and once you finally understood what you must do to leave hell it was pure fun. And I’m not really an adventure fan btw.
2. the dream forest (Link) by mes:
   This one’s very artistic and has a great atmosphere. You walk around quite slowly and the only thing you can do is pick up umbrellas that bring you to new locations. This very short game is all about the feeling it creates. The graphics and animations are very thoughtfully put together and it’s a great experience.
3. Flee Buster (Link) by ChevyRay:
   The idea of this game is that you play three games one after another. Everytime the time runs out the game switches to the next game, which starts right where you left off before. It’s really hard to adjust to the new gameplay mechanics every time but that’s exactly why it’s so much fun. ^^
4. Not the Sharpest Sword in the Box (Link) by Draknek:
   This game is plain and simple pure fun. You have to avoid swords with your ragdoll character by pulling his arm or leg or whatever part of the body you like around. The graphics and sound are very stylistic and make for a very polished, little game.
5. Tea Powered Escape! (Link) by Gachuk:
   Your task is too flee from a cave while the water is rising. You can destroy the blocks around you to dig your way up to the surface. There’s also tea which lets you jump higher (I think, I only used it once ^^’). This game has just the right amount of challenge to make it a thrilling experience. I don’t know about the long-time motivation, but the first playthrough was really great.
   
6. Still Dreaming (Link) by bach:
   Although this game contains only two puzzles, they’re so well done and presented that you feel you’ve been playing something absolutely worth your time. It has this undeniable ‘Sword & Sworcery’ charm. I really would like to see a longer version of this.
   
7. Virtual School 2 (Link) by GozerGomez:
   Oh god, how this kid gets on my nerves! ^^
   The cool thing about this game is how surprisingly well it fits the theme of the compo. It has three endings, but unfortunately I only found ending 1, which was really great. It’s a short, but very fun game for people who like to explore their surroundings.
8. Amke’s Revenge II (Link) by Mark Overmars:
   This retro platformer seems to do everything right: It has nice retro graphics, good controls, a lot to explore, a good challenge and possibly the best designed boss fight in this contest. And that you can buy a hat for your little pixel character is the icing on the cake. ^^
9. Boat Escapade (Link) by wademcgillis:
   Again you have to flee from the rising water (this time on a boat), but the nice twist of this one is that you sometimes have to dive right in to get to a new place. The water is really merciless and one mistake could already be your last. Really well done!
10. You Don’t Fit (Link) by mcc:
    This game is very minimalist. You move around a rectangle and have to try to manipulate other blocks so that you can move further to the right. The graphics are not worth to mention, but the sounds fit very well and it’s really fun to puzzle your way through it.
11. Vampire Runner (Link) by arielsan:
    I love the concept of this little game! It’s so simple but also so much fun. It’s maybe one of these games that could’ve been done in a few hours, but the concept itself is so good that it definitely deserves a place in this list.

 

So, this is it. What do you think of these entries and what are your favorites so far?

Kinta #gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Tags: Top10

Although I don’t have the time to work on the game for the whole 48 hours, I decided to join LD this time again.

I decided to go with a very minimalist space game, which is very focused in the things you can do (fly and collect stuff), but still has a feeling of vastness, as the space in the game is huge (200000 x 200000 pixels).

You are an astronaut searching for your partner, which flew into space and left you behind. You decided to go after your partner to bring him back and thus the adventure begins…

Here’s a first screenshot showing a very small planet near a blue sun. There are speakers on some planets giving you missions or information.

First screenshot of “Once I Found Love”

I hope I will be able to integrate the story I came up with. Right now I only have the physics up and running and some graphics.

Best luck to every developer joining Ludum Dare!

Kinta

Tags: exploration, space

Once I Found Love has made some nice progress today. I wrote the whole ‘story’ of the game and began implementing the first two missions. Right now you can travel between three different solar systems with a space shuttle and explore the systems as an astronaut.

Hope you like it.

Now I’m heading to bed.

I don’t know how many LDs I joined, but I only had one really successful attempt and this weekend I wanna make it two. And by successful I mean that I actually finish a game.

My setup is that I’m using Game Maker: Studio to create a HTML5/Windows game. I’m using Photoshop to do some simple Pixel Art graphics. I’ll probably use sfxr to make sound effects.

The Base Model

As for the genre, I really want to make a local multiplayer arena fighting game like Tower Fall. Not the most popular or wise genre to pick for a jam game, as you need more than one player to actually experience it, but I fell in love again with local multiplayer and hope that the game I create can be played when I hang out with friends in the future.

I already have two ideas for a game. Connected Worlds wasn’t a favorite of mine, but it’s not a bad starting point. Today I will implement the basic movement and collision detections, while also drawing all the graphics I need so that I can create the actual game tomorrow.

So good luck to everyone!

As I want to make an arena multiplayer shooter for 2-4 players, I need a bunch of characters. At first I planned to make them look like future soldiers – a hybrid of the Master Chief and Samus Aran, but then I got the idea to make them look more unique. Here’s the result:

Now I will animate them. Also I’m working on the secret main feature that will make my game special. It’s a bit tough, but I’ve got a promising start.

What are you guys up to?

Here are my favorite LD games so far. They all deserve to be played, so go ahead!

Twist and Weave: A fun puzzle game where you have to connect your circle with other circles and they build a chain. The catch is that the circles cannot move through walls of their color. Tricky at times, but feels always fair.

Fragments: A puzzle game where you have to build paths in order to restore the memory of the protagonist. Has a great atmosphere that adds even more depth.

Yonumbo: Yonumbo is very minimalist, all you have to do is click on the little squares with numbers in them to add to the number or subtract. The game shows you which mathematical operation you do next and all squares have to be 0 when you used up all your actions. So simple, so much fun. A very rewarding experience.

The Lion’s Song: A point and click adventure where you play as a composer sitting in a house in the mountains trying to get inspiration when suddenly the telephone rings. The game features awesome graphics with a very unique style and it’s very well written, too.

Color Worlds: A PuzzleScript game where you have to combine colored blocks to get the color black. Sounds simple, but gets very difficult quick, as you can also split the blocks up again, as you can only push blocks through walls of another color.

A Sneeze a Day: Another PuzzleScript game where you literally sneeze the boxes to their destination. It’s both hilarious and clever.

Ordinary Weekdays of Tech Support of Parallel Worlds: A cool shooter game where you have to maintain a server and protect it from virus attacks. Awesome pixel art and music!

On the Edge of Earth: I think this was my favorite of all. You’re the only one on a space station and you have to operate several machines in order to calibrate a laser beam that can create life on dead planets. Very funny and atmospheric game.

Heart Star: The most polished game I played so far. You play two cute characters living in parallel worlds and you have to switch between them in order help them both to get to the exit. Awesome graphics, sound and controls!

 

So what were your favorite games? Which one should I play? Please comment!