I’ll be making the game using Gamemaker 7, sfxr/bfxr/GoldWave for sound effects, and GraphicsGale/MSPaint for graphics. There most likely will be no music
I will stream all my work on JTV at http://www.justin.tv/metaknight3000

It feels like most of the programing is complete, making the levels and graphics will probably take a lot more time. Here’s a screenshot with silly placeholder graphics:

I’m going to sleep.

Made some graphics, I think I’ll work on some levels now.

Finally done. The game only has 3 levels, I wanted to make more but there wasn’t enough time. It has been a fun past 48 hours. I’m hoping to make a game in c++ or Flash next ludum dare.

See it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-20/?action=preview&uid=3733

I made a time lapse of my work. It’s not as good as it could be, because there’s one screenshot for every minute, so the framerate isn’t very good. Oh well.

Tags: timelapse

I wanted to base my gameplay on the theme, rather then come up be a game beforehand and shoehorn the theme into it. So I came up with different games for most of the themes from the final round of voting, and thankfully the winning theme was one I was happy with.

The idea is that the main character is sort of weak and can not kill enemies, and you have a partner who covers the main characters weaknesses. The “Take this” thing made it seem like “this” should not be a person, so I made the partner be a robot. Once I decided that, coming up with the different abilities for each character was easy, I just had to ask myself “How’s a robot different from a human?”, and based the abilities on that.

I think Stage 2 is the only level where it makes you actually feel the theme “It’s dangerous to go alone”, since it’s the only stage where you have to separate from your robot buddy for a short while. When Gem is alone, you have to avoid enemies rather than just shooting them from afar. I wish I made more levels like this, to further express the theme.

Some things I’m unhappy with, would be the lack of levels and music. I knew I wouldn’t get any music done before the compo even started, but I love game music and it’s set’s the mood for the game, so I’m sad I couldn’t make anything. This was my first Ludum Dare and it was pretty lax. I didn’t work super-hard or get stressed at all, but because of that I think I didn’t get enough done as I wanted to.

I’m pretty happy with the graphics, I made every sprite less than 16×16 because I thought it would be faster and easier, but if I continue to make this game, I won’t set such a limit on myself.

Overall I’m pretty happy with the result, just a few thing’s I could have done better. See the game here.

Tags: postmortem

This is my second Ludum Dare. I’ll be using the same tools as last time; Gamemaker 7, bfxr/GoldWave for sound effects, and GraphicsGale/MSPaint for graphics. I wanted to use AS3 this time, but I didn’t learn enough in the past few months so I’ll be using Gamemaker again. I might use pxtone Collage for music.

Tags: gamemaker

I’m making a shmup/bullet-hell kind of game. You play as an alien life form who was captured by some humans, and you must escape. By collecting power-ups you can evolve into different creatures, which changes the bullets you fire.

For some reason I’m just not in the mood for coding these past few days. My game will probably end up being really short, with 1 level and 1 boss or something silly like that. I feel a bit unmotivated :/

Everything I did during LD21 was dumb, hopefully I can do better this time.
I thought I should stream again. Even if no one watches, that fact that someone can see what I’m doing at any time might make me less likely to slack off.
I will stream all my work on at http://www.justin.tv/metaknight3000

Tools:

• Gamemaker 7
• bfxr / Goldwave
• MSPaint / GraphicsGale
• pxtone Collage

Tags: gamemaker

I got done almost everything I wanted, except for music. I had to leave out a few items, but it doesn’t matter

Check it out: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=rate&uid=3733
I’ll post a timelapse and postmortem sometime later.

Tags: easter-egg, kitten-challenge

I just uploaded my timelapse video.
Don’t forget to play the game first.

Tags: timelapse

This will be the first time I’m using Flash instead of Gamemaker.
Hopefully it will turn out okay.

Tools and stuff:
> FlashDevelop
> Flashpunk
> Tiled
> GraphicsGale
> bxfr
> goldwave
> PXTone (If I have time for music)

This is some base code I’ll be starting with. It’s mostly just for loading maps from Tiled.
Download

Also I might be streaming here.

Tags: as3, flashpunk

Here’s my progress on my game after the first night.
You must protect your planet by shooting enemies.

In the finished game, defeating aliens will drop radioactive minerals, which you can use to clone more people or create buildings that power you up. If the building get’s destroyed you lose that power. The goal is get the highest population on your planet as you can.

Play it here.

I’m done! I didn’t have time to add everything I wanted to, so instead of having multiple stages it’s just an endless, single world. I was slightly nervous at the start because I didn’t have much experience with as3 and flashpunk, but it turned out ok.
Play it here.

Tags: flashpunk

Play the game here.

I originally wanted to make a platformer where you run around a tiny planet (like in the final game), but after a bit of coding I realized I had no idea how to actually make my idea work, and making levels would be really difficult to make. I decided to change it to a shooter. I got a little influence from the Sim portion Actraiser, I think.

Another idea I has while working on this was a puzzle/platformer involving Atlas carring the world around, throwing it around would cause changes in the world you’re in depending what you do with it. I couldn’t really think of a good way to use this idea, so I just continued with what I as making.

The game name is just a little pun I thought up, it’s a combination of Cosmic and Micro. I’m a little surprised no one else used the name, considering the theme.

What went right:

• Despite not having much experience using as3 or flashpunk, everything went pretty smoothly in the programming aspect.
• Graphics ended up alright
• Sound and music were ok, although I think the music it a bit bad in some places.

What went wrong:

• I tend to dislike games which have you doing the same thing repeatedly to get a high score and have no real goal, but that’s how my game ended up. I’m not too happy about that. Time constraints made me leave out features such as multiple stages and enemies.
• Apparently the difficulty was to high. If I added stages like I wanted I would’ve had it easy in the beginning and ramp up the difficulty later.

I’m planning on working on the game a little more to add stuff I left out.

Tags: postmortem, timelapse

Hello. I’ll be entering LD24.

Tools and stuff I’ll be using:
> FlashDevelop
> Flashpunk
> Tiled
> GraphicsGale, GIMP
> bxfr
> goldwave
> PXTone, cgMusic

This is some base code I’ll be starting with. It’s mostly just for loading maps from Tiled.
Download

Also I might be streaming here.

Tags: as3, flashpunk

The concept of the game is to evolve the game itself. It starts off in the first generation of games, the “Odyssey” era, then through the “Atari”, “NES” and eventually the “SNES” era. The games complexity, the graphics, and your abilities improve as it evolves.

I don’t know if I actually have enough time to do the snes era, but I’ll try. Just the graphics would probably take to long.

I submitted my game.  The scope was too large to make in the time limit, so I had to leave out a lot. It still turned out pretty good, I guess.
Visit the game page here.

Tags: as3, flashpunk

Game can be played here.

I actually ended up skipping sleep on the second night, because I realized I would not be close to getting finished if I slept. I don’t really regret it, the closer it came to the deadline, the more awake I felt so it turned out alright.

What went right:

Flashpunk– This is the second time I’ve used Flashpunk for Ludum Dare. I didn’t run into any problems with this.

Graphics– The nes style graphics were pretty quick and easy to make while still looking good.

World design– I think I did a good job at making a fun world to explore, with the world expanding with every evolution.

Concept– When I started, I was just making a platformer where your character could evolve into different beings. I pretty quickly thought up a better idea of the game itself evolving through different era’s of gaming. (Oddessy > Atari > NES > SNES. I didn’t start on the snes era, however…). I’m planning to continue working on this and develop the concept further.
What went wrong:

Planned world map

Basic Engine– I spent more time then I’d like to admit trying to make a simple, non-glitchy platformer engine. I’m not very good at it.

Scope to large– I intended to make the game world even larger and add shops and additional abilites, etc. Right up until the deadline I was still trying to add new content.

Enemies– The game only has 1 enemy type and 1 boss, and their movement patterns just have them moving left and right. I would have liked to have many enemies and a good boss or two.

Coins– Coins were originally going to drop from defeated enemies, and you could use them to purchase new abilites (Thus, evolving your abilites), example include charging your sword for higher power and range, the ability to attack upwards/downwards, etc.

What now?

I will continue to work on the game, then I’ll release the game as I intended it to be. The finished version will have the 16-bit evolution that I didn’t have time to make, as well as the ability the switch between the different era’s at will. It should allow for some interesting levels and puzzles.

Tags: post-mortem, postmortem, timelapse

Hello. I’ll be entering LD25.

Tools and stuff I’ll be using:
> FlashDevelop
> Flashpunk
> Tiled
> GraphicsGale, GIMP
> bxfr
> goldwave
> Musagi or cgMusic

This is some base code I’ll be starting with. It’s mostly just for loading maps from Tiled.
Download

Tags: as3, flashpunk