This will be my first time doing Ludum Dare.  I am still not 100% guaranteed on doing this as I have to make sure that my wife is okay taking care of our son for two days! O_o

I am relatively new to programming.  I haven’t done any college course work but I have done Udacity and Coursera classes as well as purchased some Python books.  I am surely capable of making a game but the time constraint will be the most difficult part.

I will be using Python, Pygame, probably Pyxel Edit, and maybe Tiled.

The most difficult thing for me to do is harness my ideas on a small scale.  I think BIG and then I don’t end up accomplishing much.  For LD, I want to think small and refine to something cool.

Here goes!

I’m a bit older and a battle-worn parent of a 4-year-old so I don’t know how well I will do with compo but I am giving it another go. The weekend before school, this will be a great way to get me in the mood for programming.  My last attempt got way out of hand, the idea was cool (in my head, of course) but I got way too involved with the graphics.  My mouth is much bigger than my stomach, so-to-speak.  This time around, I am going to stick with very simple sprites and get the coding all done, then go to music/sound, then if I have time I will update graphics (probably won’t, but maybe just some minor updates).  I also have some bedroom studio audio equipment so I am excited to make some interesting (probably crappy) music!

Sleep:  Since I am a parent and stay-at-home dad, I will be sleeping tonight probably around 2-3am and then waking up around 8am tomorrow.  I’ll try the same tomorrow but probably will take some power naps throughout the day for added clarity.

Engine: Pixi/Phaser (probably start with Phaser and see if I feel like just dialing back to Pixi as I progress)

IDE: Brackets/Chrome Dev Tools

Art: GIMP

Sounds: sfxr

Music: Reaper

Hopefully this will prove fruitful for me however I am still not sure on my idea yet so it’s up in the air!  Got some house/child stuff to do over the next couple hours but my mind is on LD!  I’ll update as soon as I have something and begin designing some simple sprites.

Alrighty then, let’s get a move on!

So I have attempted a few previous jams but my other responsibilities coupled with my low attention span has contributed to my not completing any yet.  I finally have a cool wacom tablet and the time so I am DOING THIS!  I have been working on art since yesterday and I am ready to get some code written.  I think I will use Phaser as I have a little bit of experience with that on my passion project (also needing attention).  My game will fit in a 576px by 576px square composed of 18×18 32px squares.  It’s a light turn-based strategy game about manipulating an erupting volcano to save the villagers living on the mountainside.  It’s called Vulcano! and it’s got some sweet hi-def graphics:

lava terrain flow

terrain and building sprites

Bulldozer moving animations

So that’s where I’m at!  I have enough to get much of the game coded up.  Still need to do a few graphics for earthen walls, channels (for lava directing), wet earth(for lava slowing),bulldozed lava, and exploded lava.  But I am going to take a break and do some coding.

I took a little time to create an example GIF of the lava effect across the map.

gimp mockup

I hope it works! Apparently, you have to click on it Oh well.  Was going to add a logo but that is time consuming and I should be spending that time writing the code so I can come back and polish up some of the sprites at the end! THEN maybe do some media stuff! Priorities!

I’ve actually decided I am going to attempt Dart and StageXL.  It shouldn’t be too hard to just get the game going that way.  Using Phaser would mean making a few more decisions surrounding javascript and I just like that Dart handles all that for me.  It’s also an excuse to practice Dart more.