For this Mini LD, I thought I would do something I have never done before, and use Flash. I only have a few weeks experience with Flash, which most would say is not enough to just dive and and roll with. While this may be the case for most, I have made more with less before.

So, my game, right. Since the theme for this Mini LD is the destruction of earth, I immediately thought of space for some reason… Although the story isn’t exactly clear for this game yet, you have been chosen to be the hero responsible for saving planet earth. In order to save the planet, you have to travel around a spaceship and collect cores. Hence, Save The Cores.
I was only able to put in about two hours today, but I should be working most of tomorrow.
I have semi-smooth x-y movement working, haven’t gotten collision up yet, but I have a good prototype for collection of cores.
Next would be collisions, then story, then fleshing out the level a bit, maybe some music in there somewhere, I hope this turns out well!

Game as it is now.
Now to get some sleep. (T_T)

Tags: actionscript, Cores, flash, space

This is hard. I am making a game called Save The Cores, and I am worried I won’t be able to finish. Going into this, I knew things wouldn’t be super easy. I am using Flash and Action Script, I have barely any experience with Flash, so that was hard in it of itself. In retrospect, not the best idea.

Also, recently I have been having some personal problems, and I have been having trouble making games. I am sure this is a problem that a lot of indies face, but being a teenager, mine might be worse.

Anyway, update on Save The Cores, I have collision up. Which is a massive pain with Flash, it reminds me of the time I tried to code a calculator in year five. Just a ton of if statements and hitTests. Sound is a pain in the ass in Flash. It refused to use the music my musician made, so I might not even have sound. I’ll try and finish, but no promises.

Tags: actionscript, flash, sound, Worries

I hate this. Flash refuses to work with anything. Yes, I am part of the problem. I am probaly most of the problem. But if Flash can’t import fucking MP3s, it is no fun.

I want to quit. It has take me about 50 hours just to make a stage with collision, collectables, and movement. Now, that is reasonable considering I have never made anything serious with Flash, but if it would work smoothly that would be really nice. Part of the problem is that I got lazy from using Unity. That is part of the reason I left for a while. If I can’t write a fucking Collider. Then I am just a fucking bad programmer. I love programming, I love debugging, but I fail at the smartbits like calculating collision stuff. This sucks.

I need to be a better programmer before I make games. Let’s just get this over with. Sorry for swearing and stuff. But this is very frustrating.

Hey, I have been making “games” (if you could call them that) for a few years now, and I almost feel like I don’t want to anymore. I started out simple, scratch, Unity, etc. Last year I decided I was ready for a bit more of a challenge, moved to Unity, I made some really cool stuff. Then I tried some stuff like C++, Python, Java, ACTUAL ways to make games. It has not been easy. I wonder sometimes if this whole, game, thing, is for me I don’t know if anyone feels the same, but I am in this weird place where I don’t want to make games, but I don’t know what else to do. I don’t really like making games anymore, that much. I really like film, and photography. but I don’t think I could ever turn that into something. I am only 14, so I have so much time to figure stuff out. I am very worried I am wasting a gift I was given. Like, if I don’t act soon, someone will snatch it from me. I am just looking for some advice from the wisdom of my elders. Thanks.

Hey! I don’t know if any of you have read my posts from the the past, but a couple of months ago I was going through some stuff when the last MiniLD rolled around, and I (foolishly) entered with very little experience of Flash, or ActionScript (the main way I was making the game. :/) this sort of left me in a rut of motivationless pain. No, but seriously, I just didn’t feel like making games for awhile! So, I took some time out and played (a ton a ton like too much for a normal person never get into CS it will murder your family’s babies) some Counter Strike. That, with a mix of watching my friends make stuff was able to get my creative personality going, enough to get back into the swing of things. I got up to chops with Python + Pygame, and I am now learning C++. So! Enough about me! To The LD!

This LD I am most likely going for a text based game in good ‘ol C++, probably something stupid like “What’s your name? ” Or something childish, anyway, I am still learning. Shush. 😛 I will do just straight C++ and compile a Windows Executable.

(There is a possibility I will have cross platform support, still working on it.)

See you in the Jam! 😀

Tags: C++, Counter Strike, flash, linux, mac, python

I have posted saying I will be in, which I fully want to live up to. But at the same time, some of these themes are just a bit too dark for me.

Just to name a few:

-Darkness
-Desperation
-Powerless

IF any of these are picked, I’m out. I can’t deal with any more dark shit in my life (let alone 1500 other people’s take on it) right now. Sorry.

Tags: ld, theme

Hey, I am getting all of my tools in order and working on a few different little projects to get setup for LD and I have ran into a problem, I have never good with sound. Like at all.

I don’t even know how to get sound playing and I am scared if I ever did, it would be unstable enough to make the game unplayable for some people. This brings me to a another topic, what is the best language (in your opinion, to you) for making sound?

I had minor success in Unity with sound, but in ‘dem hardcore languages I have never been able to get it working. (I tried Python, C++ w/ SDL, etc.)

Any help on the matter is appreciated.
Thanks!

Tags: C++, python, SDL, sound

Alright, 45 minutes in, I know what I am going to do, I am doing at fast paced McPixel sort of “puzzle” game. It is going to be ten levels long, so shortest time ten seconds, longest time 110 seconds, some amount of lives to start. If you lose all of your lives, you have to restart the whole thing. Perma death I guess. This will add “replay value” and might even make some rage quit. I may, or may not do some amount of “randomization” but I am still unsure. Anyway, main points:

-Lives
-Each level is 10 seconds at max
–permadeath

-Possible randomization.

Thanks and best of luck!

Hey! So, it is about six hours or so into the LD, I am getting pretty tired and I am about to retire. Just a little bit of an update before I leave. (This was written at 3AM, expect minor mistakes.)

Idea updates: This turning into more of a “typing” game. Then a survival random game or whatever I thought it was going to be. I struggled for four hours with the simplest problem that I am pretty far behind now. I HAD a working menu, but something with cin >> and while(1) broke taking input. Seems hard. Will come back to it tomorrow.

How I  am liking C++: I am glad I know C++ alright before going into. That being said: There are some problems I just can’t get around, weather it is MinGW being a nipple muncher, or me being a sleep deprived butt face, I just can’t get around them. This time, I tried for four or five hours on one really simple problem, and couldn’t fix it. So, I took a different approach, and  got it sort of working. (Losing some functionality, but still.) I am glad that I at least know C++ pretty well this time, I am not amazing-fantabulous at it yet, but I am getting there.

All in all, I am pretty sure I am going to finish this one! I have a pretty solid concept, a nice background in the language, and a bit of motivation. I am kind of mad that the LD started at 9PM my time, but oh well. (I feel sorry for my mates in the UK, LD started at like 2AM for them. p_o (ITS A MONICAL! HAHAHAHAHAH! I am far too easily amused at 3AM.)

Alright guys, I am gonna get some sleep. Pick this up in the morning. Night guys. <3

Tags: 10 seconds, C++, LD27

Alright, update number two. Almost 24 hours in, and I am about, eh, 3/8ths there
Almost half for sure! Most of what is left is the levels, and some misc polish.

My take on the theme has changed a bit;
-I am not going to have a timer

-Random generation would add some amount of re-play value, but I am not sure if I am adding it yet.
-There will be five or ten levels. (More than likely ten.)

Other than that…Nothing much has changed. Like I said, I wasted about five hours last night on some bug. So, hmf. I’ll keep you guys updated.

Tags: 10 seconds, C++, LD27

Alright! The real game is starting to take shape! I have four semi-done levels,  tutorial, credits, menu. It is looking good! I just need to do bug fixes and other stuff.

Some changes:
-I am using “10 seconds” as an action counter. Every action you do adds one to the seconds, 10 seconds each level, etc.
-It is getting hard to do levels in text, because I am worried the user will “forget something” because I am not doing graphics.

Not bad for two or three weeks of learning C++, eh?! Hahaha. Best of luck guys.

~Blade

Tags: 10 seconds, C++, LD27

Alright, bout half an hour to go, and I almost done;
I am decided to just do seven “full” levels not including the tutorial. Which has a mini-level sort of thing.

What I finished with:

-Seven levels
-Menu
-Tutorial
-Credits
-Epic end

KEEP YOU UPDATED. <3

Well, I just got done with my second Ludum, it was a lot of fun, and I had a lot struggles. For one, I didn’t like the theme much at all. I was really pushing for something more, broad, or a place or something. I was really pushing for Space. Oh well, I did it anyway. (I am really glad that it was not You Must Leave It Behind or anything like that. I would have not done if it was anything too dark, I can’t deal with that kind of thing.)  I am glad I entered and I learned A LOT. I only had about three weeks experience with C++ going into this, I knew that was a little bit too little for making games, but I made it work. (I would not recommend making a game without a month of experience prior. Hahah.) My game is pretty buggy, and Level 3 was a nightmare. Here is what I learned in the hopes of making your next LD better:

The things that went well:
-Aside from getting off the ground, C++ and my compiler worked almost perfectly for a solid 48 hours.
-I was able to come up with a good amount of ideas right of the bat. (Not so many that I didn’t know which to pick, but enough that I had options.)
-In addition to C++, just a side-note: bools worked with extreme ease.
-Ratings, I have rated 50 games in the last two days. In return I have gotten 35 ratings. Mostly positive. (Thanks, guys!)

-Text based, my game (if you didn’t know) is text based.) This gave me the opportunity to avoid things, like: Art, collision, etc. I am glad I did this. Although it may have pushed down ratings, it made nice and easy to code. (Well, comparatively.)

Things that did not go:
-Getting the menu up was dumb as all hell. I do now get what I was doing wrong, but still. (Wasted a good five hours debugging.)

-Leave your computer on…I wasted a good 15 minutes overall waiting for Windows to boot. Dumb Windows.

-Plan, plan, and then PLAN AGAIN. All of the levels were done, in the heat of the moment, and not planned at all. I had basic ideas, doors, buttons, keys, etc planned, but not a lot more.This was a HUGE mistake and if I was redoing this LD, I would have planned all of the levels in advance and then coded them, and debugged in order. what I ended up doing was coding the base, then doing each level when it came time. I did this in a poor fashion, and I will plan next time.

-Bugs, As I did code the levels at 3:00AM most of the time, having just made the level ideas, the levels are pretty buggy. My process for this was literally: think >> code >> debug >> code, repeat. This pretty much just lead to a lot of bugs because I would only test the bits I had just added. (I have actually only play the whole game maybe….Three times? Sorry.)
-Windows/Mac, I don’t have a mac, so, I just made a .exe and I am (working on) getting a .app out. There are some problems with that, probably won’t happen. Sorry.

In Conclusion:

LD is a lot of fun, but it is important to prepare accordingly beforehand, and make sure that most of your tools, and things are in order. It is a good idea to try out some test projects beforehand. Think the theme might involve sound? Learn how to make sound!

If you want to play my game, you can do it HERE it is a text based adventure dungeon crawler. Enjoy guys, and best of luck to you.

(I will be releasing a post-mortem version of the game in a few weeks, more levels, less buggy, better tested. I would release it sooner, but I am pretty burned out right now, sorry. Hahah.)

Hey! So, my LD game was a text based “Dungeon Simulator” really, it is just a puzzle game in text. (I know, a recipe for disaster. Hahah) If you want to play it:
Dungeon Simulator 2013

This is what the menu looks like.

Anyway, I worked really hard on it, maybe you can’t tell, but a lot of work went into it. I know for you all of you Expert Coding Ninjas, 540 lines in 48 hours is NOTHING, but to me it was actually a bit of a grind. I won’t go into details, but if you want to read more about it you can read my post mortem. Anyway, I have a little announcement:

My game will be having a post-post mortem release!

That is right, I was inspired enough to do more work! Whoa!
No, no, but for real my game is actually fairly buggy. Most notable the tutorials and some level bugs. This was mostly do to the lack of play time and testing I did the “finished” game. As I said in my post mortem “I might have played through the whole game maybe…Three times all the way through? Sorry.”
Anyway things I hope  to bring to the next release:

-Fixed tutorial(s)
-Re-build level three from the ground up.
-In addition to new level three, add three more COMPLETE and PLANNED levels. I will draw them out this time and make sure they at least work on my machine.
-I will try and make the “engine” (If you will.) a bit more robust.

I will be releasing this on the 20th right after voting (Sorry, I don’t want to mess up voting and I start school here in a few days, so my schedule is going to be tighter than normal. :c Be patient.)

I will be doing weekly “Updates” with what I have been working on. (Maybe even a preview, maybe?)

Stay tuned for more! If you have played my game and you have input or things you think should be changed, that I didn’t say ^above, please feel free to say it! I would love to hear some more opinions from you guys. After all that is what keeps me motivated. (:

Good luck everyone.

~Blade

WHOA! I HAVE 48 REVIEWS ON MY GAME! This actually means a lot to me.
Half of the fun of making games is reading input people give you. Not to mention that this is only my second LD, so, to get this much recognition from the community already is just wonderful. 48 is special to me, because that means for one hour of work, I got one review. Whoa. (That is pretty much Minecraft status, right? Hahah.)

Thank you so much guys. (‘:
~Blade

Hey guys! Sorry if this looks like spam, I just wanted to tell you all about the Humble Bundle!

The next Humble Bundle is out! It has some really amazing games. (Fez, FTL, etc.) Check it out! Did I mention it is pay what you want? You can select how much goes to charity, the developers, and a tip. Pay above the average and get two AMAZING games, plus get future games!

It is a really nice deal, and it helps charity. You can pay whatever you would. check it out!
https://www.humblebundle.com/

Wow, I think I might have just found the game of this LD. Too bad it is so late!
The game is called Exploratite Mitae, it is a simple and beautiful game. It is about getting oxygen. You only have ten seconds of breath left, and you have to travel to different bubbles for more.One of the things I LOVE is that there is no UI so it is super clean! This game made me oddly sad.Hmf. It sort of made me feel little and powerless. Anyway! Check it out for sure, I have no idea why it is not CRAZY popular.

Share it with your friends too!

Game (Image works too!)

What would you guys say wins a medal nowadays?
I have never won an LD medal, but if I did, ohhhhh boy, if I did… If I won an LD Medal I would be king of the world, that wouldn’t just mean this game thing is a hobby, nah man, I would be a somebody. It would definitely drive me for the next LD, and just in life in general.  (I totally apologize if I am kissing some major butt here. It would just mean a lot to me.)

Speaking in terms of the coolness category:

(About;)

-How many Gold Medals are given?
-How many Silver Medals are given?
-And last, how many Bronze are given?

And as a general estimate;
How many games would have to rate to qualify for a Gold, Silver, and Bronze? (Rough numbers are fine hah.)

Thanks again guys!

~Blade

Hey guys! I am totally in for this MiniLD! I have been learning C++ for a bit more than a month and I made my LD game in it. I will try to do a text adventure in C++ with four rooms. I think I can do this. But I am doing it over the course of the next week. I just started school (OMIGOSH U R LEIK SO YUN!11!!1!) and my workload is a bit much right now. Sorry.

I also have some news regarding my Dungeon Crawling LD game, I can’t release the updated game by the 20th. With school and stuff I have barely had anytime to work on it. I might have put an hour or something into it so far. If I get time I will try and get something out. NO PROMISES Sorry if any of you were looking forward to this, I am just focusing on MiniLD first.

Anyway! More about my game! I drew these plays a while back but I didn’t really make a game about it.

Here is the map (as of now.)

(Sorry if it’s small, click to make big!)
Anyway! I will start this tomorrow.

SuperHot is a game that was made for the 7DFPS competition. This is one of the games which has gone above and beyond to be on Steam Greenlight. If you would take a second, and if have a Steam account, it would be a mean alot to this guy if you would push for his game.

It is always really cool to see Indies make it to something more “traditional” such as Greenlight. Some pretty big gamers are pushing this one. Including Dan Hardcastle (Nerd^3). So, he might have a chance of approval!
You can Steam Greenlight it here:
http://t.co/HB2l3DeRMu

Or, if you want to try it before you approve it by all means go ahead:
http://superhotgame.com/
(Unity Web build.)

Getting games like this only further validates things like Ludum Dare. We should really push for things like this when they come up. Anyway, sorry for the mini-rant. Vote it up!

Tags: 7DFPS, greenlight, steam, SuperHot