I’ve seen many other people doing these posts, so I thought I should too. So uh, hi, my name is Dylan, and I’m an al-

Ever since I was a child I’ve always wanted to make games, yet I’ve never managed to maintain enough motivation to keep on keeping on to see a project through to its end. Truth be told, I’ve barely seen a project through to its start!

That said, last weekend I attended the Freeplay Independent Games Festival in Melbourne, Australia, and like most other attendees, I left the two day event charged with motivation, and it was there I decided I would finally do something. Ludum Dare was conveniently just around the corner, so here I am.

I’m not much of a programmer (if at all), so I’ll be using Construct as my tool of choice. GraphicsGale will take care of any pretty things I need to make, and sfxr will go quite nicely for all things audio.

So that’s me. I hope I can stick out the 48 hours and come out the other end with something! All the best!

So, there are 41 hours remaining for those of us crazy enough to take up the 48 hour competition. A few times over the last seven hours I’ve found myself questioning my ability, and whether I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. I’m still barely sitting on an idea that isn’t a blatant rip-off of Kirby, and I’ve had to spend more time than I’d like in relearning Construct, the game creation tool of my choice.

Despite what may seem a daunting situation, I do have a few little ideas I want to pursue, and I have the beginnings of the platforming mechanics on the way. The question now is – can I get something completed in the next 40 or so hours?

Also, have a screenshot of my little testing area. It’s not much, so forgive my non-artist art. But it at least is something, and that’s a lot more than I usually get!

The title pretty much speaks for itself. I sat and sadly watched the timer kick over the last few seconds, and felt sad that I had not completed my entry. It’s not even close to finished.

Perhaps joining in on a 48 hour game making competition was a little too much for someone who has never made a game before? I like a challenge, and thought a little too highly of myself, it seems.

The one thing I will note is that I refuse to say I failed. In fact, the truth quite the opposite. During the past 48 hours, I have created more of a game than I have since I was eight and decided that making games is how I wanted to spend my life. I have a game sitting in front of me just begging to be continued, and that’s something.

So, as is popular to do, what went wrong?

• Familiarity with my tools. It had been a long time since I had used Construct, and a lot of the basics I’d forgotten. I should have spent the time before the competition getting re-acquainted.
• Stuck on logic. A lot of my time was spent bashing my head against a wall when I was stuck on an idea. It took me way too long to work out how to make my enemy detect whether I was within a certain distance of them in order for them to shoot at me.
• Lack of preparation. My decision to take part in Ludum Dare was a very last minute one, spurred on by a huge motivation injection from the Freeplay Independent Games Festival the weekend prior. Given more time to prepare, I would have had a more clear weekend, and also other things like supplies, and a sleep schedule  that would have been helpful also.

As I said, I may not have finished what I set out to do, but now I at least have something which I can expand upon in my own time. It was a great experience to try! Hopefully come Ludum Dare 19, I will be a little more prepared.