Hello there !

It’s my first time at the LD and my very first game jam also !
I am a total noob regarding game dev, but everybody has to start somewhere

I’ll be using Construct2 to save some time struggling with code, as my main goal for this first participation is to finish something.
For graphics, i’ll be using Photoshop and maybe Inkscape.

Good luck everybody !

Tags: styx

A little update from my project about the mythological character Charon !
Some more polished assets and decor elements. That’s how this looks like in Construct 2 for the moment :

My objective is to finish the art today, and begin to work on the music and the mechanics. I still have the characters and the whole background to do, I hope I’ll have enough time !

Tags: styx

So, here are the updates :

•  Sounds effects and score finished : Bosca Ceoil  and bfxr
•  Health score for the ennemies and destruction set
•  Very approximative spawning of ennemies

What I must do tomorrow :

• Create animations
• Apply mechanics to “souls”
•  Set score system
•  Polish

Really tired D: … So now, a bit of sleep !

>> the other updates from today

Tags: styx

Approaching the deadline ! Still have some decor elements and the splash screen to do, maybe another kind of enemies if I have the time, and the point system !
I still haven’t finished the arrival station, have to hurry !

Tags: styx

First of all, I’m really glad to have participated in this LD : now I can say that I finished my first game and my first game jam !
This was intense and challenging. Now it’s time for a recap !
>> here’s the entry

What I learned :

•  I discovered Construct2 and learned how to use it.
  I chose this software to avoid struggling with code for my first participation and focus on creating something. It allows to spend more time on the graphics, as it is the part of game development work I enjoy the most. However, as I have some programming knowledge, I might use Löve next time to learn further !

•  I forced myself to make some quick design choices to get to the goal.
  It obviously applies to the visual part of it (you don’t have much time in 48hours to change the “art direction”) but also to the choice of the type of game : as an absolute beginner, I settled for something I could finish, with simple mechanics quick to set. This is why it ended with a scrolling shooter on the river Styx !

•  Working on the sound effects is a lot of fun !
  As I’m no musician, it is something I usually don’t do, and creating some basic effects and background score was reaaally great. It’s really rewarding to see your project gain some atmosphere ! I used Bosca Ceoil and Bfxr to set them, and it demands no particular skill.

•  I should make more prototypes !
  I directly began by creating some visuals, and worked on the mechanics in a rush. I could have done a way better job by prototyping early with simple shapes, and then creating the matching sprites. I created some graphics I finally didn’t use, because the features they correcponded to to didn’t had the time to be implemented !. Same goes sith little sprites I made for features I finally didn’t implemented !

• Next time, I should be more methodic when working on assets
  It went good this time because the project is really simple. But instead of working directly on sprites of the right size, I made them big and then sclaed them down in photoshop, adding some polishing work each time. I could have saved a lot of time and effort by making them right directly.
  I even resized them in Construct sometimes, using unnecessary memory.
  The free version of Construct only allows 4 layers, wich was a really good thing to keep me focused on efficiency. Coming from photoshop and after effects, I tend to multiply layers a lot. If Construct allowed me to do so, I would have had to redo all the layer system at the last minute to not end with a mastodontic file size !

What now ?
I think I’l take sme time to polish it a little bit, and release a second version of it

Tags: compo, entry, post-mortem, styx

Here is my first update for my second participation to the Ludum Dare!
I think the theme is a bit too broad, so I decided to inspire myself from the “artificial life” topic also, without necessarily sticking to it.

I’m using Construct2 for the development, and I’m going for some kind of aquarium simulator.
I’ll be also using Bosca Ceoil and Bfxr for sounds, and I’m using photoshop for graphics.
Here is a gif of the current state of things :

Tags: bacteria, little shiny thing

I just submitted my entry, Plankton!
>> It is accessible right here

Time to get a bit of sleep now, post-mortem coming soon!

Tags: finally

Time for Plankton‘s post-mortem !
I’m thinking about making a post-LD version of this game, so any feedback is very welcome!
I’ll try to do not make the same mistake than the last time, when I dived directly into further development of my jam game without getting the time to think about it properly and getting enough feedback.
This made me give up the project as I ended up polishing a broken game before reworking the basics first.

This is my second participation to the LD, and as the last time, I have been using :

– Construct2 for development : easy to use, and allows to export to html5 (which is more practical for players than an executable), but with plugins from Rex this time
– Bosca Ceoil for music : really easy to use and a lot of fun sounds
– Bfxr for sound effects, Audacity for sound editing
– Photoshop for graphics, but any image editing software can do the trick

Workflow / Development process

• What worked out
  – I have been way more efficent and organised in my process than last time
  – In learned about finite-state machines and wrote some for the first time
  – I did a few prototypes, which I didn’t do the last time, and spent more time thinking about my project on paper and preparing it
• What didn’t worked
  – I should have prepared better, next time I’ll do the warmup jam the week before
  – As the last time, I prepared some animations and sprites for mechanics I didn’t implemented
  – I had to create some music at the very last moment (half an hour before submission), because I realised I could’t use the creative commons field recording I found because it doesn’t fitted the rules. I lost a lot of time because of it
  – I think I overused booleans in my code, where I could have found more interesting or differents methods

Bugs
Suceptible to get edited as people report more of them

– The planktons evolve into frogs but then do nothing (missing feature)
– Evolution2 planktons returning to “dividing” state when clicked on
– Planktons tend to get stuck and not being able to move

Feedback
This is some feedback I got so far, it is suceptible to get edited as I get some more

+ nice graphics
+ people enjoy seeing the planktons evolve

– lack of interesting gameplay
– the feeding process is not very interesting
– lack of a clear objective
– maybe need a more complex gestion of population
– the green frog is too bright and distracts from the planktons
– Planktons need to me more active for getting the food

 >> Play and rate the game here ! <<

Tags: post-mortem

… for the third time in a row and for my third Ludum Dare !
I’ll switch from Construct2 to Unity for this edition, to add a bit of challenge, and still aiming for a 2D game.

Good luck everybody, I wish you all to succeed and to meet your goals !

Here is the first update on the theme “an unconventional weapon“!
This time on I struggled a lot in the process and I have lost a lot of time, but I’m keeping that for the post-mortem.
The game will be submitted for the Jam, because I’m collaborating with someone for the sound this time around !

And here is the core idea : you are a parasite infesting an ant colony. Your goal is to jump from host to host to infest the Queen Ant.
Once an ant gets infested, it dies within seconds, so you have to jump to another host very quickly without getting busted by the Ant Guards.

Tags: ants

Today the main gameplay mechanics have been implemented, and a lot of progress has been made with the sound and music !

Here you can see a parasite infested ant (the player has to infest an ant to take control of it) and an ant changing it’s host !

changing host

infested ant

Next steps to implement :

– death of host after a few seconds
– allow the guards to chase and kill the infested ants
– create the Queen Ant room
– setup the score system and a functional menu with instructions

general screenshot

Last update of the week-end for the Parasite project !

All the main gamplay elements have been implemented – Phew !

What has been made since the last update :
– the host timer
– chasing behavior of guards
– the and queen room and the win condition
– implementation of music and sounds composed by -DEX-

For tomorrow :
– polish animations
– fix a few little bugs
– polish the sound effects
– tuning a bit the AI of the ants
– add instructions to menu

The game in itself is progressing slowly, but at least I have the character designs ready to be turned into final sprites.

Here are some pictures of the concepts!

Concept art : first boss drafts

concept illustration : FIGHT !

This ain’t even my final form!

Tags: character design, concept art, ld62

Now my miniLD entry has a name, the sprites have been  vectorized, and some programming is already done and finished.

Switching from Construct2 to Unity went better than expected! It’s actually very satisfying to have way more control over the whole process.

Here’s a little update in pictures, before the next updates (which should show more of the gameplay, if everything goes fine) :

Screenshot : current look of the game

Background assets : building blocks!

Little green guy

Tags: boss fight, graphic assets, MiniLD62, screenshot

It’s time for a little progress log for this second day of jamming! For my second game made with Unity I’m taking ages to make anything work but I’m still happy about where it’s heading compared to my previous participations to the ld!

• planters are now randomized and their designs a bit more polished
• player can grow branches with left click and stop their growth with right click
• trunks start to look like bonzai trunks
• sound is implemented

To finish tomorrow absolutely:

• grow other branch starts on click
• grow leaves on branches so they don’t look dead
• make the reset function / generate new tree work properly
• if possible, allow to cut some branches to restart their growth and subdivide them

And if time for it: add some polish, tweak the growing algorithm a bit more, etc…

little guys and their planters

Good luck everybody with your entries, I’m taking some rest!

Our game is up! Eda is the name given to Bonzai branches: grow and subdivide them carefully to create an harmonious tree, using left and right click.

Come on and try to grow your Bonzai!

Tags: eda, procedural

It took a bit of time, but Linux and OSX builds of Eda are now available on itch.io!

Thanks for all the feedback from those who already tried it out, I’ll definitely continue to work on it and apply the great advice received.

Tags: linux, osx

I’ll be doing it quite relaxed this time around, but this LD is an important landmark as I made my very first game two years ago for the LD30!

Looking forward to it

For the first two days of the jam I had barely any time to work on my project, but there is some progress nonetheless!
I’ll take some actual time to work on it tomorrow.

welcome to the plague network

The idea is a relatively abstract game about the black plague and a medieval “cyberspace”

Tags: LD36