Doing LD38 this time. Maybe streaming it if I can get that set up in advance.
Tech choices:
Doing my first Ludum Dare. I've done some game programming before in Python using Kivy and Pyglet at different times. Will likely use them again this time. Going to stream it on:
https://www.twitch.tv/argensis
during EU times also. Most ideas I have for different themes are going to be card/board game like to keep the scope down.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/generation-ship
Finished my game generation ship, a turn based survival game set in a generation ship. It had a few issues, and it's not that fun, but something to build on for future Ludum DAres and I'm mostly just glad to get something done for the first time
My first entry was mostly an achievment of getting something done. This time around, I hope to bring something more enjoyable (and hopefully not miss so much of the voting). So here goes :)
Tech used:
Python, Kivy
Also planning to stream on https://www.twitch.tv/argensis
After previous entries in LD38 and LD40, this will be my third time entering the compo in LD44. I'm looking forward to it.
Previous attempts I've used Python and Kivy. This time around I'm looking at Rust and Amethyst. Mainly because I've been playing around with Rust for the past year and want to build something in it, and also it's easier to package up Rust than Python as I lost hours in both LD38 and LD40 to working with python packaging.
Big goals this time: More sound, more motion.
Once again, I'll be streaming (including my practice) at https://twitch.tv/argensis
So for the third time I've completed Ludum Dare. The game came out as being, well, functional. It has controls, an objective, a win condition and a lose condition, but it doesn't really feel fun. The attacks are clunky (and missing proper animations).
I did get as productive in Rust/Amethyst as previous jams, but one of these days I'll learn to stop picking up new tech and just focus on the game :p
Still, practice makes perfect, so maybe next jam I might prioritise better.
Finally done! And it's better than my last few!
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/$199110
This is my fourth time doing Ludum Dare (after LD38, LD40, LD44 and now LD46). I managed to get closer to having a working game system and had win/lose conditions in by lunchtime on day 2. Consequently, it actually feels more like a game this time.
I wouldn't yet say I've managed to make something good in the time. I was running close on essential features like effects (slow/aoe damage) so I didn't get to give it a balance pass. Only realised near the end that the enemies had way too little HP which left laser turrents pretty overpowered. Ended up cutting the laser turret damage to a third and quadrupling the HP, but it probably needed another couple of balance passes to be fun.
Still, that's far better than LD44 where I was using the midnight hours to actually add a win state to the game, so improvement is good, I guess.
Collision detection remained a big time sink, though pathfinding was not nearly so much as I expected. I've basically built the same collsion detection system as LD44, so I should just publish it as a library so I don't have to rebuild it again a third time next LD :)
As always, I bit off a bit more than I can chew and so am not entirely happy with how it turned out. But despite that, it's arguably a lot more of a game than my previous entries.
It's a 2 player turn based tactics game where you get new units by summoning them. The big gaps are there's no AI mode, hotseat only, and the balance is not so great as it lets you pump out too many units. But hey, it works and is a functional game, despite the time limits, so I'm happy to have done it and I feel like I'm in a good place for the next jam.
(Oh also, there's no sound, again. Time limits and all that)
I decided to learn Godot this time as previous jams I had used much more barebone toolkits like Amethyst and Pygame. On the one hand, I lost a lot of time to my own lack of understanding of Godot (3-4 hours easily), but on the other, that should leave me much better prepared for the next jam now I've got over that.
Given that my previous games I didn't bother getting rated as I wasn't too happy with how they turned out myself, I'm pretty happy with the results this time. I think there were a few misses in terms of not leaving myself enough time to implement AI or sound effects, but I also spent like... 8 hours on stuff that can basically be classified as "learning Godot", so that bodes well for the next jam I participate in.
This will be my sixth time participating in LD. As usual, I'll be participating in the Compo this time. Last time I took part was LD55, and the game I made that time was actually the one that turned out to be the most successful of my compo games (though a bit limited by being local multiplayer only as I didn't have time to do AI)
As for this time, I'll be using Godot again, sticking with the basic GDScript set up as it makes publishing to the web simple and I feel that these days you basically need to do a web game to get ratings as people are increasingly on guard for malware and so a lot of people avoid running native games. Last time I spent a lot of time during the Jam actually learning Godot for the first time, but I feel I have a better hand on it these days. Other tools include Krita for making art
I've been learning how to do isometric sprites this week, so I'll probably end up doing an isometric game of some sort. I've also never quite managed to get around to adding much in the way of sfx or bgm before, so I might experiment with some sound tools also on Friday, as I have some time off before the jam.
Beyond that... I think I need to see the themes that make it to the final round of voting before I really brainstorm what type of game I'll make.
The jam announcement happens very late at night here, so I started about 3 hours ago.
So far I've got my character sprites done.
I think I was a little more ambitious than I realised at the beginning, but things are starting to look like they're coming together at the end of the first day.
The game idea is basically a mix of recettear and the assassins guild management game from assassins creed brotherhood (or revelations, I can't remember which at this point lol).
The idea is you run an adventurer's guild in a town with a new deep dungeon (sort of made in abyss-esque) opened up, and you send your adventurers in to fetch items to sell in the shop.
As always, I got overambitious and ending up cutting scope in a nailbiter finish lol. Maybe next time I'll have time for luxuries like "balance passes" and "walk cycles" lol
What I've got counts as a game, it's playable, but it's definitely not as polished as I like. Part of of me is considering sliding over to the jam with an enhanced version because another day I think it could actually be good rather than playable, but also it means more competition and from teams etc., plus the 30 or so hours I did is kinda enough already lol.
I made great use of the final couple of hours though. Seriously, 4 hours ago the game looked like this:
Revamped the map with a few low-time effort assets, and added in an upgrade system to give people something to spend money on, and added a proper lose state. I didn't get into a good win condition, so I guess it's a "last as long as you can" type deal
A brand new dungeon has opened up in your town! Luckily, for you, the guildmaster this represents an opportunity to grow you guild. Hire adventurers! Send them on quests! Run the guild shop!
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/57/deep-guild
The biggest inspiration for the game was recettear, which is where the item shop part comes in. As usual, from being too ambitious, I only really had a core gameplay loop going with like 4 hours to go on the Compo, but hey this time I managed sfx and music at least :p