Been meaning to do one of these for a while, and it looks like I’ve got a free weekend coming up so let’s see how it goes.
Will be mainly using it as an excuse to get myself up to speed with Unity, so that’s my platform sorted right there.
Tags: unity
Here’s where I’ll be doing my thing this weekend.
Now I just need to load up on snacks and – of course – beer!
Tags: deskphoto
So, Escape, huh? Hmm…
Now to go ponder that over breakfast and coffee – and remember:
OK, the breakfast brainstorming session threw up a few ideas, but the one I’m going to go with is a spy escaping an enemy military base.
What finally sold me on this one is when I realised that if I have him rescued by helicopter I can call my game Get to the Choppah!!!
Time to make me some models.
Tags: get to the choppah, unity
Over at the Beercave blog.
tl, dr version:
Pros – I learned a bunch of stuff
Cons – I didn’t know what the hell I was doing!
In conclusion – prepare better next time, dumbass.
Looks like I’m in again. Hopefully I should be able to improve on last time and make something that’s actually fun to play.
Tools : Unity/Blender/Reaper/Beer.
Bit of a late start to day 2, courtesy of an unexpected excursion to the pub last night.
So, this game thing then. Well, Alone was the theme I was _really_ hoping wouldn’t win, because I couldn’t think of a damn thing to do with it, but eventually I came up with something.
Borrowing somewhat heavily from Spectrum classic Ant Attack, you play a lonely robot whose only friend, an adorable kitten, has been lost in an ancient city populated by hostile killdroids.
So far I’ve got a fairly acceptable random map generator and a controllable player character wandering the empty ruins.
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First order of business for today then is to put some game in there. Knock up a couple of evil looking killdroid models and a fluffy kitten and get them in there, then I can start looking at adding some general polish, like sound, music, title screen and win/lose sequences.
*Looks at clock* Crap! I’d better get busy!
Tags: kitten dare, kitten-challenge, progress, unity3d
6 hours to go (so allowing time for build, submission etc. I need to be done in about 4) and it’s starting to come together. Last time around I settled for just finishing, this time it might actually be quite good 
What’s done:
What’s still to do:
I’ve done a short write-up/post mortem over on my website.
http://www.beercave.co.uk/2012/01/04/ludum-dare-22-post-mortem-alone
Short version :
If you like my ramblings, I’d appreciate more rates for my game, even if you hate it.
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=rate&uid=5206
But who could hate this adorable little guy?
So many games, so little time. How to choose which ones to try?
Two things I thought would be useful are filtering by platform and who the ‘coolest’ people still with a low vote count are.
I’ve taken the data from http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-22/?action=misc_links and thrown it into a spreadsheet with a couple of additional columns to help with filtering. HasWeb, HasWindows and HasMac are pretty obvious, Karma is the ratio of votes received vs votes given.
Here it is in case anyone finds it useful.
To update with fresh data, just copy the table from the misc_links page above into the top left cell.
If this was useful for you, I’d appreciate it if you rate my game
This right here is why I should never pick up a pencil when the only instruction is “draw something”. Pretty much only one way it can go.
Might even make something good this time.
Undecided on tools so far. I’ve got a few concepts kicking around but ultimately it’ll depend on what works with the theme.
Since this is LD’s anniversary though, I’ll definitely try and fit in a cake somewhere
As LD23 looms ever closer, I’ve been contemplating ways to improve my performance this time around.
My biggest issue last time around was losing about half a day to “oh god, I have no idea what to do with this theme”, so with that in mind I’m keeping a closer eye on the voting this time around and trying to make sure I’ve got at least one idea for the front runners in each day of voting – especially if it’s something I’m hoping doesn’t win!
Once I’ve done that, I can take a look at my pile of ideas and see if they hit any of my weaker areas, then focus on getting myself up to speed with those before the compo starts – with any luck I should be in a position to start building something right out of the gate rather than sitting around staring at the walls this time.
I missed the last LD due to being stuck in a field in Wales, but I’m definitely up for the challenge.
I attempted the first October Challenge back in 2010 and failed miserably, mainly due to not having a well enough defined idea which left me with no game to sell. This time around, I’ve already got a game ready to go, so I get to focus on the scary business stuff and deal with my terrible fear of actually executing anything…
So here’s what I’ll be polishing up for release – Lagertron : 1664. The basic concept could best be described as “Robotron goes to the pub”
The initial plan is to get the Android version out, with PC/Mac/Linux releases following if I have the time.
In under the wire there, but I released my October Challenge game, Lagertron this morning and I’ve already made my first sale. At GBP £1.99 that’s more than a dollar and so I declare this entry a success.
“So, what’s this game of yours then?” you may ask. Well, basically it’s Robotron with added beer – the full sales pitch is as follows:
The evil aliens of planet Lagertron have invaded the pub. Their mission : drink all the beer!
Only one hero can stand against this menace : the Mighty Beerman!
Powered by his insatiable thirst, Earth’s drunkest warrior must repel this invasion before chucking-out time lest the world be lost to the horrors of sobriety.
This is videogaming at it’s finest.
This. Is. LAGERTRON : 1664
40 Levels of classic retro blasting. Get the beer, kill the baddies, save the world.
Video trailer:
Store link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.cobeercave.lagertron
The Beerman is in!
For my entry, I’m attempting an HTML5 NES-style demake of my October Challenge game, Lagertron.
Wish me luck! 😀
Not enough time this morning to do anything useful coding-wise, so I made a start with a few simple assets.
From left to right, my evil castle of evil, a farm and village, and a selection of minions: the Lurcher, Goatboy, Morticia and a Shuffler.
Shufflers are the basic issue minions, suitable for basic tasks around the castle and simple body-snatching, Morticia and Goatboy are more mid-level, and the Lurcher is the tank of the crew – an unstoppable stomping machine.
And then out of action.
And then back into action again! Dynamically!
So, big sigh of relief at the theme. I spent most of yesterday trying to come up decent ideas for End of the World, but everything was way too ambitious*. This one I think I can work with.
Current plan is some kind of evil overlord simulator (original, I know) – recruit minions, build monstrous abominations in your lab and turn them loose to terrorise the countryside. Working title is “Frankenstein Complex”. One of the monsters you can create in your lab will be Goatboy.
Unfortunately I’ve only got an hour or so this morning. My mum’s visiting from Spain so I couldn’t really put her off in order to make videogames. That gives me plenty of time to figure out the details before I sit down and put my coding hat on though.
*Although, my “all the apocalypses arrive at once” idea could have been fun. Cthulhu vs Gozer vs zombie plague vs Randall Flagg vs Angry Turbo Rapture Jesus all battling it out over who gets to end the world. Bit too big to make in a weekend though.
Well, it’s the end of day one and all I’ve got is a handful of graphics and a rough idea of what the code should look like. This is not ideal.
Not much I could do about it, although ditching family to make games would have been a great way to really get into the “you are the villain” theme…
Tomorrow is going to be pretty damn busy if I want to get this thing anywhere near done.
And I’m done! I really didn’t think I was going to get this one in inside the deadline, but then everything just seemed to come together at the last minute.
Is it everything I was aiming for when I started out yesterday? Well, not quite but it’s pretty damn close. Considering yesterday was a total write off and I only started coding this morning, I’m really quite pleased with what I ended up with. If I’d had a whole weekend to play with, I think it could have been downright awesome.
So what’s missing? Well the original plan called for the local towns and cities to get annoyed with your predations and send armies back to your castle to try and stop your evil schemes. Having to worry about being attacked while your minions were away would have added a decent element of risk to the game that’s not there right now. It could also have done with a lot more time spending on balancing the combat mechanics.
That aside, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out – my pixel art skills have definitely levelled up from “bloody awful” to “basic” – and I’m definitely getting better at having something finished inside a tight deadline, which bodes well for #onegameamonth next year.
Right, back to work in the morning, guess I’d better get some sleep…
Oh wait – I should probably link to the game, shouldn’t I?
Here you go :
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-25/?action=preview&uid=5206