Excited about taking part in my first LD this weekend!

I’ll be developing a Java game for the first time (previously have a little experience with GameMaker and Unity).

Depending on the theme, I’ll spend anywhere between 3 – 12 hours working on it.

I’m also looking forward to reviewing & playing the other entries.

Some details on my plans:

Planned distribution: web applet + standalone (platform independent jar, and probably .exe for Windows using launch4j or something similar).

Libraries: Slick (2D engine built on LWJGL of Minecraft fame), IBXM (music)

Tools: Photoshop (graphics); OpenMPT (music); Audacity & sfxr (sound FX)

I’ve been learning Slick for a while and managed to get the applet & standalone builds working.  So hopefully will be in a good position to code and publish something at least!

One problem I have is that .xm files don’t play when deployed as an applet, but they work in standalone build.  If anyone has any advice how to debug this, I’d appreciate it!

Here’s a really dumb version, just to test distribution!

theme: “tiny world”

Freddies live in the bookcase, and the babies have got lost. Help reunite them with their mother & avoid dangers on the way!

version history

v001:

Stupid splash screen only plus background music. To test distributing as an applet. You can also see one of the main characters

“Play” (if that’s the right word) here -> build001

Later it will be distributed as standalone app for download, too.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21611/ld23/freddies/index.html

multi coloured freddies! bouncy physics action! no other features! build002

The bookshelf arrives. Big momma Freddie. More bouncing. No controls yet!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21611/ld23/freddies/index.html

Moved to Tiled for level design & sprite management! still bouncing. Still no controls yet! build004

v005:

Controls, plus a basic goal! (no win criteria yet). Select a Freddie based on its colour (you can cycle through all Freddies in the colour group). Press Space to make it jump.

Play now (web applet): build005

It’s been great fun and I learned tons. Wish I had more time to polish it. Final game has 3 levels. You’ll see instructions when you start the game!

Play now! (web applet)

Download Standalone (Platform independent: Windows+Mac+Linux). Please see README.txt if not using Windows!

Download Source << Just for interest / to fulfil the competition rules.  Didn’t get a chance to check if this is buildable!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6umjwtMx1kw

Screen capture taken every 60 seconds while developing my entry for LD23.

play the game here:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview&uid=11027

my journal from the event:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/category/ld-23/?author_name=berkano

I’m in! This will be my 2nd LD and I can’t wait!

Last time, though I was pleased with the end result, I spent a fair bit of time getting up to speed with Slick, getting my dev environment working, faffing with the build process and so on. Hoping to hit the ground running this time round to spend more time creating! If the theme fits, I’ll probably aim for 2D, playable as applet and native builds for Win/Mac/Linux.

Language: Java
IDE: IntelliJ IDEA
Graphics: Photoshop
Libraries: “Katsu” (Personal Library + Slick/SlickUtil/LWJGL)
Sounds/Music: OpenMPT, Audacity, SFXR
Level Design: Tiled
Timelapse: Chronolapse
TODO List/Task Tracker: https://kanbanflow.com

My game “framework” (if you can call it that 😉 ) is available under a public domain licence at https://github.com/berkano/katsu

To Do: (before compo starts…):

• finish demo game “RogueSheep” as a warm-up/library documentation
• try to get mod (music) replay working when deployed as applet
• re-test & document build and distribution process for applet + win/mac/linux
• add view/scrolling support to library

Good luck to all!! Here’s hoping for a fun theme and looking forward to playing your entries too

Progress so far: Little critters reproducing. No interaction yet!  Demo: Web! | Standalone! (Java – Platform Independent)

Fiddle with genes and create new species! (only red/green/blue colour genes have any effect).
build002: Web | Standalone (Java – Platform Independent)

I’m in! This will be my 3rd Ludum Dare and I can’t wait. I’m a bit better organised this time round, too Good luck to all the entrants, looking forward to playing & reviewing your games!

Here’s what I’ll be using:

• Language: Java
• IDE: IntelliJ IDEA
• Libraries: Katsu (Personal Quick-Start IDEA Project + Slick/SlickUtil/LWJGL)
• Level Design: Tiled
• Graphics: Photoshop
• Sounds/Music: OpenMPT, Audacity, SFXR, maybe some free VSTs
• TODO List/Task Tracker: https://kanbanflow.com

Katsu Features:

• Ready-to-go standalone game build based on Slick2D/LWJGL with launcher scripts (Win+Mac+Linux+Solaris)
• Ready-to-go applet build
• Skeleton code for 2D map+tileset loading (Tiled), basic entity support and rendering loops
• Resources structure and sample code for SFX/music handling
• UI/splash screen/side panel
• Mouse action support with some skeleton code
• Keyboard shortcuts for full screen, toggle music
• A few helpful utility classes/methods

Getting Katsu

The latest version is available from Github under a public domain licence. Visit https://github.com/berkano/katsu, or just git clone https://github.com/berkano/katsu.git

Progress so far: little red man who can walk about (WASD) and not walk through sheep. View scrolling and clipping based around player. Not as much progress as I’d hoped for today!

Demo: Web! | Standalone! (Java – Platform Independent)

More monsters!

Demo: Web! | Standalone! (Java – Platform Independent)

Proper collision checking, ability to attack mobs, a bit of animation and sprite flipping

Demo: Web! | Standalone! (Java – Platform Independent)

Now with randomly generated NPCs. Kill NPCs and mobs. Destroy walls. Find treasure in chests. Get caught stealing and try to survive the court. It’s now possible to lose the game, but not win it

Demo: Web! | Standalone! (Java – Platform Independent)

Hey people, I had a great time with LD25 and can’t wait to play some entries.

I spent some time writing a play guide for Horrible Horace, to help players get started. Hope you enjoy the game!

You can get the guide (PDF format) from http://tinyurl.com/boh8wat

And you can play the game here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-25/?action=preview&uid=11027

Woo hoo, another LD!! Can’t wait. Good luck everyone, hoping for a nice theme and looking forward to playing some cool games!

My tool set:

• Language: Java
• IDE: IntelliJ IDEA
• Libraries: Katsu v3 (Quick-Start IDEA Project + 2D game library built on top of Slick)
• Level Design: Tiled
• Graphics: Photoshop
• Sounds/Music: OpenMPT, Audacity, SFXR

I’ve been working on Katsu recently in the run-up to the compo, it’s now a lot cleaner to use and has some handy new features.

Katsu v3 Features:

• Ready-to-go standalone distribution build based on Slick2D/LWJGL with launcher scripts (Win+Mac+Linux+Solaris)
• Ready-to-go applet build
• Entity/Room/View model (support for multiple views on screen)
• Sound/music manager
• Load room & entities from Tiled map
• Text console (a la Minecraft)
• Convenient resource structure (tiled maps, tileset, sounds, music)

Getting Katsu

Katsu v3 can be downloaded from here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21611/ld26/declare/katsu3.zip

All code and content is released under a public domain license. See the README for getting started!

The concept so far is “build your own ship” and go hunting for resources to expand it.

Sound, music, controls now working!

Demo: Web! | Standalone! (Java – Platform Independent)

Updates! (Please check the key controls here, because the ones listed in the game are wrong…)

• Click a component of your ship and press X to remove it.
• Click an empty space next to an existing component (aka “mount point”): press “1” to create a wall, “2” for shield, “3” for laser, “4” for scooper.
• Updated keys: WASD (W/A zoom in/out, rather than move up and down).
• A few sound effects added

Selecting/building with mouse turned out to be a lot more fiddly than I expected… hoping to get most of the core mechanics done today so I can add content/polish tomorrow!

Demo: Web! | Standalone! (Java – Platform Independent)