if that’s your real name. I’ll play along. (Or attempt to, at the least).
I will be using HTML5 + Phaser, GIMP and bfxr (may record or generate some music if I have time); with Flixel as a fallback plan if I need to work with something more familiar.
Ok, I’ve settled on an idea at least. Let’s hope it’s at least partially attainable!
My 2D platformery game will see four wizards stranded in strange lands, striving to reach the portal that can take them home (or at least to some place where things won’t try to eat them). Unfortunately, they’ve lost all but one of their magical wizard hats oh nooooo! Each wizard can cast their own special magics to help you reach the goal, but only the wizard currently wearing the hat can cast spells. The player will control the hat-bearing wizard, while the other wizards will run around frantically and try not to get eaten by terrible beasts.
Why did I pick a game idea that involves A.I. programming for enemies AND allies as well as multiple magic spells? I don’t think I have a good answer for that question. But here we go! 9_6
(For a time I wavered, considering more “serious” ideas like a branching platformer about lost opportunities or a game about only having one parachute. Then I decided I was only being somber because I’m sleepy, and that I didn’t want my Ludum Dare legacy to start off with a grim siiigh. Also those ideas sounded like they’d involve a lot of one-off content creation and special cases. So…wizard!)
Well, I spent a couple hours getting basic collision and keyboard input up and running. You can run a hatless wizard around the screen and make him climb ladders! (Controls are just WASD for now, but if I have time they’ll be rebindable). The graphics are just the first thing I scrawled down; trying not to fall into the trap of spending half the compo drawing a walk cycle. =P
I think I’ll sleep a while now, and then start work on adding the rest of the wizard team, add hat-passing, a level exit, enemies, spells, and obstacles. (Probably in roughly that order). The hours, they slip away!
[dropbox link to play version 1]
I’d posted a nice big update post, but wordpress ate it! So here’s a link to the current game, at least.
Let me know if you have any sweet ideas for wizard powers, some of the magicks are still indeterminate.
As Mrs. Berzee once observed wisely, “Some wizards have special powers.” The White Wizard, for example, fires gusts of wind. The Green Wizard creates hedges of protection, and the Yellow Wizard just makes everyone run too fast for their own good. The Other Wizard has no special powers yet, and I’m not even sure he will end up being Red, but in the interests of time I will continue without him and make this a Three Wizard Game for now.
Things left to program: boulders and pits of dangerous doom, a couple more enemy behaviors, and autonomous wizard portal-seeking behavior. After that, making some levels and tightening up their graphics.
Whew! I am pleased to announce that I have completed a game. I hope you like it! See my official entry here! I decided to interpret the theme in a sort of “You Only Get One…So You’ll Have To Share” way, because making a game about Sharing (and maybe being dissolved in acid pits) appealed more than something about hoarding a scarce resource. 
The graphics have changed substantially from early builds, you’ll notice. =P As far as the code goes, it’s still a bit rickety but I was afraid that I would do more harm than good if I tried to touch up the A.I. and physics right now — so if you see a wizard float away towards the ceiling just…remind yourself that he’s a wizard after all. =P
BFXR sounds are always nice, but as I don’t know how to chiptunes, it’s hard to record music that fits the general soundscape, and I don’t have a very good recording setup anyhow — so adding music is also a Future Enhancement. At least it will be easy to create more levels later, thanks to the spiffy integration with Tiled that I managed to work out.
Final thoughts on Phaser: it’s pretty nice! It enabled me to do a lot of this game faster than I expected. Javascript will always be annoying to use, but this was fun nevertheless. 😀 Final thoughts on my first Ludum Dare: it was the mostest funnest! Even though I finished, though, I’d like to try a smaller game with fewer moving parts next time, so I don’t end up all frantic and so I have a chance to give it an extra layer of polish.
