The white square on-screen is the cursor, while the box is supposed to be adjacent to the button, but those elements being up there is a passable start. All that the menu's missing is a title, which I haven't gotten around to doing yet, because I'm still deciding on a logo that's suitable for this screen, and then there's the gameplay, oh my goodness, the gameplay...
UPDATE: The main menu's been fixed!
For this LD, I was doing fine up until the last day, where almost everything didn't go the way I wanted it to. After realizing there was a way to enable text-based gameplay in Phaser, I used up nearly all of the last day implementing that feature.
Plus, I haven't gotten both the title and the collision detection up, but seeing as the Jam's almost over, I might as well publish this unfinished work. ~~Lucky I made it a few minutes before the Jam was over! That was close...~~
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/planter-walker
Note: There's only one command available for the game, and that's the quit command, which takes you back to the title screen.
Hopefully, there's some good stuff for this LD, and congrats to everyone who joined in!
Hey guys! I've got a huge list of LD games listed that I'm planning to play, but I'm just wondering, are there any others for this LD that you'd really want me to play?
Couldn't make it for this jam, but I've put a list of games up at my itch.io page to play later.
Hope everyone gets good feedback! :slight_smile:
Hopefully, I'll publish something playable this time for the Jam!
After quick, but careful thinking earlier today, here are the themes I've picked out:
I want to avoid using themes based off of settings this time, and focus more on abstract ideas instead to bring in more creativity.
As for the game, I might use Love2D, since I want to practice and experiment more with programming in Lua (and hopefully, the experience will help me with my current gaming project). Another alternative would be to use full-on Javascript, and HTML5 and make another web game.
For graphics, Aseprite will do.
For audio (if I ever get to it), I'll have to search for audio software.
Wish me luck, and good luck to everyone in the jam or compo!
I've been thinking of what to use for the jam, and as a last-minute thought, I've decided to use these tools:
Graphics - Aseprite
Audio - WolframTones
Coding Library - Love2D or Phaser
Text Editor - Sublime Text
Host - Itch.io
As soon as the jam starts, I'll have to start brainstorming stuff!
Good luck, everyone!
So this jam's theme is interesting, but at the same time, a bit abstract to build a game on.
What I'm thinking is maybe have an exploration-based game where you enter a cave or a manor with plenty of resources, but you have to make tradeoffs (maybe give up a few items, or some health?) in order to keep going, and to eventually, escape.
It's a bit of a stretch, but the theme surprised me a bit, so I'm still in brainstorming mode here.
I decided to scrap the cave, or manor setting, and went with a forest survival idea. Since trying to survive also requires making sacrifices...
Let's see how far I can take this idea.
Here's what I've got so far:
Movement still needs a bit of tweaking, among other hurdles, and the player sprite is still in progress.
Due to offline stuff, not much visual progress has been made.
I'm working on getting a scene manager up. Maybe in the morning I'll work on the tiles and sprites. Hopefully, no interruptions stop my progress for day 2.
Nothing major so far, but I've improved the UI.
I'm wondering whether to change the color of the health bar to gray.
I'm probably going to have to let go of the exploration part, and make it into a purely survival contest sort of game. The longer the player survives, the more sacrifices they have to make, whether it's some of their health or their stamina, or their items.
PS: Instead of Sublime Text, I decided to go with Zerobrane Studio so I could easily debug this.
Went for a "little" nap that ended up with me oversleeping.
So far, I've got a small title screen in the works.
It looks like I'll have to simplify my ideas for the game again a little bit more...
Due to plenty of offline stuff and based on how much time I have, it looks like I'll have to quit this time.
But, it does not mean I'm giving up on making this game. I'll post this on my itch.io page at another time when I'm not preoccupied.
For everyone else, hope your games turn out well!
My goodness, it's been a while since I got back into this! The last time I participated in a Ludum Dare jam was in #43. Let's hope the theme for this jam is a doable one! Wishing everyone taking part in this the best!
Interesting theme! Many participants in the Discord have been saying that survival's the best suited-genre for this theme, but since I'm using an Action RPG game engine, I could probably bring up "resource-gathering-before-doomsday-or-price-inflation" vibe here.
I also brainstormed a "too much money will kill you, so you try to spend it all" blurb.
At the moment, I'm leaning closer to a resource/treasure gathering action RPG where you're getting stuff (gems, food, etc.) or a time-based doomsday action RPG.
Hello folks, I'm open to playing Mac and WebGL games for this jam!
If there are any suggestions, please put them in the comments section below, and I'll do some feedback on them!
By the way, if I've liked your comment, that means I'm going to be playing that soon.
Hello, everyone, since I forgot to do this earlier, here's my entry:
Link to the downloads
It's a bit buggy, but I would still like to see some feedback on what needs improvement. In return, I'll play your game, provided it's either on Mac or on WebGL. I can try Windows games, but I'll have to do that later since I have a huge queue of games that I need to review soon.
After tons of hard work (and last-minute crunching!), the new version (1.1) of Closed Circle is now out!
New features include:
Hope you enjoy playing, and leave some good feedback! Thank you again!
Now that this Ludum Dare Jam's already passed, all I have to say is thank you to everyone joining in for letting your creativity and effort out for these great games! I couldn't get to playing all of the ones I've queued yet, but from what I've seen so far, the output was surprisingly amazing. I'm guessing everyone gave it their all for this one since this was a milestone worth celebrating.
As for my goals for this jam, I can proudly say that I've achieved them. The things that mattered at this point were: Releasing an entry for a Ludum Dare, especially for this one, since this was the 50th Jam, and its 20th anniversary, no less! I participated in previous Ludum Dares (LD36, LD38?, LD41, and LD43), but this was the first one where I managed to actually push a complete title in (even though it ended up being an Extra entry, because I could not figure out how to make an executable that was not reliant on the game engine's launcher, what counts was that it made it in!), and to showcase the game engine I used, which you can find here if anyone's interested.
From reading one post-mortem a while ago, I can agree with them on one thing: Creating a game within three days is not a simple feat! I spent the start of the jam, following a veteran's advice, by brainstorming, but for six hours before hitting the hay to create something the next day. The first idea I had in my head when I saw the theme brought up a similar one I had when brainstorming for Ludum Dare 43: Survival.
Though, before the theme came, I decided for this game I wanted to add crafting, or resource gathering to the mix, (hence why there's raw materials in my entry that eventually were never used) but that crafting feature got scrapped nearly immediately the moment I started building it. Other ideas I had in mind were all connected to a doomsday scenario, which felt too obvious. Another obvious choice was a runner game. I even toyed with the ideas of making a game out of prepping for a job interview, cramming for an exam, or meeting/delaying work deadlines, but I felt as if that was too true to real life when I wanted to make something a bit escapist.
What I ended up with was having a lone person trapped in a cave, or a temple, hence the literary trope of a "closed circle" came to mind, and I used that as the title for this entry. Another title I had in mind was Trapped Time, where I had a feature of having the player use a magic wand to rewind time, which I also cut. Though the trope of a "closed circle" was originally intended for mystery stories, where a group of people could not leave the place they were at until the mystery of the week was solved, I felt as if it fit the game I was working on since the player could not leave until he figured out how to get out.
I eventually ended up focusing too much time on the tileset and mapping of the dungeon, and not enough on making the gameplay playable, which is why the final result turned out the way it did. I have a feeling that I still have a lot more to learn in that department, especially on making it fun and replayable. I also want to improve and expand on this entry; it still doesn't feel complete in my eyes. By the feedback I've received for this game, my instincts were on-the-nose.
For the next jam come September, I might not participate in it, though this is subject to change depending on how things are going to go for my offline life in the upcoming months. Hopefully, there'll be better surprises and more innovative stuff in store! Again, to all who participated, thank you for the games!
To close, if anyone's interested in playing my entry, I'm leaving it for free on itch.io!