2d hand drawn characters animated, with the biggest parts of coding tackled!
How tired I am is greatly aiding how silly this game needs to be.
First three people to comment on here will get a shout out in the game cuz why not.
First Ludum dare and holy wow. I'm blown away by how difficult it was and also how exhilarating! I'm so glad I did the Jam and not the Combo. I'm going to have train like a runner for a marathon to do something like that.
Also here's the game I completed!
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/herding-cats-the-400th-south-winchester-jr-semi-finals-with-fiona-pennywhistle
I was so tired last night after publishing I was pretty delirious, but I was so blown away by the huge variety of game ideas and art styles that I stayed up waaaaay too late last night playing as many as I could!
Here's my game! It is called Herding Cats. I'm looking for some sweet, sweet feedback. It is a puzzle game with hand drawn animation.
Let me know what you think!
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/herding-cats-the-400th-south-winchester-jr-semi-finals-with-fiona-pennywhistle
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/herding-cats-the-400th-south-winchester-jr-semi-finals-with-fiona-pennywhistle
Below is a time-lapse of the animation process for the cats. Sped up like 600%.
https://youtu.be/cypn8nPXwvw
Well the competition is all done now, and the game is getting spectacular reviews on the LD website, AND someone liked it so much they sent me $20! I thought I'd do a post-comp analysis of my experience.
The rush of having such a short time-limit was the best part. It was so exciting and made the whole weekend feel like a special event. Normally when I make games, (or music or whatever) I take it step by step and let it evolve and figure it out on the way. But having a time-crunch forced me to plan out just about everything beforehand. For those of you who know my artistic processes, you'll now how big of a deal that is. Of course, I think the ideal process is a balance between planning and discovery, but it is nice to know that I can go full on 'plan and execute' mode if I need to. Animating the characters and recording the voice acting with Mia Leigh Vance was by far the best parts of the process. Drawing and animating after hours of coding was so refreshing, and of course, anytime I get to work with Mia is time well spent.
Throughout the weekend, I repeatedly found myself with a total lack of how to code something. It was a very big reminder that I'm still a newb in this vastly unfamiliar environment. Too many times a precious hour or two was lost just googling how to fix something. The worst part of it is that I fixed 75% of the code problems by trial and error, and could not tell you what it was that fixed it. The bittersweet feeling of having fixed something, but not knowing why it was broken in the first place is a sensation I greatly dislike. That being said, I'm still very pleased with the code I produced. It is the most complicated and clean code I've written yet and that is something to feel good about.
It was 3 hours to the deadline and I hadn't completed half of the levels! AHH! Panic is a very mild term to use here. The game was supposed to have 30 short rounds with a little cutscene/dialogue between very third one. Throughout the weekend, I never once actually thought that I might fail the Dare, until this moment on Monday night. I looked at the clock, I looked at how many levels I had left, and I froze. For a long moment, I just sat there in front of all the work I did and considered what it would feel like to have to submit my game to the "unfinished" category. And my response to my thought experiement was "HELL NO." So I went into overdrive, cut 10 levels (cutscene every 2 levels) and published the game with 5 minutes left. 5 MINUTES LEFT.
I honestly believe that this weekend was one of the most exciting, thought-provoking, challenging, and fun creative processes I've ever been a part of. I will absolutely be doing this again (using my time more wisely next time). My biggest take away from this weekend was this: I LOVE MAKING VIDEO GAMES. Music, art, story, theatre, character, humor, animation. All coming together to create one experience for anyone willing to dive in. I'm in love.
play the game here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/herding-cats-the-400th-south-winchester-jr-semi-finals-with-fiona-pennywhistle
"Incredible game, amazing humor, astounding presentation. Words are simply not enough to praise this gem. Good f**** job"
Here's the game:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/herding-cats-the-400th-south-winchester-jr-semi-finals-with-fiona-pennywhistle
Looking for honest feedback! :) A very silly game guaranteed to make you laugh (or your money back) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/herding-cats-the-400th-south-winchester-jr-semi-finals-with-fiona-pennywhistle
A simple (but challenging) puzzle game with responsive narration!
For PC and Mac! sorry no Webgl, I've tried :(
Play time is about ~10 minutes.
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https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/herding-cats-the-400th-south-winchester-jr-semi-finals-with-fiona-pennywhistle
This weekend was so intense, but we did it! We made the game, we had a blast and we told the story. The WebGL version has a weird bug that players can work around, and I still haven't been able to figure out, but the PC and Mac versions are wonderful.
Our game is about a mother trying to find her missing 16 year old daughter. The last hope is to look for clues in her phone that was found on the side of the highway. It’s a race against time, battery, and memory to search for clues about her disappearance, while discovering the intricacies and difficulties of a young life in personal crisis.
This experience is part mystery, part puzzle, and part slice-of-life, with rich, immersive elements of voice acting and original musical compositions. We are very proud of this piece and I can't believe we got such a huge project done in such a small amount of time. Please enjoy and tell us what you think!
https://cercle.itch.io/l
This weekend was so intense, but we did it! We made the game, we had a blast and we told the story. The WebGL version has a weird bug that players can work around, and I still haven't been able to figure out, but the PC and Mac versions are wonderful.
Our game is about a mother trying to find her missing 16 year old daughter. The last hope is to look for clues in her phone that was found on the side of the highway. It’s a race against time, battery, and memory to search for clues about her disappearance, while discovering the intricacies and difficulties of a young life in personal crisis.
This experience is part mystery, part puzzle, and part slice-of-life, with rich, immersive elements of voice acting and original musical compositions. We are very proud of this piece and I can't believe we got such a huge project done in such a small amount of time. Please enjoy and tell us what you think!
https://cercle.itch.io/l
Diane’s daughter has gone missing, and they’ve found her phone. It’s a race against time, battery, and memory to search for clues about her disappearance, while discovering the intricacies and difficulties of a young life in personal crisis.
This experience is part mystery, part puzzle, and part slice-of-life, with rich, immersive elements of voice acting and original musical compositions. Players must rely on their own drive and intuition to solve the disappearance.
HTML5, PC, Mac https://cercle.itch.io/l
"It’s a great piece of storytelling with some excellent writing and voice acting throughout as your daughter’s life, loves and fears are all laid bare as you unravel the mystery of her disappearance. Highly recommended."
Thank you AlphaBetaGamer and also to everyone who has played and commented already!
The Game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/l-an-interactive-mystery The Review: https://www.alphabetagamer.com/l-an-interactive-mystery-game-jam-build/
This is our 2nd Ludum Dare, and we are very proud of what we made! Not everyhting made it into the final product but the whole story is there. Please give it a try and let us know what you think!
HTML5 and Downloads for PC and Mac
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/l-an-interactive-mystery
We've been so happy with the response! Help us get to 20?
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/l-an-interactive-mystery
In this story rich mystery, Diane’s daughter has gone missing, and they’ve found her phone on the side of the freeway. It’s a race against time, battery, and memory to search for clues about her disappearance, while discovering the intricacies and difficulties of a young life in personal crisis.
Hope you enjoy and let us know what you think!
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/l-an-interactive-mystery
Thank you to everyone for their wonderful responses and feedback!!
We love this community and this event so, so much.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/l-an-interactive-mystery HTML5, PC, Mac
I just played this game, and I'm completely blown away and I had to give this creator some love!
Well done @namnam
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/zacharys-memory
We have just uploaded the Post-Jam version of our game! It includes changes based on suggestions and feedback from the wonderful people who have commented and rated as well as an important story event we weren't able to finish before we ran out of time.
We are so proud of this game, especially now with all the fixes and new features. If you played before, we highly recommend checking out the new version. And thank you to everyone for their feedback!
Play in browser or download to PC or Mac!
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/l-an-interactive-mystery
tags:voice acting, point-and-click, visual novel
We had such a blast this round with LDJam42. This community is so giving and supportive and being a part of something so wonderful is a blast of inspiration to the games we make outside of the jam. Thank you to everyone who played and left such incredible feedback for our game. Your comments taught and gave us so much. See you all in 4 hours for the results!!!
Our game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/l-an-interactive-mystery