Wow, it's always a bit disconcerting waking up in the morning in Germany to see other people well along the way with their game and already heading to sweet sleep after some busy hours.
Small World, not my favorite theme, but let's get crackin' :)
Yeah, first progress post on the new site. I was looking forward to the image upload capabilities, so here we are:
Graphics are mainly placeholders or need to be touched up, I need to get the mechanics finalized soon!
With 10 hours remaining on the clock I'm knee-deep in redoing the placeholder graphics. It sucks if your character turns out to be twice as large as the placeholder and that influences the game code, but I think I have the most important issues resolved and can now focus on making everything pretty.
Current progress:
It's been a close call, as always. Tons of ideas had to be left by the wayside and the code is pretty much a mess, but it looks like the game is complete.
Quite happy with the result, although I'm sure there are some bugs to be ironed out. But that is for another day.
Play it here if you had enough sleep: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/$20196
Just wondering whether everyone's playing already.
Since the voting hasn't started yet, I don't feel like starting off yet, because I want to keep the game fresh in my mind when I vote/comment.
So, do you play now and try to remember the games for the voting process or do you wait for Wednesday?
Hello everyone, I made a timelapse for my game A Perfectly Lovely Expedition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0lX77yj1AY
I would like to exchange a few nuggets of wisdom about publishing a game for Ludum Dare. There are a few things that I found out and there are many more things I probably don't know so let's share!
My main dev platform is GameMaker Studio and I like to publish in itch.io, so those are the areas with which I'll start. Feel free to expand to any other library/tool or platform.
So first of all, an absolute no-go is to export a game from GameMaker with an installer. I guess most people know that, since I haven't seen anyone do it in this LD yet, but in LD37 I came across a few. The reason this happens is probably because it's the default setting in GameMaker. Personally I think the option to export the game as a standalone package is not that obvious. It is hidden in the save dialog, down where any other tool lets you select a file type for saving.
So far, so obvious. But I learned somthing this Ludum Dare thanks to input from @negativice: If you export your GameMaker game as an exe, it will likely cause problems with people's virus scanners. When that happens, the game simply won't run, sometimes with no clear indication as to why. The reason is that when you export an exe, it is really a self-extracting zip-file, which some virus scanners find suspicious. The better way to publish the game is by exporting it to a regular zip file which will cause less problems.
Now about publishing on itch.io: There are a few things that I've seen again and again that are not really problematic but, let's say, mildly annoying. First of all, if you publish a Windows game, mark it as Windows-compatible when you upload it. If you don't do that, people who use the itch.io client will not be able to download your game, which can be a bit frustrating.
On the other hand, don't mark your source code as Windows-compatible, or the itch.io client will annoy the user with a popup asking them which version of the game they want to install. Yeah I know it's only one click and maybe you want the user to get your sources that way. But whatever you want, I think you should be aware of the mechanics in play here and decide accordingly.
So, is there any secret knowledge you would like to share? Unity? Pygame? Gamejolt? Google Drive? Github?
Finally I have a question for all the people publishing on different platforms (Linux, MacOS, Android, etc). Do you have a device for each and test extensively or do you just export, upload and hope for the best? Have you run into any compatibility issues (concretely with GameMaker) or does it usually work smoothly?
Alright, so after judging nearly 50 games, it's time for me to crown my favorites so far. The following games have something about them that make me remember them fondly even after a week has passed since I first played them. These are Compo games only, as I didn't have time yet to work off my Jam list.
Carefulzilla takes the cake. It is a very innovative take on the theme, has a lot of humor and is fiendishly fun to play. Not much difficulty but definitely an experience to remember.
Space Hummus is a masterful example of how to present a game. It sets the mood with a comic intro sequence and lets itself out with another comic that gives proper closure. It has a funny story to tell and looks and feels amiable throughout.
Rocket Roller Space Polo is probably the most fun game I played so far from a gameplay point of view. Defeat up to four robot opponents in a sports game with gravity, rocket jumps and jetpacks.
Krilgor takes Game Boy aesthetics and some solid storytelling to create a fun and funny experience in the microscopic world beneath our feat.
Don't be fooled by its cluttered screenshots, World On The Tip Of A Ballpoint Pen creates an incredible sense of mystery by showing you a world uniquely foreign and strange. If only it wasn't so short.
D4rk And The Small Worlds is an arcady jump and run with a perfect difficulty curve, an outstanding chiptune soundtrack and a tough as nails and very rewarding boss fight.
The Adventure of Malvin is a fun, classic jump and run that features excellent gameplay, beautiful graphics and good level progression.
Dwelling is a cute and solemn experience about life and death. It takes a moment to get into due to its unique give/take mechanic, but it is rewarding for its wistful atmosphere.
I Want To Explore is a short and to be honest very simple game that won me over with its great 1-bit graphics and dense atmosphere. I wish there was more of it.
Finally, allow me to shamelessly sneak my own game, A Perfectly Lovely Expedition, into this list. It probably doesn't belong here, but play it anyway! :)
Wow, this is sooo cool:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/a-perfectly-lovely-adventure
I have to ask though: Is there a simpler way than just copying your comments and removing your own and all the filler text like "x days ago"?
Alright, I'm done. I have about 30 games left to play on my list, but I have to go traveling for work tomorrow and won't be able to make it on time. I also wanted to help some low-rating games make the cut, but I simply don't have enough time, sorry.
I have to say: Thanks a lot for all the nice comments from everyone who played my game. I received so much feedback this time, it was an awesome ride.
If you care to play my game before voting ends, please go ahead:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/a-perfectly-lovely-adventure
Here's a time lapse in case anyone is interested in that kind of stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0lX77yj1AY
To wrap it up: This was my third Ludum Dare, and it was also the first one where I handed something in that felt like a complete experience. I'm really happy about the result and will be looking forward to LD40 (come Christmas time, if I remember correctly) for some more practice.
Good luck to everyone for the remaining voting time, I wish all of you some good and helpful comments. See you on the other side in a few days.
If you're interested in some more in-depth information about where your game ranked, have a look at these bar charts:
The above graph is only for Compo games. You can get Jam games and all other categories here:
https://infogr.am/ld38resulthistograms
How to read them: These so-called histogram charts group games with similar ratings together, so all games with a rating between 3.5 and 3.6 go together in a bin. The higher the bar, the more games are in that bin.
You can use these charts to check out where you are in the distribution of the entries. The highest bar can be (more or less) seen as the average score, and the further out your bar is the more unique (for good or bad) your score is. You can also see that getting a very high score is really hard, as only a select few have reached that score.
Edit: I used this scraped table as a basis, but it appears to contain some errors: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PkQfN3QQ2Gk6-IcJI9je28SHvPUnLCEfTDEUjUF-o/edit#gid=0
I'll be back when I got those charts fixed with the correct values.
Edit 2: Turns out the scrape was correct, but I read it wrong: A lot of entries were empty so I figured that would be the unranked games, but apparently the unranked games also appeared with scores in the table. Long story short: I fixed my filter and the values should now be correct (updated the picture above and the linked graphs accordingly)
Alright, results are in. I am thrilled that I got close to 100 Overall. After placing 446 and 263 in my previous attempts, and now 112, a place in the coveted top 100 is within reach, just you wait Ludum Dare!
I even got my first 4 star rating with a category in the Top 40:
However, what should I make of it? A really good score for Theme? What does it mean? Looking at how many people did the "guy on a round world" I thought that my game wasn't so special in that respect. It's an achievement and I'm super happy that I got it, but I would like to interpret this for the future. Any ideas?
Alrighty, I'm in this weekend, doing the Compo.
Aiming for a spot in the top 100 after making 112th place at LD38. No pressure, right?
Good luck everyone!
Hello all.
This might be a bit late so shortly before the Jam starts.
Anyway, I would like to offer a premade Game Maker 1.4 project that has some useful features preconfigured to save you some time getting started.
https://github.com/Cerno-b/gamemakerstartupproject
These things are preconfigured: - generic title screen - game object that handles the main game loop (objgame) - abstracted keyboard handling and controller input (see scripts->input and objgame.steps function) - very basic mouse controls - debug text output that only shows in debug mode - change resolution via hotkeys (1x, 2x, fullscreen) - exit the game by pressing Esc - load and use a custom pixel art font
In the readme you will find some advice on deploying and hosting your game as well some info about making a time lapse video.
I might update the project in minor ways but I don't want to put too much into it that can be considered an actual game.
A bit late to the game, it nearly took me 2 hours to come up with a basic concept but I have to start now.
What I wanted to do before the jam: - Something story driven with a narrator and voice acting - Atmospheric music using an orchestral score to show off my progress in composition
What I actually will be doing: - An arcade game
Not what I set out to do, but I have found a decent concept that will not be too hard to implement, so I can focus on polishing. Let's see how that plays out.
Anyway, ideas that fell by the wayside for anyone who is still undecided and could use some input: - "Choose your own adventure" game where you get three wishes and can wish for infinite wishes. You will have to make choices for your next wish, but every single one of them gets corrupted. You will be playing against the genie and have to use the wishes against him although he can fulfill them any way he likes. It was too ambitious for me in the end. - Runner game where coins you collect increase the speed (and give no other benefits). When you collect coin magnets, chaos ensues. Terrain would be procedurally generated. - A very easy game gets harder over time but the only thing that changes is the character (grows in size, etc) - You control an organism that grows appendices that lets you fight off waves of attackers. You attack using keyboard keys. Every appendix is controlled by a different key (the fun starts at more than 10 appendices). - You can inject yourself with a brain-growing drug, but your head will get larger and larger so your character will move in a top-heavy manner.
Two things I wanted to avoid: - You collect X and the game gets harder. It's a viable approach but I feel that the majority will make a game like this and it will become harder to stand out - Equate "worse" with "more boring". I considered making a game where you get slower over the course of the game but I feel that will become hard to make fun.
Alright, this took me far too long (1.5 hrs). I feel like I have to re-learn all the GameMaker quirks from scratch every LD.
Hopefully there is faster progress from now on.
3.5 hrs of work brought me here, smooth sailing after an initial hitch.
Getting there...
Once more concept to go and I have my core mechanics in place. Will likely need a lot of fiddling to actually make it fun.
Alright, I think I've got everything in place gameplay-wise, except the scoreboard.
I think adding gfx and sfx before replacing the placeholder graphics may be a good idea.
There is a lot of balancing ahead of me, but I think taking a step back from the mechanical aspects of the game might do me some good.
