So I had this cool idea about faeries living in the net, and you could browse webpages and recruit them, help them fight off boss critters, etc..

The problem is that I screwed up my time management; I didn’t get started until today, and the deadline is actually much closer than I realized (who uses UTC?!? @_@).  But anyway, I worked up something which is not a game but is still kind of neat.

FaerieNet – Create a Faerie

I probably won’t be able to work on this any more before the official midnight UTC deadline.  So, this is it for me for this MiniLD.  However, I might just continue working on this project in the days ahead…

Tags: php, procedural generation, web-based, wiki, wikipedia

Islands. There are many types.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…The Worst Tabletop Roleplaying Game Ever.

You’re welcome.

As of now, my schedule is looking pretty good. So, unless the theme is awful or pointless, I’ll probably be participating. I might work up a multiplayer web-based game using PHP and MySQL, much like the ones on my website. I could throw some JavaScript at it and make it all AJAX-y. Alternaly, I could develop something in Flash, an actual real-time game. I could do something in Inform 6, which I know, or Inform 7, which I’m learning. I could even write something in ChoiceScript…or if I really wanted to go all-out, DirectX. I guess we’ll see!

What’s the difference between “practice” and “performance”?

Just to throw out some basic definitions for the purpose of this post: Both words refer to performing some sort of activity that requires skill. It could be playing the piano, writing a webcomic, programming, whatever. “Practice” is when someone performs an activity primarily for the purpose of increasing their skill. “Performance” is when someone has another specific purpose in mind—Perhaps this activity is something they do for money, like a professional musician playing at a club. Perhaps it’s a skill exercised as part of their job, like a software developer writing a program, or perhaps they are creating some work, like writing a novel. (Notably, creating something is a “performance” that results in a tangible product, like a story that may be sold.)

How does one practice a skill? By performing it, mostly. Sometimes there are drills or exercises that are used for practice but are unlike performances; pianists will play scales, for example, which are boring to listen to. More interesting are creative endeavors, like writing. One practices writing by writing…and every time you write, you end up with a piece of writing.

There may be value in these bits of writing. Not that this is anything new; I suspect most people who get into writing assume that everything they write is ultimately intended for publication. Is it possible to write “exercises” that are never intended for publication, but only to increase one’s writing skills? Of course; it’s probably even a good idea. And yet…One of those odd bits of writing just might be worth something to the right journal. Every bit of practice is also a potential performance.

Let’s look at this from the other side. Let’s imagine someone writing with the intent to sell what they’re writing. Do they learn, do they develop their skills while performing this activity? Of course they do! Every instance of performing a skill results in that skill being improved. It’s easy to see this is by reading the archives of a newspaper comic strip that has been drawn for decades by the same person; the improvement in art over the years is obvious. However, I’m not saying you should simply expect your work to get better and better with no slipups; it’s probably more valuable to stretch yourself and try things that might not work. Every creative work attempted by an artist increases their skill, even if it ultimately turns out to be a failure. Especially if it turns out to be a failure! Every performance is also a practice session.

My conclusion, therefore, is that you (yes, you) should look upon performance and practice as the same thing. Create things, stretch your skills, try out new ideas, create things. Any project you create can stand on its own as a work of art—and it can also be viewed as an opportunity to develop, a set of lessons for your skills. Don’t be afraid to embrace all these possibilities. Go forth and create!

(I posted this previously on my own blog, but I figured it was appropriate here too. 😉 )

Tags: motivation

This wasn’t scheduled well for me; I’ll be busy most of Saturday. Still, if there’s a really good theme (i.e. not kittens) I might slap something together…using Flash, perhaps FlashPunk or Flixel, or maybe a web thing with PHP, MySQL, possibly some AJAX thrown in there or maybe just JavaScript. I guess we’ll see!

I’d like to participate in the 10-year LD. My weekend is pretty free. I’ve got Flash, I can write JavaScript and HTML, and I’ve got a webserver upon which I can run PHP and MySQL. So, if an adequate theme gets chosen, I’m in!…maybe

Actual Submission Webpage

I have to admit it’s pretty simple. However, I got it working almost exactly how I envisioned it, so I’m pleased!

Source and other files are available.

The inexplicably popular, really lame theme won. As usual.

The last few Ludum Dare things, I didn’t have any good ideas. This time, though, I think I have ideas for most of the top-scoring themes. Unfortunately, I’ll have to get up early on Friday and Saturday, so my sleeping schedule may be destroyed. We’ll see how it works out.

If I do enter, the competition or maybe just the jam, I’ll probably use one (or more?) of the following:

• Flash CS4 Pro
• Javascript
• Twine
• Inform (7 or maybe even 6)
• PHP/MySQL

I mean, these are only my opinions, so I’m sure they’re biased. Here’s a sentence or two about each possible theme in the final round voting.

Alchemy
I like this theme, because I like crafting and creating items. Admittedly, there are already lots of games featuring crafting, from nothing-but-crafting (Doodle God, which was based on an old game I think was just called “Alchemy”) to crafting-as-an-afterthought, but there’s always room for more…right? Also, you could consider the spiritual aspects of alchemy as it was practiced. Well, anyway…

Another World
This does afford a few different possibilities. You could have a separate world like in Link to the Past or Soul Reaver and switch between them. Or, a game about visiting another world. Space exploration? First contact? You could even go abstract, some intense event happens to a person and they look at their life with new eyes so it seems like…another world.

Break The Rules
A little vague. A game where you modify the game rules, maybe, like Hack and Slash (on Steam now, well Early Access at least). There’s probably more design space there. Or maybe a game about civil disobedience?

Chaos
Admittedly vague, though I like it (told you I was biased). “Suddenly, something happens!” Lots of games start out like that, of course. Or! Go for the mathematical meaning…somehow?

Choose A Path
Too vague, I think. Don’t you choose a path in every game you play? Or you have a game where you…walk somewhere. Or do interactive fiction, which I love, but…

Connected Worlds
Again, Link to the Past, Soul Reaver; things that have been done before, not to mention Ocarina of Time and the Oracle games. But you could do other stuff, like, reality and a dream, reality and the spirit world…Or just colonies on different star systems connected by warp gates. Hey, even a trading game!

Day and Night
I don’t know. I mean, there’s Castlevania 2, and there’s Minecraft. Beyond that there doesn’t seem to be much design space.

Destroy The System
I guess you can think of different “systems”, like a big machine, a government, the solar system. Still doesn’t bring much to mind, though.

Don’t Stop Moving
So this a game where you move, and you can’t stop moving, so a bunch of Canabaltlikes. No Tetris or Civilization. Or, I dunno, maybe a game where you play a moving company moving people into houses. Beyond that I got nothin’.

Do No Harm
Sure, you can have a game where you don’t hurt anything (I think nowadays they call that “atmospheric”). But that’s too vague. A game about doctors? No idea.

Fortress
Well, obviously one of my favorite games immediately comes to mind. I guess you can build all sorts of fortresses in different situations. I suppose there isn’t much design space here, but I’ll probably vote for it anyway.

Growing
Vague, yet it has possibilities that intrigue me. Plants, ecology, forests…or just civilizations, I guess. Wasn’t there an LD game a while back about a conjoined twin growing inside someone?

Isolation
Too vague. I mean you can do a Minecraft or Unreal World survival game. Or, what, something inspired by HPL’s “Polaris”? Anyone got any other ideas?

Lost In Space
And do what, exactly? Build stuff, like Habitat? Go on quests, like Star Command? Wander around like Capsule? Maybe someone else is lost and you find them. Or you go on a treasure hunt. I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel here.

No One Can See You
All right, well. Not one I particularly like, but there are a couple of possibilities. First, “No one can see you” as in “you’re invisible”. Sneak around and play pranks, maybe. Or infiltrate stuff when you’re invisible. Maybe, metaphorically no one acknowledges your existence, like the myth of Cassandra. Or, the more pedestrian approach–no one CAN see you, as in, no one must see you or you lose. In other words, just do a stealth game like Deus Ex (that’s how I played Deus Ex, anyway…).

Randomly Generated
Ugh. See, you can have random generation in just about any game. This doesn’t restrict you in any significant way. It’ll just force the devs to learn about procedural generation algorithms. Which is, you know, not a BAD thing, but…

Strength In Numbers
Eh. Gather followers, like Galcon and all the games like it? Or, hey, how about in numbers, like an educational game? Or spells that are math. Yeah, I’m reaching…

You’re Not Supposed To Be Here
This doesn’t suggest any gameplay, just plots. Either you, the player, stumble onto something you’re not supposed to see…Or, you are the one trying to hide things from others; that would be a twist. What sort of game, though? No idea.

You Are Already Dead
Well, either Fist of the North Star or Owl Creek Bridge. It’s an intriguing idea, but still, doesn’t suggest any gameplay.

You Must Leave It Behind
Really vague. If pressed, I could come up with something–Gurren Lagann in reverse, maybe?–and I’m sure there are one or two good games possible…not really more than that, though.

I guess that’s it! I probably won’t be LD-ing because I’ll be really busy this weekend. But good luck everyone!

Remember that when the theme is announced, the website usually shuts down for a while. The theme is available on Twitter, of course…But what you might not be aware of is that the theme is announced on IRC, with lots of people watching! The channel is silenced while the theme is announced, then a couple minutes later it’s un-silenced and everyone celebrates or complains…It’s an all-around fun event! So join us on IRC in a couple hours. I’ll be sticking around a while after the announcement to brainstorm game ideas with everyone in the channel!

…

(…unless the theme is ☃, in which case I may be completely out of ideas)

Tags: irc

…

I’d really like to do something this weekend. I’ll have SOME time. I’ll probably be doing the Jam, so that I can use some of those sweet Jam assets. (Otherwise it’d be programmer art all the way.) Even though the Jam allows you to keep your source code private, I usually make mine public (not that it’s ever usually that good).

As for what I could use to make a game…Flash CS4 is probably the best bet. After that PHP/MySQL, Javascript/HTML…Inform, Twine, Java, Unity, maybe I could even make an Android game. We’ll see!

I probably made this more difficult for myself than I should have, but I learned more stuff about Javascript and HTML canvases.

Now, can I make a game that’s actually fun to play? I wasn’t really planning on entering the Compo. It would be nice to make a Jam game, though, so that I can rate other people’s games…

I’m trying to create a “flow” algorithm, like how water and magma flow in Dwarf Fortress.

I’m having a surprisingly(?) difficult time of it…

Tags: MiniLD59

SUCCESS

WIP flow algorithm

(Those confused may refer to my earlier post.)

Tags: MiniLD59

Now all I have to do is make it fun…

Tags: MiniLD59

😀

Tags: MiniLD59

I really couldn’t finish my game, because stuff came up this weekend I really wanted to take care of. However, I did eventually upload my sprites to the Swap Shop. I’m…not THAT good at drawing sprites, but with any luck someone will find them interesting.

Tags: MiniLD59