When I first read the name Ludum Dare, I thought it was the sound at the beginning of this Pitbull song (sounds like Lu-Dum Da). This go-around was my second time participating. I joined my first jam last year because of my friend Jeremy. He asked me, the day or two before, if I wanted to be involved in a game making contest. I knew I didn't want to commit the time, but then I realized we'd be completing something in the time I would have just fucked off with a few six packs and Netflix anyway.

This time I knew I wanted to be a part of it, and the game we came up with was different from our first (a side scroller beat em up). The theme "Keep It Alive" was something I downvoted. I really didn't like it, but the group got together and we eventually hammered out a solid idea within one hour. Rai, our newest teammate, came up with the idea of keeping a marriage alive while keeping your tamagotchi alive which you need to keep your happiness alive. Instant agreement!

Anyway, from there I basically had to start drawing and get the drawings banged out in the order that Jeremy needed 'em. We knew the concept was a man addicted to his tamagotchi trying to keep his marriage alive at an Italian restaurant. It started out like this:

First I got a cursor going so we could feel like we were working with something:

I gave his hand a watch so that it didn't feel like it just ended at the wrist. Not sure a guy with two devices him needs a watch that's probably telling him the wrong time:

Then next was to get the little tamogotchi turd working:

From that concept, I needed to make sure that the character inside was likable but not too complicated to draw and take too much time. I figured an amorphous ghost squid thing would be perfect:

After that, the we needed to build the little guy's house. I'm not sure why I wanted San Diego Charger's colors, but it felt right with the rest of the game being different shades of red:

And then I tried to make these thumbs hit the buttons correctly. I think a real human hand would need extra joints to press buttons like this:

Ok, so we got the tamagotchi, the hand, and the little pet. We still needed some shots of the menu, the wife, and the phone (along with other side assets). Here are some random shots of the not so fun things to draw:

And here's what happens if you do a shitty job at being a husband (loosely inspired by Bulma):

There were a bunch of other things I drew, but you can see them all in the game! Go check it out by heading here or asking the clerk at 7-11. I also make comics here if you're interested in violent pigs.