Alright, haven't gotten around to posting any blogs so far, so will type one out now! This is my second Ludum Dare Jam, although I don't have my handy dandy special programmer this time around, so it's just been me! Since I'm more comfortable with painting, I'm going with making a visual novel with the theme. Got the game all set up and ready to play, just need to give it a new coat of paint and add on bells and whistles. Currently turning things like this

into this!

Will see how far I'll get!

Alright, I need a change of pace, so figured I'd write one of these. I'll be entering the Jam, second time doing this thing solo. Doing a visual novel again this time around, but this time I'm going to make it more of a Choose your on Adventure type of thing with lots of choices. My game is going to be about the player on the phone with a loved on and passing the time by making up stories until the phone battery dies. As each choice is selected, a sketchy version of the story appears on the page. I plan on having some story that's going on behind the scenes, but not 100% certain how it'll turn out, so guess I'll find out when the jams almost over! Last time, I ran out of time to finish my art, so I'm hoping that won't happen again! Here's a quick mock up though.

So, I lost internet for the first half of the submission hour and then tried to upload my game afterwards, but it simply wasn't working. I figured this was the usual delay that happens considering the website was slow and it also deleted all my saved info (which also happened before), but now that the website has been running smoothly I'm beginning to think my entry won't publish simply cause the deadline is over. I also have to head out so I won't be able to keep trying, but if this Is the case...well guess here's a blog post about the game I made!

Made a choose your own adventure type visual novel, where you are on a phone call with a loved one until the phone battery dies. Got nowhere near what I was hoping for, like more choices and more story between the two characters, but I had fun drawing out all the different situations. So as it stands right now, there's really only one story which involves the knight. Figured it was best to cut the story short and at least give the feeling of how the game will play out in a completed state. I'm hoping to continue to work on this in the future.

Can be played here! https://ciderwrath.itch.io/stories

Third time this year doing Ludum Dare, and 3rd time I'm doing it solo. I definitely feel that I get more comfortable and have a better handle at creating something as every game jam goes by, so I'm feeling really good about this one. Going to continue with doing a visual novel in this game since I feel like I can keep pushing myself a step further each time.

My past two game jams I have had issues of either the art seriously suffers or the story itself is incomplete, so this time around I am trying fix both of those issues and have something I can call "Complete." I've gone ahead and coded and written the dialogue of the beginning and the end of the game and will now spend my time creating the art that goes with it. If there is enough time left after, I will fatten the game up in the middle. My current goal is to not have people thinking, "Wow this game feels really incomplete," but instead think, "Wow, I want more of that." The downside will be that the game could be INCREDIBLY short, but think the idea of it being done is what is important for me this time around.

Now about the game itself! I spent the first few hours working on a story where the overall idea was "Too much sleep," but that idea really wasn't working for me. So after much thinking, I thought "Hey, I'm thinking too much!" which slowly developed into the game I'm going with titled "Just Ask Her Out." People can play as the main character who over thinks and has too much anxiety when it comes to asking out his crush, given different choices of how he will accomplish that. Having lots of fun with it so far, and hoping I'll be able to get it ready as much as I can before the end.

Picture of how my characters currently look like: