I’ve been putting off actually entering one of these contests for a few years now, but I finally think I’m prepared enough to at least submit something playable by the end of the 48 hours (hopefully).

Language:

Java (Probably)

Frameworks:

Libgdx, Artemis (Maybe)

Tools:

Gimp, GraphicsGale, BMFont, others (probably).

So at the end of my first Ludum Dare Compo, there’s only really one thing to say.
WOW

First off, my game – Go with the Flow –  is a simple puzzle game, where the player rotates and places pipes in order to try and get the water to flow from the start pipe to an ending pipe. To fit with the theme (You only get One), the player can only change the world once.

Now, for my first Compo, I thought I had picked a simple enough game concept that I would be able to easily have it done in 48 hours, complete with bells and whistles. However, I didn’t take into account all the little things that had to go into a game to really “make” it. For instance, getting the UI to be on the left side of the screen, and the game on the right took way longer than I had anticipated. Combined with making the layout look acceptable and about a million other small things and before you know it, its hour 47 and you have no sound and barely any levels.

Good news is, I think I have a better grasp now of how to prepare for the next Ludum Dare, and hopefully by then I’ll be able to submit a more complete game (no promises).

I’m going to try and get a web port going for my game soon. Until then, I’m looking forward to seeing everyone else’s submissions!

another LD, another list of lessons learned.

First though, here is my game creatively titled “beneath the surface” . Its supposed to be a 2d rogue-like, similar to Risk of Rain or the Binding of Isaac.

Making this game taught me a lot about game development, and about myself (as cliched as that sounds).

First, on a personal note, I think I have a tendency to focus too much on building an engine sometimes, which I’m trying to break, especially for short contests such as this.

Second, and much more generally, I’ve discovered that if your game is heavily numbers based, its important to devote a fair portion of your time to tweaking and playing around with said numbers. Beneath the Surface had a lot more numbers than I was expecting (fire rate, move speed, chance to spawn, etc.), and in the end, had I spent more time tweaking those numbers, maybe my game would have been more fun.

Still, I had a great time, and I’m looking forward to seeing what other people came up with!