I didn’t want to keep a diary as I wanted to concentrate on the act of creating the game BUT I did tweet.. I thought I would upload my log of tweets over the 48 hours as a record of the process… or my mental state..

 

In reverse order naturally

 :/

 

xopsx ‏@xopsx8h

@CliveLindop DONE! http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=21374 …

 xopsx ‏@xopsx9h

It’s here! it’s done! http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=21374 … Consider my game released! 😀 #LD48 #goodnightall

 xopsx ‏@xopsx9h

and finally.. what I will do after minimal sleep for 48 hrs. #LD48 #Bedtime pic.twitter.com/KYRTltLZQ0

 xopsx ‏@xopsx9h

the Other main character “D” is deciding whether she should shower, change or simply leave #LD48 pic.twitter.com/zE2nUuDvOp

xopsx ‏@xopsx9h

Ad makes Tea in the Kitchen… or at least TRIES To…. “SPOILERS!” #LD48 pic.twitter.com/E5smsUyrMM

xopsx ‏@xopsx9h

In this screen, one of the main characters “Ad”, goes into the kitchen at work #LD48 pic.twitter.com/6P1iJSEnRn

xopsx ‏@xopsx9h

so according to @allornothing_jm I am supposed to be running some kind of campaign. here are some screens! #LD48 pic.twitter.com/piK8cWMKT0

 xopsx ‏@xopsx9h

Ladies and Gentlemen. I would like to announce that my #LD48 entry “Minlife” is currently uploading Thank you for all the support!

xopsx ‏@xopsx12h

last few bits of audio… then bug fixin! #LD48

xopsx ‏@xopsx13h

#nbaplayoffs and #LD48! What a weekend! 😀 http://sdrv.ms/11v1LnF 

xopsx ‏@xopsx15h

ok, gotta push through this bit.. frustrating hook ups of small issues causing massive bugs. nearly there! #LD48

xopsx ‏@xopsx20h

WOWOWOAAH! sooo close. Break time. #LD48

xopsx ‏@xopsx23h

YEYEAH!!! Breakthrough! have a bunch of game that looks good and WORKS! time to finish off the last few rooms and then – AUDIO! #LD48

xopsx ‏@xopsx28 Apr

in an addition to my #LD48 excitement… #NBAplayoffs are INCREDIBLE tonight! pic.twitter.com/Dcenqz5cgL

xopsx ‏@xopsx28 Apr

Water spawner… check… tree spawner.. check… Running “pickup bobby” matrix #LD48

xopsx ‏@xopsx28 Apr

Up and back at it! #ld48

xopsx ‏@xopsx27 Apr

right, sleep break needed. Couple of hours maybe. Going well #LD48

alistair hope ‏@wannaneeda27 Apr

Keep pushing on!! @Catmoo @xopsx

xopsx ‏@xopsx27 Apr

#LD48 oh it is ON! a few rooms into my game and it is shaping up. Time for a cup of tea…. TEA! That’s IT! #putsteainthegame

xopsx ‏@xopsx27 Apr

@GameDesignDan yeah, I am all over it!

xopsx ‏@xopsx27 Apr

back on track! coming along well now. Just need to hook up some variables and BAM! we are rolling 😀 #LD48

1. xopsx ‏@xopsx27 Apr

lost a lot of work. #doitagainbetter

xopsx ‏@xopsx27 Apr

Going Strong, first crash, lost work. #saveoften #LD48

xopsx ‏@xopsx27 Apr

#ld48 theme. Minimalism.

xopsx ‏@xopsx27 Apr

@GameDesignDan yeah! @Catmoo is too! Just got up

Ludum Dare ‏@ludumdare27 Apr

The Theme for Ludum Dare 26 is: Minimalism #LD48 #GoodLuck

xopsx ‏@xopsx27 Apr

@GameDesignDan you up this late/early for #LD48 right? 😉

Ludum Dare ‏@ludumdare27 Apr

Thirty Minutes!!! #LD48

 

 

 

I have had a few requests to write something about the game and as I am currently awake whilst the plumbers fix a huge leak in our bathroom, I thought I should take the time to do exactly that. Write I mean, not fix the huge leak.

 

 

when I set out to make minlife I thought of a few ideas. These included platformers, decorating games, maze explorers and all sorts. Here is my original brainstorm that I ended up using as a plan-maker (Created in xmind HIGHLY recommended and FREE – http://www.xmind.net/ )

 

Once I decided to make the focus of the Theme the art style and feel of the game, that allowed me to expand in the mechanics and direction. I very quickly thought of lots of cool scenes I could make with basic props, characters and back drops.

SPOILERS

As I started making the game feel minimal and sparse visually, I realised that there was a twist I could play with the players expectations. By letting the player think that you could only do one thing, (get up, shower in a linear fashion) I was able to play with that preconception in the “driving sequence”. The game tells you that you should “Pick up bobby”  and the result is a little different than most though. Also, depending on how you “drive” (move left or right) this will affect the outcome.

I expanded this idea later at the workplace/studio where I took regular events and made them a bit surreal/special. If you compare the list of rooms on the brainstorm to the final locations in the game you will see I ran out of time to make them all, BUT I did include a lot of them and feel happy with what I have made.

As a side note, a great surprise for me in this process is how people are talking and relating to the characters in the game. The three people you collect are actually three friends I work with and car pool with every day. To hear people who have never met them, discuss what they feel about them is great and hilarious.

for example –

“I picked up bobby! he is great.”

“Simon and Craig arent as cool as Bobby”

There are a few points where the game is a little unstable and strange things happen BUT this has also had a positive outcome. A good friend of mine Oli played the game and found that –

 

“SPOILERS!” – “If you kill Craig and Simon on the way to work, you enter some kind of guilt nightmare when you arrive at work. It spawns multiple copies of both of them with the objective text laid on top of each other. Mad Lynchian.” – I apologised and explained the bug but got back this reply –

“I loved that moment, I felt genuine guilt.”

“END SPOILERS!”

 

 

So yes, I am glad! I love creating games that inspire in some way even if it is the smallest emotion or reaction. A laugh or a gasp. Surprises and the unexpected can totally make a game.

Thanks to everyone who has played the game so far and for all the kind comments and support

Need to resist the urge to build more into it – post competition..

This is Spacestronaut Napper, Signing OFF!

 

 

Well, inconsistent performance of the game has lead to some people getting stuck and quitting before the end. For some reason, running it twice makes it flow better. Game maker… you are a mysterious thing. In any case, I wanted to post the credits here as I thank some people who deserve the thankin!

 

Several people told me they were getting stuck in the kitchen scene and I found that there was a horrible crash there. Just managed to fix it and have found that it was creating an infinite amount of entities as i hadn’t ticked a single box. ticked the box and that appears to have fixed not only that, but the stability issues and frame rate! 😀

fixed version is here – https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1slfyHxOtX3U3E5aW9iRUhVQU0/edit?usp=sharing

Have really enjoyed this weekend. Learned a lot more than I would have thought too looking forward to the next one!

Until next time then ladies and gentlemen and spacestronauts!

 

 

Hi all, Gary here and back for another Jam.

Gonna be using all the favourites, Game Maker, http://www.bfxr.net/, Photoshop, Audacity, Premiere, etc.

Looking forward to the theme reveal so for now, going to rest with my wife before i vanish for 48 hours…

Tweets here – @xopsx

food goes here —> :O

 

 

with less than 15mins to go I forgot to mention one of my favourite tools. I am a full time game designer by day and I love using xmind for fast brainstorming, structure design and mapping of game components.

 

You got 10 mins spare, check it out!

Www.xmind.net

 

Well lets see now…

 

Finished the game in time, got a few bugs and doesnt have nearly as many levels as I would ahave hoped unfortunatly.  I think my downfall was realising how quickly I could churn out levels once my mechanics were made and then spending time on scenes and backdrops rather than the things I needed like decent audio, balanced play and more levels. Still, rounded game, pretty good feel to it.

I think the biggest problem is that it isnt clear on each level what the goal is and coupled with the fact that restart takes a few seconds longer than it should, it can get frustrating. I will fix this in time though once I have some sleep!

Would have liked to make more of the ending and I think i will probably make a “final” version of it after the compettition. So, check it out, have a play and let me know what you think

 

Good work everyone!

 

XopsX

 

TenSecWep Title screen

For those with lower spec machines or people who are just curious to see the game, I have captured a short playthrough of Tensecwep

Link below! Enjoy!

 

 

 

It is that time again!

Just woke up, its 1:28am and I am fully hyped for the Jam again.

Same set as usual, Game Maker, http://www.bfxr.net/, Photoshop, Audacity, Premiere, etc.

using xmind for my brainstorming and diagrams – http://www.xmind.net/

 

This time around I plan to post more than usual. Normally I only start to update when I have a lot to show, but I want to keep more of a diary this time and not just tweets.

Best of luck to everyone and GAME ON!

 

G

 

ok, longest I have spent on a game Jam coming up with an idea. This one really stumped me. Lots of ideas, none of them outstanding. Ran a brainstorm and went through some possibilities, found myself exploring one more than the others and from that I have a pretty good handle on an idea.

 

wont tell you which one till I get a prototype up and running but I am good to go!

 

tea time

 

 

ok, first productive update. A couple of hours down and I got a map, an idea and some mechanics!

also got the name sorted and a feel/theme. More to follow soon but for now, this teaser!

…update time!

ok, core game idea exists and will work! now it is all about the balance and execution. Got an intro and outro to do but want to nail to main game first. Last LD48 I spent too much time making scenes and the core game could have had more attention.

here is a snap of what it looks like. Placeholder room names floating in the world etc and you can see the 5 main characters but yeah, getting there!

Also settled on a name…

Epic huh? 😀

 

back to work!

 

on fire!

Just had a very productive couple of hours. Got some core systems working including character swaps for player select and decided to work that into a new mechanic… feature creep!

Planning to get the core game down tonight before 10ish and then balance till the early hours. Do audio and scenes tomorrow. That’s a dev plan that is

 

Enjoying making this more than I thought. Not really a fan of the theme but it is coming together well.

Hope you are all doing fine! keep up the pace!

..I didn’t actually mention what my game is about yet! just replied to a friend on twitter and realised this fact.

It is a puzzle/adventure game. It is called “OUR FINAL CHANCE” and the player takes the role of one of 5 scientists in their last attempt to save the world from an impending disaster!

It is currently based on a countdown timer. The scientists have to work various machines to increase their chances of stopping the disaster from their super lab. Once the player thinks they have a high enough prediction to take on the disaster they can throw a final switch and sit back to either watch the world end… or success!

Pretty good fun

 

G

a good friend of mine have an eternal debate going. It’s a classic.

“What is better? Dinosaurs or space?”

Well obviously it’s space but my poor deluded friend would still choose to have a pet dinosaur over a trip to space. pfft. There is a point to all this. He called me out on twitter just now and I had to threaten him with something. So I said I would kill a dinosaur in my jam. Now I have to go away and draw a dinosaur for the final scene. No spoilers tho, I am planning a few endings.

I did make a decision though! When I turn in tonight, I am calling it “feature complete”. No more mechanics or story or events. Just polish what I have!

I am off for a break and a shower. Latest screen here

 

…but gonna stop for a bit. I have 20 lines of dialogue to turn into draw objects so I am going to do that and then get some shut-eye.

Here is my working environment

 

and here is the latest slice of the game! Conversation is now working, the core rules are all set up and playing nicely. Needs a lot of polish and audio and that is what I hope to focus on tomorrow.

Right, off to sleep via text land…

finshing up the last bits of gameplay and the ending. Then i can get the intro sequence running and the front end and finally audio!

Think I am on track with this one. Last LD I made the intro early which slowed me immensely as I had to skip it or work around it each time it played. Leaving the beginning till the end… deep.

 

here is a dual purpose photo! Both a food shot and a game screen! It’s a bacon sandwich btw. mmmm

 

 

You would have thought that 12 years working in the videogames industry, 4 complete on time game jams and a life of losing work to crashes would have prepared me for this. But no. I feel completely destroyed.

A crash at 11pm, less than three ours till the deadline corrupted my game maker project and appears to have saved over the previous backups. After trying to work around it I have a directory full of my assets and templates but they are all disconnected and broken links. Just tried to start a new project and import what I know to be working, only to find that it has all come unpicked and that’s pretty much that. The last .exe I baked out has a crash after a few seconds and I have nothing but a pile of broken folder links and errors to show for 48 hours of work.

Don’t know what to say to be honest. Feel cold and empty. exhausted and defeated. I guess it had to happen some time, but I was enjoying that good run of games whilst it lasted.

 

Good night and I hope you all faired better than I.

 

using game maker and I just had a crash whilst converting a sprite. I re-loaded the project and it is now blank. I have lost all structure and data in the project.

Has anyone had this before? can anyone help me?

starting to panic a bit.

 

After completely throwing in the towel last night at midnight after losing my entire project… I am back.

This evening after work I opened up the remnants of my project and began to put it back together from scratch. My plan was to gradually bring it up to scratch for the next few nights… It got to 11 and I was very close to finishing it!

so I rushed in some audio and BAM! I have a candidate to submit!

doing so now!

 

Thanks to everyone for the support and kindess when all was lost. I didn’t make it for the challenge but at least I was able to submit for the jam.

I am about to start uploading my entry. “Our Final Chance!”

G