So I’m not entirely sure whether I’m have to announce the fact that I’m participating or if I can just stay on the down-low. I figured I’d play it safe and write a post anyway.
This will be my first Ludum Dare (and, in fact, my first game jam ever.) I’ve got a couple of ideas and I’m really hoping the theme will allow me to utilize them.
I will be using:
-C++
-OpenGL
-SDL
-Maybe MS Paint or something if I’m gonna use sprites (which I doubt)
So, I’ve been working since 4AM and finally I have something remotely worth showing:
Too bad you can’t see how adorable this guy looks when he waddles around…
My idea is a kind of Hack’n’slash game in which you can upgrade yourself. The twist? The enemies will adapt themselves depending on how much they’re getting their asses kicked!
So, it doesn’t look like much but I feel like I made quite a lot of progress today. I added a couple of new weapons (including FRICKEN’ LAZER BEAMS THAT BOUNCE OFF WALLS!) and I got the enemies to walk around, shoot and hop around like lobotomized toads.
Things to do:
– Add a store in which the player can buy new upgrades
– Enemy spawning + an evolution algorithm that makes them adapt according to how much they’re getting their asses kicked
– Improve on the particle system
– Add more weapons & upgrades for both the player and the enemies
– Add something to defend (other than yourself)
– If I have time left: add the ability to build towers
– Add some kind of consequence for the player running out of HP
Here’s a playable beta version (Windows 7, 32-bit)
Controls:
WASD: move
Left click: Melee attack
Right click: Ranged attack
E: Pick up upgrade
Holy shit! I made something playable!
…
“Playable” being a relative term, of course.
I’ll try to keep this short, mostly because I am dead tired. Who knew that programming a game nearly non-stop for 3 consecutive days without getting a proper nights’ sleep could be this exhausting? (Other than everyone who participated, I mean.)
The idea:
I knew even before the theme was announced that I wanted to create something with an ‘arcade’ feel to it. I also knew the art style that I wanted to use; brightly coloured polygon-men on a black-and-white background. Don’t ask me why, I just thought it would look cool.
When the theme was announced I immediately had the idea to create a game with evolving enemies that adapted themselves to upgrades that the player picked out for himself.
The good:
– I like the art. I have always had tremendous fun with using code and simple art assets to create complex-looking shapes and animations and I’m really happy with the animations and effects that I managed to get in here. The text is still pretty rough around the edges though…
– I created something playable! You wouldn’t believe what a big deal that is to me.
The bad:
– The code is a mess. I didn’t plan ahead far enough when writing the code and that really came back to bite me in the ass near the end.
– It’s not done! Oh sure, it’s playable. (I know I had fun with it for a minute or two.) But it’s simply not done; the arsenal is very limited, the game balance is nonexistent and, most prominently, there is no lose condition. You can run out of HP but nothing will happen.
At time of writing I still have 4 and a half hours left, so theoretically I could fix these problems. The problem is: I’ve been staring at a computer screen for the past three days and I’m exhausted. I really can’t see another line of code right now. Heck, I’m too tired to come up with a name that’s better than “The Amazing Adventure of Magenta-Man.”
Now, I’m definitely going to finish this someday. Just not right now.
What I learned:
– Plan ahead. I’m sure everybody has already mentioned this in their postmortem but that’s just because it’s so bloody important! You really can’t make a good game if you don’t know what you’re about to create. Note that this point goes for game design as well as code.
– Stock up on coffee before this thing starts.
– Work in a group next time. Now, there’s nothing wrong with working on your own. It’s just that working in a group will undoubtedly improve the quality of absolutely everything about the game.
– PLAN. AHEAD.
Notes:
– Magenta-man is, as his name implies, magenta. I hate magenta, I really do. When I first created the character I made him magenta so that he’d stand out against everything and I could see his animations properly. At some point I tried to pick a new colour for the character and everything that wasn’t magenta just seemed wrong.
– I will definitely participate in the Ludum Dare again someday.
– “I’ll try to keep this short”, sure. Me from 20 minutes ago is a big ol’ liar.
I’m in as well! This will be my second Ludum Dare (my first one being LD24.)
Things I’ll use:
I’ll be joining the jam. No reason to only use two days if you can get three, right?
Alright, we’re five and a half hours in and I’ve got…
A bunch of cubes! I know, I know. I’m a beacon of creativity in an otherwise bleak and uninteresting world.
Alright, I guess I should tell you guys what I’m making:
I’m making a kind of puzzle-maze game. You have the ability to cut parts away from the rest of the level. You can only use this ability a limited number of times, but there’s extra ammo (for lack of a better word) lying around for you to grab. The goal is to remove as much of the level as possible.
The game will be mostly skill-based (There will be enemies, turrets etc.) but there will be a fair amount of exploration and planning involved for the player.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a short break before my caffeine-addled and sleep-deprived brain loses the ability to form a coherent senterglebleeglebloopaa5y9ua.
And when I say “Playable” what I really mean is “You can walk around and stuff, but there’s no real point to any of it.”
Get the game here (windows 7, 32 bit). Instructions are included. Please let me know if you run into any bugs or performance issues.
To do:
Alright, I’ve had my coffee and something that could pass for breakfast. Time to get to work!
My ideas so far are this:
– An arena shooter where the arena will disappear every 10 seconds and the player (and any remaining enemies) will drop to the next level where more enemies are waiting. Fairly standard stuff, I think.
– Something where you have to accomplish a certain goal (I’m not quite sure what that goal is supposed to be, probably something along the lines of “Defeat a monster” or “Build a tower” or something.) There’s a group of people and you get control over one of them. The problem is that the person you’re controlling will die after 10 seconds (I dunno why, heart attack?) and you’ll take control over a different person. You’ll have to accomplish your goal before you run out of people.
– A kind of sim-like game where you’re a god (or a king, or a mayor. Something along those lines, at least.) and you have to make your people thrive. You give orders and those orders will be executed every ten seconds. The world will basically consist of cellular automata (think conway’s game of life) that will determine what the world will look like after the orders are completed. The goal is to build as many cities, mines, farms etc. as is possible before your island sinks into the ocean (which is inevitable, by the way.)
I think I’m gonna go with idea no. 3. I’ve always wanted to make a god-game and it sounds like it could be fun.
By the way, I’ll be joining the jam, not the compo. I’ll be using C++, openGL and SDL (Alas, not version 2.0. I’d like to use it but I don’t want to convert my existing codebase to 2.0 on the fly. It’s not a huge loss, I don’t use SDL that much anyway.)
So far I don’t have much in the way of gameplay. As a matter of fact, I have nothing. However, I do have this fancy-looking playing field!
So there’s that.
“Don’t sink” is now officially done! You can play it here.
I actually have no idea what to write here. I’d rather just post a bunch of screenshots here seeing as I’m quite happy with how the game looks, but it would be a bit weird to just post a bunch of pictures without any kind of text to space it apart.
Bleegle bleegle blarg, look at the pretty pictures!
Alright, I guess I’m done here. I’m just gonna go and sample some of the competition.
Slightly late, I know. I blame time zones.
I’ll be using C++, with OpenGL and SDL to take care of the graphics.
I didn’t get that much sleep last night (seeing as my dad thought it was a good idea to text me awake wishing me good luck with the LD) but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to pull through. Especially once I get some coffee in my system.
“You only get one” is an interesting theme that can go in a couple different directions. Honestly, I have no good ideas whatsoever.(EDIT: I just came up with an idea as I was pressing the ‘submit’ button.) I’m just gonna go and brainstorm for a while. (EDIT: No I’m not.)
Wee! GIF’s are fun!
So all it does at the moment is create guys and then make them pop after a second or two.
Observant readers may notice that the aesthetic of this game is slightly similar to that of a previous game of mine, Dropblocks. You may think that’s because I’m a talentless hack with no sense of creativity who just keeps rehashing old ideas regardless of whether or not they’re worth anything. In reality it’s because right now I can’t be arsed to fiddle around with textures and this is the only way in which I can make this look nice.
I was going to write something that explains what my game’s all about, but I’m sure you’ll be able to figure out all you need from this image.
I’m done for today. I made a lot of progress, but there’s still a lot left to do. I’ll probably be able to finish this in time for the jam, but I might not get all the functionality that I want.
I shall name him Geoffrey.
“Destructoblast” is all done! You can play it here!
I actually submitted this a while back, but it turned out there was a massive bug that prevented everyone from playing. It should be all fixed now though, so enjoy the game everyone!
#67 Fun(Jam) 3.54 (Previous rank: #115)
Not bad at all! I’m always happy to end up in the top 100 for anything and I think Fun is probably the second-most important category of them all (Overall being #1, of course.) Speaking of which…
#95 Overall(Jam) 3.54 (Previous rank: #83)
I’m also in the top 100 for Overall! Yay!
I’m slightly torn about this one though, seeing as my last game was #83. Still, it’s a good accomplishment.
#100 Graphics(Jam) 4.00 (Previous rank: #114)
Damn it. I was just talking to a friend of mine yesterday and I mentioned to him that I was hoping to finally end up in the top 100 for the Graphics category. Specifically, I said I was hoping to “Finally end up in the double digits.” I guess I got the next best thing, which is fine, I guess…
#160 Mood(Jam) 3.25 (Previous rank: #236)
I never really bothered with writing a story or creating a distinct setting in my previous games. This is the first time I attempted to fill in the world a bit (though not to great extent), and I’m glad to see that reflected here.
#205 Humor(Jam) 2.58 (Previous rank: #399)
This one went hand-in-hand with the Mood, I guess. I saw an opportunity to toss in a bit of humor and I took it.
#227 Innovation(Jam) 2.97 (Previous rank: #8)
Innovation wasn’t really one of my goals when I made this, so I don’t mind at all that this is one of my worst scores. Matter of fact, I’m a bit surprised that I did this well here, none of this stuff seems all that creative or original.
#330 Theme(Jam) 2.59 (Previous rank: #131)
I’m not surprised this is at the bottom. In my previous game I found that the theme was getting in the way of the gameplay, so I decided to give the theme a lower priority this time around.
I stocked up on coffee and frozen pizza and I’m ready to rock!
My tools:
Language: C++, using my own codebase which is built using SDL, OpenGL, GLM and DevIL.
Graphics: Probably just MS paint and stuff, but I recently wrote a .obj file parser so I might even use some of that.
Sounds: None, I’m no musician and I don’t like using those free asset websites so I’ll just leave the sounds up to the player’s imagination.
Of course, I’m using Windows 7 64 bit, so that might be the problem.