First time in LD. Using AS3.

Just started working on Tiny World, Big War. Soldiers are mindlessly marching into if(pos.x>640) die();

Good luck to everyone.

Hmm both sides have same chances/randomness but the grey/nazis are loosing…

Off for today. Time for some birthday party… bummers!

Rated bunch and here are few highlights in random order.

Tiny Wizard – kebabskal

Jump in/jump out fast shooter. What’s not to love?

gravity – Rémi

It’s very hard but I love graphics and mood.

The Last Rainbow – Vandash

Calm, cute and contains rainbow.

Tinysasters – Volute

I’m sucker for board games so it was instant fav. I thought it was polished, well planned project but according to creator it was rush of coding and making graphics to the very end. Imagine what it will be given more time!

Oh Boy, Oh Boy – Tom

Clouds in space. And it really felt like terraforming

Aloft – Chinchilla

Again gameboardey. Nice graphics and I liked fountains of money Cool thing with throwing back bombs.

ONLY US – Datamosh

If you like movie Moon and pixel graphics it’s a go. And death scenes are great.

Astro Break – hulahulahest

Small shooter with nice graphics. I’m sold.

Soul Searchin’ – MaximSchoemaker

Last but totally not least. IMHO this is a winner. It’s innovative, funny, 100% into theme.

More to rate – more to come.

Tags: favs, highlights

First LD done – game submitted. Well of course I haven’t implemented lot of ideas but the main idea is there. Endless waves of soldiers and player can possess one of them to help others. It’s more of a simulation than an actual game but we will get there

LD is great thing. First: you can try ideas you hadn’t time for. Second: I don’t feel pressure to do everything tip top as when I’m doing normal games(mostly ones that end up in limbo). There’s not much “ok now let’s rewrite it again adding bazzilion new features/cleaning” or “it sucks because is laggy/buggy”. It works == it’s good. Next please. So this is really about being creative and work fast which is great test of skills.

Things I “learned” / went good:

Time is of the essence. (always wanted to say this) This weekend I was kind of busy with some social activities – thus didn’t fit into 48h (btw it came out that suspiciously lot of my friends are taking lessons in sword/katana fighting – incoming zombie apocalypse or what?). Next time I will go off the grid for two days. But no regrets there because…

I submit == I win. I don’t see LD much as a competition with others. It’s all about fighting with clock/skills/monsters/ideas. Lots of people say “the failed” because their game is incomplete or drifted away from original idea. I’ve tried, I’ve learned. Those are things earned. No loss there.(oh yeah I like some preaching from time to time)

I love to code. Don’t know if I should share this but there were moments, rushes of code compiling into new features, that almost gave me a boner. Let’s hope my girlfriend won’t consider this as cheating(I know she won’t – she’s great). There is something about writing games that makes my soul smile. It’s like this feeling when you were kid and was unpacking new box of LEGOs but here you have unlimited amount of bricks and shapes. It gives wings. Also in narcissistic spirit I must admit that I was implementing things pretty smooth. Particles arrived in no time from scratch(they are total mess though) same with shooting and obstacles. But next time I will come with more ready blocks and focus on gameplay/logic.

Game development is about making lies. You don’t have to code things as there really are. They only need to ACT like they are “real thing”. Applies to physics, AI, general game logic. I remember in “Game programming gems” book there was a part about pathfinding in Total Annihilation. It was in old days, not so powerful computers. So while unit was computing path to given destination it was performing tricks: blinking lights, rotating turrets/body, releasing smoke etc. It looked great, making units seems to be more alive when in fact they were dead stupid and lying about it(like some Miss World candidates).
In my game there is obstacle avoidance. At first I was thinking about some A* pathfinding or sth like this. But then added simple “If(obstacle before you) go up/down for few seconds then check again”. It’s not perfect and would break with rotated buildings but who cares, right?

Details matter. Visually at least. Added particles and it was more alive. Blood, dirt from explosions, guns urinating, I mean shooting. The last one actually hides fact that soldiers are not really shooting bullets. Each few seconds they look for enemy and do simple luck test:
if (this.doYouFeelLuckyPunk()+0.3 >= enemy.doYouFeelLuckyPunk())
which compares sums of random roll, experience, cover, hits taken etc. Works right?

Artist is of the HUGE FUCKING essence. I don’t have fellow artist able to do decent game graphics. It shows especially with cars – yep those small obstacles are cars. But… but I was focusing on the code 😉 Anyway even small games/experiments with good graphics have better experience. I know that with great gameplay it doesn’t matter(old S.T.A.R.S. player here) but it adds a lot.

All you need is war

What went not so good and should be corrected next time:

Gameplay. There is none. There is no goal, no level end. I’d like to say I didn’t have time but it was more lack of idea what is should be. Ofc I’m still working on the game and have few concepts. So there is hope to end that battle 😉 With next LD I should have more solid/complete idea of gameplay before I start to code.

Graphics. They are programmer art and it shows. Next time I should go for some minimalistic/artsy style or team up with somebody. Or hire or bribe or kidnap one… but maybe I talk too much.

Sound. There is none. Haven’t time to sfxrize them 😉

Anyway I had great time. It was very refreshing and  energizing. Came up with few good ideas that I hope will be implemented soon and maybe released as a full game. Saw lot of great games that were very inspirational. Definitely will participate in next LD. So… sex, coffee and CODE ON!

PS: If you are an artist/pixelator and would like to work on this game please give me a note! [dx0ne monkeygoeshere laislacorporation dottery com]

Tags: postmortem

So I’m totally late. Started to work like two hours ago.

I was going to skip but then I saw post from @tomkail

and this gif

and stumbled upon this music https://soundcloud.com/perturbator

and I felt inspired so decided I’ll give it a quick shot recreating this gif. So far I fave most of gfx – here’s ps mockup:

Hud and enemies in progress.

Don’t know if I’ll manage to make it playable since I have zero code lines but there’s the challenge

Well to no one’s surprise I haven’t finish my game but I’ve submitted it anyway. Go and try http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=11733

“As usual” it lacks actual game play but is kinda playable. Will write postmortem full of excuses later 😉 Overall I’m happy with result and once again LD was a great experience. I forgot how much fun comes with rapid prototyping.

What went good:

1. It’s finished! It’s short but kind of complete.
2. It came pretty much like I wanted gameplay wise.
3. Graphics are consistent. Thanks MagicaVoxel.
4. It’s concept I can build on.
5. There is a challenge.

What went bad.

1. One major feature is not there(anti personal program that tracks player). One smaller feature (time based level destroy/buildup) is there but broken/disabled.
2. Graphics are not quite as I envisioned them. I need to learn more about Unreal lighting.
3. Didn’t have time to make more levels.

Previously I was working with Flash but working in Unreal Engine is a blast. Blueprints make it the ultimate prototyping tool. I encourage everybody to at least try it.

Overall I’m very happy with result. I got some strong base to make small fun game. And getting into LD is super fun – not pushing yourself to be perfect but just to finish something. Finishing something even so small makes me feel warm programmer feelings :] Also watching what other people squeeze into theme in such short time is very inspirational. LD FOR EVERYONE AND FOREVER! Ekhm.

Don’t know what I’m talking about? Go play and rate. Any feedback(especially on those camera rotation is welcome).

Also I’d like to send big thanks to fasterthanlime for making itch app and whole itch.io It’s superb platform for gamedev and likes.

Submitted game Peekaboo I Duck You for Jam. Made it with @nastasia_taran basically in two days. I’m not happy it’s not finished but will do after LD.

Anyway LD is always super fun. Can’t get enough of it. Congrats to all for submitting, good luck and have fun playing!

Don't have much time but will try to finish tomorrow some silliness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1k0dwBXKAY

Submitted! Unfinished! Naked!

Going home! Will do some post LD yada yada tomorrow. Good luck everyone! Stay naked!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/no-hotdog-for-naked-man

https://youtu.be/2CwNLTAdG5M