Trying to commit myself a bit more by posting here. It's gonna be my first LD, and while I have some programming experience, it will be my first real dip into the world of gamedev. Planning on using Unity and probably trying to stay very small and manageable with my plans for this first try. Good luck everyone! :thumbsup:
And here we go! Still a little sleepy (European time zones make this a different flavor of start, I think) but determined to get this going. The theme was definitely not among my favorites, but I quickly settled on a game idea. Definitely not one of the more original ones, it's just gonna be about a little submarine going on an adventure. However, I like the idea of spending as little time as possible on drafting up ideas, and just getting to work, as I will have a lot to look up and learn on the fly. Plus, I love Subnautica, so maybe that will give me some additional inspiration along the way.
Look at this beautiful, and hopefully very temporary, sprite. Although I can totally see myself running out of time in the end and sticking with these glorious pieces of art...
And that's a wrap for my first day! It's been a lot of fun so far and I learned a ton of stuff already. Gameplay is still very lackluster, but the foundations are up and running and I'm pretty happy with my progress. I probably won't have as much time tomorrow, but hopefully, I'll still be able to close with a functioning product!
Oh and, the submarine is now a little robot, tumbling ever deeper into the dark abyss... And by naming it I think I got the name for the game itself as well - U-Bot!
I'm also actually getting a bit better at this pixel art stuff? Just goes to show you, diving deep is often worth it. ;)
And that's a wrap! My game is submitted, and I'm ready to pass out. I've known about LD for quite a while, but finally took the jump myself. It was a ton of fun and I learned a lot in just two days, not really having dabbled with game development before.
Of course, I have like a hundred things I'd like to improve - two main features including any audio at all and maybe some neat deep sea lighting effects. But I'm mostly just glad I have something playable to submit at all. There's a bit of time left, but I (foolishly) decided I don't need to take a vacation day tomorrow, and my energy levels are mostly spent anyway - the last few hours were mostly spent on builds and UI scaling and I'm actually glad I had a bit of a time buffer for emergencies.
I'll definitely be participating in future LDs as well - it was a highly motivating event, which made me dive into a lot of new stuff in a very short amount of time.
Until next time and good luck to all participants!
And that's a wrap! My second ever LD entry is done - this time as a duo collaboration in the Jam category, with the impeccable @Zonoxx.
We finished yesterday, in about exactly 48 hours, as both of us are too busy on the last day to continue, but I am very happy with what we ended up with. The most important goal for us was: make something that's at all playable. Well, playable it is, and I like how the core components are all there: A nice gameplay loop, a score to chase, a fail-state, sound, bearable art, a little intro menu - feels pretty complete to me, especially compared to my Compo entry in 2021!
Even more importantly, we had a lot of fun doing it and we learned a lot. I for example, relearned everything I knew before about Unity once more, because I couldn't remember anything from last time. But also the experience of working on a game collaboratively was new to both of us and taught us some valuable lessons - some of them earned in frustration, but those are the most important ones, aren't they? ;)
When scoping out the concept on Friday, we actually had quite a few additional game mechanics planned that didn't make it in due to a lack of time. A rookie mistake, you could say, however, as our main game loop was still solid enough, these were always just meant to be nice-to-have upgrades and could be left out if needed. I really liked this approach and will definitely try to go about it the same way in future game jams.
There is, of course, some stuff that could be better, some of it more on the technical side of things: more keyboard-layout-agnostic controls and a lower resolution in the Web player allowing smaller screens to enjoy the game as well. We might add this in later (as I think this is still in the confines of the rules?), but at least it's not game-breaking for a good portion of players.
Anyway, we'd love for you to try out our little game! The wheat fields shine golden and are ready for the harvest. Will you help Old Mc'Onion bring it in? Just watch out for the turkey squadrons circling the skies...
Game page: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/tanksgiving
With my third ever LD (and second ever Compo) entry shipped and a few days now passed, I felt a little closure report is a good way for me to reflect on the jam and, most importantly, some lessons learned.
I originally did not intent to participate in this Ludum Dare. And I held that intention until around 14 hours into the Jam, when I found myself coming home, switching on my PC and telling myself 'oh well, might as well try'. I didn't at that time really picture finishing anything, but just participating as long as my motivation held.
However, this non-commited attitude actually helped me to quickly decide on a very small idea that was actually concievable for the remaining time - with minimal art requirements and a compact gaming loop that could stand on its own without many bells and whistles. And, lo and behold, when my Saturday came to an end (at this point around 21 hours into the jam), I actually had a working prototype. It was not exactly nice to look at, didn't have any sound whatsoever and some implementations were still a bit wonky - but it was a working game. Which, in turn, gave me the motivation to actually commit and try to finish something I felt good submitting.
And I did!
Granted, it's still not particularily pleasant to look at, but it had a few more mechanical tweaks, another gameplay feature (the lovely managers distracting you) added and sound + music.
Obviously, it's far from perfect. The mode switch in particular is way too sudden and can screw over the player. Plus I had ideas for more variations and challenges that just didn't make it in. And the last hours were mostly some stressful building and fiddeling with the UI (more on that below). But considering the tighter schedule, I'm still very pleased with the outcome and glad I did participate in LD again. It was again just a great experience and an opportunity to learn a lot in a very short amount of time.
Speaking of learning. Here are some things this jam taught me in particular:
I feel like this is the way to go for jams, at least for me: start very small, with something that can be made into a working prototype in the fist 24 hours. Then add gravy if there is time. This is especially true for the core gameplay mechanics - the foundation should work, with the option of adding more spice to it. The motivation from having something running relatively early should also not be underestimated.
Basic sound and music is comparatively easy to make and implement (at least in Unity), but adds, in my opinion, a lot of value to a game, so I want to basically never skip it again (like I did in my first Compo entry).
Get better at UI scaling and think about different resolutions/builds from the start. I basically ignored that part until the last few hours and it just resulted in avoidable stress and some actual gamebreaking bugs I needed to fix.
The Ludum Dare web embedding is nice to have, but very restrictive, especially concerning the resoultion. I did not know this beforehand and it threw me off quite a bit, especially as I implemented the game with a different aspect ratio in mind. Next time, I'll try to decide early if I want to support it or not.
Look into non-default fonts. Using the default ones just automatically makes it look a tad cheap. I did not have time to actually read up on what is acceptable in this regard and where to get some nice free fonts, but this is something that could easily be prepared beforehand.
And that's it! If you want, you can check the game out here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/fulfillment
Thanks for reading and until next time!
Summoning is neither easy nor safe. Take good care not to mess it up...
@Zonoxx and I are once again joining LD for a quick (only around 36 hours for us) and dirty (isn't it always?) jam! Let's hope our summoning circle holds for a finished product to appear!
Day 2 went well, but unfortunately, as for both my teammate and me, life will get in the way on Monday, and so the hours remaining for the final touches are dwindeling. We are however very happy with how for we've come and how relatively smooth things are going - especially comparing our last Jam together, where we mostly ran from fire to fire, and on the way spreading some more fires...
Also, we are just excited to see what everyone else will come up with!
While we are finally done (yay!), I'm wondering: the LD Embedding guide calls for a strict 948x533 solution - but following this, we still get scroll bars and a not quite fitting embed. :(
Does anyone have a suggestion for us?
Anyway, if you want to brush up on your occult sigil painting skills, feel free to check our game out: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/paintamonium