For the first time, LD27 will be my first ever Ludum Dare entry.
I’ll either be using Construct2 or Flixel to build the game.
Make sprites with Photoshop.
Sound effects with BXFR.
I’ll go into better detail in another post. I need to think of some ideas based on the popular themes.
Tags: Construct2, enter, first, Flixel, im in, Ludum Dare, theme
OK so now is time to give you a preview of my entry so far: 10 Second Paper Flight
The objective is simple, but not easy, you have to throw a paper plane and make it fly for 10 seconds. Sounds easy, but you have the wind to judge, not to mention whatever can be found in the park you are trying it in.
Here’s the latest WIP screenshot:
and here’s the current menu, only added in an hour ago:
I’m gonna be working on getting a few scenes and getting the sound effects created. Not to mention art assets and music.
Wish me luck! x_x
Tags: 10 Second Paper Flight, 10 seconds, flight, Ludum Dare, paper, Plane, work-in-progress
Not sure if anyone has tried this, but here’s my attempt:
Let me know what you guys think.
Tags: 10 seconds, design, LD27, logo
I was the one who made the unusually challenging 10 Second Paper Flight. This will probably be a hectic Ludum Dare for me since I’ll be at a Christmas Party on the Saturday and work on the Monday, but what the hell, I like making games and I can use some of Saturday to plan something interesting.
Anyways, I plan to use the following tools:
My plans/advice so far for the jam, based on last Ludum Dare:
Everyone have a good Ludum Dare!
Tags: bfxr, Flixel, github, graphics, HaXeFlixel, iNudge, Ludum Dare, music, paint.net, plan, Tiled, time lapse
Under Maintenance – LD29 Jam Entry. Select the image to go to the entry page.
So for this Ludum Dare, with the theme of “Beneath The Surface”, I decided to make a game where you work as a maintenance engineer who works between the streets and an underground train tunnel, this is Under Maintenance.
I wanted to get back into Ludum Dare because of how much I enjoyed LD27, however I was travelling out to see friends on Saturday so I had very little time to do a compo entry. However it didn’t stop me from working on a simple game, so I decided to put as much energy I can during my free time to bring you this busy micromanagement platformer. As such I appreciate giving your time to reading my post mortem, which includes a timelapse and tweets among other stuff and see how I managed to fit social events and my job into this Ludum Dare.
So being in the UK, I was up till 2am to see what the theme was for this Ludum Dare, which is why I ended up tweeting this in the early morning:
Beneath the Surface is the #LD29 theme for Ludum Dare! Now All you in the UK GO TO SLEEP! #LD48
— Gamepopper (@gamepopper) April 26, 2014
Development technically began when I got on a 9:30 for my 2 hour train journey:
Today's mission: Find seat and power point on train to do #gamedev #LD48
— Gamepopper (@gamepopper) April 26, 2014
Since I had two hours both on the outward and return journey I decided to start off my coding on the train, luckily the train service I was on had charging points next to every seat so I grabbed the first one and got underway, although technical issues did set me back early on, mainly to do with building for Flash with Haxe, as a result I ended up building for Windows (a slightly longer process):
And I was one hour into coding, before I got library errors #LD48 @HaxeFlixel #gamedev pic.twitter.com/LqJDE3zbpL
— Gamepopper (@gamepopper) April 26, 2014
In the end I only spent about 4 1/2 hours on Saturday, majority on the train and the remainder at the bar I was at with friends. The rest of the time was when this stuff happened…
Anyways, Sunday was a lot more active. I had plenty of free time to work on assets and the more complex logic. Protip: Use rectangles or other shapes as graphics for your objects with assets not yet completed, it gets you working on the logic as soon as possible and it can help you get a good idea of how proportionally large you want everything for both appearances and collisions:
Current status, I've added people and rats. My game has you managing the undergound! #LD48
— Gamepopper (@gamepopper) April 27, 2014
Please don't sue @mikeBithell #LD48 #gamedev https://t.co/mMlgBOoDO8
— Gamepopper (@gamepopper) April 27, 2014
Just remember to work on graphics at some point if you don’t have someone to do graphics for you:
Only 12 hours left, and I still need to do graphics! :O #LD48 #gamedev pic.twitter.com/MedW9tFKP8
— Gamepopper (@gamepopper) April 27, 2014
Speaking of graphics, most of it was done in Paint.NET, which I find is better to work with for pixel art than Photoshop. It’s less bloated and had much more simpler controls, the main thing it lacks is in it’s Text controls and transforming selections, which is why the title screen logo was done in Photoshop.
Current #LD48 Progress! Look at the little rats! #gamedev https://t.co/f7LwRm9WfW
— Gamepopper (@gamepopper) April 27, 2014
Sadly by the end of the night I had work to do tomorrow, and it wasn’t finished in time for the compo. However I carried on after my job on Monday with the addition of sound, I decided against using BFXR since I figured an outdoor environment would work better with outdoor sounds, so I used a voice recorder and just recorded at the carpark near my office, which is good because cars drive past and there are loads of different sounds to record when you are creative, but bad because there were crows constantly making sounds.
Voice Recorder – The second most easiest source for sound effects!
Well, I've got work tomorrow and I need to sleep. Looks like my game will be jam entry. #LD48 #gamedev pic.twitter.com/GY6dTlKvCX
— Gamepopper (@gamepopper) April 27, 2014
All of which lead to this.
Well for starters, I was able to finish a game, unlike my last ludum dare entry, it was a submission that was fully implemented at it’s core. I didn’t over complicate the idea, nor did I overdo the game play to make it seem bigger than it already was. While the game wasn’t ready for the compo submission deadline on Sunday, I used whatever time I could use on the following Monday to finish off whatever was left and upload the game on time.
I also did a better job on graphics, as I had been practicing on pixel art during other projects, in comparison with my LD27 entry, I think the character artwork is a bit cleaner, and since I used smaller sizes and used the animation and sprite classes in HaxeFlixel, the overall file size was smaller.
1. Don’t use a large resolution for a Flash game: The one thing I forgot when working on Under Maintenance is that Flash game portals like Newgrounds and GameJolt aren’t designed for games with a window size 1280 x 720. If you play the game from Newgrounds, the window stretches beyond the site borders.
2. Bug Test your game: While this might sound obvious, when you only have a two/three days, you might skip it so you are able to upload the game on time. Don’t skip it! Get a friend to play through the game, or if you can’t make sure you play through the game entirely and make sure you know what the correct outcome for any actions should be. It’ll save you having to fix a bug and upload a “post-jam” version.
3. Plan around any events/activities you’re attending: If you cannot get a free weekend, but still want to make something, see what time you are free to work on the game, and see what time where you might not be free to use a computer, but still work on stuff for your game.
Thanks for reading, now I need to rate more games. 😀
Tags: Beneath the Surface, ld29, postmortem, timelapse, Under Maintenance
Because it’s never a bad idea to be late, I’m attempting my fifth Ludum Dare.
I’m going to be in a team this time, which will have interesting results.
Tools: Microsoft XNA
Other team members:
Alexander Westman
This will be a fun and long weekend…
Going to try my hand at working solo again, not sure what I’ll achieve by the end of Sunday since I’ll be away on the Saturday. I’ll bring my laptop with me nonetheless.
Language: Haxe
Framework/Engine: Haxeflixel
Graphics: Paint.NET/Photoshop CC
Sound FX: BFXR/Audio Recorder
Music: LMMS
Tags: and now i'm in the tags goddammit, bfxr, gamepopper, haXe, HaXeFlixel, LMMS, Ludum Dare, paint.net, photoshop
So I’ve been working on this physics puzzle game for the Compo/Jam but I’m stuck on giving this one a name. Suggest a name of the game and I’ll use it!
Tags: game, gamepopper, ld31, Ludum Dare, Name, physics, puzzle, suggestions
So first of all, thank you for the huge amount of positive feedback and ratings on Glow Drop so far! I don’t think I have gotten this much rating and appraisal before in a Ludum Dare event! So I’ve been taking in your feedback and lots of people want to see a mobile version, so I am giving into your demands and will release Glow Drop onto Android and Windows Phone 8!
(Sorry iOS users, but I cannot afford to develop and release a game onto the App Store at this time)
However, I think it’s fair in saying that this shouldn’t be a simple release. I feel as though this game could do with a little bit more work to feel more worthy for people to download. So I’ve been taking in some of the feedback from both the Ludum Dare page and so I have a list of things that can be done to polish up the game a bit more:
Are there any other things you can suggest? Let me know, also Play and Rate Glow Drop!
Tags: android, feedback, Glow Drop, ld31, Ludum Dare, physics, puzzle, puzzle game, suggestions, windows phone
Figure I get on the bandwagon to say that this Ludum Dare has been my favourite one yet. Who’d have thought that a theme so simple would produce some creative results, and I keep on finding them!
Including Entomophobia, a bug based twin stick shooter that literally plays off a virtual Game Boy Color screen! The game is fun, the effects are clever and it reminds me of my younger days playing games like Pokemon and Super Mario Bros Deluxe on a purple Game Boy Color!
I’ve also found smaller but really novel titles, like Benjim’s BindingOfIsaacTypeThing, which isn’t as easy as it may look.
I’m also really glad at how well my entry is doing, comparing to previous years. Never would’ve expected over 80 ratings, not to mention really positive comments with some encouraging the mobile releases of the game.
Tags: BindingOfIsaacTypeThing, Entomophobia, ld31, thanks, thanks ludum dare
So the results are in! So awesome to see the final scores and see what games got in overall, and see where everyone else’s results are on the rankings. Since this is my third successful Ludum Dare, I thought I’d try a little comparing to see how much I did better (or worse) at this point. Then for future Ludum Dare entries I can then add in those results and probably build a chart to see my progress.
So while the ranking don’t appear to have changed, the average score for most categories has improved. The only category to have gone down considerably over the three LDs was Humor, although in fairness since my game wasn’t intended to have humour so I could’ve omitted the category. I’m also one of the people that got 100% coolness which is an awesome surprise, it means I’m (technically) listed on the results page. At the moment I’m balancing University work and turning Glow Drop into an Android and Windows Phone release as Glow Drop DX. So hopefully you might see more from me in the future?
Thanks for Ludum Dare!
Tags: coolness, Glow Drop, LD27, ld29, ld31, Overall, Rank, rankings, ratings, results
If you have an Android or a Windows 8.1 PC, you can now play the updated Glow Drop DX, with more power ups and stuff!
The original Glow Drop will remain on GameJolt as well as here, as it was made as a game jam submission and should remain here in its original glory, but if you want to try a bigger challenge on the go, then you should get Glow Drop DX.
New things in this version include:
I’m also planning on doing a Windows Phone 8.1 build as well, so keep an eye out for them.
Tags: android, Glow Drop, Glow Drop DX, ld31, release, update, Windows Store
I don’t know what I will make, but I’m in! 😀
Tags: LD33
Yeah I know, I’ve left it super late, but with falling a sleep Friday evening and hanging out with friends Saturday, this was the best time I could start.
My idea is that you play an actor who is running late for a show where he plays a monster, all he needs to do is find you’re costume and get out. However you have no memory of where you put the costume items, they could be anywhere. So you must search the house and leave the room before time runs out.
This is what I’ve managed to produce in HaxeFlixel, with the use of Piskel for the sprites.
Tags: game idea, HaXeFlixel, LD33, Piskel
Now that Late for the Show is out and the Voting Period is in full swing, I’ve just finished the timelapse video for it.
I wasn’t expecting to finish something like this in 24 hours, I’m usually comfortable with 48 hours because at least I have two nights to plan things through, and it didn’t help that Lime stopped working correctly around 16 hours in and I had to quickly reinstall it through haxelib in order to get it working again.
If you haven’t already, go check out my game and vote on it. I’m currently playing as many games as I can and I’m enjoying quite a lot of them!
Tags: HaXeFlixel, Late for the Show, LD33, timelapse
Late for the Show is what I consider an unusual achievement for me, I have now taken part in six Ludum Dares, as well as other game jams that take place in 48 hours and some that last a week. However in this case, I wasn’t sure if I could manage to make something in time because of other plans, not to mention already finishing a game for #gbjam a week prior.
However, from around 9PM on 22nd August to around 10PM on the 23rd, I managed to complete Late for the Show and submit it to Newgrounds and Ludum Dare. While I’ve had a few comments with criticisms about the game’s controls and difficulty, I’ve had several comment praising the graphics, audio, the intro and other aesthetics. Plus it’s currently sitting at 3.32 stars on Newgrounds.
There was some slight inspiration to this, since I have woken up on occasions to the realisation that I need to leave as soon as possible to travel somewhere, so I have to quickly grab all the things I need and would sometimes forget something. To fit with the theme, I also decided to include the story of the player being an costume actor, so you need to collect your costume to go to the theatre.
First off, some of the appraisals, to those who said they really like the graphics, thank you. All the pixel art was done with the aide of Piskel, the online pixel art and animation tool. I’ve been using it since GBJAM 4 and it’s been great to use. I like how you can manage your palette, compare frame by frame, mirror draw and do it all online and offline by saving via browser. I do wish it had more options when selecting sections, since you cannot select and area and drag it by hand. I hope people liked the designs of costumes, I’ve already drawn a few more that I can add in future updates.
For those who like the music and sound effects, please send your appraisals to my best friend Lyserdigi, who accepted when I asked him for some retro music for the game on Sunday afternoon. He’s a professional and went through a lot of effort for the track, I think he even bought some sound packs for Elastik in order to achieve the 80’s retro effects of the track. The effects were done with the good old BFXR, a brilliant asset for temporary sound effects.
Also, thanks to those who like the intro. I wanted something that is simple and clearly describes the in-game plot, and some humour. It was really satisfying hearing some comments from Ludum Dare and Reddit saying they loved the intro and found it funny.
One of the criticisms made for the game was really short and only took place in one small room, while it would be easy for me to blame that on time, it was also my intention to set the “find the costume” part of the gameplay in a small room, because I wanted to give the setting that the player recently woke up and left everything in his/her bedroom. However I do really like one Twitch user’s recommendation of expanding the levels into several rooms and extending the time, giving more room to explore and possible hiding spots.
I’ve also had a some issues in early playthroughs of the game, there was an issue with how you check items. Originally, due to how collisions work in HaxeFlixel, you had to be walking into items while pressing the check buttons. This was really difficult to make clear so before the jam deadline was up, I quickly made a build that included a box collision function that allowed the game to handle the collision between the player and objects, and check if the player is still nearby. It’s not perfect since I had to reposition some objects to avoid some conflicts, but at least you were able to check an object without going through it.
If I had some time I’d like to expand on this game with some of the comments made, it would be great to make a larger game with the idea of being late and having to rush to your destination.
What went right:
What went wrong:
Tags: ld33 postmortem
Hey everyone! As of writing there is one day left to vote on entries for LD33. I’ve had a load of fun developing my own entry, which I’ve gone into detail in a post mortem, and afterwards I’ve gone and tried out and voted on as many games as I can, which isn’t easy since I started a new job last month. So here are my five favourites so far:
Honorary award for catchiest music track in a LD game, this is a very colourful game for such a topical storyline. Music is really catchy and I love the Megaman approach.
I love the dialogue and the text options, this is a really neat idea to base the theme on and the design of the monsters are really well made, fitting with the individual characters.
Very well made, I like the strategy involved in planning how to overwhelm the player ship to make it lose all its lives. I hope MrTwister expands this to give some more level and boss varieties, since I managed to beat the player after three rounds and the game just looped around.
Brilliantly simple and novel concept, definitely liked the level of micromanagement you have to pull off in the later levels.
A very well polished puzzle platformer, with a unique jumping mechanic. Really good take on classic movie vampires with a great art style!
I’m really looking forward to the results, and see which games I’ve completely missed or had surprised me by somehow reaching the top rankings. I’m also hoping to see how well my game did, which if you are curious and wish to vote on, play it here!
Tags: compo, favorites, favourites, jam, LD33
I would make this my obligatory “I’m in” post, but I thought I’d make this a bit fun and tell you some weird or crazy fact when it comes to me and game jams, and in particular Ludum Dare: I’m cursed.
Now here me out, I am aware this sounds weird and possibly crazy (because it is), but even if it’s just a sheer coincidence or just bad luck, there is an unusual pattern that has occurred whenever I take part in game jams, and this has been happening through most of the game jams I’ve taken part in since 2013.
The “curse” goes as follows: Every game jam with an even number will either lead to no completion or failure.
That’s not to say that the jams with odd numbers have lead to roaring successes but the majority of my game jam participations which lead to finished and submitted games and some have had much more positive reception than I’ve hoped for, which is saying something for someone who hasn’t (yet) reached the top 100 in any Ludum Dare category. Heck, on my own Ludum Dare author page there are only entries from odd numbered LDs.
So if you are interested, I will show you my evidence and also add in some lessons that were taken from them.
Ludum Dare 28:
Most of why this jam went wrong for me can be summed up in the post mortem I wrote. The short version was that I was collaborating with another person, and we left pretty much everything from what tools we would use, to our game jam idea to the last minute, and as a result we made an unfinished game that we felt embarrassed to keep online so I reached out to Ludum Dare to have that game removed. I don’t have any criticism to give Code_Assassin, but we pretty much agreed that if we were to collaborate again, we’d definitely need a week or so to prepare what games we could make and what tools we would use.
Lesson: Prepare well in advance.
Ludum Dare 30:
So this one I did announce I would participate, and I was joined into a team this time. So how come I didn’t submit a game at this one? Well the answer was that a game was made, and submitted by the other programmer, LiquidBrewing, the game being Cardboard Giuseppe. However as you can see, no one voted for it, and only two comments, reasons why I’m not so sure. During development there were some issues, namely that one of the artists dropped out (meaning I ended up doing some artwork in order to finish the game up) and it didn’t help that I was away on Friday and Saturday. I guess it wasn’t a surprise that the majority of the code that I wrote never got used in the game.
Lesson: Leave some days free to work (especially in teams)
Ludum Dare 32:
I couldn’t participate in this one, although I cannot find a reason why. I can recall telling people I could not take part because I was going to be away somewhere, but I cannot recall what event prevented me from taking part.
Global Games Jam 2014:
Just to show this doesn’t just occur at Ludum Dare, here’s Global Games Jam. I’ve participated at GGJ for three years running and 2014 was the only year that had an incomplete entry. This one had a much larger team of seven people, and yet the reason we never finished was once again, down to tools. We all agreed to use Unity, a great choice if it wasn’t for the fact that most of us never used Unity before, and our venue actually had rooms with didn’t permit the use of Unity (although Unreal Engine was accepted). It was a shame, since we had an idea of an RTS where the visuals and language of the game would depend on what side of a revolution you chose (kinda like Command and Conquer, now that I think about it). On the plus side, I managed to write a sophisticated and fully designed graphical user interface, just a shame the gameplay never became fully realised. I later wrote a post mortem of the jam so you can see the full details of what happened near the time it occurred.
Lesson: Use and prepare tools you know how to use.
So whatever reasons of this, I’m still taking part in this LD, even if it’s number 34. Whether or not the incidents above are the cause of an actual curse, I still enjoy the learning process and hard work I put into making small and quick games every year. I look forward to seeing what cool stuff gets created and I hope, despite already having a planned trip to London…Ah well, going to London to see friends during a Ludum Dare didn’t stop me at LD31!
Tags: cursed, ld34, post-mortem
