Looking forward to this one!

Myself and @lenny-rudeberg are going to take another run at it! Last time we worked together we did something pixel-y and achieved a relatively polished result (at least from a visual perspective... the code should probably be buried at the bottom of a dark cave).

This time I think we'll do something 3D with y'know models and Quaternions (yay?) and stuff... maybe. I guess it depends on what we come up with when we see the theme.

Either way the toolset will be:

• Engine: Unity
• IDE: VS
• 2D stuff: Aseprite or Photoshop
• 3D stuff: Blender
• 4D stuff: The universe
• 5D stuff: The multiverse
• Sounds: Sfxr
• Music: Logic X (and probably Fruity Studio if @lenny-rudeberg does some tunes)
• Snacks: Tim Tams

I'm super keen! Love me a good Ludum Dare, I do!

I gave the thumbs up to more than I usually do. Guess I'm becoming less snooty as I get older...

So there's a game jam in like... 13 hours. There's a list of possible themes. Maybe you're thinking "I have no idea what to do for any of these themes!". Don't worry! I'm here to provide you with a list of some of the most idiotic ideas imaginable...

wait...

That's not helpful at all!

Delay the inevitable - A real-time strategy game about non-existence for the final 8 billion years of the heat-death of the universe.

Fragile - A tower defense game where you deploy increasingly more powerful publicists to protect Will Smith's ego from an onslaught of jokes. (Ooh...snarky AND topical!)

Make connections - A game about meticulously planning a trip across a major city using public transport. It's a text adventure. I mean, who doesn't love bus schedules?!?!

Mutation - A visual novel where you're a evolutionary biologist but everyone you meet is a hardline creationist... and you're just trying to find love, man. YOU JUST WANT SOME ONE TO LOOOOOOVE!

Teleportation - Just make Portal. Seriously, it's SO good.

A single resource - A social engineering game where you publish the phone numbers of your real life single friends on the internet and charge money for people to access it. Wait... EA just called me. This idea is now part of their IP.

Folklore - A quiz game where every question is about the hit Showtime TV series, Queer As Folk.

Shelter - A game where you play the final three days of life as a 13 year old dog abandoned at the local animal shelter before you are put down. Holy shit. This is the saddest fucking idea I've ever had. What is wrong with me?

Infestation - Two words. Ass. Spiders.

Road trip - Remember that film from like... the early 2000s? You know, it had Tom Green in it. Yeah, don't make that into a game - you'll get sued. Instead, how about a game where you and you sister are arguing while playing Connect Four and you have to win the argument and the game before your parents put a suitcase between you?

Tunnels - It's literally Fallout 3. But you play as Butch DeLoria in between the scenes where he interacts with "the main character". Seriously, Tunnel Snakes RULE!

Overgrown - It's a "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" game, but you end up stuck in a depressed man's body hair and have to fight gross shit like skin flakes and sweat gland eruptions. Ughhh.

Out of order - A physics-based QWOP style game about banging a gavel and desperately trying to manipulate your vocal chords into saying "You're out of order!"

Space is limited - A game about fitting oversized goods into your car boot (that's a trunk for Americans).

Combine - A manhunt meets postal slaughterfest about a farmer who's "been pushed too far" and his trusty combine harvester, Betsy.

Garden - A cleaning simulator set in Madison Square Garden after yet another disappointing loss by the New York Knicks. But it's also a subtle sabotage game, because the more the Knicks lose, the fewer people attend the games and the easier it is to clean the Garden. This may be the greatest game I've ever come up with. I have a single tear rolling down my che... wait... no. That's just a sweat eruption.

Anyway, I hope that sets a bar so low that any idea you come up with in 13 hours looks AMAZING!

Best of luck! Have fun!

Is this robot sad? Is it just a keen observer of the soil? Is it ready and set for a 100 metre sprint?

No. It's just a janky import from Blender.

So, I just woke up from a much needed sleep after hitting the sack as soon as our JAM game was published. Time to rate and play some other people's entries!!

If you want to check out our game, you can find it here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/the-last-days-of-ripley-9000

Overall, it was just madness from start to finish this time around. I only had time to do one blog post during the jam and the rest of the time I was just writing code and hitting up StackOverflow at near DDoS levels. But, I have to say, I'm really happy with how our game turned out!

Here lies my obligatory "I'm in" post, may it forever blog in peace.

I'll be doing the jam solo again after collaborating with a few people on the last few. It's time to take my extremely mediocre game art skills out of their box and wipe the cobwebs off them... then berate them for not being better and accuse them of not trying hard enough to improve themselves. That's sure to inspire them.

I'm also going to be using Godot instead of Unity for the first time. I've been messing around in Godot for a while now and I LOVE it. I'm even willing to put up with the far-too-Pythonic-for-my-liking-and-desperately-in-need-of-static-typing-because-I'm-a-grumpy-inflexible-bastard GDScript.

So the toolset will be:

Engine: Godot

2D Art: Aseprite/Gimp

3D Models: Blender

Music: Logic X and a couple of Pocket Operators

SFX: Bfxr and Logic X

Looking forward to the jam!

See you all then.

I know, I know! I slaughtered too many. I promise, I tried to be fair. :cry:

It's always good to think creatively about the themes... even if you only have two braincells and they've never met each other. So, as is tradition by now, I hereby present to you the dumbest set of game ideas based on our final round of themes!

Every 10 seconds - Something HAPPENS every ten seconds... wait. That's not creative. Well, what if 10 was BINARY? Now something happens every 2 seconds. Uh... Damn, I really thought I was on to something there.

Use it or lose it - A game where you have to find as many uses as possible for Cousin It from the Addams Family or child protective services will take him away. I mean, he's short and who's to say how old he is under all that hair? He could be a kid. And if he's never had a hair cut then maybe child protective services should be concerned. Seems kind of negligent. You should be ashamed of yourself!

Parasite - Picture this - South Korea. You play as Ki-woo, a poor student struggling to get by when you get the opportunity to earn some cash by tutoring the daughter of a wealthy family.... waaaait a second. This is just the Academy Award winning film Parasite.

Split - A game about deciding how to split the bill at a group dinner. I mean, Dave's been ordering whisky neat all night while you only had a salad. Meanwhile, Martha thinks everyone should just pay an equal share. EQUAL SHARE, MARTHA?! YOU ATE TWO LOBSTERS! TWO!! WHO EATS TWO WHOLE-ASS LOBSTERS, MARTHA?! Okay, this is just making me angry IRL.

Mutations - The aliens are coming and they're going to eradicate the most advanced species on the planet!!! OH NO! There's only one reasonable course of action - start mutating the human race until they are the bottom of the food chain. I'm talking Human Sea-Cucumber hybrids, people! Don't stop until human beings literally vomit up their entire intestinal system when slightly started. Let the aliens take the dolphins, the survival of the human race depends on it! It's like Spore... but on ketamine.

Corruption - You know what's worse than one volcanic eruption? You guessed it... TWO volcanic eruptions. Us geologists call that a Co-ruption. Seriously. Well... not really. But it's a video game so... seriously! What's that? How do you play it? Hey, I'm just the ideas guy.

Keep it moving - In Ludum Dare 46, you kept it alive. Now, unleash the full force of your paramilitary police and make it move on. Seriously, it can't just sleep on park benches. What will the well-to-do, lah-di-da's say? That's right, buddy, keep moving and don't let me see you around here again. Is that even a game idea or just a critique of social welfare policy?

Harvest - Play as famed comedian, Johnny Two-shoes, whose career is thrown into disarray when he loses an item of clothing which always guarantees him a laugh. It's a point and click adventure where you solve just thousands of tricky (and really, really funny) puzzles to help Johnny find his missing clothing - his Har-Har-Vest. (Incidentally, Harvest is actually my own theme suggestion... GO YOU GOOD THING!)

Side effect - A game about disrupting people when they start sighing so that they make weird noises. After all, what's a broken sigh if it's not a sigh defect?

Nothing is permanent - Make nothing. Absolutely nothing. And if anyone asks you to make something just say "No. Nothing is permanent." It's video-games-meets-performance-art-meets-stupid-idea-meets-great-idea?! No. It's definitely a stupid idea.

Overgrown - You have a problem. You grow hair. A lot of hair. Really fast. This is a game about sneakily shaving while doing day to day tasks without being noticed. Shaving on the bus. Shaving while leading a team meeting at work. Shaving while making out with your girlfriend. Shaving while shaving when you're supposed to be shaving. Shaving while raving about cost-saving paving, AMAZING!

Ascend - Most of the time when people make first person shooters, the camera is positioned at the front of the player's face. But what if it was positioned at the ass end?

Duplication - Two words. Duplo. Licking.

Shelter - (S)ometimes (H)eroes (E)at (L)iving (T)hings (E)specially (R)abbits. A game about a superhero who derives their power from consuming cute widdle bunny wabbits. They also eat guinea pigs and hamsters but they only fill up a little bit of his SPECIAL bar so... it's all about that cuniculus diet, baby! Also, it turns out the scientific name for rabbits sounds a lot more sus than I expected.

Making connections - Your character is lonely. They join Tinder. This is their journey. In hard-mode, your character is a man under 6 feet tall.

You shouldn't mix those - DJ Greg is tone-deaf, has no sense of rhythm and doesn't know how to use a turntable. His only hope is you, dear player. You can be the angel on his shoulder gently whispering "Greg, Greg... you shouldn't mix those..." Or maybe you're a devil, soothingly assuring Greg that, yes, people will love a nuanced shift from Whitney Houstons "I Will Always Love You" into a mashup of Cannibal Corpse's "Edible Autopsy" and John Denver's "Take Me Home Country Road". Greg has absolutely no musical taste so he'll believe you. Poor old Greg.

So there you go, folks. That's a gold mine of ideas right there. If you're as dumb as me, then take them and run with them. But remember... make sure you're holding scissors when you run with them! Or is it, don't hold scissors while running? Uh, I can never remember.

I made some progress today. Not enough progress. God there is still so much to do!

I had to crop the gif to make the file size smaller... which means you can't see........ THE 10 SECOND TIMER!!!!

ALSO - Remember to backup your work and/or push your changes to Git. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

I'm DONE... finally.

There is a lot of reflection I need to do about this whole jam experience. It was a real struggle! Moreso than usual. But I got there in the end (even if it runs badly on the web).

For now... I'm going to literally sleep for 12 hours.

Good luck to everyone who is still working hard to hit that deadline. YOU CAN DO IT!

I almost forgot to post my usual data analysis after the results were posted. But I didn't actually forget... because here it is!

So, I found LD51 super challenging and I'm not entirely sure why. It's probably due to a number of factors. Firstly, I was working in Godot to make a "finished" game for the first time. All things considered, I think Godot actually made the experience easier than it would have been if I stuck with Unity. Secondly, this was the first LD Jam in a while where I worked entirely solo. I think I'd forgotten how much of a burden it is to take on all the responsibility for all parts of the game (esp. art asset creation which is what I tend to avoid when I'm working in a team). Lastly, I was just feeling pretty run down the whole weekend.

So, I'm actually fairly happy that the game scored only marginally worse than the last few games. In my view, that's an absolute win.

Ranking in each category LD41 to LD51 (with a couple of gaps)

Score in each category LD41 to LD51 (with a couple of gaps)

Average range across all categories LD41 to LD51 (with a couple of gaps)

Average score across all categories LD41 to LD51 (with a couple of gaps)

I skipped the last one (I don't really have time to do 3 LDs a year, sadly), but I'm back with a luke-warm vengeance for this one. Of course, the last one was Harvest - which was my suggestion for the LD before that... why are you like this? In Australia, we call that kind of thing a "real dog act". Just kidding, of course. :smile:

I have to admit, I'm not as hyped as I usually am (I didn't even complete the slaughter... :frowning2:) but I'm sure my enthusiasm will pick up by the time it kicks off.

There look to be some good themes that made it through to the final rounds!

They say that in the Ludum Dare the themes always suck. Well, here at Imbeciles Incorporated, we operate unde the motto: "We can always make things worserer."

So, with that in mind, here are a curated selection of the most misguided game ideas for each of the themes in the final round. One quick read of these bad* boys and you'll never call your own ideas silly ever again.

*bad as in "Yo, dude, I think the milks gone bad, dude." Not bad as in "Yo, dude, you are one bad mothertrucker!". Dude.

Delivery - Join the gig economy! Deliver goods! Work flexible hours! Barely make enough for rent! Live without workers' rights! Get treated badly by strangers! Lose touch with friends, family, pets... Grow bitter and hateful as soulless day bleeds into soulless day while hurtling through space on this uncaring rock... THE GAME! :smile:

Cartography - Can you distinguish your dray from your chaise? Your brougham from your phaeton? Can you tell a hansom cab from a handsome buggy? No? Well, do we have the game for you. It's Cartworld! A simple virtual reality 4X milsim point-and-click adventure set in the super interesting world of horses and carts!! Woweee!

Shelter - Shelter?! I hardly knew her!

Leave something behind - In a future where the word 'butt' has been outlawed, you play as a world-weary waiter just trying to tell people to leave you a tip. "Leave something, behind" - it's offensively inoffensive.

Parasite - In the world of competitive website browsing one man reigns supreme. That man is... Clickers McScoller. Legend has it that he taught Tim Berners-Lee how to write HTML. He was Tom's only friend on MySpace. He moderates the r/redditmods subreddit. Some say he can never be beaten. But maybe... just maybe... you could do it?! But before you can hope to get birdy, though, you'll need to learn how the par-a-site. (Phewwwww.... that was a stretch).

The wrong tool for the job - A game where you try out all sorts of different and interesting professions but something always goes wrong! You have to figure out which tool is constantly ruining the work! Spoiler. It's you. You're the tool. What a twist! M. Night Shyam-a-lan-party.

Ascend - How long can you hold the up arrow on your keyboard? Wanna find out? Boy, do I have a game idea for you!!!

Your health bar is more than just a health bar - People are dying. Lots of people. And it's weird because they're all so obsessed with being healthy. In fact, they all visit the same health food shop where they all buy the same health bars for lunch. Hmm... very curious. Will Detective Daft Stupors ever get to the bottom of this? Find out in this action packed Sudoku-like!

Salvage - Sell what now?

Strange machines - Doctor Strange in a machine shop... just machining things. Slowly. Purposefully. His cape flapping gently in the breeze. He wipes the sweat from his brow with the back of a bare, chiselled arm. What? He's naked? Naked except for the cape? And oiled... oh, my...

Signal - A game where your aim is to frustrate as many drivers and pedestrians as possible by using your turn signal in as many inappropriate places as possible.

Limited visibility - Just a black screen. Have you started the game? You don't know. Are you playing? Impossible to tell. Is it the credits? Not sure. Is your PC even on? Let me check... ah, damn, I died.

It spreads - My oh my, how the (dining) tables have turned! No storm water drain dwelling, big-shoe wearing, red-nose having, make-up faced freak is safe in this game where you use every trick imaginable to lure clowns into your industrial grinder and produce jar upon jar of tasty It Spread. It's the rainbow coloured breakfast spread that sweeping the nation! Soylent Green for the Circus Team! It Spread - It sure tastes... wait for it... funny! :clown:

Clear a path - You know those dudes with the brooms in the sport called curling? It's just like that, except there's no ice and you're in your front yard between the gate and your front door and you've been putting this off for months... and it's not a game... and you're not allowed in until you're finished.

Every input does two things - This game has 9 million inputs. They all do two things. Only one of them does three things. You need to find that one. The one that does three things changes every time. If you click an input that only does two things, you die... in real life. A fun little rogue-lite puzzler with limited replayability.

Start small - You are born. Play the rest of your life out in real time. Just wait for the driving level that starts in the 18th year (it's set in Australia, sorry). Awesome!

So there we have it, folks! I think we've got some reaaaalll winners there!!

Best of luck with the jam!

I'm back once again for some sweet, sweet LD action. Oh yeah!

I'll be joined by the awesome @tegantiu and @lenny-rudeberg so this will be a NoseyBeaks game!

We're using:

Engine: Godot 4

Art: Aseprite

Sound: SFXR

Music: Logic X

Fuel: Puppies' tears

It should be fun!

Now, where did I put those puppies...

Everyone prepares differently.

As the final hours and minutes tick down, bringing us ever closer to the theme announcement and subsequent frenzy, each jammer finds peace in their own way. Some choose to meditate, reflecting upon the path that brought them here to this place and moment. Others choose to party; to stave off dread with alcohol and drugs and petty street crime. Some indulge in just unrelenting sexual escapades with several [INSERT READER'S PREFERRED SEXUAL PARTNER] at a time... like, seriously, an absolutely unhinged amount of coitus... get a room, jeez.

But me? Oh, I'm a humble guy. What do I do? Well... I post absolutely idiotic suggestions for the final round of themes. That's what I do.

And here they are!!!! :sparkles: :sparkles: :sparkles: :poop:

Shelter – So what the game is, see ~yawn~ … well, like, there’s this roof and ~YAWWWWNN~ Oh, sorry, I dozed off there for a second. Anyway, so you have to find shelterrrr… ~SNORE~ (In case it’s not clear, I am not fond of this theme)

Break the cycle – Hammer. Bike. Go!

Underground – Play as Jim, a downtrodden apprentice at a spice grinding factory. The problem is, Jim is weak. He has no muscles. His boss always yells at him: “You are such an earthworm Jim! Why is your spice always under-ground?!”. Poor Jim.

Strange machines – It’s time to sell some stuff to idiots! Is this a brick? No, it’s just a strange machine! That’ll be $500 please! What do you mean it’s just a snotty tissue? You’re clearly just not familiar with such a strange machine! $2000 or keep walking, bud! It’s not a con if your customers are too stupid to realise it’s a con!

Paths – Wow! This one is fun for the whole family! A sure-fire rollicking good time for young and old. It’s what we’ve all been waiting for. That’s right! Finally, we’re going to gamify GRAPH THEORY! WOO HOO!

Signal – Smoke signals… something something… semaphore...

Folklore – You are Johnathon Folk. And this… is Folk Law. What’s that? Oh, it’s lore? Oh. My bad. I got nothin’...

Overgrown – A game about drinking soup with a seven inch long moustache. Is it possible? Can it be done? Why hasn’t someone made this game already? (Answers: 1) No. 2) I said, no. 3) Just no, dude, jeez.)

Sanctuary – The mighty ship Tuary. Pride of the fleet. Bastion of order amidst the writhing chaos of the tumultuous ocean waves. What’s that? OH NO! A torpedo! RUN! FLEE! SAVE YOURSELVES! ~glug glug glug~ Now she rests on the dark and lonely sea floor. But who, oh, WHO was it that… Sank Tuary?! A jaunty point and click sea adventure investigation mystery. Hold on, is this actually a good idea? …. Naaaahh.

Salvage – The names Sal. Sal Vage…. Wait… I don’t really like where this one is headed.

Reflect – Step one, capture player’s webcam. Step two, show player’s webcam stream to player. Step three… well, that’s as far as I got actually. Eh. Let’s just call it an arthouse game and take the rest of the jam off.

Locks and keys – A match the pairs game where the only cards are pictures of Sean Lock or Alicia Keys. That’s right there’s four cards. A pair for each person… Game of the Year?

Keep the light on – You hooked up light beer to the full-strength beer tap at the pub. The barflies are starting to sober up. Their angry muttering is becoming almost coherent. Just how long can you keep the light on?

Tiny Creatures – Play as a single-cell amoeba. Float around. Respire. Float around some more. Over seven hours of gameplay, see if you can achieve your goal of moving 5 micrometres. Riveting stuff!

Limited space – Atypinggamewhereyouareonlyallowedtousethespacekeyonceper sentence.

Absorb – Now, wait… hear me out… Sanitary Napkins: The Game. (Wanna know something funny? I actually suggested this theme and I didn’t even vote for it in the final round)

AND THAT'S IT, FOLKS!!

Good luck with the JAM everyone!!!

And if you're one of those folks who's engaging in just utterly mind-boggling amounts of sex to prepare of the Ludum Dare... you need to seek counselling... really... we're worried about you... it's a cry for help

It's slowly coming together!

We did IT!

Team NoseyBeaks (@lenny-rudeberg, @tegantiu and @human-writes-code) have finished our game for LD54.

We're super happy with this one!

Now to sleep... perchance to dream... about elevators.

We were really proud of this game and it looks like the players liked it, too! Well done @tegantiu and @lenny-rudeberg