I released the soundtrack for Golf N' Grenades as a separate MP3 download if anyone wants to grab it:

Imphenzia - Golf N' Grenades MP3

(Right click and "Save As" to avoid playing in browser)

I threw in difficulty mode 'ridiculous' before release - I doubt all 9 holes are beatable at that level though :)

Play Golf N' Grenades and give it a try =)

https://youtu.be/zOSlkF98v8I

This is a timelapse of my Ludum Dare 41 weekend. I had a feeling that the theme would win since everyone seemed to dread it =) I will also be adding a narrated postmortem version of the timelapse.

The night before I had already thought about combining golf with zombies and grenades so I was able to start right away at 3AM Swedish time as the theme was announced.

This timelaps runs at 10000% (x100) original speed and it covers pretty much everything during the creative process. This is probably the most time I have committed to a Ludum Dare but I sensed all along that I would probably just make it if I kept the pace going.

I wanted to go with clean retro low poly graphics style so I started off by modelling the golfer in Blender which I also rigged with bones, weight painted, and animated with the most important animations (idle, walk, run, swing, itch head, itch bum, anger club smashing =) I made sure it imported into Unity OK and then I did some rough animator controller events to see that it would work. Then I modeled some props, trees and the zombie which I also rigged and animated. I spent roughly the first 12 hours of the event in Blender making the characters.

The rest of the day I spent in Unity implementing the core mechanics of movement, navmesh AI agent movement for the zombies, golf swing, grenade launching, explosions, etc. At 1 AM (22 hours in) I felt that I still had energy so I modeled the final golf course elements 12 floating islands style elements with grass, 5 rough patches, 3 bunkers, 3 greens, and 4 rocks. Before heading to bed I had most of the mechanics up and running, all the graphics, one hole / level. I felt confident as I went to bed at 3 AM spending the better part of 24 hours making the game.

Day 2 I dove straight into making the main menu and game state machine because I know that can haunt you if you leave it too long. Transitioning between states, spawning / removing level objects, and all that stuff can introduce bugs and have things behave very unexpectedly and that's the last thing you want as you approach the deadline.

I alternated improving the "hole completed" mechanic with designing some levels. Making levels is another thing I have postponed too long in the past and it takes longer than you think to make the levels so my aim was to have 9 holes ready before I started making any music.

When 9.5 hours remained I had finished making most of the game including all levels so I was able to start making music 2-3 hours earlier than I have for any other Ludum Dare. Composing went smoothly and I was very happy (for a change) with the retro chipstyle track. I was influenced by some Rob Hubbard C64 music like Commando (since my games had grenades and a retro look and some action to it). I didn't feel like I had to stick to traditional golf music.

When 6 hours remained I rushed away to the shop before closing because the day after Ludum Dare was my wife's birthday. I had to buy stuff for a cake that I baked between 4AM and 5AM after Ludum Dare.

When 4 hours remained I recorded some sound effects in my sound room for zombie noises, golf swings, ball striking, explosions and stuff. I could spend some time implementing the audio and polishing the game. I was pretty much finished with everything when 2 hours remained but then I noticed that I had a type in my game title, I wrote "Granades" instead of "Grenades" so I had to redo the title art and UI texts.

I submitted my game when 25 minutes remained of the event. All in all I'm very pleased with the game but I am aware that it has some flaws. For example, I wanted to have better aim/controls but I couldn't allow myself to spend more time so that's something I plan to fix in a post version where I may even add multiplayer support and golf carts :)

Thanks for taking the time to watch the video - I hope you like it!

Please play and rate the game here if you get the chance:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/golf-n-grenades

The soundtrack from this video is available for download here:

https://imphenzia.itch.io/ld41-timelapse-soundtrack

The game was made using Unity3D 2017.3, Blender, Adobe Photoshop CC, Adobe Illustrator CC, Sound Forge 11, Steinberg Cubase 9.5 (mainly with VST instruments Halion 6, Vengeance Sound Avenger and Battery).

I am considering hosting a competition for Golf N' Grenades - make sure to get your practice in before it's announced =)

Play here (WebGL available) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/golf-n-grenades

I'm toying with a post-compo version. I've recreated the golf swings, adding a new proper swing, chipping, and putting. And now a golf cart. Think 4-person multiplayer is also in order =)

Hey all! I've been away for a bit but now I'm back and I found some time to create a postmortem which is basically a narrated version of my timelapse video where I talk a bit about the thought process and challenges with creating my game Golf N' Grenades.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_DmQ1kcYHM

If you want to try my game, please feel free to do so here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/golf-n-grenades

Stay awesome everyone =)

Two weeks have passed and I've had the chance to think. The game I made has more content and it is more polished than any of my previous entries. I am happy with the way the game looks. I am happy with the concept. I am happy with the sound track I managed to compose. So in many ways Golf N' Grenades has been a great success - but at the same time it was a failure.

This was my 6th consecutive Ludum Dare and I've been taking pride in balancing making games during the events and at the same time spending time with my family and continuing with training and/or hobbies. If you've followed any of my previous entries, I've been riding motocross, celebrated birthdays, and spent a fair bit of time with my family and friends during the Ludum Dare weekends.

It would be my wife's birthday on the Monday following Ludum Dare and we had agreed that I would be taking part in LD and celebrate the birthday the following weekend. As I began making my LD41 game I was very ambitious with what I wanted to achieve and this time around it took more time than I should have allowed myself.

Although I uploaded the game with half an hour to spare before the deadline, I had used a lot of time this time around as the Timelapse shows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOSlkF98v8I

I spent 36 hours and 45 minutes making my game and the other 11 hours and 15 minutes were sleeping, sitting with my son who had a stomach bug, playing with my kids, buying birthday cake stuff, bringing out the bouncy mat for the kids. I didn't do any training or motocross. I spent very little time with my family compared to what I have in the past. Leading up to LD41 the entire family was ill for about half a week with the same bug so I didn't get a chance to go shopping for my wife's birthday. Even though we agreed to postpone the birthday celebrations, I have always made preparations with the gifts, decorating the house, and going through all of the motions that I birthday should have.

I submitted my game which took about an hour to get the screenshots, videos, metadata and uploads sorted. At 4am I began to bake the birthday cake which took about an hour. The house is in a complete mess due to the ongoing renovation and we currently have no kitchen so I had to make the cake in our basement at a little sink that we have down there. I went to bed at 5.30am.

After one and a half hours of sleep my alarm went off at 7am and I got the cake out and we begun to celebrate what was meant to be a postponed birthday (I learned that even if celebrations are postpone, you are still supposed to celebrate to some extent on the birthday =). Due to the sickness and "over commitment" of making my LD41 game I didn't have any birthday presents this time. My "only" plan had been to give my wife what I got for my birthday last year which was a tandem skydive, but the night before when I told my children what I was going to give my wife, their mother, for her birthday my daughter who is 6 burst out crying because she was too scared and she at all costs didn't want me to give her that for her birthday so there I was. A cake. No presents. A house full of dust without a kitchen. On the birthday we went out for a meal but I was so tired that even that was a fail.

This time I learned the biggest lesson of any Ludum Dare so far. Family must always come first. If it is a birthday, I will have to skip Ludum Dare. I can't put the amount of mental focus into my game like I did this weekend if I am to do it in our home - it's not fair. For future dares I will yet again balance in much more social aspects and I will spend more time with my family and not be so distant. For some dares, if I want to try to achieve as much as I possibly can, it will be best off that I go away for the weekend to a retreat away from the house, where I can totally commit to the event that I, for some reason, so desperately want to challenge myself in.

Take care everyone - have fun making games! I hope this post is of some use to someone to avoid the mistake I made.

To sum it up. (Game) Success = (Social) Fail this time.

While the play rating goes on (and probably for a considerable time after that) you can download the soundtrack from my timelapse video as MP3 files here: https://goo.gl/qTTtHC (61.7MB - free download)

The music is retro/chip inspired but with a modern vibe. I am greatly influenced by music from the C64, Amiga and Demo Scene eras which is a period I dream back to and probably glorify more than I should :)

The package contains 9 tracks with a total duration of 27 minutes and 31 seconds:

• Imphenzia - Chip Up.mp3 (3:12 - not yet officially released)
• Imphenzia - First One.mp3 (3:25)
• Imphenzia - Golf N Grenades.mp3 (3:36 - featured in my LD41 game, made during the 48h)
• Imphenzia - Lift Me Up Platformer.mp3 (2:03)
• Imphenzia - Nostalgia.mp3 (4:29)
• Imphenzia - Once Upon a Platform.mp3 (2:18)
• Imphenzia - Past Times.mp3 (1:53)
• Imphenzia - Pixels.mp3 (4:21 - not yet officially released)
• Imphenzia - Secret Game 2.mp3 (2:13 - not yet officially released)

If you enjoy the music, I have 10 hours of music available on my web site as well (imphenzia.com)

Here is the timelapse of my LD41 entry which also features the music: https://youtu.be/zOSlkF98v8I

So the results are in and the lights are fading LD 41 into history as we start to look forward to LD42 in August. This was my 6th consecutive Ludum Dare but LD36 was not scored so I have five entries with results to reflect upon.

I didn't by any means make any top scores in individual categories but all categories combined I see a slight improvement. I was hoping for a better score in graphics as my Robot Power game made #9 in LD39.

The most disappointing trend I see is that my entries are becoming increasingly more boring as the "Fun"-category is dropping - that must be addressed as that is arguably the most important category for a successful game =)

I value the feedback that I received and I look forward to applying lessons learned to LD42 :) Have a great summer everyone and see you all in August!

Thanks for playing and rating Golf N' Grenades!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epsdrbSEAp4

Following LD41 my mind has been totally sold on low-poly so I couldn't help but boot up Blender again and make a car and a racetrack. For 25 years (no joke) I've been considering making a top down racer and I got close with my old project CTCC, later renamed to Performa Cars, which I finally released as a freeware due to not finishing before technology outran my 2D implementation of the time.

I will continue to mess around with this prototype and see if inspiration and time allows it to become a proper game =)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq90lN1VnV8

In this video clip I am just doing a lap and a half and I do manual shifting - I like how that gives you the ability to downshift before corners and "scandi flick" the tail end out.

I am Swedish... and 42 years old... so I had to model a Volvo 242 Turbo to be true to my old Swedish roots!

I am having waayyy too much fun prototyping this isometric top-down racing game! =) I was meaning to finish off a more polished version of my LD41 game "Golf N' Grenades" but my passion for top-down racing was revived and got the better of me for some reason.

https://youtu.be/yOnBraCYarQ

Argh, I was looking forward to LD42 but I knew early on that this would become a dilemma since I am away on holiday with my family. This would be my 7th consecutive compo entry and I've had a blast the previous 6 events so it's difficult to not participate. Saying this, I will actually be coming home ON the weekend so maybe, just maybe I could make a small game after all. I would have to limit my compo entry to a 6 hour effort which would be asking a lot =) The benefit would be that I would get a lot of time to just think of the gameplay and design AFK before I begin so I'll see what I'll come up with but don't expect anything extravagant :)

I wasn't planning to attend LD42 because I was on a holiday with my family. Since I knew the theme, on my way home on our boat trip back from Gotland to Nynäshamn yesterday I started to sketch an idea on a piece of paper:

I managed to keep my Ludum Dare consecutive suite going and I have now submitted my 7th Ludum Dare game since LD36. I could only put about 8 hours into making this game and considering the small amount of time I'm quite happy with the result.

You can play the WebGL (or Win Download) game here:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/parking-spaces

Well, time for bed but wanted to share a video of some game play footage from my entry "Parking Spaces"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvrs-i2zIX0

Hope everyone had a great event! Excited to check out creations the coming weeks.

I have successfully completed 7 consecutive Ludum Dare competitions now and always submitted my final game before the deadline. At the same time, I have failed 6 consecutive times to produce a post-compo version of the game which I have planned/hoped to do pretty much every time :)

Will I succeed this time?? Tonight I spent 4 hours to model new versions of low poly cars that I plan/hope to use in a mobile version of my game Parking Spaces :)

Here's a screenshot from Blender of the new cars.

While I make the post-compo version, please feel free to play my game and provide feedback that I can apply to the version I hope to release =)

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/parking-spaces

Ok, now I've done something stupid =)

Ludum Dare 42 was my 7th consecutive LD and for the first time I couldn't spend much time making a game. I was returning from a vacation with my wife and kids and since I knew the theme I could use the kids drawing kits and sketch out an idea of a game to fit the theme. I then had about 8 hours of actual "computer time" to make everything. I was quite happy with the result considering the little time I had for this event and I actually found the game fun to play myself which is a bonus =)

Well then. Now to the stupid thing. I have been making assets and games for many years but I have never released a mobile game. I decided to make my Ludum Dare 42 game "Parking Spaces" my first official Mobile game release so over the last 7 nights, after my dayjob and after the kids have gone to sleep, I am doing a post-jam version of this game that should be release-worthy by 1st September. I am going for polished game-play, improved artwork, 8 track music soundtrack. I have no idea if I'll make it but I'll give it my best shot. I've just finished all the artwork I need (16 vehicles), road tiles, title artwork, mobile button icons etc. I've also got 2 of the 8 tracks composed and I'm going for a 1950s inspired modern chip style to fit the low poly artwork.

Here's what I've got so far (the song is actually 4+ minutes, but this is just a short extract from the new menu scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0HlmQmCKcQ

I will continue to compose the remaining music in parallel of developing the game. The mechanic is up and running already and I'm making it more robust to support unlockable parking lots with different challenges.

Here's what my LD game looked like 6 days ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvrs-i2zIX0

...and here was my original sketch on the boat:

Wonder how this will pan out =)

I'm now 8 days into making the post-compo version of my game Parking Spaces and it's coming along nicely. I think I've managed to amp up the graphics and a more "tactile" feel to the game. I will continue a couple of days with the game play and menu and then I'm aiming to compose another 6 unique music tracks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQCcSwdu-SQ

And here was the original game I made during LD42:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvrs-i2zIX0

Here's my entry: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/parking-spaces

Btw, you can still win $50 if you do a Let's Play video and setting the highscore :) See details on the itch.io page.

I have spent the past 3 weeks remaking my LD42 game "Parking Spaces" and it's getting close to being ready for Google Play Store now with new graphics, more game mechanics (thanks for the suggestions in the feedback comments), new music, more levels, and an economy system to unlock new content and levels. Here's a preview video of what it looks like as of today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRGwsbaFu7w

Here's a closeup gif of a car wash mishap too =)

Check out my game page for the original entry :) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/parking-spaces

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Law of weirdness: I put 8 hours instead of my normal 30+ (in my previous 6 Ludum Dare), and my result is way better in some categories. I am super thrilled of a 4th position in "Theme" and 20th overall!

Since LD I have remade the game from scratch and I'm in the process of publishing it to the Google Play Store now.

Original sketch using my kids pens on our way back from vacation (half way in to LD42):

Original LD42 game, menu + in-game screenshots:

New remake version (3 weeks in the making):

I'm really thrilled to announce that I've remade the game that I made for the LD42 compo. It took about 4 weeks of "spare time" to make this new version that you can download and install from Google Play. It's currently an open beta that you can test and this is the first game I'm releasing on mobile so I am treating the publishing process as a learning journey.

You can download the open beta here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Imphenzia.ParkingSpaces

Screenshot from the new Android version: