I’m going to try my hand at this.  It will be my first LD entry.  I expect I might fail 😛  Already requested the 16th off from work 😀

I program in C++, and I think I’m going to stick with using my old standby of Allegro.  As far as I can tell that’s allowed?

Well, I’m rounding out the day here.  I’m surprised how well this is coming along for me (I had doubts)!  Here’s what’s going on so far:

So far it’s just a simple tile engine with some map transitions and tile-to-tile movement. I used TileStudio to make the tiles and maps and used the code generator to make (old style) Allegro code. Then I just gutted it for what was important to me (the map tile placement data) and went from there.  At nine hours in, I think I’m doing alright for myself.  Time to go get my six hours and then back to the grind

I haven’t named the game yet; it will come to me eventually. What I have, though, is the first playable demo of my entry available for all to play.  It has mostly all the mechanics in place, the rest is just some map magic.  You can get it here.

Enjoy and if you encounter anything super strange, let me know

Tags: demo

After 24 hours, I have something that resembles the whole of the game.  The remaining hours will just be for polish and adding features.  Really happy with myself at this point 😀

The latest demo can be found here.

Tags: demo, screenshot

I submitted my first ever Ludum Dare entry: Into the Dark for You!  I’m really glad that I decided to do one this time. It was a great experience, knowing what I can do in just two days 😀

Here have a screenshot:

Tags: finished, submitted

Finally I am getting around to writing a postmortem for “Into the Dark for You”.  ITDFY can be obtained here. It is recommended that you play it, if you can, before reading too far as I’m just about to ruin the whole game for you.

Theme

The theme for Ludum Dare #22 was Alone. I actually had no problem with this theme. A lot of people in the IRC chat hated the theme (a second theme of kittens was adopted unofficially), but Alone was one of the three final themes I upvoted.  I hadn’t spent any time thinking about the theme beforehand (I fully expected that randomly-generated would be the theme).  When the theme was revealed, I sat down for about an hour and the game concept came to me.

My thought process for the theme was that with a theme like Alone, I wanted to tell something of a compelling story. Further, I wanted to make sure that the story wasn’t totally depressing. After all, the theme was Alone, and I knew that people would make a lot of depressing games.  I had previously made a simple board game for teaching the concept of loss to children (a challenge for Ian Schreiber’s Game Design Concepts class a few years ago).  The game was about a group of children growing up and becoming independent, as the mother goes further and further away from their lives. I basically took this same idea and turned it backwards for the game concept. The focus was on the mother this time, and the child was slowly leaving the nest.

For my warmup week game, I made an entirely text-based game about a person grasping with a realization of one’s own madness (or something like that). I spent so much time working on the text system for that game, that I decided I wanted my game to be devoid of any text. I also wanted to keep scripted events to a minimum, just enough to let the player know what was going on at the start and guide the player a little when it wouldn’t make any sense. I wanted the actions the player was doing to tell the story, and I wanted the player to make up the story.  The result was something of a bare game. At times it felt silent (even with the music I included). Other times it felt loud and obvious.  Still, I think it worked, or at least I hope it did.

The Good

• This is the third game I have finished this month. I don’t know what is going on, but I am loving how productive I have been.  Finishing a third game that I really like feels just wonderful.  Further, this is the first full game that I programmed from scratch. There was a lot missing from my weekend warmup game and I don’t think that could be considered a full game. ITDFY is a whole game, and I made it in C++. This is an achievement!
• I have music and sound.  This is the second game I had music at all, and the first with sound effects. The first game I needed music because it was important to the characterization in the game.  In ITDFY, it was optional, but I managed to get it working.
• I told a good story that has an emotional arc. I told it using expression and game mechanics, not exposition or lengthy cutscenes (although I have some scripted scenes in the game).
• I love my little exclamaition point people.  Part of my problem was that I am not much of an artist, so I needed easy-to-draw characters, as well as characters that I could show changing over time.  Exclamaition points could be created programatically, so it was easy to animate them too.
• I felt like I knew what I was doing, for the most part.  I didn’t try to tackle a new language at the last moment.  I didn’t set out to make a game way beyond my ken.
• I got done early.  I was actually finished at about the 40 hour mark. Everything needed was in the game.  The last 8 hours were spent adding in extra things to make the game better.

The Bad

• I’m worried that the game isn’t really much of a game. It’s a maze. It tells a story, but there isn’t really any challenge to the game.  I pushed this off with the idea that the challenge was understanding what to do next.
• The game is a bit punishing. As you walk through the forest, there is a day/night cycle.  At night, the tiles are barely visible, if at all (water and stone a re visible, everything else not at all). This prompted me to add “sparks” to the game, which lit up the forest one level when used.  Sparks are the most game-like mechanic, being that they can be used as a score. The more you have, the better you were at the game. But the sparks don’t really fit the game very well.  The complete darkness was pretty punishing. What I should have done, instead, was reduce the visible squares at night, so you can only see a little bit of the forest depending on the time of day.  This was suggested by a commenter (nate427), and I totally agreed with it.  It would have greatly fit my game’s concept and title.
• I wanted to do more with sparks.  At the end, I was considering making it so that a spark was consumed each night like food, and you could lose the game if you ran out of sparks.  I don’t know how I felt about this, though.  I’d also wanted sparks to be littered about the forest, but I had a really hard time getting them to randomly generate about, so I scrapped the idea.
• I wanted to have obstacles, or at least something that required a bit of thought or skill.  The child was supposed to play a part in this, somehow.  This was a feature scrapped early on in the process, as the system I created really didn’t allow for it.
• The game is shorter than it should have been. It was supposed to have four areas, the last of which empties directly into the child’s house.  I didn’t have time to make two more areas, mostly because adding in those two areas would have changed my tile set around (Tile Studio seems to put the most used tile first).  The child, as it is, does not reach full development (he’s only at stage three growth at the end).  I also feel that players wouldn’t have played the game as it is with two more levels.  The back-tracking would be just silly.
• I’d wanted better movement in the game.  It’s square-by-square at the moment, but I really wanted free movement. I think square-by-square looks bad and feels old and gam(e)y.
• The music isn’t the best. It doesn’t fit the game at all.  I’d wanted to use this music, but Wolfram’s terms meant that I couldn’t myself distribute the file. I ended up using AutoTracker-C, which makes great music for games with technology or action in them, but doesn’t really make good ambient music.  I spent hours tweaking the output in OpenMPT, trying to get it to sound at least decent (I don’t know that I succeeded). I might have been able to track my own piano/pan flute music, but I really didn’t have that much time.

Overall, I enjoyed making this game, and I have some great ideas as to where to take the game from here.

Tags: finished, postmortem

In this postmortem, there are a bunch of things that I want to hit upon. First I’ll give a description of the game. Then I’m going to talk about the theme of the game vs. the theme of the competition. Then I’m going to go into what I couldn’t do due to time running out, and what I couldn’t do due to lack of skill. Finally, I’ll talk about my general experience making Follow the Sun. Suffice it to say this postmortem will ruin part of the game for you if you haven’t played it. If you don’t want to get story-spoiled, play it first before reading on!

About Follow the Sun

Follow the Sun is a short, 3D game where the player controls a child charged with rescuing the king. At the start of the game, the main character, a child named Kayin, sees the face of the king in the sun, asking Kayin to save him from the corruption that has befallen the land. To do this, the king uses the last of his strength to grant Kayin a power to cleanse the corruption, but it will only last until night falls. The implied goal is to make your way to the king, killing the red corruption along the way by using the granted power.

However, and here is where the spoiler part comes into play, there is something deeper going on that I could not quite show off in this version. The king speaks of a great evil that is coming to the land, but in reality, that evil he speaks of is the player. The player is being led along by blind obedience in an authority figure, and it is Kayin who is corrupted, not the red entities the player is charged to destroy. The unstated goal of the game is supposed to be to recognize that the player is killing people with the power given to him, and then to refuse to follow the king’s orders by going home. More about this in the later sections.

Theme

The theme for Ludum Dare 28 was “You Only Get One” and this was difficult to work out. Actually, when the theme voting was going on, I was fairly sure that the winner was going to be “Corruption” due to the large number of votes it got in the early voting rounds. I was brainstorming ideas for corruption before the competition started, and then decided to make sure I could make the idea fit in with any of the top ten themes. The ones that would have been the worst fit were “Duel” and “You Only Get One”, and well that’s what it was.

The theme really threw me for a loop. It was really strange as a theme, and I didn’t want to be making a game that just focused on something like having just one life or having just one use of a weapon, which is what everyone was saying they were going to do. So I fit the theme into my idea with more esoteric concepts.

On the simple side of things, the player only gets one weapon. This actually wasn’t the original idea, but it ended up being that way. In the more complex realm, though, there are two very loose fits to the theme. The first is that the player only gets one evening to reach the king (time flows slowly through the game and after ten minutes the sun sets and the game ends. It was going to be one hour, but there was not enough game for that much time and I wanted it to be noticeable.

In addition to that, the theme also fits because the king only has one chance in Kayin, and places his future on one child. Technically, the player also has only one chance to make a decision, follow the task given by the king, or disobey him. The game also currently kicks you out of the game if you reach any ending, but that was not in the original design.

With the theme fitting in on more of a high level than a low level like most other games, I’m sure a lot of people will end up not seeing how the theme fits in. It’s partially my fault. I shouldn’t have been brainstorming ideas before the theme was revealed. A fun fact about this, though, it was because I came up with a game idea that I decided at the last second to participate in Ludum Dare, so I suppose any game is better than no game.

What Got Left Out Because of Time

There were a lot of things that I didn’t get to because time wasn’t permitting. For the first part, some of the other possible themes lent interesting additions to the game that never made it. One of the potential themes was “Four Elements” and I had the idea of giving the player one choice of four powers, but after having so much trouble with getting one attack working, I decided that I only had time to make one attack.

Something else I wanted to include but did not have the time was related to the enemies. The enemies have very basic AI, they can chase the player, flee from the player, wander about randomly, or just sit there. I had wanted to have the AI switch from wander and no movement to one of the other modes, if they see the player kill someone. This would have reinforced that what the player was doing was “wrong”.

Another way I wanted to show the player that they were doing something “wrong” was to have a point at which the player able to see at some point that they were killing people instead of removing corruption. One way would have been to have a mode where the player could refuse the king at the end and then have the king chase the player home, seeing the death they caused as they went back. I could have also made is to that if the player went left at any time, they would see the reality and then have to choose. I had a system in place for tracking where each death occurs, but I didn’t have enough time to put that kind of a mode in place.

I also wanted to put in a better indicator of the time and the direction of the sun. At the moment, you have to rely on the shadows and lighting to figure it out (which go away if the player has chosen the fastest graphics settings). A GUI showing the direction of the sun and the time left would have been nice, but again, I didn’t have the time for it.

The area design was also very lackluster. I wanted to have obstacles and whatnot in the areas, and perhaps bigger areas, but I just had enough time to throw things together for level design. Not the best thing to do, but I had playable areas at least.

One thing I’m really sad about not having in the game is sound. I really wanted to make a good soundtrack for the game, and have some responsive sounds, but I just ran out of time at the end. There’s still a music managing object in the scenes for running music, it just doesn’t do anything.

At the very end, too, I realized that I didn’t have time to properly boot players to the title screen. I used a lot of static variables, and I didn’t have time to track down which ones were ones I needed to reset when a new game started. This really frustrated people, and it’s the first thing I want to fix in the post-compo version.

What Got Left Out Because of Skill

This was really my first full game made in Unity where the game could be considered finished. As a result, though, there were a lot of things that I couldn’t do because my skill in asset production isn’t very good. I wanted to have enemies that varied in how they looked, but my skill in 3D modeling and animation is very bad. I might have been able to make something eventually, but it really was outside of my skillset. This is also the reason why I never got around to making any kind of special model for the king.

I also had problems with getting particles to work properly. I had wanted to use particles for attacks, but it just wasn’t working. This was also a reason why I didn’t end up with multiple attacks, and why the enemies have no attacks. If I knew more about what I was doing with particles, maybe it would have worked out better, but I just didn’t.

Overall

In the end, I am really glad to have made Follow the Sun, and I’d like to work on it more in the coming month or so. The game could use a lot of polish, and the overall theme of the game should be reinforced. I would also like to migrate the game away from a simple shoot-and-kill gameplay, to something more meaningful, but this might have to hold off for a while.

This game took me longer than my last LD entry, I would have probably done better at time management if I had not tried to do the game at the last minute, and if I had not tried to play much with skills I didn’t have (particles and modeling/animation). Making a 3D game might have been a mistake, too, but I could get away with the billboard style area design in 3D. It would have been much harder to make that work in 2D. Overall, I enjoyed making the game, and I hope I have the time and energy to participate in the next LD in April. If you want to try out Follow the Sun, click here.

Tags: follow the sun, post-mortem, postmortem

After submitting around noon yesterday, followed by emergency sleep and even more emergency grading, I’m finally going to make a post talking about my compo entry.

It’s Full of Stars – Play Here

So, I’ve been in a bit of a design slump, working on a long solo project. My last two LD entries weren’t very exciting and I’d felt really down after them. This time, though, Ludum Dare was just what I needed. I’m happy and a bit proud of what I made, even if it’s not really all that amazing. I had fun making this little thing and I really feel like I know what I’m doing (even if I don’t). I’m even happy with the music, and I hate every bit of music I’ve made.

It’s Full of Stars is a result of constantly being asked where my work is positioned, who I’m connected to as an artist (I’m in an MFA program) and all these things when I really just want to make things that mean something. There’s also been a lot of talk about constellations lately, so I decided to make something with that.

I went the easy route with two-button controls, and made it mouse-based. If the theme had been *just* two-button controls, I’d have tried to make a pun of the theme like I do with a lot of them (after grumbling a lot about prescriptive mechanics not being a theme). Growing was really the focus of the game, but I wanted to incorporate both themes. We’re probably never going to have this happen again, so might as well, right?

I really wanted to pass an image out to WebGL and let people save their constellations. This is easy for the Windows build, but I was too tired when I was figuring it out to try more than once to get the extra JavaScript working.  The other thing I regret about this project is that I couldn’t figure out a good way of making it more gamey. It ended up being a bit more like something you play with. Adding in “society moves” was my way of doing something towards this. The mechanic with this is that as your constellation gets bigger, and the further you reach to add a star to the constellation, the more likely “society” will notice and add something to your constellation. So if you keep things small and close to home, you might not get noticed, but you can’t make something that looks good or says what you want it to say. If you reach out and try to make something, then you’re more likely to get noticed and for people to make up connections that you wouldn’t yourself. Other ways I could have done it would have been to try to match a particular constellation as closely as possible, or something like that, but this would require some image comparison concepts that I don’t even want to comprehend, or making this into a set of puzzles with specific set star locations. I didn’t really like either option. I’m open to ideas for gamey elements to consider.

Anyway, if you want, check it out! I’ve also got a video of a full play of it below.

Tags: compo, constellation, it's full of stars, ld34, postmortem

I hope everyone had a good Ludum Dare! It looks like we made quite a few games this past weekend I enjoyed myself, and I thought I would make a reflection post on my entry, “Emily”.

Now, while I like my own entry and think I did good work over the weekend, I am going to probably rake my entry over the coals. This is with the intention of improving on the design and looking to the future. Play it over here if you want to try it out before reading on.

Emily is a narrative game whose premise is that you are moving into a room in an apartment and the previous tenant’s belongings are still there. The game centers around examining the environment to get an idea of what went on with the last tenant, as well as interacting with her friends via phone to find out . So it is narrative-driven game with a bunch of clutter and phone interfaces that get you insight into the character of Emily.

Except that it really isn’t. Emily is what you get when you make a narrative-driven game without a clear idea of what the narrative is going to be. The game has a good premise, but it loses its way with that premise because I didn’t know what had happened to Emily until I wrote that final dialogue. Even then, when I wrote that dialogue, I needed something to quickly cap off the story so I could make the game end and submit it for the compo. I’d had two other characters planned, but by planned, I really mean that I had started out by selecting four names of characters to interact with, but had no idea how they were going to interact.

The characters are all pretty utilitarian. They exist to give the player a tiny bit of information and advance the game. It’s entirely terribly written, and all on the fly. I recognize this, and I chastise myself for this. I’m a narrative designer. The narrative is what I live for. Yet my entry has such a tacked on narrative that it’s embarrassing. I mean, Emily doesn’t even have any real character. She’s an environmental science grad student who is a bit flaky with her job assisting professors in classes.

Emily is a shell without a narrative. It’s a good shell, though. It’s one I want to work with. I had a lot of good ideas during the compo, many of which needed to be pushed aside. I spent a bunch of time coming up with an idea for the theme (ironically needing to take my own advice), and I started off working on making art. I didn’t even get around to making any code until the middle of Saturday. Much of the time was making sure I could model the things I wanted, and that the UI would work. I don’t spend a lot of time with Blender, so I wanted to be certain that it wouldn’t be a bottleneck. Perhaps it was, but I’m happy with what little I produced. I really wish there was more stuff to interact with, though.

Here are some of the things I wanted, but didn’t have time to even consider. It would be nice to have books that are actual books with pages of text. This would add a wealth of depth to Emily’s character. I also thought of the idea of moving furniture around the room. This would add a gameplay mechanic for what your player is initially starting out doing. The idea would be, then, that many of the clues to what’s going on be hidden behind or under things, including the initial clue of Emily’s school notes, which was cheated by having it instead visible just barely behind the dresser. Something else that is related to this is the ability to pick up and examine objects. This starts getting into areas of modelling that I’m a bit sketchy on. I admit that texturing is a bit of a weak point for me. I haven’t quite figured it out. Hence, everything is relatively flat shaded in this game. Coupled with being able to pick things up is the ability to put things down.

Finally, the most complicated thing I thought of was including Delilah. Delilah is a cat, and making a cat in the compo was right out. Not only is it a complicated model with a lot of issues for animation, but if I wanted Delilah to move around the room, I’d need a kind of cat AI, and I wasn’t touching that in just 48 hours.

Again, I think that Emily is a good proof of concept for me, and I can work with it. I need to figure out a real story to tell, not just the tacked on one that I did for the compo. Something with a bit more mystery and a better payoff. I don’t think I want Emily to need “rescuing” but rather more of a situation where the player gains entry into some secret goings-on. I’d like it if there could be some tiny hints to it in the newspaper, but that might be difficult with a classifieds section. I would like for the player to be able to call the other people in the paper, even still. Speaking of calling, I’d like to make the phone more like a phone and give it a contacts section, and perhaps some other apps to make it more useful. Maybe a camera mode, even. Another thing I was going to add was a separate dialogue interface. I had started on this in the wee hours of Sunday, and after a headache decided to forego it and use the message box. A specialized UI that includes dialogue choices would be nice.

If there’s anything else you think is missing, feel free to say. I accept any criticism as it comes. I enjoyed myself, certainly, and I hope you all did as well. Hope the judging goes smoothly for everyone. We all did a great job, regardless 😀

Tags: compo, criticism, postmortem, reflection

(I've already seen people unhappy about themes, so here's me guide on working with themes you don't like from December.)

It’s inevitable. When the theme is announced, more than a handful of people don’t know what to do with it. The theme might be too esoteric or vague. The theme might be too restrictive. It could suggest a particular kind of game, and that’s not the kind of game they want to make. Maybe they just simply don’t like the theme. We're a diverse community, and so the theme doesn't work right away with every one of us. This was me when “An Unconventional Weapon” was announced for LD 32. If this is you, this post is here to help you work through the theme so you can get to working on your game. Don’t give up at the start because you don’t like the theme! Remember, Ludum Dare is about making a game. The theme is there to help. This post is meant to be encouraging and helpful.

What is a Theme?

First things first, let’s explore what a theme is and how it helps you. A theme is a starting point. It’s there to combat the blank page problem. Many writers will tell you that the hardest part of writing is staring at a blank page and writing down the first words. With a theme, the first words are already written, so it’s easier. You don’t have to think about literally everything that could go into a game. You’d be paralyzed with thinking if you did. So a theme is there to get you started. It’s there to narrow down the possibilities, so that you can get to making your game quicker. After all, you don’t have that much time to be dwelling on the concept. You need to start making your game as soon as you can!

What the Theme is Not

The theme is not a prescription. The Ludum Dare theme is not there to say that you absolutely must make the same game that everyone else is going to make. It’s just a starting point. Your game concept might morph to have very little to do with the theme, and that’s ok. Not every part of your game needs to drip theme. In fact, too much theme can be overwhelming. The theme can be a challenge. The theme can be a crutch. The theme can be whatever you need it to be. You’re the one making the game, after all. The theme isn’t there to hinder you. It’s there to help you and make things easier.

Working With the Theme

So, the theme has just been announced, and you don’t know what to do with it. The theme doesn’t make sense, or it sounds silly, or it seems completely unhelpful. It might just sound bad to you, and you don’t understand how it could have won the vote. It’s there, and you want to make a game with it, but you don’t know how. Don’t quit! There are options for you! Here are some things you can do to make it work.

Just Go With It

Many themes suggest a very obvious way to be built. Sometimes, we overthink it and want to try to do something really different, but if this is giving you problems, just go with what the theme suggests. Sure, it may not be glamorous or spectacular, but what’s even less is not making a game at all. During LD 34, there were a bunch of laments from people about how the “Growing” theme just suggested to them that they should make a snake game. People didn’t want to make something that everyone else was going to make. Don’t worry about if other people will be doing your idea. That’s ok! What’s important is that you make a game. This is the most straightforward approach to using a theme. It doesn’t appeal to everyone. I personally don’t like to do this, but in LD 34, we also got the theme of “Two-Button Controls” and I just took that at face value. I didn’t have time to worry about how it fit in with my game, so I just went with the most obvious decision: left and right mouse buttons. If this isn’t the method for you, read on! If it is, then go make your game!

Play With the Theme

Themes are just words. Words are language, and we have years upon years of experience playing around with words. Languages develop over time by morphing and changing to suit situations and cultures. As themes are just words, we can play around with them. You can take the words of the theme and consider what they actually mean. You can take the words and make a pun out of them. You can take how the words sound and make them sound a little different. You can add spaces, make punctuation, smash words together, or obliterate letters. Type it into a search engine and see what comes up. Check it out on an image search. Run it through a translator a few times. It’s ok. They’re just words. You’re the one with ideas.

LD 32 “An Unconventional Weapon” was particularly annoying to me because I don’t like making games about combat or fighting. To arrive at my concept, I asked myself, “What is a weapon, really?” A weapon is a tool. It’s a means to an end. It doesn’t have to be a physical object, it just has to be something that is used. So, an unconventional weapon is something that is used to achieve an end, but which isn’t used in the way we expect it to be. A person can be used as a tool if they are manipulated and their expectations are played to. The result was a game where the player was used to cause an end through the expectation that they should be following the on-screen mission prompts. It was a far stretch from the words of the original theme, but it was a game I could feel excited to make. By playing with the words of the theme, I was able to make a theme I didn’t like, into a theme I did.

Looking at the theme of “An Unconventional Weapon”, there are other things you could do to manipulate it. Unconventional contains the word “convention”, so maybe you can make a game that is set at a convention. Weapon could become “weap-on”, and even though it's misspelled, you could have a game where someone weeps on something. Play with the theme. It’s yours to do with as you please.

Get Help

People, especially veterans of Ludum Dare, like helping others get over that initial hump of the concept phase and onto making a game. Everyone is wrestling with the theme, and so everyone is going through the same process. Some people, especially those with a lot of experience, will have an easier time with it, though, and it won’t hurt to ask for help deciding on a concept for your theme. You can use the Ludum Dare IRC channel to talk it out with people who hang out in there (usually these are people who have been with LD for a while). There’s the reddit page if you’re more open to that format. You can even ask your friends, post on twitter, whatever you want. I would say that the best place for this is probably the IRC channel. You don’t need to know anything about IRC to use it, just use the link on the page (http://ludumdare.com/compo/irc/ for LD 37, not sure for 38), type in any name you want (or leave the default) and hit start, then ask away. Be open and kind with your questions. Understand that people are probably working on the same thing you are. Sometimes, there are people sitting in the IRC that aren’t doing LD because they don’t have time, but they’re happy to help out people who want it. Mention the half ideas you have. Say what you don’t want to do. This will help people give you better advice and it might help other people in the same situation.

See What Others are Doing

People livestream. They post about what they’re doing. They talk about it in the IRC and on reddit. See how other people are interpreting the theme. Ask them how they got there, if it seems unclear. Some people might toss out ideas you think are really cool and get you thinking. Try not to just go to one of these places and copy what someone else is doing. That’s a bit underhanded, but you can use these as a springboard. Plus, it can suggest a way of looking at the theme that you hadn’t thought about. If someone says an idea that you really like and get excited about, ask them if you can do something similar. Add your own personal flair to the idea if you’re doing this. Treat it as a starting point. Also, who knows, the other person may get just as excited as you about the idea, and you end up jamming on it together as a team.

Here's a brief preview video of what I've been working on for this one. Nothing spectacular yet, but it's getting somewhere. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3OkvvJBrgE

Hope you all are enjoying yourselves :)

There's always a bunch of stuff you wanted to do but just couldn't fit it in. But hey, I made a game about Pluto and a Roman myth, so I'm happy.

Check it out over here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/$17741

Hope you all had fun! :D

Hey all. I like themes a lot! Theme voting is starting soon, and I felt like speaking my mind on the topic of themes. It's over on twitter: https://twitter.com/incobalt/status/889157626855997444 The long and short of it is this: please be kind when making your theme votes. Feel free to speak your mind about themes here or there :) Hope everyone is as excited for the weekend as I am :D Let's go make some games!

Hey everyone! I was feeling a bit restless today, so I made a wallpaper. I have in 4:3, 16:9, and 16:10. The 16:9 version is below, but here's a link to each version: http://incobalt.me/f/LD39Wallpaper.zip

It’s inevitable. When the theme is announced, more than a handful of people don’t know what to do with it. The theme might be too esoteric or vague. The theme might be too restrictive. It could suggest a particular kind of game, and that’s not the kind of game they want to make. Maybe they just simply don’t like the theme. We're a diverse community, and so the theme doesn't work right away with every one of us. This was me when “An Unconventional Weapon” was announced for LD 32. If this is you, this post is here to help you work through the theme so you can get to working on your game. Don’t give up at the start because you don’t like the theme! Remember, Ludum Dare is about making a game. The theme is there to help. This post is meant to be encouraging and helpful.

What is a Theme?

First things first, let’s explore what a theme is and how it helps you. A theme is a starting point. It’s there to combat the blank page problem. Many writers will tell you that the hardest part of writing is staring at a blank page and writing down the first words. With a theme, the first words are already written, so it’s easier. You don’t have to think about literally everything that could go into a game. You’d be paralyzed with thinking if you did. So, a theme is there to get you started. It’s there to narrow down the possibilities, so that you can get to making your game quicker. After all, you don’t have that much time to be dwelling on the concept. You need to start making your game as soon as you can!

What the Theme is Not

The theme is not a prescription. The Ludum Dare theme is not there to say that you absolutely must make the same game that everyone else is going to make. It’s just a starting point. Your game concept might morph to have very little to do with the theme, and that’s ok. Not every part of your game needs to drip theme. In fact, too much theme can be overwhelming. The theme can be a challenge. The theme can be a crutch. The theme can be whatever you need it to be. You’re the one making the game, after all. The theme isn’t there to hinder you. It’s there to help you and make things easier.

Working With the Theme

So, the theme has just been announced, and you don’t know what to do with it. The theme doesn’t make sense, or it sounds silly, or it seems completely unhelpful. It might just sound bad to you, and you don’t understand how it could have won the vote. It’s there, and you want to make a game with it, but you don’t know how. Don’t quit! There are options for you! Here are some things you can do to make it work.

Just Go With It

Many themes suggest a very obvious way to be built. Sometimes, we overthink it and want to try to do something really different, but if this is giving you problems, just go with what the theme suggests. Sure, it may not be glamorous or spectacular, but what’s even worse is not making a game at all. During LD 34, there were a bunch of laments from people about how the “Growing” theme just suggested to them that they should make a snake game. People didn’t want to make something that everyone else was going to make. Don’t worry about if other people will be doing your idea. That’s ok! What’s important is that you make a game. This is the most straightforward approach to using a theme. It doesn’t appeal to everyone. I personally don’t like to do this, but in LD 34, we also got the theme of “Two-Button Controls” and I just took that at face value. I didn’t have time to worry about how it fit in with my game, so I just went with the most obvious decision: left and right mouse buttons. If this isn’t the method for you, read on! If it is, then go make your game!

Play With the Theme

Themes are just words. Words are language, and we have years upon years of experience playing around with words. Languages develop over time by morphing and changing to suit situations and cultures. As themes are just words, we can play around with them. You can take the words of the theme and consider what they actually mean. You can take the words and make a pun out of them. You can take how the words sound and make them sound a little different. You can add spaces, make punctuation, smash words together, or obliterate letters. Type it into a search engine and see what comes up. Check it out on an image search. Run it through a translator a few times. It’s ok. They’re just words. You’re the one with ideas.
LD 32 “An Unconventional Weapon” was particularly annoying to me because I don’t like making games about combat or fighting. To arrive at my concept, I asked myself, “What is a weapon, really?” A weapon is a tool. It’s a means to an end. It doesn’t have to be a physical object, it just has to be something that is used. So, an unconventional weapon is something that is used to achieve an end, but which isn’t used in the way we expect it to be. A person can be used as a tool if they are manipulated and their expectations are played to. The result was a game where the player was used to cause an end through the expectation that they should be following the on-screen mission prompts. It was a far stretch from the words of the original theme, but it was a game I felt excited to make. By playing with the words of the theme, I was able to make a theme I didn’t like, into a theme I did.
Looking at the theme of “An Unconventional Weapon”, there are other things you could do to manipulate it. Unconventional contains the word “convention”, so maybe you can make a game that is set at a convention. Weapon could become “weap-on”, and even though it's misspelled, you could have a game where someone weeps on something. Play with the theme. It’s yours to do with as you please.
A note: Ludum Dare themes are usually in English, but for many jammers, English isn’t their first language. The theme might make sense if it’s translated into a language you know better. Don’t be afraid to ask people to explain a theme to you! People will want to help you out. We want you to have a good jam too!

Get Help

People, especially veterans of Ludum Dare, like helping others get over that initial hump of the concept phase and onto making a game. Everyone is wrestling with the theme, and so everyone is going through the same process. Some people, especially those with a lot of experience, will have an easier time with it, though, and it won’t hurt to ask for help deciding on a concept for your theme. You can use the Ludum Dare IRC channel to talk it out with people who hang out in there (usually these are people who have been with LD for a while). If Discord is more your thing, there’s a Ludum Dare Discord server. There’s the reddit page if you’re more open to that format. Many jammers post and follow the #LDJAM hashtag on Twitter. Be open and kind with your questions. Understand that people are probably working on the same thing you are. Sometimes, there are people sitting in the IRC or the Discord that aren’t doing LD because they don’t have time, but they’re happy to help out people who want it. Mention the half ideas you have. Say what you don’t want to do. This will help people give you better advice and it might help other people in the same situation. You can even ask your friends, post on twitter, whatever you want. There’s no shame in asking for help!

See What Others are Doing

People livestream. They post about what they’re doing. They talk about it in the IRC, on the Discord, on reddit, or on Twitter. See how other people are interpreting the theme. Ask them how they got there, if it seems unclear. Some people might toss out ideas you think are really cool and get you thinking. Try not to just go to one of these places and copy what someone else is doing. That’s a bit underhanded, but you can use these as a springboard. Plus, it can suggest a way of looking at the theme that you hadn’t thought about. If someone says an idea that you really like and get excited about, ask them if you can do something similar. Add your own personal flair to the idea if you’re doing this. Treat it as a starting point. Also, who knows, the other person may get just as excited as you about the idea, and you end up jamming on it together as a team.

Ignore the Theme

If all else fails and the theme is just not working for you, then get rid of it. The theme is a tool, and it doesn’t work for everyone. Don’t spend too much time worrying about the theme. Figure out an idea that you want to do and do it. The theme might come later. It might not come at all. That’s ok. The theme is optional. Sure, you might not get many points in the theme category of judging, but that really doesn’t matter. You won’t get any points if you don’t submit a game at all. If you’re worried about it, you can turn of theme judging for your game. It really doesn’t matter, because at the end of it all, what’s important is that you make something. If you’re hung up on the theme, then take it out of the equation and get to work on your game. During theme voting, did you see a theme you really liked? Use that one instead. Would it help if you had more themes? Pretend there was a tie and use two themes, or three, or all of them. Hit the random page link on Wikipedia, type some words into a search engine and look at what comes up. Get an idea and make it. Who cares if it fits the theme?

Above All Else

Make a game. That’s it. Just make a game. Make something you enjoy. Make something that you want to make. Finish something. It feels really good to look back at the end of Ludum Dare and say, “I made this.” Don’t quit because a theme you didn’t like gets chosen. You’ve got options.

I made this post because many Dares I've seen people quit because a theme they didn't like gets selected, or I see people post that they ran out of time because they couldn't come up with an idea that fit the theme. I hope it helps, and happy Dare-ing! Let's all make a game!

Over the weekend, I made a small game called My Kingdom for a Rabbit. It is a game of information that has the player figuring out the best heir to rule a rabbit kingdom when the current queen passes. The game works, currently, by selecting four rabbits to go on a test and seeing how well those rabbits did. The rabbits have five stats and each test checks two of the rabbits’ stats. A slight bit of randomness happens and a different result happens if the rabbit succeeds at both, neither, just one, or couldn’t possibly have won at all. At the end of fifteen rounds, the player must decide on a good rabbit, and then the game tells the player how well that rabbit did. That’s how it works now. Obviously, there are many things I wanted to include but couldn’t, and the game doesn’t work quite how I’d like it, but I’m overall happy with what I produced. Go play the game over here.

The Idea

The note card that I have written down for the original idea reads thus:
Premise- An old ruler looks out over the kingdom and tries to prepare the kingdom for the transition of power and selecting the successor. A bit like ‘Long Live the Queen’ and estate management.
Originally, I had been intending to make a game where you select an heir from a small amount of people and groom the kingdom to ease the transition. So, you send your heirs out on quests, and based on how they do, you build up the kingdom to suit one of their needs. Thus the idea was to have a kingdom building phase to the game, where you managed and built up resources. There was also supposed to be random events that happened as time went on, which might cost kingdom resources. Absolutely this is an ambitious concept, and I recognized it early in development.
The rabbits happened on Friday, just before the Dare started. I got wind that the start of Ludum Dare coincided with the birthday of Beatrix Potter. For those who don’t know, Beatrix Potter was an English illustrator and storyteller who wrote and drew children’s books about animals. Her most famous work was a series of books about Peter Rabbit. While I don’t think I ever had any of her books as a child, I do remember watching some of the animation based on the books, made many years later. Thus, on Friday, I decided that if a proper theme was picked, I would make a game about rabbits as a nod to Beatrix Potter. The queen in my game is also named Beatrix.

The Challenge

When the theme was announced, I was really excited. “Running Out of Power” was a good theme that I thought people would really play with (and I wasn’t wrong). After the initial excitement wore off, though, I realized something. This game was going to require a lot of art, specifically storybook-style art. I’m... not the best artist, and in a time crunch, I’m even worse. Still, I really liked the idea and wanted to do this game, so I decided to go forward anyway.

(Here’s some of my early quick art, for example)

Some Hurdles

The game itself was fairly easy to make, but the original idea required more than that. I started out making notes of resources to track and an internal game state that expected events and kingdom growth to happen. Those are still in the game, but after the first night of work I realized that I needed to cut those features out. Otherwise I would end up with nothing to show. I spent about three hours writing out the plan for the game, which is probably more than most people do right at the start. Identifying what was needed by the game really helped me isolate the potential problems and discover the parts that could be cut. At the end of the first day, I knew that I wanted most to make a game about rabbits in a succession crisis, and so I scaled down to just that. Looking back, I’m glad I removed the kingdom management. The more I made the game, the less excited I got for that part of the original idea. Going forward won’t even consider it.

Some Good Things

I made myself a checklist of tasks for this game. My checklist is in the form of “Required”, “Optional”, and “Nice to Have”. The first was what the game absolutely needed. This included things like a text box and a game cycle. The optional list was anything I could work on if I had time after the required stuff was added in. Nice to have meant I knew I wasn’t going to get to it. A bunch of required things got moved to nice to have after I decided on the new focus. One thing, rabbit traits, got moved to optional. Rabbit traits were supposed to be things that affected the game in a way similar to Werewolf or Mafia roles. I decided I didn’t have time to design and implement them, but they were still more important than things I had cut entirely or things like “more music”. A single music track was on my required list. Backdrop art for scenes was actually on the optional list, so I forced myself to make music on Sunday before I allowed myself to do any backdrop art. This checklist really helped me scope my project, and I encourage others to make them.
Another helpful thing was actually connecting with the community. I joined the Discord server for this event, and just having people who were also jamming to talk to was helpful. On Sunday, though, I had to close it entirely. I found it a bit distracting and seeing people have troubles was frustrating and not helping. So, joining the community was great, but I needed to take breaks.

The Future

I like this little game. Other people seem to find the game ok as well. There’s a bunch of stuff I’d like to do differently. There’s a ton of stuff I’d like to add. I want to rotoscope some rabbits. I want rabbits to commit sabotage. I want rabbits to be put at risk. The ultimate goal would be to get the kind of interaction that you might get in a Shahrazad story or a Brother’s Grimm fairy tale. I can’t find it, but I remember one about three princes being sent out to find a gift for the king, to determine who was most suitable to rule, and one of them kills the other two and becomes outcast, gaining nothing for his treachery.
I would like to take more inspiration from games like Werewolf, and have the rabbits interact with one another based on their traits. A friend brought up the idea of having some pre-information to base your initial choices on, and I thought it might be nice to have a family reputation and a profession (things that would be very publicly known), to give the player an idea of who they might consider. Traits and stats would still be hidden information and might contradict the public information. Random events also something I’d like to have. These break up the round to round action and can throw wrenches into the works. I would also not mind allowing the player to assign Advisor Bobbits to a task during the week, getting more targeted information to fill in gaps of knowledge.
The thing that the game needs much more of is a bit of variety. At the moment, the rabbits go on the same test and have the same response. The week passes the same way. The ending is the same for all rabbits with a particular stat pool total. The ending, particularly, should play out a bit more like a storybook where we get to see specific events that come up, related to their stats, trait, former profession, and family. I would love it if, sometimes, a rabbit discovers a way to free the rabbitdom from the fickle nature of the crown, letting the enlightened rabbits govern themselves without the figurehead. I hope this sounds exciting to you because I’m excited for the idea. It will take a bunch of careful design balancing, but I have the foundation in place.

Overall

It was a good Dare. I enjoyed my game, and enjoyed seeing people make theirs as well. I’m really happy to go and play some games and see what others made from the theme. Thanks for making something alongside me. I hope you all had fun! Here's another link to the game in case you missed it.

Theme voting is here! That means that we get our chance to say what themes we most want. This can be hard though, especially when you don't even understand a theme on the list. The Ludum Dare community has a large number of non-native English speakers who might have a hard time with themes that were written largely with English in mind. And some of the themes can just be confusing. I'm here to help you figure them out and connect the themes to cultural ideas that you might not be aware of. This is all just to help everyone out in figuring out what theme to vote for. This list can help everyone, especially if you're wondering "why would anyone choose this theme?" This list simply gives people a better idea about each theme. Some of these meanings might seem simple or pointless, but if they help anyone then that's all that matters.
This is for round 1! Click here for Round 2. Click here for Round 3.

What are these themes?

Here are the themes we're voting on in round 1! The themes are alphabetized and contain as much as I can think of that will help you understand the idea. Some of these have an "Other meanings" which are times when I want to let you know about cultural references, weird meanings for words in the theme, or little changes you can make to the theme. These are not the only interpretations of the themes, these are just examples I came up with to help you get started with making your own interpretations.

Meaning: When it is too dark, we need light to be able to see. When people say "a light in the dark" they usually mean a small light that offers just enough light to see, like a candle. Other times, they mean a light that you can see from far away. In this case, the light guides you through the darkness.
Other meanings: Light doesn't always have to be an actual light. It can be a feeling of happiness and hope. The dark also doesn't have to be literal darkness. It can be a difficult time like after the loss of a loved one or during an oppressive rule.

Meaning: When you die in most games, you lose progress. This theme wants you to make a game where dying helps someone. This could be as simple as dying giving the player more information for next time (Dark Souls does this). It could also be that dying is actually the way to move forward in your game.
Other meanings: In fiction and folklore, Death is the name of a creature that rules over the dying. The Grim Reaper is another name for this creature. Many cultures have a version of Death in their folklore. For this theme, this means that you can have the creature Death helping the player out along the way. Also, "you" in this theme doesn't have to be the player. It could be someone the player interacts with instead. "You" can also be general, meaning that this theme could be read as "Death helps everyone".

Meaning: Déjà vu is feeling like you have already done something. When you have déjà vu, you feel like something you are doing is very familiar, like it happened before or in a dream. The term is French and it means "already seen". At its most basic form, déjà vu is about experiencing something for the second time.
Other meanings: One of the most famous modern references to déjà vu is from The Matrix where they say that seeing something happening twice is a sign of danger. Déjà Vu is also the name of an old detective game about a loss of memory.

Meaning: Weapons are tools use to cause harm to others, like swords and guns. This theme tells you to make a game where everything can be used to cause harm. This means that your game might have many unusual weapons.
Other meanings: A weapon is just another word for a tool that happens to cause harm. The harm that a weapon does might not be physical. An idea can be a weapon that changes someone's mind.

Meaning: An island is land surrounded by something, usually water. This theme suggests making a game where there are islands that float. An island can be said to float on water, or on some other liquid, like tar. A floating island might also be an island that is up in the air.
Other meanings: A raised portion of land that separates two sides of a road is called an island. You can describe anything that is by itself or alone as an island. A table or counter in the middle of a kitchen is sometimes called an island. The phrase "floating island" might describe an island where you can float.

Meaning: Elements are substances that can be combined to make other things. In many cases, an element is not itself made of anything. This means that elements are the basic substances that are naturally found in the world.
Other meanings: "Four elements" makes reference to the four classical elements in Western mythology: earth, fire, air, and water. An element might also refer to a chemical element such as iron, or oxygen. An element can be another word for something that is part of a bigger thing. So you might have the four elements of a room, and those elements might be a bed, a chair, a dresser, and a rug. The individual parts of a web page are also called elements.

Meaning: You control something by making decisions for it, such as where to move or how to act. This theme wants you to make a game where the someone controls something indirectly. This means that someone must find a way to tell something else how to act without taking control of it. You can do this by having someone give something a signal, or an instruction, or by interrupting a path. Basically, someone controls other things that can cause something else to act in different ways.

Meaning: This theme wants you to make a game about something that spreads. When something spreads, it grows larger to fill an area. Water spreads when you dump it on the floor. Fire spreads when it finds new fuel like wood. Grass spreads when we grow it. A disease spreads when more people get sick. Gossip spreads when people talk to each other about someone else. Basically, whenever something covers a larger area, it is said to spread.
Other meanings: A "spread" is another name for a variety of similar things. For example, a spread of books would be a bunch of different books. We use the word spread when we're trying to say that there's something for everyone in a selection that we have provided. People also call any condiment a spread, like ketchup, mayonnaise, jam, or butter. You spread these condiments on food so that they cover an even surface, like spreading jam on a piece of toast. A blanket you put on top of your bed is often called a bed spread. Although spreading is about filling a space, it can also be used to describe something that has been pulled apart. You spread a loaf of bread by pulling it apart instead of cutting it.

Meaning: When you learn something you get knowledge or skill that you didn't have before. Your enemies are people or creatures who try to keep you away from your goals. This theme wants you to make a game where someone gets knowledge or skill by interacting with their enemies.
Other meanings: In the Final Fantasy game series, this idea is called "blue magic". With blue magic, you learn a spell by getting hit by it, or by seeing it happen, or in various other ways. The important part of blue magic is that it comes from an enemy that you face in battle. Learning from your enemies is also something that happens in politics and debates where you ask a question to get information that you can use against your opponent.

Meaning: A light source is something that gives off light, like a candle or a light bulb. Light is what we use to see. When there is no light, then it is dark. This theme tells you to make a game about one source of light. This light source could be held by the player, or it might be placed in the game.
Other meanings: Light is also another word for happiness or good. Something is light when it is not serious. Light can also mean not heavy.

Meaning: When you progress, you get closer to a goal. When you get weaker, it means you are not as strong as you were before. This theme wants you to make a game about the idea that getting closer to a goal makes something weaker.
Other meanings: Weakness can also mean temptation. People are weak to something they really like because it is easy to lead them to that thing. Food is a common weakness for many people. Weakness might also mean vulnerability. Someone might become weak to something that hurts them. Losing armor makes you weak to weapons.

Meaning: In games, a level is a part of the game where the player does something important. A challenge in a level is something that prevents the player from doing that important thing. A level can also be called an area, a scene, a map, or a stage. This theme wants you to make a game where the level doesn't change, but the challenges do.
Other meanings: A level can also be a tool to measure flat surfaces. A challenge could be a contest between people, like a cooking challenge.

Meaning: Self-replication means making copies of yourself. This theme wants you to make a game about something that copies itself. This could be the player, a character in the game, or something else. The idea behind this is to have many copies of the same thing in your game, and that those copies get made during play, not during design.
Other meanings: In science, self-replication is about something that can change that can make exact copies of itself at any point during its existence. Cells in the body self-replicate. Cultures attempt to self-replicate by producing children.

Meaning: An environment is a place like a forest or a city. It can be another word for area. This theme wants you to make a game where being in a place causes you to change. "You" could mean the player or another creature. "You" could also be general, changing the theme to "The environment changes everyone".
Other meanings: "The environment" is what we call the general idea of the well-being of the planet. In this meaning we're talking about all the natural parts of the world. When the environment changes, we see many natural disasters. An environment might also be a culture. The "office environment" is the culture at a particular office.

Meaning: Magic is something that breaks the rules of the world to do something, like controlling someone's mind or making a fire appear in your hand. When something is unusual it means that it doesn't appear the same as we expect it. This theme is asking you to make a game about magic that isn't what we expect magic to be. Most people only know magic from games, books, and films. Magic that is unusual will be used to do things that magic isn't usually used for. It might also be that the magic looks very strange.
Other meanings: Stage magic is a kind of performance where someone tricks people into thinking something has happened when it actually has not. Stage magicians use mirrors, lights, and wires to do many of their tricks. This kind of magic is about making people believe that one thing has happened, when another thing has instead. A famous magic trick was making an entire train car look like it had disappeared.

Meaning: Weapons are tools use to cause harm to others, like swords and guns. This theme tells you to make a game where someone is the weapon, not an object. This could mean that the player acts as a weapon, or another character acts as a weapon. It could even be that the player controls a weapon, instead of controlling a person.
Other meanings: A weapon is just another word for a tool that happens to cause harm. The harm that a weapon does might not be physical. An idea can be a weapon that changes someone’s mind.

Happy Voting!

I hope these explanations help you decide which themes to vote for! The list can also help you think up ideas when the final theme is chosen. Have a happy Dare, and let's go make some games!

Theme voting is here! That means that we get our chance to say what themes we most want. This can be hard though, especially when you don't even understand a theme on the list. The Ludum Dare community has a large number of non-native English speakers who might have a hard time with themes that were written largely with English in mind. And some of the themes can just be confusing. I'm here to help you figure them out and connect the themes to cultural ideas that you might not be aware of. This is all just to help everyone out in figuring out what theme to vote for. This list can help everyone, especially if you're wondering "why would anyone choose this theme?" This list simply gives people a better idea about each theme. Some of these meanings might seem simple or pointless, but if they help anyone then that's all that matters.
This is for round 2! Click here for Round 1. Click here for Round 3.

What are these themes?

Here are the themes we're voting on in round 2! The themes are alphabetized and contain as much as I can think of that will help you understand the idea. Some of these have an "Other meanings" which are times when I want to let you know about cultural references, weird meanings for words in the theme, or little changes you can make to the theme. These are not the only interpretations of the themes, these are just examples I came up with to help you get started with making your own interpretations.

Meaning: Color is something that we see. Some colors are red, blue, and green. When you add color to something, we see it differently. When this happens, we might be able to understand something better. "Everything" here tells you that whatever color does in your game, it should be big.
Other meanings: Color can mean life or health. Good color means good health and poor color means poor health. Color can also refer to a flag ("Germany's colors" means the German flag).

Meaning: When you control something, you make decisions for it, like how to move or act. This theme tells you to make a game about someone being able to control more than one character. This can be one at a time, or all at the same time.
Other meanings: A character is also a letter or number in text. Multiple characters might just be a word. Character is also another word for integrity or morals. Control doesn't have to be direct, either. You can control someone by convincing them to do something or by giving instructions.

Meaning: When you move, you change where you are, like when you walk. When you stop moving, you stay in the same place. This theme tells you to make a game where something cannot stop moving or should not stop moving.
Other meanings: It is called moving when you find a new place to live. When something made you very happy or sad or emotional, people say it moved you. When you change your mind about something, people might say you moved to a new idea. You can add a little punctuation to the theme so that it reads "Don't! Stop moving!" This changes the meaning of the theme to be about something that must stop moving.

Meaning: Usually, when you cannot see something, it is still there. This theme wants you to make a game about something that stops being there when someone doesn't look at it.
*Other meanings: This theme is about something called object permanence, a skill that infants learn. Before they learn this, they do not understand that things exist when they can't be seen. The children's game "Peak-a-boo" works with this idea.

Meaning: A superpower is a special ability that someone can do that others cannot do. Superpowers are often related to comic book super heroes, people who might have abilities like flying and super strength. This theme is about inconvenient superpowers. This means that someone's special ability is difficult to use or often causes problems.
Other meanings: Big, important countries are often called superpowers because they control a large amount of the world's power. This can be because the country has a large military, has many people, or makes great advances in science or culture. Something can be inconvenient because it prevents you from doing what you want, like a law that says you cannot lie when you want to lie to someone.

Meaning: When things grow, they get bigger or they change and get older. This theme wants you to make a game about something that is always changing or getting bigger.
Other meanings: When people grow, they often show maturity, integrity, or courage when they would not have before. A person who finally stands up to a bully is someone who has grown. To grow something means to take care of something and help it stay alive and healthy. This meaning is usually used with plants. You can grow ideas by telling people about those ideas or thinking about them. When you're making a game, you are growing a game.

Meaning: A weapon is a tool you use to harm someone or something like a gun or a sword. This theme wants you to make a game about a single weapon, but that weapon can be used in many different ways. The purpose of a weapon is to cause harm, and this theme wants you to have a weapon with many purposes.
Other meanings: A weapon is just another word for a tool that happens to cause harm. The harm that a weapon does might not be physical. An idea can be a weapon that changes someone's mind.

Meaning: A shelter is a place that can protect you from harm or danger. A house is shelter. A tent is shelter from the rain. Shelters are places of protection and comfort.
Other meanings: You can shelter something by protecting it from harm, such as stepping in the way of a punch meant for someone else. You can also shelter a person by not telling that person about something that might cause them distress or harm. A person is considered sheltered when they don't know very much about the dangers of the world. A shelter is also what we call a place where homeless people can sleep and get basic services. An animal shelter is a place where you can find animals like dogs and cats to take home as pets. These animals are usually ones that have been abandoned or taken away from their owners because of abuse.

Meaning: A world is a place so big that no one person can know all of it. When something shrinks, it gets smaller. This theme wants you to make a game about a world that is getting smaller.
Other meanings: A person’s life is often called their world. This means that everything someone experiences is different and unique than someone else, and that they see everything differently. This is also called a worldview, which is an idea of how the world around them works. You can also call a profession’s community a world. For example, “the art world” means the community and knowledge that an artist needs to know. When someone is afraid we might say that they shrink. A shrink is a word for a psychiatrist, someone who helps you work out mental issues. Someone who is very shy is called a "shrinking violet".

Meaning: A signal is a sign or message that you send to someone or something. To be lost means that something can no longer be found. The phrase "signal lost" is used to say that a message that someone received can no longer be found. "Signal lost" is often used on ships or planes that are trying to follow a message back to its source. The signal in this situation is usually a distress signal. These kinds of signals are sent one after the other so that someone can follow it to the source, usually to help.
Other meanings: Phone reception is often called a signal, and the loss of a phone signal means that you cannot make calls. Radios use signals to broadcast their audio, similar to how a distress signal works. A traffic light is often called a signal. People use hand signals when riding bicycles to show where they are turning. Flags are often used as signals on ships. People can be lost, meaning that they don't know where they are or they cannot find where they are going. Lost was the name of a famous American TV show about a group of people trapped on an island. You can add a little punctuation to this theme and turn it into "Signal: 'Lost!'" With this meaning, the message someone sends out is "Lost!"

Meaning: Your perspective is how you see the world. Switching perspectives means changing how you see the world. This could be because you learn something new about the world, or because you look at the world in a different way. Another way to switch perspectives is to control a different character.
Other meanings: Cameras have a perspective that you can change when you are making a 3D game. Changing these perspectives can make a game look very different to the player. Perspective is a term used in drawing to describe how flat drawings can appear 3D.

Meaning: When you are being watched, someone is paying attention to you and following you. The idea of being watched often means that somebody or a group of people always try to know where you are and what you are doing. This is called surveillance, and it is often linked to a government spying on your actions.

Meaning: This theme wants you to make a game about someone becoming something they eat. This is the main gameplay for most of the Kirby games.
Other meanings: This theme is a saying that people use to remind others that they should eat healthy foods. It means that if you eat healthy foods, you will be healthy, and if you eat unhealthy foods, you will be unhealthy.

Meaning: An environment is a place like a forest or a city. It can be another word for area. When you control something, you make decisions for it like how it moves or acts. This theme wants you to make a game about someone who controls the area of the game.
Other meanings: "The environment" is what we call the general idea of the well-being of the planet. In this meaning we're talking about all the natural parts of the world. When the environment changes, we see many natural disasters. An environment might also be a culture. The "office environment" is the culture at a particular office.

Meaning: A scenario is a situation or event that happens like a meeting with your boss. When you control something, you make decisions for it like how it moves or acts. This theme wants you to make a game about someone who controls the events in the game.
Other meanings: A scenario can also be an outline of a novel, a movie, or a play.

Meaning: When you mix two things, you put them together. Once two things are mixed, you usually cannot get the original things back. This theme tells you to make a game about things that someone should not put together.
Other meanings: This theme talks about chemistry or alchemy. These are sciences where you combine substances to make something new. Many stories about chemistry or alchemy are about something bad happening after you mix two things.

Happy Voting!

I hope these explanations help you decide which themes to vote for! The list can also help you think up ideas when the final theme is chosen. Have a happy Dare, and let's go make some games!

Theme voting is here! That means that we get our chance to say what themes we most want. This can be hard though, especially when you don't even understand a theme on the list. The Ludum Dare community has a large number of non-native English speakers who might have a hard time with themes that were written largely with English in mind. And some of the themes can just be confusing. I'm here to help you figure them out and connect the themes to cultural ideas that you might not be aware of. This is all just to help everyone out in figuring out what theme to vote for. This list can help everyone, especially if you're wondering "why would anyone choose this theme?" This list simply gives people a better idea about each theme. Some of these meanings might seem simple or pointless, but if they help anyone then that's all that matters.
This is for Round 3! Click here for Round 1. Click here for Round 2.

What are these themes?

Here are the themes we're voting on in round 3! The themes are alphabetized and contain as much as I can think of that will help you understand the idea. Some of these have an "Other meanings" which are times when I want to let you know about cultural references, weird meanings for words in the theme, or little changes you can make to the theme. These are not the only interpretations of the themes, these are just examples I came up with to help you get started with making your own interpretations.

Meaning: A rule tells you what you can or cannot do, and your game has 3 of them. "You cannot move left." is a rule. "Players can pick up puppies." is a rule. "The Queen cannot take away your home." is another rule. That last one is like a law in the story of the game.
Other meanings: 3 rules can have different interpretations. "Rules" is a verb meaning to govern someone or a place (The Queen rules the country.). It is also an indicator of a really good thing (Flying rules!) "3" is a number, but it could also be a name (3 is a fun person, but has a weird name). Even as a number, it can be the subject of the sentence. (3 rule the kingdom, their names are Alice, Bob, and Catherine. -or- 3 Rules! to celebrate the number 3.)

Meaning: A second is a small about of time, and 60 of them makes a minute. 60 seconds as a theme suggests that there is some kind of minute-long timer, or that you can do something for a total of 60 seconds.
Other meanings: A second can also be something that comes after the first. It could be the second place in a race, or a second choice or option. A "second" is a term used in duels. People fighting in a duel will each choose a "second" or a person to assist them in carrying out the duel (but not to actually fight). A second can also mean a job that you are transferring to.

Meaning: A world is a place so big that no one person can know all of it, and this one is not easy to find or know about. This means that the place might be invisible or its entrance is difficult to locate or use. Basically, this theme means a place that not many people have found.
Other meanings: A person's life is often called their world. This means that everything someone experiences is different and unique than someone else, and that they see everything differently. This is also called a worldview, which is an idea of how the world around them works. You can also call a profession's community a world. For example, "the art world" means the community and knowledge that an artist needs to know.

Meaning: This theme says that when something begins or starts, nothing is there. Nothing can be an empty space, or it can mean no objects. This theme suggests an idea of starting the game having nothing at all.
Other meanings: The beginning of something doesn't have to be the beginning of your game. It can be about something that happens before the game. It can be about the story of your game. Nothing doesn't always have to be about things. Nothing can be a feeling like emptiness or sadness. It can even be about any situation that has not changed in a very long time.

Meaning: Automation is a process of something working on its own. People talk a lot about robots being automated, meaning that a robot doesn't need a human to make it work. A robot can do its work by itself. Automation and automatic are very similar words with similar meanings. In computers, automation often means something that isn't made by a human hand, like a generated map.

Meaning: A genre is a category like "action" or "adventure" or "role-playing game". You can have a thematic genre like "fantasy" or "historical" or "realism" that are about the content of your game. "Action" and "sports" are genres that describe what the player does in a game. This theme tells you to combine two different genres that don't usually work together. The theme gives the example of "turn-based racing" combining the genres of "turn-based" and "racing". The turn-based genre describes games that pause and wait for the player to decide what to do. The racing genre describes games where you are trying to be the first to get to the finish. These genres don't usually work together (they're incompatible) because the racing genre usually uses continuous movement to make a race exciting.

Meaning: Something that is fragile is something that is easy to break. Glass is fragile. An egg is fragile. Confidence can be fragile. Boxes are often marked fragile to let people know that they should be careful not to drop the box. When something is fragile, you should not put a lot of weight on it. Fragile things are not considered strong. They are delicate and vulnerable. Fragile can describe a meek or defenseless person.

Meaning: A labyrinth is a maze. It is a place where people can get lost easily. The goal of many labyrinths is to make it to the center or to make it to an exit. Some labyrinths are made to make people walk a long path in a small space by putting walls in the way. Many labyrinths are shown as having hedges or tall bushes act as walls.
Other meanings: The word labyrinth comes from an old Greek myth about an inventor being trapped in his own maze that was supposed to hold the Minotaur, a monster with a bull's head. A famous film from 1986 is called Labyrinth. The film tells the story of a girl who must travel a dangerous labyrinth to rescue her baby brother who had been stolen away by the goblin king. The idea of the labyrinth has been used by many films, books, and games.

Meaning: Your enemies are people or creatures who try to keep you away from your goals. When you manipulate someone, you get them to do something that they don't want to do. This theme tells you to make a game where someone gets the enemy to do something for them. This might be thought of as outsmarting the enemy, where you trick the enemy into doing something you want.
Other meanings: You can also manipulate things with your hands. This meaning is usually used with tools that you use in a skillful way (I manipulated the hammer to remove the bent nail.). This meaning isn't used as much today.

Meaning: Most buttons only do one thing when pressed. This theme asks you to make a game where a single button can do two things. This could be a button in your game, or it might be a button on the player's keyboard, mouse, or controller.
Other meanings: Buttons are also the small, round discs that you use to close a shirt. A button is also a kind of very common mushroom.

Meaning: A world is a place so big that no one person can know all of it. When the world ends, it means that the world is destroyed or that no one can live there anymore. This theme wants you to make a game about the world ending after only five minutes. Five minutes is about the time it takes to read a few pages of a book.
Other meanings: A person’s life is often called their world. This means that everything someone experiences is different and unique than someone else, and that they see everything differently. This is also called a worldview, which is an idea of how the world around them works. You can also call a profession’s community a world. For example, “the art world” means the community and knowledge that an artist needs to know.

Meaning: A machine is a mechanical tool or robot that does something for you. Something that is tiny is very small. This theme wants you to make a game about machines that are very small.
Other meanings: In science, these are called nanorobots, which are machines that are so small they cannot be seen. They are made of very small parts and are used to do things in small places like inside a cell in the body, or in your blood.

Meaning: Something is unconventional when it is not done in a usual way. This theme wants you to make a game where the something moves in a way that is different from how people expect it to move. This could refer to how the player controls the game.
Other meanings: A movement can also be a group of people that are trying to make an idea popular. The Civil Rights Movement was a group of people trying to get equal rights for every citizen in America. In music, a movement is a section of a song that can be listened to on its own. A movement might also be the parts of a clock or other machine that move.

Meaning: When you save something, you move it out of danger. This theme wants you to make a game about many things or people being in danger, and some of them won't survive.
Other meanings: Saving something also means keeping something for later. People save money to use when they need it. People also save food so they can eat it later.

Meaning: The main character of a story is the person or creature that the story is about. This is the character that makes the story move towards the end. In a game, the main character is usually the person the player controls, and is usually the person to do what needs to be done. This theme tells you that the player does not control that character. The main character exists in your game, but the player controls someone else.

Meaning: A genre is a category like “action” or “adventure” or “role-playing game”. You can have a thematic genre like “fantasy” or “historical” or “realism” that are about the content of your game. “Action” and “sports” are genres that describe what the player does in a game. This theme wants you to make a game that looks like it belongs in a genre, but something in it doesn't work the way it is supposed to work. You could also take basic ideas from a genre (like jumping in a platformer game) and change them or remove them so that the game no longer feels like it is part of that genre.

Happy Voting!

I hope these explanations help you decide which themes to vote for! The list can also help you think up ideas when the final theme is chosen. Have a happy Dare, and let's go make some games!

Final theme voting is here! That means that we get our chance to say what themes we most want. This can be hard though, especially when you don't even understand a theme on the list. The Ludum Dare community has a large number of non-native English speakers who might have a hard time with themes that were written largely with English in mind. And some of the themes can just be confusing. I'm here to help you figure them out and connect the themes to cultural ideas that you might not be aware of. This is all just to help everyone out in figuring out what theme to vote for. This list can help everyone, especially if you're wondering "why would anyone choose this theme?" This list simply gives people a better idea about each theme. Some of these meanings might seem simple or pointless, but if they help anyone then that's all that matters.

What are these themes?

Here are the themes we're voting on in the final round! The themes are alphabetized and contain as much as I can think of that will help you understand the idea. Some of these have an "Other meanings" which are times when I want to let you know about cultural references, weird meanings for words in the theme, or little changes you can make to the theme. These are not the only interpretations of the themes, these are just examples I came up with to help you get started with making your own interpretations.

Meaning: A rule tells you what you can or cannot do, and your game has 3 of them. "You cannot move left." is a rule. "Players can pick up puppies." is a rule. "The Queen cannot take away your home." is another rule. That last one is like a law in the story of the game.
Other meanings: 3 rules can have different interpretations. "Rules" is a verb meaning to govern someone or a place (The Queen rules the country.). It is also an indicator of a really good thing (Flying rules!) "3" is a number, but it could also be a name (3 is a fun person, but has a weird name). Even as a number, it can be the subject of the sentence. (3 rule the kingdom, their names are Alice, Bob, and Catherine. -or- 3 Rules! to celebrate the number 3.)

Meaning: When it is too dark, we need light to be able to see. When people say "a light in the dark" they usually mean a small light that offers just enough light to see, like a candle. Other times, they mean a light that you can see from far away. In this case, the light guides you through the darkness.
Other meanings: Light doesn't always have to be an actual light. It can be a feeling of happiness and hope. The dark also doesn't have to be literal darkness. It can be a difficult time like after the loss of a loved one or during an oppressive rule.

Meaning: This theme says that when something begins or starts, nothing is there. Nothing can be an empty space, or it can mean no objects. This theme suggests an idea of starting the game having nothing at all.
Other meanings: The beginning of something doesn't have to be the beginning of your game. It can be about something that happens before the game. It can be about the story of your game. Nothing doesn't always have to be about things. Nothing can be a feeling like emptiness or sadness. It can even be about any situation that has not changed in a very long time.

Meaning: Color is something that we see. Some colors are red, blue, and green. When you add color to something, we see it differently. When this happens, we might be able to understand something better. "Everything" here tells you that whatever color does in your game, it should be big.
Other meanings: Color can mean life or health. Good color means good health and poor color means poor health. Color can also refer to a flag ("Germany's colors" means the German flag).

Meaning: A genre is a category like "action" or "adventure" or "role-playing game". You can have a thematic genre like "fantasy" or "historical" or "realism" that are about the content of your game. "Action" and "sports" are genres that describe what the player does in a game. This theme tells you to combine two different genres that don't usually work together. The theme gives the example of "turn-based racing" combining the genres of "turn-based" and "racing". The turn-based genre describes games that pause and wait for the player to decide what to do. The racing genre describes games where you are trying to be the first to get to the finish. These genres don't usually work together (they're incompatible) because the racing genre usually uses continuous movement to make a race exciting.

Meaning: An island is land surrounded by something, usually water. This theme suggests making a game where there are islands that float. An island can be said to float on water, or on some other liquid, like tar. A floating island might also be an island that is up in the air.
Other meanings: A raised portion of land that separates two sides of a road is called an island. You can describe anything that is by itself or alone as an island. A table or counter in the middle of a kitchen is sometimes called an island. The phrase "floating island" might describe an island where you can float.

Meaning: Something that is fragile is something that is easy to break. Glass is fragile. An egg is fragile. Confidence can be fragile. Boxes are often marked fragile to let people know that they should be careful not to drop the box. When something is fragile, you should not put a lot of weight on it. Fragile things are not considered strong. They are delicate and vulnerable. Fragile can describe a meek or defenseless person.

Meaning: This theme wants you to make a game about something that spreads. When something spreads, it grows larger to fill an area. Water spreads when you dump it on the floor. Fire spreads when it finds new fuel like wood. Grass spreads when we grow it. A disease spreads when more people get sick. Gossip spreads when people talk to each other about someone else. Basically, whenever something covers a larger area, it is said to spread.
Other meanings: A "spread" is another name for a variety of similar things. For example, a spread of books would be a bunch of different books. We use the word spread when we're trying to say that there's something for everyone in a selection that we have provided. People also call any condiment a spread, like ketchup, mayonnaise, jam, or butter. You spread these condiments on food so that they cover an even surface, like spreading jam on a piece of toast. A blanket you put on top of your bed is often called a bed spread. Although spreading is about filling a space, it can also be used to describe something that has been pulled apart. You spread a loaf of bread by pulling it apart instead of cutting it.

Meaning: When things grow, they get bigger or they change and get older. This theme wants you to make a game about something that is always changing or getting bigger.
Other meanings: When people grow, they often show maturity, integrity, or courage when they would not have before. A person who finally stands up to a bully is someone who has grown. To grow something means to take care of something and help it stay alive and healthy. This meaning is usually used with plants. You can grow ideas by telling people about those ideas or thinking about them. When you're making a game, you are growing a game.

Meaning: Self-replication means making copies of yourself. This theme wants you to make a game about something that copies itself. This could be the player, a character in the game, or something else. The idea behind this is to have many copies of the same thing in your game, and that those copies get made during play, not during design.
Other meanings: In science, self-replication is about something that can change that can make exact copies of itself at any point during its existence. Cells in the body self-replicate. Cultures attempt to self-replicate by producing children.

Meaning: A shelter is a place that can protect you from harm or danger. A house is shelter. A tent is shelter from the rain. Shelters are places of protection and comfort.
Other meanings: You can shelter something by protecting it from harm, such as stepping in the way of a punch meant for someone else. You can also shelter a person by not telling that person about something that might cause them distress or harm. A person is considered sheltered when they don't know very much about the dangers of the world. A shelter is also what we call a place where homeless people can sleep and get basic services. An animal shelter is a place where you can find animals like dogs and cats to take home as pets. These animals are usually ones that have been abandoned or taken away from their owners because of abuse.

Meaning: An environment is a place like a forest or a city. It can be another word for area. This theme wants you to make a game where being in a place causes you to change. "You" could mean the player or another creature. "You" could also be general, changing the theme to "The environment changes everyone".
Other meanings: "The environment" is what we call the general idea of the well-being of the planet. In this meaning we're talking about all the natural parts of the world. When the environment changes, we see many natural disasters. An environment might also be a culture. The "office environment" is the culture at a particular office.

Meaning: Magic is something that breaks the rules of the world to do something, like controlling someone's mind or making a fire appear in your hand. When something is unusual it means that it doesn't appear the same as we expect it. This theme is asking you to make a game about magic that isn't what we expect magic to be. Most people only know magic from games, books, and films. Magic that is unusual will be used to do things that magic isn't usually used for. It might also be that the magic looks very strange.
Other meanings: Stage magic is a kind of performance where someone tricks people into thinking something has happened when it actually has not. Stage magicians use mirrors, lights, and wires to do many of their tricks. This kind of magic is about making people believe that one thing has happened, when another thing has instead. A famous magic trick was making an entire train car look like it had disappeared.

Meaning: Weapons are tools use to cause harm to others, like swords and guns. This theme tells you to make a game where someone is the weapon, not an object. This could mean that the player acts as a weapon, or another character acts as a weapon. It could even be that the player controls a weapon, instead of controlling a person.
Other meanings: A weapon is just another word for a tool that happens to cause harm. The harm that a weapon does might not be physical. An idea can be a weapon that changes someone’s mind.

Meaning: This theme wants you to make a game about someone becoming something they eat. This is the main gameplay for most of the Kirby games.
Other meanings: This theme is a saying that people use to remind others that they should eat healthy foods. It means that if you eat healthy foods, you will be healthy, and if you eat unhealthy foods, you will be unhealthy.

Meaning: When you mix two things, you put them together. Once two things are mixed, you usually cannot get the original things back. This theme tells you to make a game about things that someone should not put together.
Other meanings: This theme talks about chemistry or alchemy. These are sciences where you combine substances to make something new. Many stories about chemistry or alchemy are about something bad happening after you mix two things.

Happy Voting!

I hope these explanations help you decide which themes to vote for! The list can also help you think up ideas when the final theme is chosen. Have a happy Dare, and let's go make some games!