First timer here. I burned the first 12 or so hours brainstorming ideas for the theme, never able to settle on something I liked well enough to work on. But I managed to pin down a concept that seemed interesting, and hopefully doable in the time that’s left.

And several hours after that, I have one feature that works, and some sprites that may or may not be changed later. It’s something, at least.

Okay, I’ve got the core mechanics mostly coded up. Currently working on sprites and animations. After that, I’ll have to try to create some levels to play with.

The idea of the game is pretty simple: get to the other side of the screen (or wherever the exit is, when I start making proper levels). In the way are guards that will try to stop you. Fortunately, it’s pretty dark outside, so they won’t be able to spot you right away. But if you get too close, or step into the lighted areas, they’ll start chasing.

For the shapeshift theme, I decided to have a character that changes modes depending on whether they’re in the light or the darkness, and each mode gives different abilities.

(Pardon the programmer art, I’m not exactly an artist.)

In the darkness, you can sink into the ground to make yourself invisible to the two-footed statues (I’m calling them Moai Guys for lack of a better name). In the light, you can start glowing brightly, which blinds the floating eye-rocks and stops them dead in their tracks. And if all else fails, you can always try breaking line-of-sight, if there’s something to hide behind.

Of course, the problem is that with less than ten hours left to go, I’m not sure if I’ll make it in time, especially since I’m doing this solo. Only time will tell.

Unfortunately, despite putting much effort into making my game, it seems I’m unable to complete it in time. I had planned to stay up all night working on it, but the combination of sleeplessness, tension, and stress pretty much killed whatever creative energy I had left. And so, halfway through the night, I decided to throw in the towel and get some sleep.

It’s not so bad. It was a fun experience, and I learned some things along the way.

First of all, I wasted way too much time brainstorming. Really, 12+ hours? I should have given myself an hour or two at most, picked something, and ran with it. Every bit of time that can be devoted to actual development is important when you only have 48-72 hours.

Second, I think I may have tried to do too much as a solo developer. My strengths lie in design and programming. Art, not so much, though I’m slowly trying to pick up that skill. Music and sounds, not at all. Instead of playing to my strengths, I got too ambitious and tried to do all the things. What I should have done is either try to keep the scope of what I’d have to work on really really small, or look for people to work with before the event started.

All in all, through I’m disappointed that I didn’t finish my first Ludum Dare, I’m glad I tried anyway. In the meantime, it looks like other folks have been making some amazing games, and I can’t wait to play them.