Lith is the library that I will be using to develop my compo entry. It is written in C++ and has a Direct3D9 wrapper (that supports drawing triangles and sprites), a class for creating windows and a class for reading/writing files.

It also includes tlib. Another library I wrote that has a string class and various collection classes. Why did I reinvent the STL? I don’t know…

Lith can be downloaded here. There is no documentation for these libraries because I hurriedly cobbled them together over the past two weeks or so.

There is also a basic program skeleton that creates and empty window here.

So I have finished my first day’s work on my game Frog Rescue.  The idea of the game is that there are frogs crossing a network of roads and you set up roadblocks to prevent them being run over by cars.

The game can be downloaded here. Currently, you can press A to zoom the camera out (although I’ll probably change the camera controls tomorrow).

I’m also documenting my progress on my (web 1.0 style) ‘blog’ at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~moores8/ld13/index.html

And now I’m going to bed.

So my game is now almost playable, you can set up roadblocks (only 5 at a time) to stop the cars from running over the frogs. Unfortunately you can’t really see your score at the moment because I haven’t drawn sprites for all digits yet. A work-in-progress version can be downloaded here (Requires Windows and DirectX 9).

There are more progress logs available at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~moores8/ld13/index.html.

Tags: Frog Rescue, progress update, screenshot

I have completed the gameplay and added a high-score and a title screen (and yes, that photo was taken during the competition!). There are a couple of rough edges, but I don’t have enough motivation to do any more in the time left. Overall I’m really happy with my entry and how the compo went. Looking forward to the next one! Download here (includes Windows binary and source, tested on Windows XP 32bit only)

Tags: final

This will be my second time entering Ludum Dare and again I will be using C++ with a custom library. Although this time my library supports Linux as well as Windows so if all goes well I should be able to make a Linux port :). The library is very minimalist supporting only coloured triangles, textured triangles and sprites for graphics which sounds very limiting, but it was perfectly adequate last time so I will stick with it :).

The library is called Obelisk and can be downloaded from here.

Other software I will be using:

• Visual Studio 2008 for code
• Paint.NET for graphics
• sfxr for sound
• HydraIRC for IRC

I don’t have any strategies planned for making my entry or even any game ideas. Although I have been thinking that maybe instead of thinking of the game idea at the start, I would code up a bunch of different game elements and then figure out how to combine them into a game later.

Tags: basecode, declaration

So my ADSL router decided to stop working this weekend. I spent a while trying to fix it, but in the end I gave up and bought a new one. As for my game, it’s called “Killer Knife-Robots from Knife Planet K” and I have a demo available for download (requires Windows). It’s not playable yet, but it does have spinning blades of doom. I am probably going to make it so that you can take control of the robots and use them to destroy the other robots.

Spinning blades of doom!

Tags: demo, journal

At the start of the day I didn’t feel like I was making much progress, but now I think I’m getting somewhere. I’ve decided that the objective of the game is to survive as long as possible before the robots eventually kill you. My original idea was that the player would be able to take control of the robots (which would actually fit the theme better), but I’m too lazy to implement that :).

My plan for tomorrow is to get up early, ingest lots of caffeine and sugar, and spend the rest of the time polishing up my game.

There is a playable version of my game available for download (requires Windows).

Title screen

And now I’m off to bed.

Tags: demo, update

Ok, I think my entry is good enough to submit and there’s probably not enough time to make any last minute changes so here it is, the final version of “Killer Knife-Robots from Knife Planet K” (Windows version).

The game is fully playable and there is a high score as an attempt to add some replay value. Instructions and controls are in the Readme.txt file in the zip.

The development process went quite smoothly and there were no major bugs. I did make a whole bunch of little mistakes (especially at the end) but I was able to resolve them quickly. Also my collision detection code  was really slow, but I was able to speed it up by doing bound-box checking before doing the actual checks (which involved a lot of floating-point maths).

I’m quite pleased with my second Ludum Dare entry and look forward to doing another one! Right now I’m hyped up on sugar and caffeine (my sleep substitute) so I’ll probably go for a bike ride or something. See you all next time!

Screenshot of final game

Tags: final, screenshot, update

I wasn’t planning on entering this time, but I was recently made unemployed. I have been talking with another company about getting a new job so if that interferes with LD then I probably won’t enter, otherwise I will definitely enter.

Anyway, if I do enter I might go in the Jam and make a prototype for a game idea I had recently (an RTS, but in space!) or maybe something involving hats. Regardless, I will be using C++ with the same custom library that I used for LD18. I might make some modifications to it to add some more stuff like collision detection that I had to write during LD18 and make sound work on Linux.

Tools I will be using:

• HydraIRC for IRC.
• C++ compiler from Visual Studio 2008 (text editor for code and makefiles for compiling)
• Paint.NET for graphics. I will make better graphics than last time, I promise! I was really disappointed with how bad the graphics were, and some comments indicated that they actually affected the gameplay, so I will do better this time.
• Blender if I do any 3D stuff, although I haven’t done 3D in LD before.
• sfxr and maybe Audacity for sound.

Last week I wrote a post about whether I will enter or not, and I can now confirm that I will be entering (also, I got a job so I won’t be unemployed for much longer).

I still have no idea what I will make, but the themes look really cool. Another idea I had for the Jam was to finish a remake of my first LD game that I started earlier this year (or at least add a bunch of awesome power-ups). But I’m not sure if working on an existing project would violate the spirit of the Jam, what do you people think?

Also, I got drawing tablet earlier in the week, so I might make a game that would involve lots of graphics, like some sort of adventure/RPG. I might also try to go for a high score in the humour category.

And I have a picture of my desk where I will be spending the weekend:

Tags: deskphoto

Ok I’m done and I’m completely shattered after staying up all last night and working like crazy right up until the submission time.

My game is called Island Commander and it can be downloaded from here. The game is kind-of inspired by Carrier Command but with a completely different combat system. I wanted to have a story driven game so I put a bunch of cutscenes in there but they are short because I didn’t have much time to work on them (I did most of them in the last hour).

Currently it requires Windows Vista or 7, but I’ll probably do a Linux port and make it work for XP as well.

The game itself is fully playable and there are cutscenes and in-game help. I didn’t really test it too much so I have no idea if it is too hard or easy (I suspect it might be too hard). There is no music or sound effects and I would have liked to have done more graphics (especially the picture for the bad guy) and a few other things as well, but overall I think there is a solid game there.

I had heaps of fun working on this entry (although it doesn’t really feel like it right now because I’m really tired and have a bit of a headache). It was great talking to everyone on IRC (although I didn’t say much on the first day, because the chat was moving so fast I could hardly keep up).

Next time, which I hope isn’t for a long time (say… 4 months? :)) I hope to be better prepared  as I didn’t really have many tools or a functional library (I say this every time), and I spent a few hours at the start getting fonts into the game. Also my progress was slow on the first two days and I didn’t really start getting into it until last night and today. Perhaps if I spend more time planning, and less time watching IRC go by I would be more motivated?

Tags: final

I wasn’t planning to enter this time, but decided to anyway at the last minute, so I’m not very well prepared. I have to work on Monday so it will only be a 24-hour contest for me. This time I will be using D instead of C++. I’ll still be using my custom library (Obelisk) which I’ve mostly ported (except I haven’t done a Linux version, so my game won’t have a Linux port this time :()

Since I’m short on time, I’ll try to keep my game simple instead of making something unique like I usually do. So I’ll probably do a shooter or platformer or something.

Tools:

• IRC: HydraIRC
• IDE: text editor and makefiles
• Graphics: Paint.NET
• Audio: sfxr, Audacity

This desk layout has survived two house moves :)

Tags: declaration, deskphoto

I’m entering again using my custom library written in D (download here) which is basically a wrapper for OpenGL and FreeType and has some helper functions for other things.

Things i’ll be using:

D (code written in a text editor, compiled with a makefile), TortoiseSVN, Paint.NET, PhotoImpact 12 (works better with my drawing tablet), urbanfonts.com for fonts, HydraIRC. I’ll probably post some stuff on my webpage (http://jerm.geek.nz/ld23) and my twitter (http://twitter.com/DigiJerm).

I also made a countdown clock using an LED badge I have. Here it is in action with the rest of my setup:

Tags: deskphoto, tools