There are three endings in the game: bad, neutral and good. The game is short and focused on dialogue and world-building. It is about belonging and facing the reality. You will learn more about Mimi, the Human and Magical Domain and the origins of humans <3

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/magical-domain

So excited for this! Theme is interesting imo and after a good night sleep (it's 2 am...) I will start working on it!! Not sure what engine to use though since I am still a newbie in coding :"D

Decided to make a game in Twine, learning the engine along the way! It will be a story-based game with choices and pictures and a few different endings ~ so far background for the story and the very beginning is done, working out a visual style for pictures :3

Last day of working on the game, most art is done, and I added a mini-game where you can combine a poem from the offered lines ~ With 4 lines and 4 options for each, there are 256 possible combinations!

My second Ludum Dare, and the game is complete~ Very excited about this one!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/single-circle

Other Games

My second Ludum Dare has come to an end, and it's time to reflect on the process & the results. I had a delightful time playing a lot of great games - my stats say I tried out about 88 of them! - and added some new favourites on my itch.io. Here are some of the best ones I played:

1. The CUTEST one: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/packed-to-the-gills

2. The best take on and old classic I ever saw, and best AUDIO for me: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/cyber-serpent

3. A pixel adventure for a COZY experience: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/homeward

4. Really fun little game with CANDIES: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/candy-catcher

5. A BOARD game I printed out and had fun playing: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/packing-for-dracobeach-the-limited-space-conundrum

6. A cozy game with the most adorable bird and HOME DESIGN: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/leaving-the-nest

7. Most interesting take on the THEME for me: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/homeonaut

8. Mechanic I enjoyed the MOST: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/under-the-spot

Process

~ I learned Twine for this Jam, and didn't have time to even check it out before. So the Jam started, I decided to use Twine and downloaded the latest version. While learning how to use it, I realized it's not the best choice for me as I want to add a TON of pictures. I switched to version 1.4.2 and spent my remaining time on learning the engine, working out the plot&world, drawing pictures and CGs for the endings, writing the text, developing mini-games and bonuses, working on the game page, etc.

Proudest moments + I am most proud of my "construct a poem" mini-game. I am not really a programmer, so making it work with pretty simple code and realizing it has 256 possible combinations made me incredibly happy <3 + In my opinion, I did grow a lot as an artist since my last LD jam, and I am pretty happy with the drawings I did in that limited amount of time. + I made music myself in BeepBox, even though I have no ear for music, and it was mostly received well (it was said to be repetitive, but nobody said it was horrible to listen to xD) + My main category, MOOD, has seen an improvement in ratings: + I received a lot of great feedback and even the CUTEST fanart from one of the jammers!!!

by https://ldjam.com/users/fupi

Room for improvement + It seems I have created expectation for more branching in the story by implementing six endings, when my initial idea was to create a more unique and personal playthrough for the player to experience & enjoy without trying to go in for the second round. I definitely have to keep it in mind if I work on a multiple-endings-game again! + More experience in coding will allow me to create more memorable gameplay and more interesting UI - that is definitely one of the goals for the next time. + Art definitely has to keep developing, I am aiming for higher marks on my art for sure, but there are still ways to go! >v< + Keep working on Mood as my best category!!! (I wish there was one for Writing/Story/Worldbuilding but ig that's all going in mood?)

Plans for next jam

I am going to continue making games, learning new engines and programming languages, as well as developing my art skills. My next project is a Yuri Visual Novel for https://itch.io/jam/yuri-game-jam-2023 and I've already started working on it!

Excited for another Ludum Dare, which will be the third one for me! Can't wait to find out which theme wins this time. Made a few suggestions that I personally find interesting as a more narrative-focused game developer:

Initiation

Rebirth

Wish magic

Finishing up the work to clear time for Ludum Dare. I am so excited to do this again!!

Last few times I used RPG Maker MV and Twine 2. As I don't have a lot of programming knowledge, and unfortunately didn't have time to learn more coding in recent months, I will probably use a similar engine again ^^''

What engine will you be using? :)

*As this jam is sponsored by GameMaker, sharing a screenshot from my game The Last Light of Ursavus (https://kanity.itch.io/the-last-light-of-ursavus) made in GameMaker. However, it requires a lot more coding so not sure if I'll be able to use it for 3-day-jam with my current coding skills :)

As it's 4 am right now, time to sleep and let that passive brain magic work! And the theme sounds pretty magical for me, so I am excited to brainstorm the ideas tomorrow.

It's going to be a jam for me, so I have around 3 days. Saturday, Sunday and Monday. And the main objective tomorrow is to come up with the game concept, game design and decide on an engine - and, of course, start writing and drawing! :)

How is everyone finding the theme? Can't wait to check out all the different takes on it in a few days time! <3

Finally got my game uploaded, a few minutes before deadline! >_< The page is bare for now, gotta make it pretty & and I am crossing my fingers there are no bugs left in my final build!

Gosh... So shaken from nerves, will make description for the game and post-mortem later. I am just happy I finished a playable build, even if I had to cut a looooot of corners 3_3

feeling dead now

Are there any lovecraftian horror games OR cooking games you made/liked in this Jam? I would love to play something like that, but after going through about 30 games encountered maybe 1 or 2.

(image for attention, from my entry "Evocation")

By the way, I made a developer walkthrough video this Ludum Dare again, for my entry Evocation! It has my commentary on development process, includes all the endings and spells, and story explanation in the end ~ You can watch it on YouTube if you are curious. I think last time video playthrough helped a few jammers to check out the game (especially since HTML version is not that good >_<)

https://youtu.be/rh0n_WIMwF4

(check time codes in description!)

Whew, played 77 whole games this Jam, more than ever before, I think! There were sooo many good ones, too! It's really hard to pick an overall favourite now, and with 5 hours left for voting I hope everyone plays & rates games in Danger category!

However, I would like to shout-out some of my favourites!

• Maybe at the top there is a game by a fantastic team (@norah & the others!) that created 3 games for LD already, all of which I adored. This one even tops previous entries, I think:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/haunted-cartomancy

It's an atmospheric story game, beautiful and polished.

• Another story game that has a cool approach to a mystery and some horror vibes; I played @ava-skoog 's horror game last jam and this one is even better ^^

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/bergmal

• There were a few games that had drawing as a mechanic, and I found that really cool:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/blakulla Drawing shapes to summon elemental creatures, tower-defense like, pretty art!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/pictomancer Drawing shapes as fast and accurate as you can to score points, it's really cool how the game remembers the way you drew a shape and repeats it exactly. And it also looks super pretty!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/witch-courtier You connect stars in constellations, which is such a magical idea +_+ And it was fun to play!

• One gorgeous game that was recommended to me by my friend, @fupi

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/daemonis-algebra Cute and soooo fun! I loved it!

And of course, my friends' games:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/ordinary-wizards-doing-ordinary-things - Funny game by @fupi in his gorgeous doodle style ~

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/idea-catcher-summoning-tools - Cute puzzle made by a whole team, and @drgcandle as their spokesperson: he was such a pleasure to talk to, and a sweet supporter of my own game!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/emperors-gems - A chill idle game with pretty graphics, by @togis and @burchyn - they played 100(!) games this Ludum Dare and their streams were so fun to watch! ^-^

*That's all for now, thanks to everyone for their great games, I am sure I forgot to mention some of the gems out there, really enjoyed playing so many fantastic entries this month!!

The plan for the Signal theme is complete, starting my project in Godot! I am super new to coding tbh so I am really nervous but aiming for COMPO this time. Hopefully I can make it happen! Not even sure how to share script for compo yet but we'll get there ig. The concept is to create people's dreams ^^ I'll do my best and maybe share some progress here :)

Title of the game is subject to change, buuuut the proccess is proccessing! I've made the main scene, points of interest, and recorded a little voice-over ^v^

For my first COMPO things are going pretty well actually, I've published a raw build for now - the game is technically playable, but today I am going to add some sound effects, more voice over, draw the CGs and ofc polish the game as much as I can! :)

The game is complete, and all that's left is to upload and publish and I want to cry from happiness and relief xD Very happy with how it turned out in the end, and hopefully there will be no bugs and crashes when people play it! :D

Hey everyone! ^v^/

Just like previous times, I have recorded a YouTube video of me playing my own game :D It's like a developer playthrough with commentary, but I've added time stamps if you want to just check out the dreams. The link is on my page, but I'll post it here as well; if you are curious to hear more about the game and creative proccess, or you can't play it for some reason and want to watch the playthrough, here it is:

https://youtu.be/Pfdv7jqL_Gg

As the Ludum Dare approaches its finale, I wanted to list some games I found fun and enjoyed the most ^^ My friend @vidarn recently made a gorgeous post with fanart of all the games they liked playing this LD, and I admit I am stealing this idea! I wanted to draw more but got progressively more disappointed in my artistic ability (or just tired?)

So here they are! I will split the post in two parts cause there are too many xD

1 Blipp (@vidarn) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/blipp

Obviously starting with this one. A lovely short adventure with beautiful graphics and usage of split screen. Highly recommend!

2 Satellite Days (@lectvs) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/satellite-days

One of the BEST games I've played this jam. It was so fun!! It might look simple at the first glance, but definitely try this one out if you haven't already - gameplay is engaging, somewhat challenging but not too much, and the game evolves with every level, getting to the EPIC ending!

3 Signal Sleuth (@jdeedubs, @ordineu, @bluewoozle, @thedugnutt and @csuth17) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/signal-sleuth-wip

This was not easy but definitely one of the games I remember the most. I swear, I did at least 40 tries to beat one cursed level! And that means I liked the game, since I was willing to sit there in the night and try and try and try again. It's also good practice for doing two things at once!

4 The Sound Store (@busisen and @jejkobb) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/the-sound-store

This was a lucky find, this game. It's drawn on paper, by hand, so the visual style is fantastic. It looks cute, and cozy, and I found the gameplay pretty original and chill (well, chill until waves combination where I failed ofc xD) Try it out if you haven't!! You'll probably do better than me xD

5 Misplaced (@manabreak) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/misplaced

I like all the games by Manabreak and this one is no exception. It's a very fun platformer, for me - not too difficult, it feels polished and it's funny :) I've played it myself and then forced my boyfriend to play it too. He breezed through it of course (he is a huge fan of metroidvanias). I would love to play a full game like this!

6 Pouring rain (@jackofcups and @t-c) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/pouring-rain

Second part of Rain (https://theworldsquid.itch.io/rain). So I've played them both! I found the story to be very interesting, and I love adventures like this. There is a walkthrough too if you get stuck. The game is pretty and atmospheric, and it's fun to build theories about it. Waiting for the full release xD

7 Robo Phone Home (@wuppos and @pastry-chef) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/robo-phone-home

Wuppos's art is always so pretty, and again I liked the visual style of this game a lot ^^ So cute! It wasn't very easy for me, but it has an interesting and polished gameplay that fits the theme well, so def try it out! :)

// Second part coming soon!!