Well, this is the second LD I’ve participated in. I didn’t finish last time, and this time I’m adamant I’ll make it, either within the actual compo limits or at least in the jam.

My original idea for the theme ‘evolution’ was to make an old-school space shooter where the enemies register player behavior and alter their actions accordingly. It was to be based on player weapon preference and locational preference on the screen. These elements would have been taken into account when spawning enemies, affecting both enemy type and emergence location.

Unfortunately, by the time I had a working space shooter up and running, I realized I don’t have enough time left to add this functionality. Now I’m left with a game, that while almost finished, doesn’t actually have anything to do with the running theme.

Embarrasing.

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Tags: progress, screenshot

I’m in yet again.

I’m having a tiny real-world gathering with some first time LDers over the weekend, so I’m expecting this compo to be even more fun than usual. It’ll be great to have testers and fellow creative minds all around you, not to mention a common pool of snacks and refreshments 😉

Here is hoping I’ll finish my second entry this time around, I’m starting to feel a bit embarrassed by the long gap since my last finalized entry in LD #24. Fingers crossed!

As for my choice of tools, I’m sticking to what I know best:

• Game Maker
• Bfxr
• GIMP

Nothing fancy! I’m also trying to limit myself this time around and make doubly sure I don’t attempt creating something that I haven’t done before, or at least know clearly how to do. I’ve learned my lesson – going in over your head in a 48h competition is a recipe for disaster.

See you guys in about 16 hours. Best of luck to everyone!

Tags: LD #28

Well, here we are.

I woke up two hours after that theme had been announced. After that I spent the next three hours sitting in a train, creating a concept for my entry.

My idea: You only get one (minute)

The whole game must be beaten in one minute, or the player is reset to the beginning. Some changes in the levels however, like switches pulled and doors opened don’t get reverted. This way you keep opening new shortcuts every time, and making more and more progress. Eventually you can clear the whole game within the one minute time-frame.

What is working so far

I’ve got basic movement and collision detection working. I’m going to stop tweaking with them at this point, and only come back to add polish to the mechanics if I have time left later on. Next I’m going to start working on hazards for the player.

Really impressed how for some others have already got with their projects.

Here is a screenshot with some rude graphics.

The basic engine is pretty much up and running, now if I’d only be able to build a compelling game around it 😉

Tags: 2D, progress, screenshot

Oh man. Went to bed and suddenly 9 hours just disappeared.

Oh  well, at least I slept better than I’ve slept in a long long time! I just hope I have enough time to pull the game together today, otherwise its off to the jam for me.

I’m still completely missing level design, and the timing system that pulls the whole game together. The time limit is super easy to pull off, but creating compelling levels is where this thing might fall apart.

Here is what I have going on now:

– Pushable blocks
– Hazards: Snakes, spikes
– Bombs and destroyable blocks
– Falling blocks
– Doors with switches
– Pickups
– Scrolling

I finished my second entry and you can play it right now! It’s a small Metroidvania-style platformer, inspired by the MSX game Legacy of the Wizard.

When I uploaded my game, there was 28 seconds left on the compo timer. I guess it wouldn’t have mattered if the actual uploading had gone a few minutes over the time limit, but I was dead set on getting my entry in within the deadline. Can  you imagine the rush when uploading the game on the last minute?

I’m happy with my entry, although its really buggy and a lot of the mechanics (even the jump!) are basically in a placeholder state. Because I got the game finished so close to the deadline, there was no time for proper testing either, so a lot of the level design is really annoying and the game flows awkawrdly. I  feel that didn’t manage to capitalize on my central mechanic enough (You Only Have One Minute), and that the time limit feels more like an annoyance then a legit gameplay mechanic.

Looking back at the last 48 hours, here is what I think went right:

• Working on the big picture, not the details: Instead of polishing single mechanics as I built them, my first priority was getting everything into a barely playable stage.
• Time management: I made a plan with an hourly time allocation before I wrote even a single line of code. Then I stuck to that plan like my life depended on it – most of the time!
• Doing what I know: I’ve made quite a few platformers in Game Maker, so I decided I would go with what I know best. Trying to create something that I haven’t done before within the compo timeframe has been my downfall on previous LDs.
• Having a Plan B: Before I started working, I wrote concepts for two different games: one more simple, the other more involving. I made sure to plan both with a lot of similar mechanics, so code from one could be repurposed for the other if need be. I felt comfortable developing my game knowing that if my first plan were to fail, I could still fall back on the second one.

Congrats to everyone else who finished, and good luck to those still putting the finishing touches on their Jam entries

Now its time to start reviewing!

Tags: 2d platformer, finished, LD28, metroidvania, post-mortem

 
I really thought I would sit this LD out. But it turns out that with a free weekend in my hands and the missus conveniently out of the house, I simply can’t resist!

So, what are my goals for LD29?

First I want to pay special attention to the theme. Fortunately the themes in the final voting round seem like some of the best in a long time. In my previous LD entries my connection to the theme has been superficial at best, so this time I want to make it my central focus from the beginning.

Second I want to take things at my own pace. I’ve always raced for the 48-hour compo time limit, but this time I’m taking things slow and not worrying about the time. If I feel like taking an extra day to polish my game, then off to the Jam it is!

Good luck to everyone! Looking forward to all the amazing games!

As promised yesterday, here are some collected thoughts on my LD29 entry Into the Abyss. This was my third time finishing Ludum Dare and first time in the 72-hour category.

What went right?

• Graphics first: Unlike before, the very first thing I made was the graphics. I’ve always thought that its best to save that for last, but this time around I learned that making graphics early on can be very beneficial when facing a time limit. Not only do you get inspired by your own art, but having something tangible to look at early on helps you nail down your central gameplay as well.

• Lay off the stress: Before I have been very stringent with my use of time over the weekend, but this time around I didn’t pay much mind to the clock and took things at a leisurely pace. I went out with my friends, slept long in the morning and cooked and ate some fantastic dinners. Guess what happened? I actually put more work in the game than I have ever before. There is no point in sitting in front of your computer with a blank stare for the whole weekend, refreshing yourself will be much more beneficial in the long run!

• Taking the shortcut: I’ve always tried to keep my code as tidy as possible in case that I would like to re-use parts of it in the future. This time I had none of that. The finished code is an uncommented mess that probably even I can’t comprehend after a few days. Every time I had a new idea I simply crammed it in the most crude way possible, and kept it as long as it worked. But it was all for the better, as this helped me have all the features that I wanted and make the game much more complete. And lets be honest – I’m never going to touch that code again.

What went wrong?

• Get on with the times: This was my third LD and I’m still doing simple, retroish throwback games to the years of old. It’s getting stale real quick. With the advent of ever simpler game development platforms the influx of games just like the ones I like to make has been massive. People aren’t simply as interested in them anymore. 3D has become commonplace and low-poly is the new pixel. People are looking for unique and quirky games that can be played quickly, most often right in their in a web browser. If I wish to get more than bored sighs out of gamers I really need to step up my game.

• Show, don’t tell: So I thought taking photos of enemies would be a cool gimmick. I got the gimmick part right, but the actual execution is somewhat lacklustre. Worse yet, the camera is not explained at all in-game but only in the info dump on the download page. Guess how many people have read that so far? Zero. The comments are filling up with people confused about the camera, and they are fully right in that. If you decide to have an uncommon gameplay element do everyone a favor and explain it properly.

And to finish this post off, here is a shout out to the best games I’ve played so far. Don’t miss them!

• Deep Diver a superbly polished arcade game that would be right at home in a cabinet
• The Westport Independent a game about censorship in the vein of Papers, please!
• The Monastery a fantastic tribute to old SSI roleplaying games
• Water Hazard a horror game in the style of PS1-era tech
• Sub Terraria Zero a tidy and hard minimalistic 2D-platformer
• console.enable(); a platformer where you can tweak in-game variables

 

 

 

Managed to finish my entry, despite a bit of hardship over the weekend. My total time creating the game amounted to about 30 hours, out of which 8 hours were spent on a train (Ultrabooks hooray!) and another 8 I was asleep.

As soon as I have the time, I’ll start reviewing as many awesome games I can. Congrats once again to everyone who made it to the finish line and see you guys come next LD!

https://sendvid.com/fg4zo5uu#

I guess it’s a diesel engine? Now all it is missing is a game.

Trying to wrap this into a game for the jam deadline.