Thank you everyone who plays and votes. This is my second game, and my first game jam so it means a lot to me that you're taking the time to do so.

My first game was similar... a ball you roll down the field. But in that game I only used the baked in unity assets. Everything was made from cubes, spheres, and cylinders.

In this game I took it up a notch by learning ProBuilder, and how to shape the terrain. I also built some new, more organic shapes, and learned how to make a glass texture. Coupled with the cotton candy colors, and the pink fog, it gave the game a more dreamy look. I also added the ability to "collect" the crystals, and gave it a cool explosion when doing so.

I tried to figure out how to add a score for the crystal pick ups, but I wasn't able to figure that out in time. Instead I added a little creature to float around the scene and give it more life. It took a few different tests to get the little fairies to move around, but I finally found a great script that made them move around randomly. It added a bit of life to the area.

I should have added some music, but I kept saving that till last because I wanted to make my own so the game was all me... that was a mistake. I'll be adding some after voting is over.

Here is a video about my first game, and what I learned to make this new game (in 48 hours): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcL5zgCceWQ

Thank you all for taking a look at my game. I now know the two important things I need to figure out for any new games in the future: a camera that can move, and a better load time. I've already worked out some issues with the fairy AI, so that will be fixed in an update. I might also split the level into two groups to fix the loading issues... It's a compromise because I love those large vistas when you get high up seeing the whole level out before you.... but it's laggy on some PC's otherwise. It may be the fairies causing it with their AI updating every second so I might try adjusting how many of them are loaded at a time and see if that helps.

Anyway, because of the exploration of the AI, and adjustments to the terrain, I was able to make this little aquarium scene as a prefab.

Enjoy.

I just starting crating my own games a few weeks ago. It was also basically a ball rolling game that had you making your way across platforms to a goal, and teleporting to the next level. (It's on my itch page.)

My second game takes the same ideas, and some of the scripts, and expands upon it. During this weekend I had to learn to teleport (because I wanted the crystals you picked up to stay picked up), and I learned a bit about basic AI motions. I wanted that animated motion of fairies in the scene to make the area come to life. Oh, and glass! I learned how to make transparent layers to create beautiful dreamy scenes. You bet I'll be using that again.

I've also learned that my strong suit is in creating beautiful places to explore, less so the programing. But I'm not giving up. I love seeing my worlds come to life on the screen, and I am going to keep learning, and hopefully keep entering Ludum Dare because I can see how this is forcing me to learn new things.

As an added bonus I have been able to play a lot of really fun games during this weekend. And the month isn't up, so I'll be playing more over the next couple of weeks.

I won't be implementing any changes until after the judging is over, but I've already made a lot of changes due to suggestions from the reviewers. Thank you all!

I found a way to make objects float and spin, so now the crystals aren't floating in air. I also managed to fix the AI for the fairies so that they stop falling through the ground. Fixed the lighting issues with them as well.

Most of these are just minor tweeks to make an already nice looking environment a little more immersive.

The next step will be more levels, and trying to figure out how to make things load and unload depending on how close you are to them. I think if the fairies and crystals are only loaded in within a platform of you that will make everything run better.

If you'd like to see updates to this game please subscribe. And thank you for reviews!

Updated some bugs.

Change Log: Changed AI for fairies so they stop falling out of world. Moved trees so they aren't floating. Adjusted some landscape so the player stops falling out of the world. Added collision boxes to portal so player does not fly through it. Changed crystal pick ups so they are actually floating instead of just sitting in the air. Removed some of the clutter to help performance.

Uploaded a windows version that you can download and run through itch.io. You can even get it on the itch.io game launcher.

Looking at the theme voting and I've already found some interesting ideas...but no idea how to build them yet. This is definitely going to be a great way to learn more things.

So excited to find out this years theme! I admit, I don't know a lot about creating games yet, but that's okay. This is my time to learn. And jams give you that time limit and theme to help keep you focused.

After brainstorming a few ideas, and thinking of what I wanted to accomplish, I decided to go with a deep dive into the ocean. I don't know how far I can dive yet, but I already have some amazing visuals to go with the game play loop I have in mind.

Switching from 2d to 3d is a challenge. Learning the different methods and tags to go with them takes a bit of doing. However... I almost have a game now. Just need to figure out how to collect the coins, and how to make the land spawn in front of the diver, then add in the obstacles. It's going to look fantastic!

It's midnight, and I'm tired, but I've gotten so much done in one day. I hope all of you are having as much fun with your games as I am, too!

Newly minted! Deep Diver is live.

This was all something new for me, so I learned some new skills, and had a blast.

Day one: Worked on getting down a lot of the artwork, and creating the player, the basic tiles to swim down, and randomizing the coral.

Day two: Learned how to randomly spawn tiles in front of the player.... Never figured out how to delete them afterward, but I got the first part down. Also figured out the coins, created and animated a coin, and added in a score keeper. Couldn't get the score to work, but the building blocks were there.

Day three.. that's today. I took all day to get the heart system to work, and to get the hearts to actually go down when you hit something. Thank you to my friends over on discord for helping me figure that one out. I also edited some sounds to make them what I wanted, added them in, and created some particle systems. Oh, and a restart on death.

What I want to add after this week: Death animation, and an actual death screen. High Score Depth meter. Darkness in the Deep. More fish and some jellies. More animations. And just... More....

This was a lot of fun, and I learned so much about designing 2d games. I can't wait to make this even better!

Newly minted! Deep Diver is live.

I learned a lot with this game, even if it isn't finished. Most of the functions of the game are things I've never done before. So exciting when it all comes together!

Day one: Worked on getting down a lot of the artwork, and creating the player, the basic tiles to swim down, and randomizing the coral.

Day two: Learned how to randomly spawn tiles in front of the player.... Never figured out how to delete them afterward, but I got the first part down. Also figured out the coins, created and animated a coin, and added in a score keeper. Couldn't get the score to work, but the building blocks were there.

Day three.. that's today. I took all day to get the heart system to work, and to get the hearts to actually go down when you hit something. Thank you to my friends over on discord for helping me figure that one out. I also edited some sounds to make them what I wanted, added them in, and created some particle systems. Oh, and a restart on death, AND finally got the coin counter working.

What I want to add after this week: Death animation, and an actual death screen. High Score Depth meter. Darkness in the Deep. More fish and some jellies. More animations. And just... More....

This was a lot of fun, and I learned so much about designing 2d games. I can't wait to make this even better!

I had so much fun adding all the different coral and fish to see what underwater scenes I could create. I can't wait to make more after Ludum Dare is over.

Thank you to everyone who has played, and rated.

Fixed a bug that was causing the audio not to play (I just needed to change the version of Unity I was using.) Also re-enabled full screen for those who couldn't see the UI. Now you can see it in full screen.

Minor bug fixes. Enabled full screen so that the UI could be seen by everyone. Also got the audio working. Just needed to update unity and it worked.

I didn't make it clear which fish were safe to touch, and which weren't, so I thought I'd make a clue for anyone willing to brave the deep.

I wanted the large fish to be dangerous, and the small ones to be safe. I'll work on that.

I'm not sure if it loaded, I'll double check in the morning, but I finished my game. I'll be at work tomorrow so I won't have any time to work on it before publishing, therefore it's more of a proof of concept then anything. But it was a lot of fun to work on something new, and to re-learn a few things to make it work.

I didn't have a lot of time for LD this time so I used the time to practice some of the things I've learned in the last year of making games, and created something that could be really fun.... with a little bit of tweaking.

A distance counter is the biggest thing. I'll be adding that as soon as LD rating is over, until then I am grateful for everyone who has played and rated Wild Run. It was a lot of fun, and I finally figured out a few things that I have been trying to learn for a while, so I'm glad I did it.

I look forward to playing more LD games this week.

Thank you to everyone who played. I can't wait till next LD so that I can do even better.

I updated the original graphics and made it a little more interesting, but it will take a little longer to add the counter since I've never done that before. That will give me more tools to use in the next LD, though, so I am looking forward to finish this.