Hi all!

This will be my first attempt in Ludum dare, documented on twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/anidev
I don’t have vast experience in game dev but i want to gain some.

Tools:

• Engine: LUA/Cpp +  Shiva3D or AS3 + Away3d, anyway high level, nothing fancy
• 3d assets: Blender + Vray
• 2d assets: Photoshop
• animation: After Effects, Flash CS5, Blender
• sound: not sure

I’m mainly graphic designer so I will focus more on visuals and interesting gameplay then code itself.
I also love playing games so will try to create something that i would enjoy.

That’s it. Good luck to everyone!

Update.

First screenshots from Ludum Dare Warmup, almost day 2.
Latest videos available on twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/anidev/b/329607752
I hope I’ll manage to finish warmup before LD.

Another update on my Warmup game. Closer to finish but still a lot of work. Next step Cannon controller and AI.
As always whole progress recorded on twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/anidev

Last update for today. Hard stuff is behind me. Tomorrow i hope to create nice shooting mechanics
and if time allows better AI then just moving along path and firing back.

Also.. images are to bright i think.

My warmup session results: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-24-warmup/?action=preview&uid=14308

Ok, 5h to LD. Sadly I didn’t manage to finish Warmup game but.. will do after LD 

Currently game alows for:
– moving arround (WSAD)
– speeding up (Shift in EXE, F in flash )
– shooting (Space)

Laser for big guys! It’s working!.

Ok thats last update. Little time left for finishing warmup.. need some sleep before true LD.

Just want to post current progress, 1 tile from many to goo .. Have bad feeling about finishing on time.

Ok, second one, now time for “harvesting” those trees! Our little friend needs a house to evolve.

So game ended up crazy short.

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-24/?action=preview&uid=14308

Will try to add some depth till Jam finishes.  I must say that I love whole LD experience Will do those 48 h marathons more offen for sure.

First i want to thanks for all comments and plays! Really apprieciate it!

So here goes post mortem.

1. What went right

I’m really happy with sum of all worktime put into the game.  I’ve managed time well and sleep just about right amount to
be aware of the surrounding and work. And I lost  some weight which was a big suprise for me, who would’ve thought

2. What went wrong

In short, planing. I’ve lost too much time doing graphics. Big mistake was creating whole scene instead of preparing reusable assets to create bigger locations. I also didn’t focused on puzzles so in the end game feels shallow. I should focus more on interesting gameplay and longevity.

3.What’s next ? 

I’m currently working on finishing game and want to create something bigger and fun. I’ve learnt a lesson and I try to setup  better workflow to manage longer game. I don’t have to much to show as i’m developing tool which will automate lightmap baking and asset management within blender. I hope it will speed up location creation and allows me to spend more time on creating puzzles and story.

Little post ld shot:

Link to the entry

October challenge is comming (it’s on ?)!

I’m going to participate and actualy if I succeed at collecting 1$ it will be my first dolar earn from making my own game. So very excited about that!

In short, game I want to finish and publish is AniTower:

Which will be kind of generic Tower Defense.

Main platforms/devices that i want to focus on are:
– Android/Nexus 7/Tegra devices
– Apple/iPad
Optional:
– RIM/Playbook
– PC (Paypal)

So in general i’m shooting for “tablet” market.

Idealy, I would like to finish game till 15th of October and spend rest of the month creating advertisement materials and then .. advertising.

Tools i’m planning to use:

• Shiva 3d – Engine
• Blender 2.53 + Vray thanks to http://vray.cgdo.ru/
• Photoshop
• Logic Pro 9
• After Effects

Ok, that’s all. Wish you good luck guys. October will be awesome!

Damn, I’ll probably fail with October Challange deadline. But either way fighting till the end (of project)!

So time for little update. Currently I’ve finished base mechanics for my upcoming Tower Defence game. Everything works nicely on various mobile devices. Currently tested with 60 fps in avarage on:

– Nexus 7
– IPod 4
– Galaxy Ace

So, having base mechanics finished I started working on game look/graphics to replace old dummy assets . Little concept (click to see full):

I’m not fully happy with it, especialy road seems to bo to “dark”. But final polishing will be done in 3d.

As next step I’ll try also to post some video from gamplay and compile flash build with game.

Ok one more image, base sketch for location:

Short update with sneak peak from wip on first map/world:

Another short update. Closer to finishing up first map/world. Need to add some enviroment elements like trees and bushes.

Ok, i’m done with first location. This is last update before demo. With next maps i will iterate based on current assets and adding couple new ones. Another Tower Defence is comming!

Another short update. I’ve decide to create some winter/christmas special locations for AniTower. For now i’m evaluating snow shader:

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 14th, 2012 at 7:24 am and is filed under October Challenge 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Another short update.

Finaly i’ve finished logo design (hate working on logos). I’m not fully happy with result but it will do for now. Comments appreciated!

Along side logo I’ve created microsite at anitower.eu with subscribe form (more will come).

In addition I’ve started working on main game menus (very minimalistic/lazy style):

What’s planned for upcoming week of work ?
I need to “code up” those screens. I’ve already finished writting simple UI page management. Nothing fancy but will make my life a little easier.

Also if time allows I would like to design simple tutorial page and inbetween map screen, showing score and gained skills/experience.

That’s all, see ya next week!

Yupi. We’ve managed to finish our first LD Jam !

Team Squad:

radek_ne:  www.netrostudio.com

michax: www.animuj.com

Hope you guys will enjoy it. Here it is:

Play and conquer!

Post mortem is comming along.