They may not look threatening, but a Lith will end your life if it catches you. And they’re faster than you are, so you’re going to have to outsmart them. You only get one chance to escape this labyrinth because if they find you, you’re dead!

Currently testing a confined space with one of these running amok. Actually kind of terrifying.

Tags: LITH

I’m probably not the only one doing this Jam with that moon face staring at me in my mind.

So… Sunday I was half a team down (ie. solo), but I made up for it by recruiting my brother, the very talented Rich Webb, to do some sweet music for us. It’s really coming along now, but I feel it isn’t quite ready to be shown in detail yet. However, the Liths are now a fair bit smarter (which, along with Rich’s eerie robot chuckle sounds, makes them even more creepy).

Tomorrow shall hopefully bring scoring, some instructions and the ever important dungeon generation!

Tags: LITH

So it’s been more than a week since Ludum Dare Jam #28 ended, but what with the holiday period I’ve not had much chance to really sit down and write about LITH; my first Ludum Dare and first games jam. I had a huge amount of fun doing this game! As an archetype of the Perfectionist, it was cathartic to just plough on with things and it meant I got a huge amount done in a very short space of time.

What Went Right

• Mood/Theme – The game quickly snowballed from a concept I’d had in my mind in an embryonic form for quite some time, although it was the “You Only Get One” theme that gave it the characteristic bank-your-points twist. And I’ve had a lot of encouraging feedback about how genuinely creepy it is, which is just what I had in mind at the start. So big success there!
• Music & Sound – So often this is an element that gets overlooked even in professional games, but thanks to the musically talented Rich Webb, I feel LITH does well here. The feedback on this has been hugely positive, also!
• Engine – Not that I had any hesitation about using Unity, but I doubt I could have gotten this level of graphical sheen, immersion and usability; on both PC and Mac; using anything else. Well done, you guys! You should drink a smoothie or something.

What Went Wrong

• Coder Down! – Unfortunately, we lost a team member fairly early on, so I had to quickly re-arrange plans as I’d not intended to be coding. As a result, the code has committed more crimes than a recurring cartoon supervillain.
• Rushed Art – Sort of related to the above. Most of the art was draft quality or thrown together very hastily (I’d planned to make the Liths look more like stone monoliths with glyphs and all that; as it is, they actually just have their lighting map over flat grey and look too much like Daleks). Most of the time I simply didn’t get around to replacing it.
• Daft AI – The AI was mostly worked on last minute. To begin with, the Liths were like psychics and far too hard to evade. They also ping-ponged off walls very erratically. In my attempts to make them smoother and more believable, they’ve also become rather stupid and get stuck in rooms sometimes. AI is one of those things that can easily go backwards, especially with such tight timescales!

So there you have it! I aim to continue working on LITH after the Jam and see what we can make of it. Overall, I’m happy with how the game turned out, and look forward to the next…

About Novodantis:

Alexander Webb is a writer and professional game designer living in the UK. He currently works on strategy games for mobile.

Tags: LITH

I haven’t done an LD since LITH for the Jam last December, but I was guttered about missing the one in April and I’ll be damned if I’m going to miss this, too. Okay, so I’m meant to be travelling north to see the family this weekend, but my laptop is portable. Amirite??

Also, roll on the Self-Driving Car. I would have had at least 200% more time to work with.

I’m having considerable difficulties with this theme; namely that the only idea for it that’s really sparked off my brain is just _way_ too intricate for a games jam. But I’m just going to try and get it done because I’ve wasted hours today already trying to ferment a concept to supersede it.

I’m starting with the enemy rather than the Unconventional Weapon. I feel I may regret this.

Tags: Sling

Sling is now ready to play! I’m too tired to make another GIF, but basically it plays a bit like this:

I didn’t intend to actually use the whole time (due to it being 2am here and work tomorrow), let alone the packaging time, but this has been a rushed one indeed. I can’t get the Webplayer to build in NOT development mode (?), the WebGL one refuses to test locally, I don’t have any way of testing the OSX version… but the PC one definitely works! Apart from the escape menu, *ahem*. So if the mac one works, would be good to know.

Anyway, postmortem to follow later, as will the playing of other games. Looking forward to it!

For now though, I am shattered and shall be going to sleep.

Tags: Sling

Phew! It was a lot of work, but our game Stormrunner has been submitted. We had an absolute blast making this one, but too tired now to say much more. It’s a little buggy as these things always are, but we’re mostly really pleased with it. If you ever thought bolting a winnebago to a rail car was a good idea; if you ever wanted to escape a nuclear storm; if you ever felt like eating raw meat where you found it; THIS GAME IS FOR YOU.

Please check it out Stormrunner!

And don’t forget to turn on sound =)

Tags: LD37, one room

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So tired.

But it’s done! I think it might even be properly submitted over at ldjam.com, check it out: Microspace!

Overall it was a brilliant jam, lots went well, a few things took longer than I’d liked. I celebrated turning 34 yesterday and a games jam was a great way to do it! Anyway, enough incoherence for now. Sleep beckons.

Hey everyone! I missed the initial "everything's now working" party on Monday so am only now tidying up my entry and showcasing to you all. So, uh, here it is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmZOY7dCW8M

The game page is here!

I'm quite happy that it's proved pretty robust so far, most of the people that have tried it haven't broken it massively and those issues that have been raised have been ones I saw too. I think this one has plenty of potential and I'd like to take it further.

(by the way, apologies for the slightly fuzzy video. The game is markedly less fuzzy)

Well, we're in. Partially. "We" being the Musketeers, not having gotten around to a team Jam since Stormrunner. And in the truly grownup fashion of things, one of us is down due to family commitments and the other is just gonna be floating around in between other things. Welcome to Games Jams as responsible adults (maybe?)

Themes aren't looking too appealing, but that's normal. Fully expecting the reveal to be met with a chorus of groans.

So heave-ho, scallywags and good luck to every one of ya.

About Novodantis: not-any-better known as Alexander Webb. I work in games and websites, and I write things. My biggest passions are genetics, astronomy and game design. Genetics because it tells us about Life, astronomy because it tells us about the Universe, and game design because it tells us about Everything.

Progress so far:

☑ Install common version of Unity

☑ Set up Git repository

☑ Bitch about theme

☒ Come up with design

... yeah, they've gone better, but there's still time.

Since just barely finishing the jam on monday night I've been meaning to make a post to share my game, Vogon Constructors Ltd. I struggled with the theme initially, due to it being the sort that was more prescribing mechanics than offering prompt. But I had also wanted to tie in a little Hitchhikers Guide reference in honour of it being LD42, which is where the idea came about.

In VCL, you play as the Vogon Constructor Fleet and must destroy planets to make way for Hyperspace Bypasses. However, each planet is also producing resources; and the Bypasses themselves can only be between populated systems, so the idea was to be sacrificing systems in an ever shrinking "space" of usable nodes.

I was going to tackle this as a team but it ended up being just me. It turned out well, all things considered (I had social commitments and work, so it was far from a full burn). Please give it a go! It's probably not well balanced, but destroying the planets is fun.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/vogon-constructors-ltd

Used lots of freebies and extras to support this! - Fungus, for dialogs, is free and awesome: http://fungusgames.com/ - Space textures: https://www.solarsystemscope.com/textures/ - Planet texture generator: http://www.texturesforplanets.com/index.shtml - Unify Community - various others

Well, it doesn't look like I'll get time for a full entry of my own. Finally had a chance to make a start when the child went down for a nap this afternoon, only to find 3D Max won't start any more due to licensing issues that I've been putting off for nearly 10 years. I also forgot to request monday off work, so in all I think it's better to cut my losses. I wasn't all that inspired by the theme, anyway.

Still, I've been having a lot of fun with FamiTracker & Deflemask lately. So if anyone needing old school chiptune music is up for a collab jam I'd love to help you out! Let me know.