There are so many posts about this but I decided just to write a quick:
Hopefully I will also be able to compete in the warm-up aswell. I hope this theme is a good one I can work with, I don’t come up with ideas very well…good luck to all!
This theme is an interesting one, but it holds potential for many good game ideas – except I can never think of game ideas! So far I have a small list of topics going for beneath the surface, but no good game mechanic. Hopefully I can turn one of my little topics into a good game idea!
A little bit of progress, not exactly how I wanted it to look but as of now it’s going good! Have to add in some actions, basic AI, and better random level generation, along with better graphics and more!
Just the basics are done…gotta add more!
After a long day, a fair amount was accomplished. I wish I could have obtained a better idea, but I am happy with what I have done. Just have to adjust things, add sounds, better graphics, a few more mechanics and the game should be finished!
The game I ended up with was not what I originally planned (as always…) but it actually turned out to be a working, fun, hard game! I didn’t use the best programming practice mainly because I felt pressured, but I wish I could have taken more time to “do things correctly”. Anyways, check out Cave Ghost: HERE! Besides, who doesn’t want to play a game with a bit of TNT in it?
My days are slowly getting busier as sports and school approaches, along with video making which I have high demand for, but I should be able to make this Ludum Dare. I will (should) be livestreaming the development of this Ludum Dare, as well!
I’m hoping for a theme with a lot of potential! Hope to see some of you drop by the livestream!
After over an hour-and-a-half of thinking about the theme, trying to come up with an idea, I have found one. It seems to be a fairly unique idea, not the best, but it will work. I have decided to create a 2d software rendering engine, and decided on a grayscale game design, for simplicity (and I am terrible at art :)) Now that the image loading/rendering engine part is coded, I can get to work on the actual gameplay! Good luck!
The first 24 hours of LD has come to an end, and my progress is right where it should be. The random side-scrolling level generation (that I designed myself in under a few hours) is working amazingly! The basic enemy system is in, now I really need to work on the “story-line” aspect of the game – and REALLY focus on the art. Hopefully things stay smooth for the rest of the compo, but you never know.
I programmed from 10AM – 9PM straight today. It was worth it. The game turned out very good, despite my decision of having grayscale graphics. It surprisingly still looks pretty good, though! The GUI looks pretty neat too, and the campaign and endless modes are working perfectly. Wow, that was a long weekend. Check out the game: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=33942 works on the browser and on desktop, for any OS! It was a great learning experience, once again!
Spaceway Transportation Incorporated is a transportation company devoted to transporting aliens safely and happily from planet to planet. But, as a Spaceway pilot, you must be aware of flying objects and enemy ships that don’t want you near their planets.
Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=33942
Timelapse/gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSkU-nWH2B4
Spaceway Transportation has gotten some feedback already – saying it was too difficult. What’s wrong with super difficult games?!? I can understand the level generation system at times can glitch and spawn an almost impossible object, of course, but the game is supposed to be difficult! Anyways, to the post-mortem now.
Good:
I completed the game and *almost* everything I wanted to. I even had time to implement an unplanned endless mode. For writing a random interval-based level generation system in 48 hours, it turned out good (despite some impossible random things that happen once in a while).
The control system is great, and my OOP skills have grown very much. More importantly, it is FUN (to me, at the very least)!
Bad:
The theme. Really the only way for this game to fit the theme is if you play the Campaign mode and follow the story, so I wish I could have implemented the theme a bit more, but it still works.
GRAYSCALE – some people seem to like the grayscale graphics, but I don’t really like them. I couldn’t change them, though, because I settled on a grayscale software-rendering engine, written during the 48-hours. Either way, the graphics still look kind of neat (for my art skills, of course).
Better:
A lot could have been done better in this game. The theme could have been implemented a bit more, and I wish I had time to REALLY tweak the level generation system.
Final Note:
I finished a game, it is fun, difficult, and looks pretty good! Play it now!
Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=33942
Timelapse/gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSkU-nWH2B4
Well, I don’t have the whole weekend to do the Compo, but I’ll try to get as much as I can done. I may have to resort to entering the Jam if I don’t have enough time. Here is what I’ll use:
I hope I’ll have enough time! Have a good game jam everyone!
I usually have a stable idea at least 3 hours into the compo, but this time I just have a huge list of ideas with nothing I really want to do. After sleeping over it I think I generated a fairly decent idea, though! So the first 3 hours I spent getting base code down and A PARTICLE ENGINE! I’ve never done particle engines before, and now I see why people say they are so fun 
LETS GET WORKIGN!
After a pretty sweet idea for a platformer, a huge bug in the game (that could definitely be fixed if I spent TIME on it, which I don’t have) prevented me from continuing it. I will continue a new game/idea (I still have to come up with) in the Dart language. I hope I can get this done…UGH!
Well, I wasted the first 15 hours of the Ludum Dare with an attempt at one game idea, but it quickly showed to be 1) a bad idea and 2) a huge bug I encountered prevented me from wanting to continue – I would wasted lots of time on the simplest bug ever! After being fed up with this, I switched from Java into Dartlang. I just started playing around with Dartlang a few weeks ago, and never made anything with it. I thought “why not take a much simpler idea and just learn some Dartlang while trying to make it?” And that is what I did. I learned a LOT about the Dart language, but in the end the game wasn’t that good.
PARTICLE EFFECTS I’ve always heard many game programmers say “I LOVE making particle emitters,” so I thought I’d finally make one. I’m now in LOVE with particle emitters – even the super basic one I made for this game! They’re awesome!
Long story short: I’m not proud of the game I made, but I learned a lot about a new language (Dart) during the past 48 hours! I know the game isn’t terrific, but I learned.
If you want to, you can check out Block Brigade and play it HERE!
Well, I’m in, but I’m approaching everything a bit differently…every single game I have created lacked music, good sound effects, and they never had the greatest art, so here is my plan:
I am doing everything I have done in the past, but in a reverse order! Even if my game is not fun, hopefully it’ll look like my best game! I’ll be using:
No matter what happens, I always have fun!
As of now my schedule is allowing me to join this LD, however that could change last-minute. This post is mostly for myself, as I need to reflect on my prior experiences: I’ve been reflecting on my prior LDs, and have come up with a few things that always go ‘bad’ during my LD time:
So, that is what I have to focus on this LD. Also, my projected tools:
Finally, I will (if my schedule stays clear) be live-streaming at twitch.tv/codenmore !
Well, little humans can now be lifted by my UFO 
So, day one ended, and this is what I have completed in about 12 hours of working time – so far I am much more on track than previous LD’s. I have a decent idea, my art skills are not that bad this time around!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And not too many problems yet! Now, just abducting some humans and cows for fun.
This was by FAR by best LD yet. I had little problems (surprisingly!), my art was actually decent (surprisingly!), the sound effects are proper, the music is kind-of-sort-of-decent (surprisingly!), and it is a working game with full gameplay! It has a ‘story’ mode of 7 days, where you must abduct all cows and humans on Earth before daytime, and I even had enough time to add a console that supports cheat commands (surprisingly!) so you can have as much fun abducting cows as you wish to! Play it here: http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-33/?action=preview&uid=33942
My game Saucer turned out to be my best Ludum Dare game thus far, and for a couple of reasons:
Trying completely new things in past LD’s had me learn a ton, but produced some not-so-good games along the way, and it feels really nice to finally present a polished game for this LD. It was also shocking that I finished 2 hours before the end of the compo, which has never happened! For all that joined me at my live stream, thank you all so much and the game would not be what it is without you!
Check out SAUCER and PLAY IT here!
I also have a full TIMELAPSE of the development process HERE!
Doing it this way means you need to estimate the amount of assets though – considering it’s a jam, you usually need considerably less than you think you need.
For music, I’d say one or two 2-minute tracks is usually more than adequate, and with sprites, just do the ones that are absolutely required and then add others as required later if you have the time (you usually won’t in jams)