Hey, the core mechanic works! I'll call that a successful day 1. Off to have some deep, deep sleep.

Aaand that's my first LD done. Had a very nice experience – the scope of my game was small enough that I was able to polish it up adequately, and didn't lose aaaall of my weekend. Can't wait to check out everyone's work over the next few days!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/$248224

I don't think my first Ludum Dare could have gone any better. I knew my game was pretty polished and fun, so I was hoping to crack the top 500 or 250, but no way was I expecting these results. 4th in audio and mood! 4th! I know the ratings don't mean much, seeing that games with more ratings seem to score lower, and that games much more deserving than mine have placed a lot lower, but still, it's so nice to know that my work was overall well-received. Thanks to everyone who played and rated, and participated in this event!

Please note that our system supports a maximum of three sprites per scanline.

Haha, submitted the entry literally seconds before the compo ended (didn't know about submission hour - oops).

In any case, SCANLINE is done! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/$264178

Super inspiring project. Had a ton of fun with the level design and aesthetics. Surprisingly happy with the result, considering I wasn't a fan of the theme, and that yesterday was relatively slow going.

Can't wait to see what others have cooked up!

Wanted to share three compo games I played that absolutely deserve to be scored, but are under 20 ratings right now. If anyone has come across other personal favourites that need a boost, please share.

Chevalchemy: A Hoof of Concept https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/chevalchemy-a-hoof-of-concept

Unlevel https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/unlevel

Apocalypse Run https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/apocalypse-run

Want to share some more games currently under 20 ratings that I find interesting and that deserve to be scored.

Raiders of the lost gems

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/raiders-of-the-lost-gems

The Last Light

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/the-last-light

Spider on a Windmill

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/spider-on-a-windmill

If anyone else has come across hidden gems, please share!

My game SCANLINE scored 16th in the compo. Yes, that means it was 1 place and 0.004 rating points away from getting the Twitter shout-out, and, yes, it does sting a bit, haha. But I was not expecting to place this high in the first place, so I'm just incredibly excited about the good result.

I went into this LD kind of on a whim. I found out it's gonna be happening on the Thursday or Friday of that week, and missed the chance to vote on the theme. I really wasn't a fan of the 'unstable' theme, and spent the first 5 or so hours of the jam scrapping prototypes and trying to think of something interesting and feasible with my limited time and coding skills. At the end of day 1, I really wasn't sure if the project would come together. Contrast this with my LD48 entry, where I had a fun prototype up and running after a relatively leisurely day 1, and could focus on polish the following day. So to pull out from that uncertain situation and make something that far surpassed that previous entry was really gratifying.

Now I'm at the point where I think I may develop this concept further, maaaybe try to turn it into a full release (a first for me) - I think this idea has potential, and I was happy to see one or two people giving me similar feedback. We'll see where life takes me, but I haven't been as fired up about gamedev as I am righ now in a while.

So if you haven't played SCANLINE yet, go give it a shot: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/scanline And if you dig it, and would like to be up to date about a potential post-jam version, give me a follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pmaslencenko

Finally, some stat comparison between my two LD entries. Really happy to see an improvement in all but 2 categories, to be in the top 100 in 6 categories, and in the top 150 in the remaining 2. Maybe surprised to see the relatively high placement of audio - though I think the music track I made for the game is quite nice, it doesn't really stand out - and the relatively low placement of theme - I really patted myself on the back for a clever spin on the 'unstable' idea. One last thing worth noting - I knew I had made something really good even if the individual components of it were not the strongest, and it's cool to see this 'better than the sum of its parts' thing play out in the scores as well. 'Overall' and 'Mood' scores are noticably higher than the more specific categories.

Thanks to everyone who played my game, thanks to the organizers, and thanks to everyone who participated in the event. An unexpectedly gratifying and important experience for me.

Morning! Always a bit of a strange feeling to wake up on Sat morning and seeing people having made a head start :D Nonetheless, I'm in for the compo (third time in a row!).

Not hugely excited for the theme. Been thinking about it this morning and it feels like it prods the gameplay into a somewhat generic time trial direction. Finding it a bit tough to get away from the obvious ideas, but I'll give it a few hours.

Oof, this one was tough for me. Struggling with the theme was followed by struggling with the programming. Bit of a bit more than I could chew programming-wise. Managed to get over the finish line though!

Wish I had more time for level design, but I hope you get a kick out of Fuse Lit!, a tiny puzzler about fuses and explosions: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/$285504

Aaaaalright, time to go to bed and wake up for work the new week in 4 hours :) Can't wait to check out everyone's work in the coming weeks!

So, most LD games are either gameplay prototypes or technical exercises, and that's fine! My own game falls into the prototype category. However, playing this event's games, I find that the ones I'm gravitating towards the most are the ones with a strong authorial voice that make me actually feel something. I'd like to share some I've come across, and would love to get recommendations that scratch the same itch.

All of these can be played in-browser.

Live For Later Or Live For Now is a strange but captivating mood piece with a very distinct atmosphere, look and sound, and a sprinkling of existentialism. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/live-for-later-or-live-for-now

Study Breaks is a Warioware type of minigame collection that has a really strong authorial voice - you can see it in the slice-of-life theme, the art style and the very sweet humour. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/study-breaks

The Sea Won't Stop is a short, jokey Twine game with excellent, distinct writing. Behind the absurdist humour, there's actually a bit of pathos. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/the-sea-wont-stop

Keep The Power is political satire about current events that gets stronger and stronger as it goes along. Beautiful marriage of theme and gameplay to get the author's point across. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/keep-the-power

Phew! Made a weird little Papers, Please-wannabe thing. Nice to work on an experimental idea even if the result isn't all that. Gameplay's lacking, but super happy about the visuals and how quickly I managed to work. Missed the last few LDs, so it just feels really nice to get something finished again.

Go take a look! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/$360874