Living in England means I have to start on the 24th…

I am participating for the first time, but because I cant draw to save my life, I’m participating in the Jam with by friend 😀 – I hope I make a good game (or at least make one…)

Kind regards

Taha

Hello,

It’s going well, but I would like to know where our dev journal should be posted, just in these posts, or…?

Help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Taha

Hello,

I have actually got something going for the game 😀 . After a lot of thought, I decided to make a spacey randomly generated platformer based on timing your breathing with you’re oxygen levels, all while doing the usual thing of collecting points etc.

Here’s what it looks like so far:

Gorgeuous, right?

Kind regards,

Taha

Hello,

After working at it for a couple hours I realised it just wasn’t working…

I came up with a much better idea, but it seems that everyone has it too! (The idea being you collect air bubbles and it replenishes your oxygen)

um… My brain is at a total loss at what I should do instead…

This is starting to look a bit hopeless for me, but I am not dropping out! I have been waiting for this event since April! I WILL think of an idea!

Taha

Hello,

I finally have an idea, and thanks to those who have been giving me pep talks and advice, I really appreciate it. My game is not as flashy or advanced as all these high fidelity first person shooters and not as complex as these dungeon generation algorithms, but I like it. Right now, I’m calling it Space Miner, but that’s sure to change.

So you are on a side scrolling planet where you can blow it up with bombs. Unfortunately, your rather stupid character forgot to bring any oxygen other than his almost depleted canister (he rather conveniently has 10 seconds of oxygen left). Luckily for him, air bubbles are trapped within the rock underground, as are powerups. Unluckily for him, so are traps, aliens, and a general host of bad things.

Now, that’s what I hope it will end up like, so far, I have this:

I have my movement, depleting oxygen and even destructible terrain air bubbles and my first powerup, an extra bomb placement (bomberman-esque)!

Anyway hope this will progress nicely and maybe even have a chance against other games?

Kind regards

Taha

Hello,

Here’s my odd “Space Mining Simulator if you were an idiot” thing again 😀

over yesterday evening, I was offline, so unable to update, but able to continue development.

But never fear, more of my MS Paint art is here!

Okay, so I have added the first bad and second bad thing that blowing up blocks can cause: Spikes and Mimic Stone. Spikes are pretty much self explanatory,  they spawn from breaking a block, they can be blown up, if you touch them they take 2 seconds of oxygen from you, but they also burst air bubbles, which is evil if you’re low (and let’s face it, in this game, when  are you not low for oxygen?). The Mimic Stone, I think is pretty neat. If you blow up a block of stone, it has the chance to turn into Mimic Stone, which, instead of disappearing, starts flashing red and then blows up itself. If you get caught it said blast, you’ll lose 4 seconds of oxygen – that’s a lot.

Sprites are still placeholder as my team-mate hasn’t yet managed to come online D: , hopefully he will do!

My first LD is going pretty good 😀

Taha

Hello again,

To add even more pressure to the game (you know, besides the fact you have 10 seconds of oxygen), if you survive for 2-3 minutes, at any random point, the music will stop and a klaxon will sound, indicating the arrival of your rival mining company, PickEXE Incorporated – except they are intelligent, meaning instead of landing there and placing individual bombs, they drop a metric tonne of giant drills on the planet. Basically, if it gets to this point, its epic, but you’re it’s not intended for you to survive. In fact, I have some brilliant MS Paint brilliance to help show the carnage:

Sprites are still placeholder, and I’m starting to get really worried that my partner wont make it to make sprites… that’s not good. IF ONLY I COULD DRAW D:

On the upside, all the sounds and bgm have been added.

yours patiently,

Taha

Hello!

Pressurized (good name, eh?) now is partially in space! I thought I should dip it into its theme, even when my sprite artist friend still hasn’t shown up…

I may have to try and draw the sprites myselves.

Oh, and of course, the obligatory MS Paint Image:

Taha

Hello,

My little game was going so well, and still is, only…

MY SPRITE ARTIST HAS NOT COME ONLINE ONCE D:

I doubt he is tomorrow, so I, who hath been dubbed “Worst Artist Ever to Exist” must fill the role

ah well… I started with the spaceman miner, and also added most of the sounds:

Please don’t hurt me. I am merely a child.

Well, at least its playable.

Taha

Hello,

after the many, many hours spent wondering what game I should have made, then a few minutes making it (kidding, it was definitely at least 14  hours) Pressurized is nearing completion. Unfortunately my sprite artist hasn’t shown up, so you guys will have to make do with my “art”.

Oh well. My biggest fear is that my game won’t be fun, but hopefully it is.

Last minute though, I’m going to attempt to add a local multiplayer. Lets see how that works out.

Taha

Ok, I was stupid to think I could implement local multiplayer in a few hours. Instead of adding, I’m going to refine I should be done in about half an hour or so.

Taha

Hello!

It’s finally complete! My first Ludum Dare has gone quite well, but my spritework isn’t nice to look at. Hope someone will be awesome enough to play my game, and give me feedback, however insulting! Look forwards to playing other games and participating in other LD’s!

Here is my post.

Many thanks,

Taha

Hello again,

Seeing as everyone else is doing this, I thought I would to 😀

Also, Here is my post.

What went right:

• The idea, eventually turned out pretty cool
• The game is kind of fun

What went horribly wrong

• My sprite artist didn’t show up, so I was working solo, and now the game looks ugly. With time I’ll get him to update it with sprites.
• The theme was too restrictive IMO.

But, I learnt loads, like never to be constantly coding for six hours straight 😀 (though I probably will next year too)

If some people could play my game and give feedback, however insulting, but letting me know they played it, I’d be very appreciative.

Many Thanks,

Taha

Quickly updated my game after submitting, as I realised the game wasn’t actually completable -_-

Here is my post.

Many, many thanks,
Taha

So, I used GameMaker 8.1 to make my game (I know, I know, kill me now), and my main complaint about my game is the file size – its about 107 mb! There really is no reason for it to be that big too. In a little while I will release the source code, and then if people could let me know how to optimise it I would be EXCRUCIATINGLY  appreciative!
Here is my entry.

Many thanks,

Taha

Hello again!

I have added the “Source code” for Pressurized (quotations because its a .GM81 file for GameMaker 8.1) for the kind people who offered to take a look at it for optimization purposes.

You can view Pressurized, my first Ludum Dare entry, here.

Many thanks,

Taha

Hello again!

Thank you to all those who gave me advice on the optimisation on Pressurized, but especially to Lightmare Studio for actually taking a look at my Source to find the problem! 😀

Thanks to them, my game’s one potential “Deal Breaker” has been fixed!

File size has been reduced from 110 MB to 16MB

So if you have been put off by my file size or simply haven’t played my game, I would greatly appreciate any feedback given 😀

Here is my Entry!

Many many thanks,

PS: Check out Lightmare studio’s entry here.

Taha

Hello there,

I’d begun reading the book “Reality is Broken” by Jane McGonigal, a visionary Game Designer, who believes that games make us better and that they have the power to change the world. It’s a pretty intriguing read, but that’s not all; I was reading the first chapter, and the little developer part of my mind caught something: a small paragraph in which McGonigal, backed by research, explains the four defining traits that make up a good game:

• The goal: The outcome the players want to achieve. It provides them with a sense of purpose.
• The rules: They limit how the player can go about achieving their goal, meaning they must use their imagination to find a way round the obstacles. (eg, you have health, so you cant go rampaging through a corridor filled with spikes and monsters)
• The feedback system: the way the player can track their progress, be it through the GUI with points, or it may be linked to the story’s progress, or even just the knowledge on how not to die.
• Voluntary participation: The acceptance of the goal and rules. Also, the ability to do better than win. (eg. in a typical game, their are coins that increase score. I don’t have to collect these coins to win, but I have an urge to collect them, to increase my score, to see my name higher than the rest on the highscore table (link back to the feedback system!))

Anyway, I just thought this was interesting, and wanted to know what other people think. This list does leave out a surprisingly large amount of other aspects: graphics, storyline, audio etc. and I wonder if other people disagree with it?

Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Also, here is my game (totally relevant, I know), it’s actually lacking a few things from this list, I knew it sucked, lol.

Many thanks,

Taha

Hello,

I’ve not posted for a while, but, being a complete noob to the LD, I have a (probably rather stupid) question:

When the LD ends, what happens to our entries?

I really hope the pages dont just get deleted, even though I guess that’s the most likely thing, because it really is the most my games have ever been played, and I loved getting feedback.

This totally isn’t a semi relevant plug, but you can visit my temp website here

and my game here

Many, many thanks,

Taha