This is my very first Ludum Dare, and my first proper game jam. I actually participated in a GDU Jam a few months back, but wasn't able to finish my game in time.

I'm very excited :slight_smile:

I wanted to record my journey in some way — I considered streaming some of the process, recording my screen while creating or maybe writing a devlog piece afterwards. I settled for this multiple entry blog form as it's very friendly and I don't feel like making things even harder for myself, as, to be honest, I'm already a little intimidated by the whole process :sweat_smile:

What I know so far — I'll have about 12-18 hours to actually make and publish the game (I'm going for the Compo as it's said to be the "classic" experience), so I've spent the first couple of hours basically planning my work in 1-hour increments and coming up with a rough sketch that'll serve as a basis for the first prototype. I already have an idea / concept that I believe fits the theme, but I want to do some prototyping before sharing it here.

A little background on me — I'm on my late thirties, born and living in São Paulo, Brasil, and I currently work as a customer support / LiveChat agent for a gaming website. I worked most of my life as a multimedia graphic designer for ad agencies and studios, and I've also done some creative writing in comic books, short stories and gaming strategy articles. I have a little bit of experience on making games, but really not much. I basically made and published two very short experimental-ish games, one using Godot and another one using Construct 3 (which is what I'll be using for this jam). These are simple projects I created after following tutorials and watching a bunch of videos from creators Vimlark, Tim Ruswick / GDU, Jonas Tyroller, HeartBeast, Marcos Game Dev / Fuchter and Miziziziz, and getting inspired by works from indie devs such as Kultisti, Ludipe and poppants.

If you want to check my other games out, they're available on http://pijamar.itch.io

Any feedback is greatly appreciated, as my main goal with this jam (and with game dev in general) is to learn and have fun :smiley:

See you on the next post :wink:

It was definitely a long day, but I managed to put together an early working prototype of the game. It's a turn-based strategy broughlike set in a dystopian futuristic world inhabited by weird biotech beings. I'm calling it "Dahla's Journey" for now. Here's the backstory:

After a lifetime of working on a meaningless dead-end job for The Corporation, a small sentient being named Dahla embarks on a journey to discover the meaning of life. After exhausting her resources and spending all her savings, she travels far and reaches the peak of The Tower, where all living things go to be granted their Final Wish by The Power and then be released to transcend this life. The growling voice of The Power sounds astonished by her straightforward, unusual request, and throws her in the depths of The Pit, the infamous underground levels of The Tower. She must now face grave dangers unknown to her kind, with the promise of the greatest reward of all — pure, unfiltered knowledge.

Here's a screenshot (because I'm too lazy and tired to capture motion) of what I have:

For now the game is very bare-bones and a bit buggy, but it's functional, so I'm somewhat confident that I'll be able to finish on time. I'd love to be able to add some more features, but tomorrow my main focus will be on art, music, and mood/story. Hopefully I'll be able to add a few items to spice things up a bit, otherwise the gameplay might be a tad bland. Either way, I'll be happy if I finish it on time for the Compo deadline — and if I don't, hey, there's always the "regular" Jam :wink: (I'm assuming this is allowed, is it?).

I'm having a blast, and wondering why I took so long to participate in a jam.

I ended up oversleeping — which is not so bad to be honest, I'm a greedy sleeper anyway — which means I'll have about 6 and a half hours to finish the game. I'll spend these first 20-30 minutes planning the day, and the rest actually making stuff.

What I' aiming to do, more or less in the order of priority:

— Finish up the core gameplay loop, adding an end screen and some "necessary" fluffs

— Make all the art (probably 1 bit pixel art as I love the aesthetic and it's faster to make)

— Create sound and music (sfxr and beepbox)

— Add story / mood

— Throw together a simple game / start menu with some instructions

Below are the things I most likely won't be able to do, but plan on working on post-jam (or if I have extra time by some miracle):

— Correct minor level generation bugs

— Add items to improve the gameplay experience

— Polish the HUD / UI

Good luck to everyone who's participating, WE'LL GET THERE ;)

Thank you for reading.

We have art... Sort of! I mean, I do like the look but it's so simple I'm a bit embarassed :sweat_smile:

I think I was able to do it! Not 100% sure as the game is now showing up in the search feed, but all seems fine on my Profile. I had a lot of fun but ended up cutting A LOT to make it before the deadline. Will post something longer later. Thank you for reading :)

Here it is if you want to take a look: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/dahlas-journey

Wow, I'm having so much fun :smile:

The community really comes together for LD48. I had of course heard about this (and about all other cool aspects of big game jams) before participating, but experiencing it is very different :sweat_smile:

So far, the game I submitted received a bit over 20 ratings, and the feedback has been absolutely priceless. I feel inspired and refreshed, looking forward to get my hands dirty again to improve Dahla's Journey. I'd like to thank everyone that took the time to play Dahla's Journey and leave a comment, you guys are amazing :heart:

Here are some things I'm looking to implement post-jam:

• Correct proc-gen bugs
• Adjust the movement speed (it's too slow right now)
• Rework the enemy movement (they're supposed to move each turn if able, and sometimes they don't)
• Implement items to flesh out gameplay and strategy
• Add more story and art, focusing on the "dark humor" aspect of the game (which seems to be lost to most players)
• Add clearer instructions on how to play
• Redesign the UI

If you haven't played Dahla's Journey yet, make sure to check it out:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/dahlas-journey

Dahla's Journey is a retro sci-fi-esque broughlike set in a dystopian futuristic world populated by biotech life. If it's your cup of tea at all, I'd be honored to hear your opinion on its current state, as I'm planning to keep working on it.

If you have submitted a game and have not yet reached the 20 ratings threshold, leave a link in the comments to this post and I'll be glad to check it out and rate / comment.

Dahla's Journey is now available for MOBILE on ANDROID!

Check the new game page on https://kryptopixel.itch.io/dahlas-journey and make sure to follow KryptoPixel for future games and updates.

You can play Dahla's Journey for free in your Android Phone by installing it from the Play Store (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kryptopixel.dahlajourney).

You can still play the buggy, LD-48 version by downloading it from the old Itch page (https://pijamar.itch.io/dahlas-journey).