Amazing! We've set all kinds of records this weekend. Thank you so much for coming out and taking part!

If you're new to Ludum Dare, after an event, we spend the next 3 weeks Playing and Rating each others games. This is limited to just those that published (finished) a game, so those with large followings can't abuse the system. This is just you and your peers.

For everyone else, leaving comments and feedback always welcome, but we do understand if you choose not to. In the future we want to be able to involve those that couldn't finish or couldn't take part, but at this time you can only leave comments and feedback on entries. Got ideas on how we can involve you? Let us know!

We'll be back again in October for Ludum Dare 47. Date will be announced alongside the results in 3 weeks.

How do I get noticed?

We have a system in place that prioritizes your game for every game you rate, and every piece of good feedback you leave on a game. For many people, receiving good feedback is what makes Ludum Dare worthwhile. Yes it is easier to just rate a lot of games and move on, but being an active community member makes the event better for everyone.

If you see that someone working hard and giving good feedback, give them a :heart:!

No joke! Likes matter. Leave a like!

How was your weekend Mike?

This was an unprecedented event. My time this weekend was spent in a bit of a panic trying to figure out how to handle the influx of traffic. I spun-up the largest servers I've ever spun, a 16 core frontend server and a 32 core database server. I'll find a moment to downgrade the servers in the next couple days 'cause yeah, that many CPU cores aren't cheap. :sweat_smile:

(See the "Support Us" section of the sidebar if you want to help... over there :arrow_right:)

I've had various unfinished website improvements sitting in branches in my personal GitHub repo for quite some time now. So my weekend was spent diving headfirst in to those unfinished improvements, and any other changes that would help the event run smoother.

Website performance was my primary focus this weekend. Batching a bunch of data together (eliminating round-trips), parallelizing some requests (user, event, current page), and in general caching more things on the frontend server and some on the client (i.e. the browser). That bought us some time, but some 6 hours before Submission we were back at 100% utilization.

Here's where I facepalm. :face_palm:

I stumbled across a database query that was hogging a disgusting amount of CPU. And embarrassingly, it wasn't even a feature that most people had even noticed. I disabled it and poof, down to like 2% server CPU usage. :face_palm:

I needed a break, so I definitely welcomed a simple fix for everything. Gave me time to cook up some dinner in anticipation of Submission Hour.

What's next?

After fixing a few bugs with it, the other thing I merged this weekend was the almost-working new game filtering code. It's disabled on the live website, but it is close to being live.

Notably this will (finally) let you filter game lists by platform (and eventually tags, but one thing at a time). As is I need to write and run a serious query on all the platform data to make it compatible with the platforms/tags system. I'm hoping to have this live by Wednesday.

My apologies this took so long. My former day-job made it extremely difficult to find time to work on Ludum Dare. Best I was able to do was book time off to run events and do emergency maintenance. :sweat:

Anyway, if you want to know what else I'm up to, lately I'm forcing myself to do YouTube videos. Once I wrap up the mentioned LD improvements, I'll be talking more about the business I'm starting both on YouTube and on Twitter.

Statistics! How did we do?

By the end of the Jam Submission Hour, we had crushed every previous events numbers. Over 13000 people started 10000 projects, and submitted 4900 entries!

(NOTE: Ludum Dare 39 we had a bug with Team support, hence why it seems like teams dropped).

These numbers will fluctuate a bit overnight as we resolve any Submission problems people had.

But wow! So close to 5000 entries. I guess that's the new bar. :sweat_smile:

Here is a history Jam vs Compo breakdown as well.

Wow.

Wrapup

*phew*. I think that's it for now.

Thanks again for coming out and taking part in Ludum Dare 46. We'll see you again in just a few weeks!

Wow! What an incredible event. Ludum Dare 46 has ended.

The results for each category can be found here:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/results

You can check your game page for your individual results (via the My Game link up top).

Congratulations everyone! You made a game!

An unprecedented event

You might not know this, but we actually generate statistics for our events.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/stats

I pushed some changes to the prioritization algorithm that made giving feedback significantly more valuable than giving ratings. We still want you to give ratings, but with so many people taking part (over 13000 on over 10000 teams), so few people will get brag-worthy ratings. Instead, switching the focus to feedback means everybody that participates in the process hopefully gets something more out of it.

Anyway, not only did we see a record number of submissions, but we saw a record number of participants get 20+ ratings on their game. Our prior best was about 62%, but this time around we did 70%!

It does look like the changes helped, but we will have to run a few more events to see if that's true. It's that, or maybe folks just had more free time. :wink:

Ludum Dare 47: Coming October 2nd-5th, 2020

Ready for more Ludum Dare? We do 'em every 6 months! Next event is scheduled for October 2nd-5th weekend. Also FYI October events start 3 hours earlier, so our friends in and around Europe don't have to stay up until gawd-awful hours just to get the theme announcement.

Be sure to check-in during September for Theme Selection (suggestions and voting). We'll probably open signups a bit earlier than that, but for the moment we're going to let things breathe, let us focus on the results for a while.

Stay Informed!

Want to be reminded of the upcoming event?

Sign up for our mailing list here:

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-mailing-list/

Or follow us on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ludumdare

Wrap Up

I've been forcing myself to do YouTube videos this year, and I'm planning to do a wrap-up VLOG in the next couple days. I'm usually bad about promoting myself, and I'm told I need to do it more. So if you're interested in hearing Mike the Ludum Dare guy ramble about life and running this crazy record setting event, subscribe and stay tuned for that (aiming for early next week):

https://youtube.com/MikeKasprzak

(I'm also starting a business to hopefully create more time for me and my projects, so feel free to stay subscribed to hear more about that)

I also always neglect to mention that I have a PayPal and a Patreon you can contribute to. This is never required, so don't feel obligated to contribute unless you want to. :wink:

That's it for me. See you in October!

Hey folks!

I'm running a few weeks behind getting things ready for the next event, but we're still on schedule for October 2nd-5th. Theme Suggestions are now open so go do that when you get the chance.

The reason for the lateness is after one of our SSL certificates expired some 3-4 weeks ago, it snowballed in to me finally sitting down to rebuild the servers. For context, the servers we are running on today were built over 6 years ago. A lot has changed since them, including my experience, having built and run the infrastructure for an online game a couple years back. Much of the software I use today isn't the software used to build these servers, and it's been a bit of a quiet headache of mine dealing with it over the years.

So for the past 3 weeks I've been grinding away rebuilding the servers, far longer than I was expecting, and I'm still not done. So after one more SSL patch-job, the existing servers are back up again so we can start signups and theme voting. I'll be continuing to work on the servers in parallel, and hopefully get them switched over next week without too much downtime.

Anyway, that's what's up. I'll get back to wrangling the server guts and check-in again next week as we kick-off the voting.

Are we still social distancing? Sounds like a good excuse to Ludum Dare!

Reminder: LD47 starts early!

Just in case you forgot, here's you're reminder that October events start early!

Check the clock in the sidebar for your local start time. If you've done Ludum Dare in the past, October events start 3 hours earlier than usual (6 PM EDT, 22:00 UTC). April events at the regular time (9 PM EDT, 1:00 UTC).

Final Round Theme Voting has started.

Go over here and cast your vote:

:ballot_box: /events/ludum-dare/47/theme

For rules and other info, visit the event page:

:trophy: /events/ludum-dare/47

For those new to Ludum Dare, the website will become slow and potentially unusable during the minutes leading up to the Theme Announcement, so we highly recommend you follow our Twitter account for the reveal:

https://twitter.com/ludumdare

The theme will be announced when the clock at the top this page reaches zero.

Twitch streaming

Here's how to stream:

• Set your Twitch Game/Category to one of these:
  • Science & Technology
  • Art
  • Music & Performing Arts
  • Makers & Crafting
• Include the Twitch Tag: Ludum Dare

View All Streams: twitch.tv/.../tags/c8d6d6ee-3b02-4ae7-81e9-4c0f434941cc

Keynote, hosted by Snowdrama (@snowdrama)

Keynoting our 47th event is Snowdrama (twitter). He's a veteran whose participated in numerous events, and he even decided to make a keynote with branching paths! What! I'm still exploring them as I write this. Check it out:

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

I owe a huge thanks to Snowdrama for pulling this together! Due to some complications, I wasn't able to give him much more than a weekend's notice to write, shoot, and edit this. Timeline aside, I think he did great. Thanks again! :smile: :thumbsup:

That's it for now. It's time for the final vote!

Phew! Ludum Dare 47 has ended.

The results for each category can be found here:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/results

You can check your game page for your individual results (via the My Game link up top).

Congratulations everyone! You made a game!

Ludum Dare 48: Coming April 2021

We finally made it. Ludum Dare 48. This will be our 48th 48-hour event. I should make a weird teaser trailer with a TAC-2 joystick or something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1JtEJbu5a8

Yeah, like that.

For those of you that like to schedule things half-years in advance, tentatively Ludum Dare 48 will be on April 16-19th weekend. Unfortunately I'm waiting to confirm a few things first, and they didn't quite come together in time, so I'm calling the date tentative for now. If that date doesn't work out, it will be the following weekend (23rd-26th).

Stay tuned!

Stay Informed!

Want to be reminded of the upcoming event?

Sign up for our mailing list here:

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-mailing-list/ (Oops, link is broken. Go here)

Or follow us on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ludumdare

That's it for me. See you next year!

Ludum Deals is back! Check out the promotions and deals below.

---

imitone - LD48 exclusive edition

Transform your voice into any instrument! Use it with your favorite music app to create music or sculpt sound effects.

This is a special time limited version of imitone available for Windows and Mac. Good until May 3rd.

ALSO tune in later this week! We'll be streaming a live demonstration of imitone with Evan showcasing how to use the software for music and sound effects. Details to follow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Idse6YDpg

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4_v3KdGKI545hv7tHb5bd8L6ddH-8LP7

• :computer: Windows: https://imitone.com/beta/ldjam_210416/imitone-0.10.2a-ldjam.exe
• :apple: Mac: https://imitone.com/beta/ldjam_210416/imitone-0.10.2a-ldjam.dmg

---

Construct 3 - Free to use during LD48

I saw on Twitter that the Construct team decided to make their cross platform game development tool free to use during Ludum Dare 48.

Details can be found in this blog post.

You can find getting started tutorials here.

The inconceivable event is here. Welcome to Ludum Dare 48. The legit, 48th 48 hour event. Wow. :fireworks:

Final Round Theme Voting has started.

Go over here and cast your vote:

:ballot_box: /events/ludum-dare/48/theme

For rules and other info, visit the event page:

:trophy: /events/ludum-dare/48

For those new to Ludum Dare, the website slows down during the minutes leading up to the Theme Announcement, so we highly recommend you follow our Twitter account for the reveal:

https://twitter.com/ludumdare

The theme will be announced when the clock at the top this page reaches zero.

Ludum Deals are back!

After a several year hiatus, it's back with some freebies for you to try out. From imitone, a unique piece of software that lets you control MIDI devices and your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) using your voice. Also development tool Construct 3 is freely available to use during the event.

:moneybag: .../ludum-deals-48

We did our first official live stream with Evan Balister, creator of imitone. You can find a link to it at the link above.

Support our campaign to add a "Jam Games" category to Twitch

Twitch categories are a bit problematic, grouping programmers and game developers with nature streams of baby ducks. :duck:

Okay yes ducks are cool, but my point is they could use a bit more choice when it comes to categories.

The main one we want to bring to your attention is our proposal to add a "Jam Games" category to Twitch.

Support our campaign to add "Jam Games" category to Twitch

The goal of this category is to have SOMETHING to use when you are playing and rating other people's Ludum Dare games, or if you're a streaming and you are casually browsing jam games.

Here are a few more worth supporting:

Support adding a "Programming" category to Twitch

Support re-adding a "Game Development" category to Twitch

Twitch streaming

Here's how to stream:

• Set your Twitch Game/Category to one of these:
  • Science & Technology
  • Art
  • Music & Performing Arts
  • Makers & Crafting
• Include the Twitch Tag: Ludum Dare

View All Streams: twitch.tv/.../tags/c8d6d6ee-3b02-4ae7-81e9-4c0f434941cc

Keynote, hosted by ... uh... me

Well my grandiose plans for this Keynote didn't work out, and without much time left I settled on a Q&A. Please enjoy.

https://youtu.be/GaTZP0buvXQ

That's it for now. Time for the final vote!

Seeing how LD48 is kind-of a big deal, I thought I'd try making something, even though I'm a bit tired. :sweat_smile:

LD48 was one of the hardest events for me to prepare for in a long time, in a "oh crap I'm getting old" sort of way. The pattern I'd been used to is crunch to finish things for/before the event itself, then take the event off to relax. My sleep schedule has been erratic and garbage all week as well. Still, I mean we're not getting a "Ludum Dare 48" again in a long time. Future Mike will appreciate me if I make something.

After kicking off the theme reveal last night, I took about an hour or so to relax. I had actually been planning to spend Saturday making a slow-cooked meat sauces. Oddly this is one of my favorite little relaxing activities, preparing then tasting the sauce get better and better throughout the day. But then I remembered "Oh wait, I'm supposed to enter this event aren't I?"

I forgot that I actually had two goals for LD48 whenever it happened. The first, doing some sort of keynote, and the second actually taking part. It had been such a rough week preparation wise that the thought hadn't even crossed my mind, until I was sitting in my comfy chair after the fact.

I joked with Jenna about a couple concepts for games. A "colonoscopy simulator" was briefly considered, but I think the joke is funnier than the game would be. Understandably my time is shorter than many people, as I need to take time out to help folks get their game submitted or deal with any problems. But if say I wanted to try making a 36 to 48-hour game over a 72-hour period, that's something I could probably do.

The game concept I'm currently sitting on is simply a game about digging. It's actually probably more of a joke than a game, but I am pretty tired physically and mentally, and I'm trying to set the bar pretty low.

If I was to build this game properly, I think the way to do it would be with JavaScript and HTML5 canvas rendering. I mean yes, that's a pretty solid tech stack right there.

However, I have been reading about the Rust programming language on and off for the past few weeks, and I have been itching to make something with it. I have over 20 years of professional experience as a C++ programmer, but C++ frustrates me today. I mean even PHP has evolved in many incredibly useful real-world ways. Despite C++ getting updates throughout the years, if you try to write truly cross-platform code, you're missing out on the latest features on certain platforms. Also the features they have been adding to C++ have felt like the complete opposite of what most game developers actually need. The auto keyword, lambdas, an a few language fixes are welcome changes, but there's a lot of "what why". I also regularly criticize C# for being a worse version of C++, held up only by a better built-in library. Rust as a language however makes some radical changes, changes that legit look like they will cause you to write code with fewer memory errors. That and there are numerous good defaults constructs that let you write shorter simpler code. I am intrigued. :crab:

Last Friday I had planned to do a live streamed talk where I discuss advice about preparing for a game jam. One of those tips was going to be "use a language and tooling you know", and if you don't know it, learn it ahead of time. Learn how to get graphics on the screen, how to play sounds, how to make a binary people can download, how to host a download, etc. Well, I've never even run the Rust compiler, so I'm doing it hard mode. :laughing:

I would like to make a web game as well, so one other thing I need to do is figure out what I should use. I do know the Rust team is proud of their WebAssembly support, so making something that runs in a browser is doable, but at the time of this writing I don't know where to start. Future Mike's problem. :stuckouttongueclosedeyes:

Admittedly the day hasn't started very well. I fell asleep on the couch instead of in bed, and it is 9:00 a.m. or about 12 hours after we started. I need to find me some breakfast and distract the cat so that I can get to work.

I don't know if I'll finish yet, but at the very least I'll have tried out using Rust.

Ha, maybe I did push myself too hard the past few weeks. :sweat_smile:

Sitting in front of my PC Saturday, I had a difficult time staying awake and focused. Working my way through cargo bugs (cool, mmap is unsupported on NTFS partitions in WSL), remembering there's a many ways to install nodejs/npm (apt, nodesource, binary, etc) but tutorials all seem to be written with another method in mind, all while trying to stay awake... I've figured out a lot of stuff, but I have not made great progress towards a game.

I called it a night early 'cause clearly I needed more sleep. :zzz:

Sunday was more of the same. I had an easier time staying awake, but as the day progressed more of my time had to be spent helping folks.

So unfortunately it doesn't look like I'll finish a game after all. I am going to keep toying with Rust as I wait for folks to finish their games, but not before I get a good night's sleep.

Sorry Mike. Finishing a game during LD48 wasn't meant to be. But hey, there's always LD49 or LD50... the 20th anniversary of LD. 🤔

And with that, Ludum Dare 48 has ended.

The results for each category can be found here:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/results

You can check your game page for your individual results (via the My Game link up top).

Congratulations everyone! You made a game!

Ludum Dare 49: Coming October 1st-4th weekend

Announced earlier in the year, Ludum Dare 49 will take place in October 1st-4th weekend. October events are a bit easier to schedule on my end, so herein I'll be making an effort to announce October dates a bit earlier.

Next year though, our April event is both our 20th anniversary and Ludum Dare 50. I'm going to need a bit more time to nail down a date for that upcoming event. :wink:

Stay tuned!

Future stuff! LD49, LD50, 20th Anniversary, etc.

I'm running late on my "future stuff" video for a variety of reasons. Getting my vaccination a week ago didn't help either (:zzz:), but I at least have piece of mind as far as my future health is concerned. :sweat_smile:

There's a lot to talk about, so I'll save it for then. Lets tentatively say expect a video and a blog post next week.

Migration and deadnames

The ludumdare.com/compo migration plan is something else I want to talk about, and ideally see finished in the next 12 months (details to follow). But 12 months is a long time, and since it has come up, I want to extend an invitation to anyone in need of help with a deadname to please reach out. I'd be happy to help.

https://ldjam.com/contact

Stay Informed! NEW NEWSLETTER/MAILING LIST!

Want to be reminded of upcoming events?

Sign up for our newsletter here:

https://newsletter.ldjam.com :mailbox:

Or follow us on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ludumdare :bird:

We'll be phasing out the old google mailing list. I did a quiet test-run of the new list during the last event, and it worked well. I still need to reach out to everyone on the old list and let them know about the change, so if you're on the old list expect to hear from me before October. :wink:

That's it for me. See you in October!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=797kSGXZzjY

Technically my company and I are hiring, but the position is as a developer on Ludum Dare. Yes this Ludum Dare, the website you’re using right now.

This is a full time, remote, salaried position, with flexible 30-hour workweeks, and benefits. To start, you’ll be working with just me. I’m here to direct and to get you up to speed, but I need to hand off to you as many development responsibilities as I can. This will include occasionally working with open source contributors, and anyone else we hire.

You must be based-in and able to work in Canada. Hiring within Canada makes us eligible for government support and tax credits.

Indie game moonlighters are welcome!

You can find the job posting here: https://interactivesnacks.com/jobs/

Hello! We're talking about boring things today! :confetti_ball:

A the very-bottom of this website you'll now find an informative page footer. In the far bottom right corner you'll find links to our privacy policy, terms of service, and our cookie policy (which seems slightly redundant but does call out the fact that we only use essential cookies). :cookie:

Like with every website these are living documents. They will change as needed and receive updates as we learn new things, fix mistakes, or try to make things clearer. My partner Jenna and I have spent the past few weeks reading and researching terms and policies, and we've done our best to make something fitting of Ludum Dare.

We will be rolling out a website update soon that will ask you to confirm that you agree to the terms and the privacy policy. I invite you to read and share your feedback in the comments below.

Here are a few things worth mentioning:

Interactive Snacks Limited?

That's my company. I own it, I run it, and I'm the sole shareholder. At the time of this writing I'm the sole employee, but I'm looking to change that. For the sake of prudence, all legal agreements are made with the company.

Default game license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial

This is not a source code license. This is the license for creative works (games).

I'd like us to start highlighting a license associated with each game. You're free to pick your own license, but licensing is complicated, and many people aren't interested learning this stuff. For them we'd like to have a default license to protect them and their works.

Currently that default is the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license.

When you license your work under Creative Commons, you still own the copyright. What you're doing is licensing (giving) the work to others under a set of terms. CC BY-NC 4.0 is essentially saying share it, do whatever you want with it, just make sure you credit me, and don't sell it.

Default non-game license: Creative Commons Attribution

Screenshots, progress blogs, etc. Rather than slapping "public domain" or "CC0" license on them, we went with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This way, the default is to credit you for your work.

COPPA, GDPR, and those under the age of 13 and 16

Oh boy! Because we have user accounts, legally speaking we "collect user information".

Privacy laws like the GDPR (EU and UK) and COPPA (USA) require us to get permission from a parent or guardian before letting those under the age of 13 (or up to 16 in the EU/UK) register accounts. In the short term, we will need to limit new registrations to only those above the mentioned ages, until we are able to implement a "permission form" system.

It's extremely important to me that we resolve this, we just don't have the time to do this before Ludum Dare 49.

Feedback welcome!

I realize legal matters aren't the most exciting subject for game creators, but it needs to be done. Again I encourage you to share your thoughts below.

See below for a list of deals and promotions for the upcoming event (check the comments too).

If you'd like to offer a deal/promotion, you can leave a comment below or contact me directly. Be aware that I can be slow to respond via email. I will update this periodically.

---

GameMaker Studio

Ludum Dare 49 is sponsored by GameMaker Studio 2. You can find more details here.

• GameMaker Studio 2 licenses - Good Until October 6th: https://accounts.yoyogames.com/promo/ld49

Assets and add-ons

• GMLive - 20% off - Live-coding for GMS! Details: https://itch.io/s/56580/a-little-sale-for-ludum-dare

---

More Deals

• Construct 3 - Free to use during Ludum Dare: https://www.construct.net/.../ludum-dare-once-again-free-1572

See below for more

The Theme Slaughter has kicked off! We've taken your 3000+ suggestions, removed the more obvious duplicates, and for the next week we need your help to decide what you do and do not like. Click below to help out.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/theme

On Monday we'll be running a script to remove the most inappropriate themes, but we need your help to find them first. Many thanks!

Announcements Incoming

Stay tuned! We have some big announcements coming in the next few days. :wink:

Hey everyone! I'm excited to announce that Intel is a sponsor of Ludum Dare 49!

• :newspaper: Press Release

I've had the privilege of working with Intel over the past decade as an early member of their Software Innovator program, and I'm thrilled to have them supporting Ludum Dare. I've participated in their developer programs, flown out to shows and events on their behalf, and when asked, I always recommend that developers check out what Intel is up to. I'm thrilled to have them on board as we take these next big steps with Ludum Dare.

Speaking of developer programs, Intel asked me to highlight the Intel Game Dev Boost program, which I agree is something you should know about, especially all the Indie developers out there. Here are some details:

Intel® Game Dev Boost

Whether you're making an Indie game or looking to expand and commercialize a Ludum Dare game, one of the hardest things is getting your game noticed. Intel understands that, and wants to help you.

Their solution? The Intel Game Dev Boost program.

https://software.intel.com/.../gamedev/get-boosted.html

In short, Intel wants to find really cool projects to showcase at various events and in the marketing activities they do.

There are 2 steps to getting your game boosted:

• Add your game to Intel DevMesh
• Go through the Intel Graphics Self-Test process

The self test might look daunting, but at the top of the page they clarify that they care mainly about you going through the process, not your score. Intel does happen to be getting into discrete graphics, so relaxing that makes sense.

More details can be found at the link above.

Intel DevMesh

When you're working with Intel or when you want to work with Intel, you start is by adding your projects to DevMesh. DevMesh is a public showcase website for projects built-on or running well on Intel hardware. It's also what Intel uses internally for tracking projects.

https://devmesh.intel.com/topics/36

Getting your project on DevMesh is pretty straightforward: Create an account, create a project, and populate it with text and pictures. Frankly it's not that much different than creating a game page here on ldjam.com. :wink:

To get the most out of DevMesh, Intel recommends you go through the Game Dev Boost program. But having your work on DevMesh signals that your game works with their hardware, and that you're interested in working with them.

Stay tuned!

We'll have more exciting things to share in the coming days and weeks.

Hey everyone! I'm excited to announce that GameMaker Studio 2 is a sponsor for Ludum Dare 49!

• :newspaper: Press Release

GameMaker has been a popular game making tool within the community for over a decade, and we're excited to be working together.

If you're interested, we encourage you to give GameMaker Studio 2 a try (download it here). It's free and fully accessible for anyone to start learning. ~~GameMaker will be providing licenses so everyone can export their games made during Ludum Dare 49.~~ UPDATE: GameMaker Studio 2 licenses now available, see the deals page: https://ldjam.com/../ludum-deals-49

There are still a few weeks between now and Ludum Dare 49 if you'd like to learn it. To help you get started, we've collected some tips and resources below.

GameMaker Studio 2 resources

I'm thrilled to introduce Shaun Spalding, also known as @ShaunJS. He's a regular participant that has created more than a dozen games for Ludum Dare and other jams. He's a big fan of GameMaker for jamming, and we thought he'd be a great person to ask for advice on using GameMaker in Ludum Dare.

GameMaker Studio 2 + Ludum Dare tips from ShaunJS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JZAAbyUNsQ

Shaun's YouTube channel is home to many GameMaker Studio tutorials. I asked for some "quick start" recommendations, videos tutorials and general advice, and here's what he suggested:

• "My daft, breathless 12 minute guide to making your first game": link
• 30 minute beginners guide to GameMaker Studio: link
• Pixelated Pope's GameMaker Do's and Don'ts (15 Commandments of GameMaker): link
• Micro-tutorial — Make a platformer in GameMaker (any version): link
• The GameMaker subreddit's Wiki: link

If you're a more experienced user, Shaun recommended these libraries and add-ons:

• JuJu Adams libraries: link
• GMLive, a paid add-on that adds "Live Coding" to GameMaker Studio: link, Shaun's GMLive video

EDIT: Update! YellowAfterLife has put GMLive on sale! 20% off for Ludum Dare 49!

Recommended official tutorials

If you prefer step-by-step written tutorials, these come highly recommended:

• Fire Jump full game tutorial (beginner): link
• Little Town full game tutorial (beginner-intermediate): link
• Make your own Arcade Classic (beginner): link

That just scratches the surface. You can find a more comprehensive library on the GameMaker tutorial website, as well as more information in the GameMaker Studio 2 manual.

There's been a lot of news lately, so here's a recap.

Event Status: Theme Slaughter ~~Final Days~~ Ends

We really appreciate everyone that helped out with the Theme Slaughter. This evening we crossed the 900k votes, which is pretty incredible. ~~If you'd like to help us reach 1 million votes, you can visit the link below and take part.~~

~~https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/theme~~

Over on Twitter, @philstrahl decided the Ludum Dare Theme Slaughter makes a slammin' poetry generator:

https://twitter.com/PixelProphecy/status/1440244005946621959

:laughing:

UPDATE: The Theme Slaughter has ended! Over 1.1 million votes cast in the slaughter!

Thank you everyone for your help!

We've taken the top themes, removed duplicates and previous Ludum Dare themes, and have assembled 3 lists of 16 themes for the Theme Voting.

Check back each day: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, for a new Round of Theme Voting! The first round is live now!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/theme

Intel sponsors Ludum Dare 49!

We're thrilled to have Intel on board sponsoring the event. We've got some exciting things planned for after Ludum Dare, so stay tuned for that.

And if you're commercializing an Indie game, check out the Intel Game Dev Boost program—details in the link below.

https://ldjam.com/.../ann-intel-sponsors-ludum-dare-49

GameMaker Studio 2 sponsors Ludum Dare 49!

We're also thrilled to have GameMaker Studio 2 as a sponsor. YoYo Games announced recently that GameMaker Studio 2 is now free to use, no more 30 day trial!

If you're looking for something to do this weekend and want to teach yourself GameMaker, we've collected some getting started resources in the thread below.

https://ldjam.com/.../ann-gamemaker-studio-2-sponsors-ludum-dare-49

We'll have licenses available in the coming days so you can export your games for the event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JZAAbyUNsQ

We also asked @ShaunJS to share some advice for making Ludum Dare games with GameMaker. Thanks Shaun!

Finally, in his video @ShaunJS highly recommended a GameMaker Studio addon called GMLive. We reached out to the author YellowAfterLife, and they decided to offer a 20% discount on GMLive for Ludum Dare 49!

You can find more details on the Deals page.

Ludum Deals

Speaking of the deals page, it's live. If you have a product or add-on you want to share with our users, feel free to leave a comment here:

https://ldjam.com/.../ludum-deals-49

I'll try to update the post every few days.

Ludum Dare is hiring!

In case you missed the news, and in case you were wondering what the sponsor money is for, I'm hiring a full-time Senior Developer in Canada to work with me on Ludum Dare.

Interviews will start a few days after Ludum Dare 49. You can find out more details here:

https://ldjam.com/.../ludum-dare-is-hiring-a-senior-developer-in-canada

PS: I'm sure I'll regret this, but here's the meme template of me and my cat.

Boring Legal Things

To comply with various government regulations, we've added a privacy policy, a cookie policy, and terms of service.

https://ldjam.com/.../long-overdue-boring-legal-things

We'll soon require you to agree to those terms.

Twitch brings back the Game Development category!

After much moaning about the "Science and Technology" category, Game Development has finally returned!

https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Software%20and%20Game%20Development

The Twitch widget in the sidebar seems to have broken since then, but this should be fixed in time Ludum Dare 49.

Bugfixes

I recently switched us away from running our own mail server to paying for SendGrid. This should resolve most e-mail delivery problems (account activations, password resets, etc). If you still have issues, you can contact me.

The other day I pushed a bugfix that should stop the website from logging some users out. Also if you happen to switch IP addresses (i.e. going from WiFi your mobile data plan), there's now some leeway before it automatically logs you out.

Community member Mario Bonales submitted a fix for the problem where comments sometimes don't load.

Wrap-up

That's it for now. We're almost 1 week away from Ludum Dare 49!

Hey everyone! I’m excited to announce that Core is a sponsor for Ludum Dare 49!

• :newspaper: Press Release

Core is a free online game platform and a game creation system, powered by Unreal Engine. It's one of the fastest ways to create and share multiplayer games and experiences. Out of the box you get:

• An easy to use editor built on top of Unreal
• Online multiplayer and chat. No need to write netcode!
• Built in 3D art tools and a terrain editor
• A library of over 20k modifiable assets, all available for free. Music, sounds, artwork, models, and more. Everything you need to make a game.
• Automatic lighting! No need to wait ~25 minutes for a render
• "One-click" publishing
• Player avatars (optional)
• A hungry playerbase looking for things to play
• An enthusiastic community of developers and artists
• Monetization (once you meet some requirements)

If you’ve never made a game before, you can start with one of their many templates for genres like Deathmatch Shooter or RPG. The templates come in different perspectives too: Third person, first person, or top down. More experienced developers can heavily customize those templates, or build something from scratch using Lua.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1eGFmAa_1E

To learn more, visit coregames.com.

Seriously, check out that documentation

No joke, I was really impressed by Core’s documentation, so let’s start there.

https://docs.coregames.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rIbd612sUM

Besides Lua guides and API documentation, some of the first articles you come across are how to use Core in game jams, and how to use Core if you’re familiar with Unity.

https://docs.coregames.com/references/globalgamejam/

https://docs.coregames.com/other_platforms/unity/

Sharing your game is a simple matter of clicking Publish. Enter some details about your game, then it works a lot like Unity in that you pick what scenes to include. After that you’re given a link you can share, perfect for submitting your game to Ludum Dare.

https://docs.coregames.com/getting_started/publishing/

Next is what really impressed me: their best practices articles on making backups, collaborating, and using Core with GitHub.

https://docs.coregames.com/getting_started/backups/

https://docs.coregames.com/references/collaboration/

https://docs.coregames.com/tutorials/github/

Git is a serious developers tool for backing up and sharing your code. It’s not something I would have expected in an accessible game creation tool’s documentation, but Git and GitHub really are some of the best tools for backups, no matter what you make games with.

Finally, if you want to know how monetization works, check out their perks program.

https://docs.coregames.com/references/perks/program/

Several folks have already found big success using Core. Check out some success stories here:

https://medium.com/core-games/creators-on-core-see-financial-success-4a75f169e06f

That about sums up what Core development looks like.

I highly recommend setting aside a few hours to familiarize yourself with Core, and see if it’s right for you. It really surprised me, which is why I’m excited to share it. If your game concept would benefit from online multiplayer, avatars, or one of their genre templates, I think it’s seriously worth considering. There’s a great many tutorials, extensive documentation, and a full suite of online courses you can take, all for free.

https://learn.coregames.com/

How do you make art and assets?

This is one of the unique parts of Core: Everything you use to make games in Core is built inside Core. You’re not importing 3D models, but rather you’re using assets provided by Core, assets provided by the Community Content library, or creating them yourself out of primitives. I would have called it “compound objects”, but Core calls it “kitbashing”, which is an amusing yet appropriate term I’d not heard before.

I highly recommend reading this article from Dan Fessler, art director on Core, on why they went this direction.

https://medium.com/core-games/art-directing-the-multiverse-manticore-games-41bc02804010

So sure, you might not have Blender or 3DS Max at your disposal, but folks have created some really impressive things with Core. Here are some examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqf07TSOz0w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVmWbcka9Mk

You can see more skillful “kitbashing” in Core’s recent collaboration with deadmau5. Together they challenged the community to create dystopian worlds. The winning world will be featured in deadmau5’s upcoming music video.

https://medium.com/core-games/deadmau5-x-core-collab-jam-best-dystopian-worlds-505fc073183a

To learn more about creating art in Core, check out the art reference article. I also like this tutorial on modelling basics that teaches you how to make a syrupy stack of pancakes. :yum: :pancakes:

https://docs.coregames.com/references/art/

https://docs.coregames.com/tutorials/modeling_basics/

Compo, Graphics, and Audio ratings

Core is a unique tool that helps you make games faster by not requiring you to make art assets. That said, Ludum Dare has a history of encouraging you to “make everything from scratch”, so when making and submitting your Core game, you should keep these in mind:

• When submitting, select the “Jam”, not the “Compo”. The Compo is our “hardcore solo everything from scratch” category. Core doesn’t let you work entirely from scratch in a way that is fair to other Compo participants, but the “Jam” category is open to everyone.

• When submitting, you should opt-out of both the Graphics and the Audio categories. Again, Core limits what you can do from scratch. While it is possible to create original art assets by combining primitives (kitbashing), one of the big advantages of Core is that you have this massive library of content available to you. Make the most of it!

Wrap-up

That about sums things up. A big thanks to Core for sponsoring Ludum Dare.

To get started, grab Core for free from the Epic Game Store.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/core

With our historic 48th event behind us, so begins the next era of Ludum Dare. Welcome to Ludum Dare 49!

Final Round Theme Voting has begun

Cast your vote here: :ballot_box: /events/ludum-dare/49/theme

For rules and other info, visit the event page here: :trophy: /events/ludum-dare/49

If you don't want to figure out timezones, the theme announcement is when the clock (top-right) reaches zero.

TIP: The ldjam.com website slows down right before the Theme Announcement. We highly recommend you follow the official Twitter account, and sign-up for the E-mail Newsletter, just in case.

Summary of things to know: PLEASE READ

There are a lot of things to share this time around. Here's a bullet points list:

• Ludum Dare 49 is a regular Jam and Compo event
• Ludum Dare 49 starts early! October 1st at 3 PM PDT, 6 PM EDT, 10 PM UTC (22:00)
• Ludum Dare 49 ends early! Thursday October 21st! That's in just over 2 weeks, instead of the usual 3 weeks.
  • We're planning to try something special for the results. Stay tuned!
• Twitch brought back the Game Development category! Now called Software and Game Development. Use it!
  • Be sure to include the Ludum Dare tag.
  • There's a Game Development tag as well.
• Sign up for the email newsletter! We're shutting down the old Google Groups mailing list after LD49.
• We have a privacy policy and terms of service now (see footer). Check them out! Share feedback here.
• We are sponsored! Big thanks to Intel, GameMaker Studio 2, and Core for sponsoring Ludum Dare!
  • If you're commercializing an indie game, definitely check out the Intel Game Dev Boost. program.
  • Check out GameMaker Studio 2! One of the most popular & easiest ways to make 2D games. Get started
  • Update: Yes you are eligible to enter your Ludum Dare 49 games in this contest.
  • Check out Core! One of the fastest & easiest ways to make AAA qualty 3D multiplayer games. Get started
• Ludum Deals are back! Highlights include:
  • Free temporary GameMaker Studio 2 license with Desktop and Web exporting. :confetti_ball:
  • 20% off GMLive add-on (GameMaker Studio 2).
  • Full version of Construct 3 is free to use during Ludum Dare 49.
  • And more
• We're hiring! If you're a developer in Canada with PHP, JavaScript, and other skills—if you like remote work, health benefits, and flexible 30 hour weeks—if working on Ludum Dare and related projects interest you, check it out!

Keynote, hosted by Jupiter Hadley

This time I asked Jupiter Hadley to keynote. Not originally a game developer, but we first discovered her years ago when she started posting YouTube videos of her playing HUNDREDS of Ludum Dare games. Back then it was rare to catch anyone playing jam games on YouTube, and unheard of to see so many. Without a doubt, what she did inspired many people to continue in games, which in turn inspired her to continue as well. Here's Jupiter to tell her story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_IFDFYr3Dc

Thanks Jupiter for doing this, and thanks again for everything you do. :slight_smile:

Thank you to our Sponsors

We're thrilled to have 3 great sponsors for this event. Their support is enabling us to do some truly exciting things over the next few months. I can't wait to tell you all about them. :slight_smile:

Sponsored by: Intel

A big thanks to Intel for sponsoring Ludum Dare 49!

Check out the Intel Game Dev Boost program to do more with your games. More details can be found here.

Sponsored by: GameMaker Studio 2

A big thank you to GameMaker Studio 2 for sponsoring Ludum Dare 49!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JZAAbyUNsQ

We have temporary license keys available that give you full access to exporting for the Desktop and the Web, and we've collected some getting started resources here.

Finally, shout-out to Shaun Spalding (@shaunjs) for sharing his advice on using GameMaker Studio 2 in Ludum Dare.

UPDATE: YoYo Games just announced an additional contest you can enter your GameMaker games in

Sponsored by: Core

This came through at the last minute! Please check them out! A big thank you to Core for sponsoring Ludum Dare 49!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwN5cpsIG2g

Core is a fascinating game creation system that redefines how we make 3D online multiplayer games. It's beginner friendly, fast to iterate, and mature enough that professionals should take it seriously. I feel like this might become the tool of choice for some solo Jammers. Check-out my extended resources breakdown here.

Thank you (yes you) for being a part of this!

Thank you everyone for joining and sticking with us for the past 19 years. Thank you for being a part of this insane experiment started by a bunch of crazy internet friends. Thank you for putting up with me, your host and caretaker for over a decade.

Ludum Dare has been an obsession of mine for half my life. I was 21 when we started, and I'm 41 now. Growing up, I always hoped I'd be known for a game I created. I never expected to have a front row seat to a movement that would go on to change game development forever. Thank you for coming along with me on this journey, and I can't wait to see where it takes us next.

I owe another big thank you to our sponsors. Until a few months ago, I had never worked with sponsors before. I'm immensely grateful these companies had the patience to work with me. I invite you to please check them out to thank them for believing in us. Their support has gone a long way towards enabling us to grow the team and invest into making Ludum Dare even better.

I wish you all the best this weekend. I also invite you come back next year, April 1st-4th, to celebrate Ludum Dare's 20th anniversary with us.

- Mike Kasprzak, the "Ludum Dare guy"

Wrap-up

Thanks for reading! We will see you Friday with the Theme Announcement.

Hey folks! A quick PSA!

If you're having troubles editing posts, games, or comments, and you have the Grammarly plugin installed, disable it.