Hey, noob here. New to ludum, and to game making in general. For now I’m using a program I got about a month ago at DigiPen.  It’s called ProjectFUN and is essentially a “Unity 2D” that uses C++. By next LD though, my goal is to be working with LWJGL and Java to make the game from scratch. I’ll also likely use Bfxr or sfxr for sound. The goal for now is to finish in 48h. Anyway, that’s about all for me!

Tags: 2D, in, sfxr

Well, my maze style game is starting to take shape, as far as the technical things go anyway! I think you will evolve as a character throughout the thing, maybe gain speed? Heres a screenie!

Level 1 (will be redesigned)

Also watching thecherno live at http://youtube.com/thechernoproject!

I’m running before schedule, which is really nice. I have 4/6 levels done and artwork possibly done. I would consider the game about 50% done. I still need to add sound, 2 more levels (+ you win screen and all that other stuff). Here are a couple screens!

Title Screen

Evolution!

A Level

And at that, it’s time for a break!

Well, I added sound. Unfortunately, I can’t really show you in a post. But it’s their, and you will see when I finish and upload my game likely tomorrow afternoon. Since I forgot to mention earlier, I made a github repo for anyone who wants the source as it’s developed: https://github.com/rye761/LD24—Evolution- Ok, off to try a couple other unfinished games and do some more enhancements.

Well, since being told to hit keys is lame, I have added all new clickable buttons to the menu:

I’d have to say, the buttons are like the best graphic I made so far for the game ;p

It isn’t really late, but 2 hours in, I have some nice progress and think I’ll take a break – for the night. My idea this go around is fairly simple on the programming side of things, which is great, as I’m not that amazing of programmer. Even though that is the thing I am “best” at when it comes to making games 😛 I am going with Pong, where you are controlling the ball. Here’s what it looks like ATM (and there is a ball that just ran off the screen too!):

Collision detection and more work on how the ball works tomorrow. I seem to be swinging in and out of the LD mode a lot tonight. Hopefully this big break doesn’t coem to haunt me in the end

Tags: invert, pong, programming, sleep

Yah, that’s my villain Also planning to spiffy up the paddles, and then I’ll make a menu with clicky buttons. After that I’ll generate some sound FX. I don’t think I’ll make any music, however.

I’m starting to work on my menu/title screen and eating this pack of gum (well, chewing it!)

This Pack of Gum

Tags: gum, menu

That took about an hour and thirty minutes. For now I’m going to break for a while and then I need to make the game finish screen (and make it triggerable) aswell as some more graphics.

First of all, I have submitted: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-25/?action=preview&uid=14147

Second of all, this was my second LD and now I want to reflect on some things.

Here is a list of things I think I did better with this LD:

• I made a more fun and replayable game (The end product was better)
• I had better graphics
• I had less time-consuming bugs
• I was more familiar with my toolset
• I was more involved with the community and this website (commenting, posting, etc.)

Here is a list of things I think I did better in LD 24 (my first one):

• I was more in the LD mood (I believe this is because I was following TheCherno on his livestream, unfortunately he wasn’t going in this time but if he’s not in in April I should watch someone else)
• I learned more (It was my first time making a game in Love 2d, which meant I learned more but wasn’t as familiar with it)
• I managed my time better.

Here is a list of things I want to do next LD:

• Hopefully learn AS3 and Flixel/Flashpunk or HTML5/JavaScript and make it web-based next time
• Be more prepared (I almost forgot about it this time)
• Watch a livestream

Yah, that’s it. Hope everyone else is having a good last few hours of LD!

Tags: reflections, submitted

I’m in for my 3rd Ludum Dare, hoping not to have much homework! Not 100% sure what I’m using yet, but I think I’ll use Flashpunk or Flixel. I will try to update this post if I have changed my mind.

• Language and Libraries: AS3 most likely with FlashPunk, but if I do a platformer (unlikely) then Flixel
• IDE: FlashDevelop
• Audio: BFXR and FamiTracker
• Graphics: Paint.NET and GIMP
• Other: Chronolapse, Chrome, Miranda

Tags: flash, imin

The ones I up-voted I did so because I think we could get some really neat stuff with them. It gets it zero if I’m okay with the theme but don’t really want it. Each of my down-votes have different reason. Writing quick and don’t have time but I can tell you one thing: I down-voted “You are the Enemy” because it’s the same theme we had last time.

You can shoot, and that’s about it. The tutorial text goes away after 20 sec.

I also have all my enemy graphics drawn and stats set out on my notepad. Will make those happen tomorrow

Tags: basics, flash, night, shooting

Just need to implement the sound and music, they are made.

Well folks, I’m finally gonna quit being lazy and make a darn post-mortem! This Ludum Dare I went for the compo (of course ;)) and produced Shoodir. It’s the third game I’ve ever set free to the public and by far my best one. That said compared to some other games made this past weekend it kinda sucks. Anyway, on with the usual poop:

What Went Good:

• Using flash: It allowed me to get my game easily accessible on the web as well as on newgrounds.com for a few extra plays!
• Watching a Stream: This is something I failed to do last time, but I did this time! Watching a stream helps me keep on it and provides a little extra entertainment/motivation/music/whatever along the way.
• The theme: Minimalism was flexible (could be applied to almost any genre of  game) and allowed me to have a good excuse for ugly and simple art.

What Went Bad or I Need to Change Next Time:

• The theme: Yes, this was also bad. Many people said I took it too far and my game was too simple. 
• Not much else…

So, there you have it. A post-mortem. Overall I’m pretty happy. It’s not a very amazing game, but it’s my best so far. For my third game, I’m pretty happy with it. If you haven’t played it yet and would like to, you can do so here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=14147. Enjoy

Tags: postmortem

Planning on being in this time. It will be my 4th LD (in a row!). I’m not feeling very motivated so I’m really hoping for an idea-sparking theme. Will be using Flashpunk if I carry on.

So, having issues compiling AS3. THAT SUCKS! But……. I’m gonna use Java (hopefully :P). I’ve been messing with Java for a long time but never made a game. Let’s hope this goes okay.

Hey guys, so I’m off to bed. I took lots of break today and as a result I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow. On one hand, the breaks helped me to be productive during non-break, but there were many unneeded ones.

This one didn’t need to last near as long as it did:

#LD48 productivity pic.twitter.com/AmFNfPKSg4

— Rontrile (@rye761) August 25, 2013

Oh well. Let’s hope for better productivity tomorrow. The most important thing is that I’m still having fun, which I am.

So, this will be my 5th Ludum Dare and I’m pumped. Unfortunately missed the last one, but I’m in again. Going to be potentially trialling some new stuff this time, hope that goes well. LibGDX is not brand new to me, but it will be my first time making an actual game in it. I really hope that goes okay.

• LibGDX (Java)
• GIMP, maybe Paint.NET
• SFXR (well, some form of it, most likely BFXR)
• maybe Tiled
• maybe Box2D

I wish everyone luck, just submit something. Don’t call it quits on Saturday afternoon. Take a break, but come back. Submit something. Maybe it sucks, is incomplete, buggy, or something else but submit it. Get feedback. We have a good community of devs here, many of which will be supportive and give you very good feedback. My first 2 LD games sucked. They were terrible, and pretty boring to play. They had the buggiest collision detection you ever saw. But I submitted them, and I got better. I think Shoodir and Broken Controls (my past 2 games) were actually kind of fun, and were less buggy. I hope to make something better again this LD. I hope you make something better this LD. Good luck everyone!

PS. Watch a Stream. It can be encouraging to watch other developers having success, and make those bug-hunting times less frustrating when you’re not the only one having them.

Tags: im in, java, libgdx, motivation

Hey guys! So it’s been a while since I made Light Runner and with the results out I have come back to do a post-mortem.

First off, I managed to get top 500 in innovation and humour, top 1000 in all but graphics. I see this as positive, though certainly room for improvement.

So, here’s what went right:

• Using Java, a language I am fairly familiar with.
• The concept was solid. Without a solid idea this would have been a total flop, glad I was able to come to something decent quickly.
• The sound effects, surprised my audio score was so low. Maybe the music brought it down.
• The lighting also gave a good mood I think.

And wrong:

• The graphics. I really need to take more time to make some quality graphics next time. I’m not an artist, but that doesn’t mean I should spend 10 minutes on the background of the game and never go and fix it! I think I rush due to watching too many timelapses.
• The music, another thing that needed more time.

All in all, this Ludum Dare went decently. I need to not rush so much next time, and I can make something better hopefully. See you in August!