Hailing from Portland, Maine…. our real-world gathering of folks is in for Ludum Dare #24!

A few of us have done LD before, and a few are n00bs. We’re going to work as a team in the jam, but due to work on Monday, we’ll stick to the 48 hours compo time frame.

To simplify co-building, we’ll be using Stencyl (allowing use of behaviors, but restricting ourselves to creating all media ourselves).

Go Team Pizzachucks!

I’ve now ranked just over 10% (161) of the compo entries. You’re all amazeballs. I’m incredibly impressed by what everyone is able to accomplish in a weekend. But there have been a few that have really stood out to me. So, here’s the start of my LD #26 must-play list. I chose games-to-rank fairly randomly from the rating listings. And, I only played web-based games (unity, flash, html5, etc.) so if there wasn’t a port, I didn’t play it. Sorry. These are also all compo games, no jam. All links go to their LD rating page.

0. My game, Distradiction, of course =). A short and sweet game of distraction elimination. I’m happy enough with it I’m pursuing a post-compo version.

1. You Must Escape, a personal favorite. An incredible mood game that is an elegant, beautiful implementation of a great concept (echo-location) and it fits perfectly with our theme.

2. Balls, Balls, Balls. A physic puzzler which was easy to pick up, yet became delightfully infuriating. Simple to play, but complex to finish with the ideal (or minimal) completion.

3. AlterSpace. A fantastic, and fun, game mechanic. You’re both the editor and the player of the game. Would like to see this developed more, as it’s currently a little too easy but awesome and inventive idea.

4. O.R.M. Ontological Resource Management. Not the best looking game, but an addictive resource management game which kept me playing a while to maximize my output in the restricted time. (Took me a little while to understand the mechanics, but worth checking out).

5. Boximalism. Unique and intriguing game mechanic. Pretty, and once I played a few times to understand the mechanic the developer was after (there’s a spoiler in the comments if you can’t wait) I had fun trying to get a personal high score.

6. hru. Relaxing, pretty, 3D game with some pleasant audio that was still pretty challenging. Bounce a ball higher to win, with every bounce a new note. Nerve racking getting close to winning (saves wouldn’t be missed =). A great implementation of a quality concept.

7. Colorus. Simple game of switching colors to hide whatever is about to hit you, that was extremely well-implemented. Smooth, good learning curve, humorous,  and a bit addicting.

8. 0. Elegant puzzle game that is trixy to play. Has a great aesthetic and interface.

9. Minyrinth. Addicting every changing, moving, labyrinth game that will stress you out a bit (recommend playing without sound).

10.Equalizer. Very clean puzzle platformer, with a cool gravity based mechanic and a great implementation of good learning curve.

11. Mesh. A clever game where you add torque to a gear to move it around and to connect with another gear. It’s fun, and well-considered.

12. Love Connection. A very polished, charming, game that’s will make you smile. Not a complicated (or particularly hard) game, but incredibly cohesive.

13. Solix. Cool mechanic where you change shape based on what color you’re on. Great concept, but still needs more polish to really shine. Still worth checking out.

14. Join. An interesting take on a familiar (snake game) mechanic. Delightfully polished, with a good learning curve and well-thought-out puzzles.

15. Cube cube cube. An enchanting variation on tetris, where you rotate to capture falling pieces. Smooth, well-implemented and a bit addicting.

16. Just for fun, I’m including Get the Potato because the audio is redonkulous and funny. The game is meh, but clean.

So, that’s a few games I’ve played which I think are awesome. Which games do you think rock? What inclusions do you disagree with?What web-based games should I play next?

Bonus games:

Ponkmorten. Making a game on an (actual) Commodore 64 over the weekend.

Monoboy. A jam entry I thought was particularly pretty and fun.

The Lamp. A jam entry which was creepy yet delightful to play.