Been wanting to do a Ludum Dare for the last year, finally the stars have aligned! I’m in for the first time.

I’ll probably be using C# in either XNA/MonoGame or Unity. Will probably use SXFR for sound effects. Paint.NET, Gimp, Paint, for graphics. I may try a few other tools while I am at it.

Or i might throw that all away and try making it with Html5 and Javascript…

Anyways, excited to get going!

This will be my 2nd Ludum Dare. I had so much fun last time I have been so impatient for August to roll around.

I think I am going to give html5/js another go this time around, here is what I am planning on using:

Framework: I think I am going to give Phaser a try

Editor: Visual Studio 2013

Graphics: Gimp, Paint.net

Audio: sfxr/audacity

I can’t wait to get started. Good luck to everyone!

This will be my third Ludum Dave to finish off my first year of the Dare. I will be using Phaser.io again this time… or I may give Unity a go. Let’s see what the theme is first! Good luck everyone!

Yay! It was last year this time that I did my first Ludum Dare and I’ve been hooked ever since! This will be my 4th Ludum Dare.

Languages: C#
Frameworks: MonoGame
Audio: SFXR/Audacity/BoscaCeoil
Graphics: Gimp/Paint.NET/aesprite

I’d really like to break the top 100 in some category this time. I’m going to try my best!

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

Some progress on character animation and movement for my game Kinda funky but gets the job done!

My wife and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary this year and have scheduled a vacation over the Ludum Dare 33 weekend. It will be a bittersweet vacation missing the game jam I fell in love with 4 LD’s ago, but I’ve got my eyes set on December, and am looking forward to returning in glorious fashion to LD 34!

I missed Ludum Dare 33 because my wife and I had our 10 year wedding anniversary, but I am excited to be IN for the 34th!

Tools:

1. Development: Visual Studio 2015 Community, C#.NET/MonoGame
2. Graphics: Paint.NET, Gimp, Inkscape, aseprite, MS Paint
3. Audio: Audacity, BoscaCeoil, SFXR/BFXR

MonoGame is the only framework I know well enough that I am not spending 1/2 of my time learning over the weekend. After building everything from scratch my last 2 times at this I have decided I should probably dump a bunch of stuff into an open source repository so I don’t recreate the wheel every time I do this. I’ll be using my own engine/framework called Coldsteel on top of MonoGame. I don’t know why anyone would want to use this, but, in keeping with the rules, this code will be publicly available here: https://github.com/srakowski/coldsteel. Keep in mind that I am going to be prepping this up to the compo and modifying it during.

Have fun next weekend!

This will be my 6th Ludum Dare, and 2 year anniversary of my first attempt! As always I am pumped! I’ve been spending this weekend rewriting the framework I prototyped and hacked out last LDJAM. Here’s what I am using:

• Language: C#
• Frameworks .NET/MonoGame/Coldsteel
  • Coldsteel is an engine/framework/library? I am building on top of MonoGame to ease the amount of coding I’ll need to do during the competition. I like reinventing the wheel because I learn a lot about the structure of such things. In keeping with the rules, it is freely available to everyone here if you want to fork and live dangerously…
• Editor: Visual Studio Community 2015
• Graphics: Gimp, Paint.NET, Inkscape, MSPaint, Spriter
• Audio: BFXR/SFXR, Audacity, LMMS, Bosca Ceoil

I may try out a few additional Audio/Graphic tools depending on how things go. I also have a new rule for this LDJAM: Absolutely no alcohol. I’ve tried to employ this as a creativity enhancing tool in the past and it has not gone well.

Good luck to everyone participating! I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with :-).

I’m closing on a new home this Friday and I cannot think of a better way to christen the thing than spending my second weekend hacking out a game :-). I just hope the internet is hooked up in time!

This will be my 7th Ludum Dare. While I am very much tempted to use Phaser.js again after creating a little game last week to announce the gender of our baby-to-be (http://superbigsister.azurewebsites.net/src/ ), I think I’ll stick with MonoGame.

Tools:

• C#/.NET/MonoGame
• Some version of my own toolkit/framework/engine hosted here: https://github.com/srakowski/coldsteel (as per the rules feel free to punish yourself by using it :))
• Bosca Ceoil, LMMS, Audacity, SFXR/BFXR etc for Audio
• Paint.net, GIMP, Paint, etc for Graphics

Despite no formal voting/score I am still quite excited about this. For me, it is always the challenge to yourself that is the best.

Good luck to everyone!

I am ecstatic to be participating in my 8th Ludum Dare!

This LDJAM I’ll be using MonoGame with a branch of my own fledgling framework that I am building here: https://github.com/srakowski/coldsteel. Before the last few jams I’ve spent the days before it rewriting the thing. I’m not sure why, but it’s almost as fun as the jam itself Per the rules you may use it, but I doubt anyone but myself would understand it :p.

For graphics I generally use Paint.NET, Inkscape, Gimp, and good ole MS Paint.

Audio, something that is easy to neglect, will be created with SFXR, Bosca Ceoil, and Audacity.

Restoring my no-alcohol policy this jam, not because I am against drinking, but because it is too easy to get distracted when off guard.

I’m hoping to use the following schedule:

Friday night: ideation, prototypes, etc. Must button down idea and stick to it.
Saturday: gameplay and engine dev, must have a functional ugly game by the end of the day. Asset creation rule, no more than 5 minutes to create any piece of content.
Sunday: polish, polish, polish.

This was my plan last jam, but I went down a rabbit hole and ended up coding the entire game on Sunday. We’ll see how this one goes.

Vote Simplicity.

This will be my 9th Ludum Dare, and 3 years since my first!

I’m trying a new strategy this time around. Instead of waiting for the theme to decide on the game I am going to build, I am going in with an idea and will use the theme to influence either the thematic elements or the mechanics. I figure this will eliminate the considerable time I waste trying to come up with an idea… we’ll see.

I’ll be using MonoGame, C#, VS2017 along with a branch of my my own framework/engine here https://github.com/srakowski/coldsteel, per the rules feel free to use it too :p.

Audio will be sfxr (or a variant), Audacity, Bosca Ceoil, and maybe I’ll try some of the tools listed in the last mini jam.

Graphics will mostly be Gimp, Paint.NET, Paint, and Inkscape, but I picked up Pyxel Edit and Spriter in a Humble Bundle so I may employ those as well.

I’m also anticipating doing some live streaming on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwRuD5EmUMu-JAi_AW5jJLw

Good luck to everyone this weekend!

I already posted on the other site, but it feels more official posting here! My 9th Ludum Dare and 3 years since my first! Good luck everyone :)

I kept most of the weekends free in August to ensure I would be free to participate in my 10th Ludum Dare... I cursed the sky (not Mike because he's legit) when it was scheduled for July! I believed until recently that I would have to skip this this weekend entirely, but I learned my plans for the weekend only consume Saturday night and not Friday. So I've formulated a plan to participate this weekend... I'm losing around 16 to 18 hours of time that I would normally have in a LDJAM. To compensate I'm going to dump graphics and audio and do a console based game. Removing the need to create art, music, and worry about things like 2d collision should allow me to finish something on time. If not, I'm opening the door to submitting to the Jam instead of the Compo... regardless a game will be made!

Tools: Vanilla C# in Visual Studio with no specific frameworks at this time.

Good luck everyone!

Since we switched over to the new site I've been unable to properly locate LDJAM wallpapers, does anyone know if there is an aggregation of these somewhere, or did this practice die out?

This will be my 11th time participating in Ludum Dare. Ludum Dare 39 was a huge disappointment for me. I kept all of my weekends in August open only for it to be scheduled on the last weekend in July! Still, I attempted, but losing over half the time to family plans made 39 the first Ludum Dare I've ever participated in where I failed to submit something. It was unfortunate too as I really liked my concept!

This Ludum Dare is a chance at redemption!

Tools:

• C# + MonoGame
  • Optional alt 1: JS + Phaser.js
  • Optional alt 2: C + SDL2
  • Optional alt 3: keeping options open :P
• On top of MonoGame I may use open source frameworks including open code freely available on my own GitHub account:
  • My GitHub: https://github.com/srakowski
  • I would not suggest anyone use any code I've written :P
• For Graphics: Paint.Net, Inkscape, GIMP, Paint, others as needed
• For Audio: [S|B]XFR, Bosca Ceoil, Audacity, others as needed

Strategies/Rules:

• Time management:
  • Day 1: Game mechanic(s) should be mostly completed
    • In the past I've tried to get this done by end of day 2 leaving 3 for polish. I think this gives me too much time to overthink. Forcing mechanics to be done day 1 will require me to A. consider an idea for all themes prior to the announcement (so I may hit the ground running) and B. force me to keep the scope small as I shouldn't be able to code much within the few short hours I have after the theme is announced.
  • Day 2 should be about content & tweaking mechanics
  • Day 3 should be about game feel & polish
• Low-To-No Beer:
  • Studies have shown some beer does help bolster creativity, but not in quantities I've tended to consume while trying to figure out what the heck I'm going to do for the theme. Hard cap at 2 beers any only on day 2 if in a creative slump during content creation.
• Audio must not be an after-thought!
  • I think this is a grave error considering how much audio contributes to feel & mood. I must have a song that contributes to the game feel on day 2.
• Don't overthink the story (if there is one):
  • Not everything needs to have an explanation. Sometimes it is better to leave things up to the player's imagination.

Things I'm Thinking About:

• Hand drawn art - I've wondered how hand drawing everything instead of using Inkscape or Paint.Net would affect the graphics of my game. I would think hand-drawing would a lot me a higher tolerance for imperfections because the cost of tweaking is much higher. Then again, making small tweaks for animations would be more difficult for sure.
• Photography - How could I use a camera to create content? perhaps using something like Play-Doh or clay I could sculpt some assets and use a camera to capture them. I think this was used to make the monsters in Doom.
• Acapella? - How can I use my voice to create Music instead of a relying on a tool?

Good luck with LDJAM 40!

This will be my 12th Ludum Dare and the start of my 5th year participating in the compo. I wasn't sure if I was going to participate this time as there are some other things I considered prioritizing, but here I am!

I'm keeping it casual this time and going to choose my tech stack after I decide what I'm going to do. I've used MonoGame & C# for most jams, Phaser once, and plain ole JavaScript for my first. I may use one of these, or try something new. I will probably develop in one of the Visual Studios (code or full). I may or may not use source code I've written in my GitHub account https://github.com/srakowski. Per the rules feel free to use anything you find useful.

If there will be graphics, Paint.Net, Inkscape, Gimp, and MS Paint are my tools of choice. For Audio I tend to use Bosca Ceoil, Audacity, Piano Time (Windows App), and SFXR/BFXR.

Good luck to everyone!

This will be my 13th time participating in Ludum Dare on my 5th year of participating in the Compo.

I've decided to do away with the concept of picking my tools, platform, frameworks, and engines ahead of time to explicitly leave all options on the table, including doing a board game :P.

In the past I have mostly used C# with MonoGame in Visual Studio. Paint.Net, GIMP, and paint for graphics. Bosca Ceoil, SFXR, and Audacity for audio. There is a good chance I will go down this route again, but who knows?

I have a hodgepodge of engine/framework code in my GiThub account (https://github.com/srakowski). In compliance with the rules feel free to use anything you might find of interest.

I am fairly excited about the new start time! I am interested to see how it affect what I am able to do. Usually Friday night ends up a throw away as I become too tired too quickly. This time shift may make this night more useful. I am also worried that it removes 3 hours from the end, the time everything usually comes together (if it is going to). It is also nice that I don't need to rush through submission hour to catch The Walking Dead!

I wish everyone good luck and a happy jam. Cheers!

This will be my 14th time participating in Ludum Dare and the end of my 5th year.

Last time (LD42) I went a bit crazy and tried to make something quite complicated. I ended up throwing in the towel for the first time (well, other than that one time that I tried to fit it into a weekend where I had other plans, but I went into that thinking I wouldn't finish). This time I am going to focus on doing something simple and polished vs complicated and unfinished. I'm also hoping I to incorporate using a shader (something I haven't done in any of my previous games).

I will be using C# and MonoGame in Visual Studio. Paint.NET, GIMP, Inkscape, and good ole MS Paint are my graphics tools of choice. Audio tools include SFXR variants, Bosca Ceoil, and Audacity.

Any base code I put together will be here: https://github.com/srakowski/LD43. In the same account I have a number of engine attempts and old framework code that I may pull from. I don't think you will find anything useful but you are more than welcome to it.

My first Ludum Dare I purchased a package of Jack Link's Beef Sticks, and every Ludum Dare since I've had a package by my side, but, in a M Night Shyamalanion twist, I've decided to break that tradition and try to stick to my normal food stuffs. Perhaps the beef sticks have been holding me back all this time? I am still going to drink some Red Bulls though, have to get those Wiings :P.

With that I wish you all good luck, have a great time this weekend!

This will be my 15th time participating and the start of my 6th year of doing this :). Saturday my wife and I made plans with some friends to drive up to their house and see Avengers Endgame. For that reason, most of my Saturday is shot, but I'm going to give it a try anyways. Last time I had a conflict I didn't finish. Having even less time may finally trigger something in my brain to keep the idea simple. We'll see.

I usually use C#/MonoGame, Paint.NET, Gimp, Inkscape, Bosca Ceoil, and other tools, but I'm keeping things open.

Also, I'm trying to also build a thing...

I've created a number of games for Ludum Dare, and I look back on them fondly. When I have friends & family over it's something I like to share, but going to the computer and bringing them up or fumbling with my phone kills be present with people. The experience is different when I reminiscence about the SNES games I played as a kid where I can pull out and/or the display the cartridges & boxes I have sitting around or on display. Physical things source conversation and give us a chance to share experiences with others, and they bring life to a room...

With all that said, I'm curious if there is a desire in the community for a service that would allow you to print a physical release of your game. A print-on-demand thing like Shutterfly or The Game Crafter (but focused on video games). You'd design the box art & instruction booklet within a template, upload them & your game, and then receive a copy in the mail. I think something like this would be valuable, but I really don't know.

I had intended on building out the infrastructure to "launch" an MVP of the service in conjunction with this weekend to see if anyone would be interested, but I fell flat on getting a site together (only a landing page :(). I have the capability to create boxes and manuals. Here are some reproduction boxes I've created as I've learned to make them:

I've made a bunch more boxes to get the process down. The boxes are roughly 5 inches wide, 7 inches tall, and 1 inch thing. They are about the same size as a SNES box, but thinner. They are also 2 pieces top/bottom like a sturdy board game box. Shrink wrapped they look great on a shelf. I have less experience with manuals, but do have the capability.

What I'd like to know... Is this something you'd be interested in? Should something like this exist for hobbyist game devs? Would you like a copy of your game to put on your shelf? Feel free to reach out to me at:

shawn@lostprintgames.com.

Good luck everyone, have fun!

Looking forward to the slaughter :)