4 days remain so here goes some nice entries:

1. Cluster Struck – katamari goes intergalactic

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=35779

2. Chipset-0 – great mechanics + really cute robot

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=2982

3. Flicker – interesting puzzle game

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=24705

4. Universal Love – kill enemies with love… or missiles

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=25025

5. Triple Threat – 3-player checkers

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=41447

6. Starpiercer – really pretty

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=39357

7. Planetary Marriage Counseling – two planets want to get a divorce

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=30802

8.Alien Gift Exchange – humorous point’n’click

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=2362

9. Connecting LD30 to the Real World – map of LD competitors, see how big LD is.

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=10313

Probably you have tried most of these titles but I wanted to expose those that for some reason gave me that wow! feeling.

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This was my second LD. It went much better than first one.

A. First LD – LD #29

It was terrible. I was at BBQ at my friend’s house and got too drunk. I woke up at 3.a.m.(second day) and was rushing to finish.

Wasted plenty of time doing great menu and background. The result was that halfway-through I event didn’t start doing

gameplay. Once I was finished I was ashamed of my work. I was even wondering if it was worth sending to LD. The idea for the

game that was supposed to be “so great” turned out to be rather boring. I still believe that mechanics could be used but as

minigame in bigger point’n’click game, not as solo game.

B. LD#30

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-30/?action=preview&uid=34334

When I heard the topic I was at first: “great topic!”  and then I was “sh*t I don’t have any ideas what and how to do it”.

I thought of oribitals(not sure of the name) and wanted to do something similar. I started with doing gameplay using

templates of graphics. Then I went on to do graphics. For last one came menu, instructions,ending and NG medals.

What didn’t work out is gravitation of enemies. Enemies were supposed to be drawn to players but there was strange

bug that sometimes pushed forcefully enemies away from players instead towards them. I think it was because gravity wasn’t

updated with every movement step. As I started doing it 3-4hours before end of LD I decided to drop the idea. The game wasn’t

rushed so I could do some more graphical effects(like pulsating stars). It wouldn’t take a lot of time but it would highly

improve the experience.

C. LD thoughts

The main problem for me is how big this contests is so there is good chance that your game will be send and not viewed by anyone.

Comments are too nice. It seems that nobody gives positive criticism – pointing out what could have been made better. It’s always

“I really like your game” etc. In this kind of environment you are not really sure if your game is worth anything. It’s contest made

by programmers for programmers. What we are missing is footballer-jock steroid type of guy who would be like: “That’s cool!”,

“Tits, nice!”, “This game is worthless sh*t” because we always look at things from “how much work did it take to make it” perspective.

I will most likely participate in next edition because as there are many bad things I can tell about LD in the end it’s addictive fun.

Sorry if this post is written in strange manner but it’s my first post here.

Is it ok to use picture of Mona Lisa in my game during LD? Or should I paint here myself if I want to use her?

Do you think we could make one LD with themes to choose from consisting only from titles of songs. I mean old evergreen songs that everyone knows (not recent hits).

Few themes/songs example (add more):

1. Ring of fire (Johnny Cash)
2. Paint it Black (The Rolling Stones)
3. Ride the Lightning (Metallica)
4. Oops! I Did It Again (Britney Spears)
5. I Love Playing With Fire (The Runaways)
6. The Tide is High(The Tide is High)

because most of these titles are just asking to theme a game

During LD33 I wasn’t able to find good random music generator. I want a tool that’s easy to understand and at the same time allows customization.

At best if it would allow to generate music from chosen genre.

The reason why I’m posting this is because during LD33 I needed a nice battle/combat theme. I thought about some nice rock music but every music generator found by Google created happy tunes instead.

How would you define difference between mood and humour? In horror game it’s pretty simple that if you are caught in by atmosphere it’s mood. But What if you play a game where zombie are drawn in funny cartoonish style(accompanied by equaly funny noises)? Is it fun because of the mood or because of the humour?

Patient Zero

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-33/?action=preview&uid=25437

The game puts you in role of patient zero and your job is to infect all people on the map. At first you go sneaky picking victims one by one in dark alleys. Once your horde is big enough you go “frenzy” to outrun military post and spread your infection further.

Why should I play it: gameplay and mood

Ludzilla

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-33/?action=preview&uid=14065

The game has the best idea for audio ever! Titular character is so awesome that it should become a logo of this edition.

Why should I play it: titular character and audio

The water ghost

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-33/?action=preview&uid=47536

When I saw screenshots for this game I thought it’s going to be bad… and I was so mistaken. It short fun (lasting about 1-2 minutes) but comments made by children are hilarious! Especially refferences to “Tommy” and how “this whole trip was his idea”.

Why should I play it: humour

The Devil’s Daughter

This game is well made all around but the art is really what gets your attention. Pallette limited to black, white and orange. Style? Something between internet comics and Biding of Issac? See it yourself.

Why should I play it: art style

Humane Harvest

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-33/?action=preview&uid=40341

Some games are good, some games are bad. But some games are wtf. So in this game you kidnap humans, put them in ground make them grow and once they are ripe you cut off their hands. Yey! If games you made where a form of Rorschach test a creator of this one should be in asylum by now.

Why should I play it: wtf of this edition

Who’s the Monster!

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-33/?action=preview&uid=57628

In this game you ought to find out shapeshifter using given clues. Nice change from endless killings.

Why should I play it: genre

Can I Haz Monsters?

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-33/?action=preview&uid=20557

This game is a mixture of platformer and puzzle game. What is amazing however is that solving puzzles involves talking to monsters => and by talking I mean learning their language word by word. Learning process runs so smoothly and is so nicely implamented. It’s so natural, not being forceful at any point. The desings for monster themselves arent bad either.

Why should I play it: learning to speak “monsterish”

Barrel Roll Ultra!

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-33/?action=preview&uid=27438

There are many games that puts you in seat of the bad guy from classic game. This one is just well made.

Why should I play it: overall quality

Moon Base Shootout

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-33/?action=preview&uid=25813

If you play action-puzzle game it usually goes like this: shooting, puzzles, shooting, puzzles. This game is a mixture of both and not by switch between these two genres, it’s a mixture all the time.

The action of the game takes place in space. Added twist to the game: if you break the window the space vaccum will suck everything until something blocks the hole. Everything meaning your enemies(good!) and sometimes YOU(not good). A simple idea of sucking things out allows you to use enviroment to your advantage which is great! No more shoot them till they die. Unless you want to solve it that way which is ok as well. Sucking allows you to move rocks blocking the pathway in boulder rash style giving a games a puzzles to solve.  Most of the time however you will be forced to solve puzzles under fire. So break the glass and pray you won’t be sucked out!

Art is fascinating, it’s tiny eye-candy.

Why should I play it: sucking mechanics, tiny art

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And if you still have some time you can check my entry as well:

http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-33/?action=preview&uid=34334

Done it, made it. I was about to give up because for the first half of first day I had terrible headache. I’m not even sure for what genre my game qualifies. I guess it’s something puzzle…ish but it’s ok because it turned out rather cool.

Now jsut waiting for bugs to come out.