First Ludum Dare, solo.
Unity, SFXR, Audacity, Gimp, some public domain assets and lots of wishful thinking. I'm just excited to ba a part of this - and that I'll be able to throw my game into the mix.
Good luck, and may the Caffeine Gods smile upon you!
compo and jam - do we have to declare them somewhere when event starts? Or is it decided upon submission?
This is my first LD, and from what I read so far, people are saying that compo submissions are judged more fairly and more often than jam submissions.
I'm going solo - if my main aim is to get feedback, should I aim for compo?
I guess the 'completely from scratch' idea indeed puts everyone in the same starting position.
Still very much in debug mode, pardon the ugly sliders :)
Got the bare bones working allright (enemies, terrain collisions, health, overheating system, score and so on), time for more enemies, bosses and fleshing the game out.
I'm surprised how much I've learned so far.
Jam category, witch public domain base sprites and music.
Slightly Angry Max (shooter) went live on itch.io - https://takusan.itch.io/slightly-angry-max
This was exhausting and great at the same time. Learned a lot, and I will definitely be back (with a better game) next time, maybe in compo and not in jam. Game definitely needs some balance tweaks, but it works and plays quite well. Now let's see what others made and why my game sucks :D
Cheers!
Gameplay video from my game: https://takusan.itch.io/slightly-angry-max
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuCQwZIAZMQ
Made in under 48hrs, but in jam category (used CC0 base sprites and music). Since I'll be making an updated version with much more features, I'd appreciate all feedback, especially critical :)
:radioactive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuCQwZIAZMQ :radioactive:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/$16596
In the update I'd like to introduce: * more weapons (i.e. bombs or grenades) * better AI, so enemies don't get completely stuck, but you still could use terrain to slow them down * tweak the balance * more enemy and boss variety * more levels (maybe there's an underground base entry on the island? :) ) * any suggestions I find reasonable from y'all
This was my first game jam, and actually an amazing experience and a great opportunity to learn. First game I published to such a wide audience, but definitely not last. And definitely not the last LD.
Cheers!
Since this was my first LD, I wanted to focus on finishing the game (making it at least playable and complete in sense of UI and flow - from intro, through at least basic options to end credits) in 48 hours, and polishing it as much as I could. I entered in Jam, since I knew I wouldn't be able to make a game completely from scratch (in Compo) that way, and I had some CC0 music and base sprites I really wanted to use in a game for quite some time now.
After banging my head on the wall for a while after the theme was announced, I settled for a simple idea - Small island, last dry place on earth, single protagonist fighting off enemies (probably just figments of his imagination from malnutrition). Seemed simple enough, and I wanted to extend the mechanics a bit. After scribbling down a basic design doc and deciding on tools (Unity, Gimp and SFXR/BFXR) it was 5 AM here, so I dozed off in my chair for a few hours, and at 8 AM the work began.
Since then, up until 10PM, with occasional breaks to scream into a thick pillow, I worked on basic mechanics and game structure. I'm not very experienced yet, and I quickly discovered where I was lacking knowledge. Fortunately, by midnight I had a working proto-proto-prototype with placeholder sprites, but the mechanics and basic flow were there - from blue intro with music player and skip button, through menu (working with options) to level with camera follow, playable mechanic, pause menu and quit/death screens.
Then the scoring system, health, damage detection and all that jazz went quite smoothly, and before 8 am the prototype was ready and even playable - flow was complete, UI was wired and responding.
Short nap in chair, and I began the most tedious part - generating SFX, cutting sprites, making animation frames and animating in Unity (working slowly- I was tired, and a stiff drink did not work as expected) Few hours of making prefabs, another hour dozing off, and suddenly it was noon (15 hours left to deadline). Playtesting revealed that the hitboxes, fire rate and general feel were utter bollocks, so the fine-tuning ensued.
And then it hit me - I forgot to implement the overheating, pickups and bosses. I managed to implement pickups quickly, but struggled to signal the affordance - fortunately just a simple animation sufficed. Boss mechanics and overheat were tougher, but all in all, around 6 PM, with 9 hours to go, that part was also complete. As a reward, I took a nap for an hour (best. nap. ever.).
Intro text was a breeze - not as witty as I wanted, but sufficed. With 7 hours to go, I polished UI and flow, and concentrated on fine-tuning the play itself. I still felt it was bollocks, but much better than before.
Around midnight, I felt I couldn't work anymore. Too tired, that was it. I hit the hay, and slept for 15 hours straight, woke up, and published the game on itch and my personal homepage (It was made in under 48 hours, but deadline for jam was longer, so I took the liberty).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuCQwZIAZMQ * ITCH.IO: https://takusan.itch.io/slightly-angry-max * DIRECT DOWNLOAD (WIN 32/64) http://takusan.pl/angrymax.zip
There will be a post-jam update, maybe even before the voting ends (though I must concentrate on other things for now). More weapons/firing options, screen shake, maybe lighting effects, more pickups, exploding red barrels (yes, those that exist were supposed to explode, couldn't manage that properly) and - most importantly - with better pacing/balance and optimally an option to choose the game speed and difficulty. I would like to introduce more content and work on replayability, even as simple as a global scoreboard.
If you made it to this point, thanks for reading. This is a first-time experience for me, and an important one :)
For those who missed the author's (Marwane Kalam-Alami) posts here and on Twitter: Feedback Friends, an external site, is active for LD #38 since submissions. It's dedicated to Ludum Dare, complements ldjam.com and keeps track of games extremely well.
(once again: external site, don't bug Mike about it :))
It's a good way to discover games and keep track of feedback both ways. Browser sorting is based on comments left vs comments received, and how constructive the comments are. "Nice!" Won't get you anywhere ;)
I'm leaving this here because I see lot of people complaining about having to look on reddit, itch and other sites to browse, so I assume they missed the announcements about Feedback Friends.
Since voting is delayed I think we shouldn't complain, shit happens, but get to playing through the weekend and just save the games for when the voting is up.
Cheers!
For those who missed the author's (Marwane Kalam-Alami) and others' posts here and on Twitter: Feedback Friends, an external site, is active for LD #38 since submissions. It's dedicated to Ludum Dare, has been used for previous LDs, complements ldjam.com and keeps track of games extremely well.
It's a good way to discover games and keep track of feedback both ways (which we don't have on ldjam.com yet). Browser sorting is based on comments given vs comments received, and comments are rated based on length and keywords. There's also a random game picker and option to show games with least comments.
I'm leaving this here again, because I still see people complaining about having to look on other, general sites to browse, so I assume they missed this information.
Site doesn't support teams unfortunately, so only the team leader (on whose page the game is listed) can contribute to the comment rating - but all feedback is precious for creators, and the site is a breeze to use just as browser.
Since voting is delayed I think it's a good place to find games over the weekend and save / bookmark the games we like for when the voting is up.
Cheers!
If you're looking for a retro-styled survival shooter, you can always check out 'Slightly Angry Max'. I already got lots of very insightful feedback how to make it a game players would really want - if you'd like to throw in your opinion I'd be delighted. It's a rare opportunity to have playtesters who develop games, and I'm working on post-jam version currently.
You can check it out on the ENTRY PAGE. Thank you! I'll be sure to return the feedback and take a good look at your project as well.
Cheers!
I'm really glad that it turned out this way :D I know there's much to improve - for now I'm keeping my game as intended for jam, and slowly working out the kinks for later release (which from what I see ATM will be very different)
:radioactive: * If you want to check it out --> https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/slightly-angry-max *
And, of course, I'll definitely check out your project and give feedback (if I haven't already) if you leave feedback for mine :)
/End shameless self-plug, back to browsing all of your awesome games. Cheers!
No shameless plug here - I've got more than enough ratings, but those games I feel deserve your attention :)
Out of more than 150 games I've played so far, those would be my personal picks. And somehow all of them have less feedback than my project. I think we could help change that (Games ordered by when I played them).
Seagazer - The mood in this one os through the roof for me.
Neuroso - Humour? Check. Clever gameplay? Check.
50ft by 50ft (or How I Died In Space) - Great vibe in a very interesting take on text adventure.
The Deep - I love the mechanics and the mood of this one.
Pity About Earth - Plays really well, and soundtrack deserves a freakin' oscar.
To Do List - Don't judge a book by its cover.
Rashlander - You think Dark Souls is hard? Think again.
Land Of The Sun - It made me feel like I was playing Journey / Shadow of Colossus mashup :D
Plonat Atek - Did you know one of the first video games was made for an oscilloscope? Well, they did it again. And how!
Techium Eclipse - you know Kenney (a.k.a. Asset Jesus) from making thousands of free assets for developers struggling with graphics. Well, here's Kenney's game with only 19 ratings... Come on now :)
A Small World Cup - I found it simply hilarious :D
Planet Bash - awesome gameplay!
And I assure you, they're all well worth your time.
P.S. And here's an unrelated pixel cat to get your attention... See how cute it is? Great, now please play those games :D
Cheers!
Out of all the games I've played so far (150+), and that need some more feedback, those would be my personal picks.
Seagazer - The mood in this one is through the roof for me.
Neuroso - Humour? Check. Clever gameplay? Check.
50ft by 50ft (or How I Died In Space) - Great vibe in a very interesting take on text adventure.
The Deep - I love the mechanics and the mood of this one.
Pity About Earth - Plays really well, and soundtrack deserves a freakin' oscar.
To Do List - Don't judge a book by its cover.
Rashlander - You think Dark Souls is hard? Think again.
Land Of The Sun - It made me feel like I was playing Journey / Shadow of Colossus mashup :D
Plonat Atek - Did you know one of the first video games was made for an oscilloscope? Well, they did it again. And how!
Techium Eclipse - you know Kenney (a.k.a. Asset Jesus) from making thousands of free assets for developers struggling with graphics. Well, here's Kenney's game, only 21 ratings...
A Small World Cup - I found it simply hilarious :D
Planet Bash - awesome gameplay!
And I assure you, they're all well worth your time.
P.S. Here's an unrelated pixel cat to get your attention... See how cute it is? Great, now please check out those games :D
Cheers!
My first ludum dare (and my first game published more widely than to a group of friends) went well - at least I think so. Big thanks to all that took time to play it, and leave the great feedback I got. Cheers to the great creators behind the open source graphics and music that made it possible!
With so many great games I'm chalking that up as a success :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuCQwZIAZMQ&feature=youtu.be
Max is still angry, and waiting for a big post-jam update.
Cheers, this was a fantastic experience!