The two of us have made a thing and would love to hear what you think about it.

Check it out here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/desert-express

It's the first ever game jam game for @lobster and the second for me (well, the second more or less successfully completed).

In Desert Express your job is to protect your train from bandits, attempting to steal your cargo.

Every train run starts with a random number of crates loaded onto your train. The more cargo there is, the more cars your train consists of and the slower it travels, requiring you to spend more time on the run and making those crates an easy target for pursuers.

In addition to slower movement, having a large number of crates on board makes your train a more attractive target for bandits. You'll find that there will be more pursuers when your train is full, but as the number of crates you carry dwindles, so will the interest of the bandits: less and less of them will be inclined to join the chase.

How to play

Use your mouse to shoot at the bandits. Only the first enemy on the way of your shot will be killed (the shots don't pass through enemies).

Your aim is to successfully protect your cargo so that by the time the train reaches its destination there are as many crates remaining as possible. Can you finish a run with a full train without losing a single crate?

As they say, sometimes an animated GIF is worth a thousand static images.

This does give a better idea of the gameplay than the screenshot we used previously.

Why not try our game for yourself? https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/desert-express

Hop on the Desert Express and take its cargo under your protection.

The more cargo your train carries, the slower it moves and the more unwanted attention from bandits it attracts. Said bandits will kindly take those crates off your train at no cost at all... well, outside from you losing your score for the run. If you have other ideas, why not shoot all of them while cheerful music plays in the background?

Also, having a random number of crates loaded onto the train on each run is definitely "a creative decision" and not at all a panicked last-minute ploy to avoid coding the starting UI. Ahem...

Enjoy!

So I managed to build a macOS version of our game, Desert Express, thanks to a wonderful colleague who lent me her MacBook. Now I just have to figure out how to package it properly.

I have never actually used a Mac for more than a couple of hours, so it took a bit of work to get the game built on this new and alien platform :). Despite what can be laughably called my "engine" using SDL, which abstracted away the platform-specific stuff, some code changes had to be made, since LLVM turned out to be more stringent then other compilers and also due to some runtime issues, which did not occur on other platforms.

Of course, these changes were just to get the game working and no new features were added or anything relating to gameplay or content changed in macOS build. What did happen though, is that in the process of adapting the code for LLVM and macOS a crash, that sometimes happened during the game, was fixed. So, interestingly enough, this version turned out to be more stable then the originals for Linux and Windows.

I'm hesitant to backport the corresponding changes to Windows and Linux though, given that said crash occurred not quite often enough for it to be considered a game-breaking bug, especially given the fact that our game, as it stands in the jam version, for better or worse, features no progression and a very short play cycle (under 1 minute), meaning that even if the game crashes, the player can just restart without losing any significant progress.

Anyway, as for the packaging, I used CMake to generate an .app folder, which is, as far as I understand, one way people distribute macOS applications. I know Unity packages its games' Mac builds like that. What I haven't figured out yet is how to properly bundle dynamic libraries, on which the app depends. I understand that it's not quite as simple as Windows, where you can just put all of the .dll files in the same directory as the executable and you're good to go. So until I work out how to make the .app self-sufficient, it will be necessary for players to install some runtime dependencies via Homebrew before launching the .app on their Mac.

If this is not a big deal for you and you'd like to try Desert Express on your Mac, you can do brew install libvorbis sdl2 sdl2_image sdl2_mixer sdl2_ttf boost, then go to our game's page and check out the newly released macOS build.

In the meantime, if any experienced Mac developers have some advice to give on the subject, it would be much appreciated.

Have fun playing all of the wonderful LD games this month!

So the scrolling background image in the original Jam version of Desert Express occasionally goes all bananas after the player completes the first run.

Any questions? :)

Well, actually, this has nothing to do with whatever substances the train driver may or may not be abusing. It is in fact a bug with the way the tilemap texture in the background is cached by the game. I knew about this bug at the time we published the game, but was foolishly hoping nobody else would find out. The issue reproduced only once or twice on my system and so debugging it, especially hours before the deadline, would've been quite problematic.

Some of the players did in fact experience this bug. (Thank you @Luther for providing the screenshot of the issue.)

The original Windows and Linux versions also have a tiny problem with stability: due to shoddy memory management on my part they sometimes crash when the player clicks somewhere on the screen after loading the next run. In a game entirely controlled by clicking. Whoops?

While I was adapting the game's code for macOS, in order to make the game run properly on that platform, I introduced a workaround, which removed both of these issues, so the macOS port is in fact more stable then the originals.

Since we are not entirely clear on where to draw the line between a game-breaking bug and just-kind-of-a-nuisance bug, to be on the safe side of the rules, we decided not to modify the originally uploaded Win and Linux builds.

Today we uploaded additional bugfix builds for Windows and Linux to itch.io, which include said workaround and are therefore on par with the macOS port in terms of stability. For the sake of consistency, there is also a bugfix build for macOS, but it is currently identical to the original port version (save for the version change in the window title).

All of the builds are identical in terms of mechanics and content. The only difference of bugfix versions is that they're (hopefully) no longer affected by the crash and the graphic glitch mentioned before.

So if you haven't tried Desert Express yet or if it crashed on you last time you did, now might be a good time to give it a go.

Have fun and best of luck with post-LD polish of your games!

We've uploaded a postjam version of Desert Express, which contains some things that didn't make it into the original Jam version.

You'll find it on our game's itch.io page (look for a build with postjam-1 in the name). Just like our original Jam version (which you can still play and rate, by the way), we have builds for Windows, Linux and macOS (see prerequisites on the game's page).

Here's the list of changes in the postjam-1 version: - Mouse cursor is now constrained to the game window, so you will no longer accidentally click outside of it and lose cargo to those pesky bandits. (Thanks to @lancejz, who suggested this feature in their feedback for the original version.) - Crates your train carries now have a monetary value ($10 per crate) and so your score for the run is now measured in dollars, in addition to just the number of crates delivered. - Accordingly, the run report screen now shows how much money you've made on the run. - Number of crates for every run is no longer random, instead there is now a starting screen (see the GIF) before each run, where you can select exactly how much cargo you're willing to take for the run, keeping in mind the possible reward and the risks involved (i.e. your train getting slower and more bandits pursuing it). - Brief explanatory text now appears when the level is about to end, indicating if you've reached your destination or if you have no more cargo left. - Enemies spawned in the same wave are no longer animated synchronously, as though they're all artistic swimmers or something.

So, if this seems interesting, do check out the postjam build on itch.io!

If you haven't rated Desert Express yet, but you wish to do so, make sure you base your rating on the original Jam version, which is still available on the same itch.io page.

Have fun!

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la, la, la!

Not much time is left before the winter festivities kick into full gear, so we decided to celebrate in our own special way by re-theming our click-click-click-em-up Desert Express in another postjam version. The titular desert is now covered with tons of snow, the enemies have all dressed for the occasion and the player is now tasked with the delivery of gifts, instead of some nondescript boxes. The soundtrack is also more Christmas-ey in this version.

So, those pesky bandits are back and now they're trying to ruin the holiday by stealing presents from Santa's special delivery train... while wearing Santa hats. Is this a failed attempt at a cunning disguise or merely a seasonal fashion choice? Alas, we may never know. But what we do know is that someone needs to stop them and there's gonna be a lot of clicking, so a touchpad is still not recommended as the input device for a brave gunslinger defending the precious cargo.

Check out postjam-xmas build for your preferred platform (Windows, Linux, macOS) on the itch.io page of Desert Express and you'll get to save Christmas (or your preferred winter holiday).

This postjam build also contains what we think is the most important feature: the steam engine now actually produces smoke! Choo-choo!

Happy Holidays everyone!

So, it looks like it's finally time to get some much needed sleep - something that my teammates seem to have grasped way earlier than me, it seems! Anyway, if you're like me and just can't go to bed without looking through some submissions, here's one for your enjoyment. Have fun and good night (or day).

...because we've just released a bugfix build, which fixes several bugs, including the one which made it impossible to score 100% on the level! In this game running out of space is a good thing. See if you can make full use of every available parking place in the lot. Check the game out here