My First Ludum Dare Entry
Thanks to Ludum Dare, I can now boast of my first effectively finished, self-contained game: Viking of Love.
While my earliest attempts at a game engine met with some success (here and restarted in HTML5 here), the short and external goal of Mini Ludum Dare challenged me to slap together something that others can actually enjoy on its own merits. I dare say that Ludum Dare achieved its goal.
Let me share a word of caution in the hope that you avoid my game’s faulty opening. The very first incarnation of the game began as a retrofit to the platformer demo game that accompanies the Akihabara engine (my second attempt at such) but a few hours of development made it clear that the necessary graphics and code rework would eat up the entire 48 hours before I could even start on the writing. Putting that aside, I then switched to a platform that I hadneglected for entirely too long: Ren’Py. My initial exposure to it dates back a few years and I must say that the developers have made exceptional progress since then. I might just focus on contributing to their ongoing effort directly instead of continuing work on my own visual novel engine. Anyone looking to focus on the content of their next game would benefit greatly from learning it.
In the end, however amateur my results, I enjoyed the process more than enough to eagerly anticipate the next Ludum Dare. In the meantime, let me know whether this short but introspective story resonated with you. Thanks for playing!
James H.
