Managed to free up the weekend for this. It will be my first LD, so I’m pretty excited.
I don’t have any fancy libraries to share, I’m just going to jump into Unity, hack something together, and hopefully have something fun at the end of it!
This will be my 2nd Ludum Dare (9th game jam!). Unfortunately I have a few commitments over the weekend, so my time will be pretty limited, but I’m going to try anyway, as it’s a fun event.
I’ll be using Unity for the engine, with a combination of Blender and Photoshop to hack together some magnificent coder art 😉 As for audio, I think I might record everything myself, just for a bit of a laugh, and use Audacity just to fix it all up a little bit.
So you’ve decided to take part in Ludum Dare – that’s awesome! Game jams are a great way to really test out your skills, connect with people, and create something new.
Whether you’re going to spend this weekend with friends, strangers, or working alone, you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you. The added pressure of a 48-hour deadline can seem daunting, so I have put together a few tips which may help you stay on top of the clock and submit something that you’re really proud of.
The Tools
Choosing the tools that you’re going to use during LD30 is pretty much the only thing you can do before the theme is announced. This stage should be straight forward – go with something you’re comfortable working in. If you have only ever made games in Game Maker, then there’s no point trying to learn Unity over a weekend. Using tools that you’re already familiar with is going to save you a heap of time once the jam starts.
The Theme
Anyone who has participated in a jam before will know the feeling you get when the theme is announced – none of your existing ideas seem to fit with the theme, and no new ideas are coming to you. Avoid spending the weekend making Flappy Potato Salad and use this opportunity to take your first break. The way I approach this is by writing down a list of key words that relate to the theme, and then another list of words that branch out from each of those. Then I get up and walk away for about 30-45 minutes. This lets everything really sink in, and by the time I get back I will be able to look at my list and know which ideas are worth pursuing, and which need to be removed.
The Idea
Almost every jam you will hear someone say “Throw away your first 10 ideas – someone else is already making them”. Truer words have never been spoken, so I’m just going to repeat them. Throw away your first 10 ideas. This will encourage you to really think about what you’re going to make, and you will end up with something that provides a much richer experience because of it.
The Scope
Scope is one of the most important words you can use during a game jam. Whatever your idea is, you need to understand that you will most likely only end up building about 10% of it. Strip back all of you features and remind yourself how much time you have. Does your game really need 8 monster types? Will the fun be taken away if you don’t implement crafting? Find out what really needs to be in your game and concentrate on that. Move everything else to a feature list that you can come back to if you have time, or even after the jam has finished.
The Prototype
So it’s been about 2 hours since the theme was announced and you haven’t written any code. This may not seem like a good thing, but by now you should have a clear image in your head of how your game is going to play. Set yourself a timer (maybe 2-4 hours depending on experience) and a playable version of your game ready by this time. The code doesn’t need to be clean, the art can be ugly, but the game must be functional. The sooner you get this done the sooner you will know whether or not the idea is worth pursuing. Try not to feel discouraged if, when you play your game, you hate it. We’re only 6 hours into the jam, so you have plenty of time to try out a different idea if that what you feel is best.
The Sleep
The first day of a game jam is exhausting, and although you may feel like you can stay up all night, don’t. The best thing you can do for your game is to step away from it and get a good night sleep. When you wake up you will feel refreshed and will be much more productive.
The Audience
You are spending a whole weekend making this game, so you want people to play it! Submit your game in a way that is accessible to as many people as possible. Web builds are generally the best way to go, but if your engine allows you to easily compile for other platforms then it’s definitely worth taking the time to do so. Your game will reach a broader audience and you will get much more feedback as a result.
The Fun
This is, by far, the most important factor when participating in a game jam. If you’re not having fun then you will begin to feel like you’re wasting time. Once this happens, your chance of actually having something worth submitting drops of drastically. Take a break, remember why you’re taking part in the jam, look at how much you have accomplished so far, and find ways to build up your motivation again.
For those new to game jams I hope that these tips will help you to create something awesome over the coming days. I know that my suggestions may not apply to everyone, so if you already have a system that works for you then stick to it. I look forward to seeing all of the awesome games that are going to be created this weekend, and don’t forget to have fun!
13This entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2014 at 5:36 pm and is filed under LD #30. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I’ll be doing the comp again this weekend! This will be my 3rd LD (2nd time solo) so I’m really excited about this one.
Tools:
I’ll have lots of coffee, fruit, water, and music to keep me going, because what’s the point of a game jam if you’re not having fun?? 😀
I’ve always talked about writing something like this up at the end of a game jam, but have never got around to doing it. This time I’m just going to do it, so below is a summary of how my weekend went doing Ludum Dare 33.
To get started, I should probably say that I took part in the compo, so the game was done alone over 48 hours. This was my 11th ever game jam, and every one of them has been a lot of fun.
Blinky, The Simple Beholder – Ludum Dare Compo Entry
The Game
The objective of the game is to sneak out of the dungeon. Going level-by-level, up toward the surface, you have to hide in the shadows to avoid being seen by adventurers. If they see you, you will blast them with your magical eyes (because beholders are pretty strong, right?).
The problem with Blinky is that he’s been so deep in the dungeon that he’s never been in a fight! Due to this, he doesn’t really know his own strength, and so every time he uses his magical eyes, they explode! Blinky has 3 small eyes and one large one. If he uses all of them, he’ll die, so staying hidden is the key to getting out.
What Worked
The game was a lot of fun to make, so I ended up spending time on the smaller details, which I think really gave the game some character. Here are the key things I think really worked in this game:
The Level System
The initial design of the game was to have an endless runner, where you had to stop in the shadows as adventurers came past. By the first night I had a prototype of this working and it just wasn’t fun. On the verge of giving up the jam I decided to stop for a much-needed sleep. When I woke up in the morning I had the idea of changing the progression to a level-based system. This allowed the player to have full control over the movement, as well as having small, hand-designed levels and an achievable goal (yep, you can actually get outside!) This felt much more rewarding than an endless runner.
The Scope
Changing to a level-based system meant I didn’t need to worry about creating a balanced system for an endless runner. Sure, I could have just increased speed/spawning frequency but then it would have just felt like a poor implementation. The level-based system allowed me to have a single room layout which I could easily duplicate and alter for each room. This saved a lot of time, and meant that I could stop making levels at any time to give the game a victory condition, allowing me to deliver a much more balanced and complete game.
The Small Details
Like I mentioned above, I spent a lot of time on the small details. They may not be noticed by every player, but the fact that they are there has left me felt like I have done my job right. The smaller details include things like the beholder floating up and down continuously, each eye (while it exists) blinking every few seconds, the blood particles on the exploded eyes, the camera movement when moving to a higher level, and the highlight on the eyes when hiding in the shadows. Each of these things took time, but also added value to the game.
The Laser
This was one thing that I’m really glad made it into the game. Beholders are well known for being tough magical creatures, so it felt wrong to have one that couldn’t do any harm to the adventurers. The idea of having his eyes explode was something that initially made me laugh, but once I tested it out, become a really clean way of implementing a health system without having to code the adventurers to attack the beholder (I had thought of having them attack you, and you could just run away. Not very fun at all!) The laser is a satisfying, yet dangerous way of staying alive for a little bit longer. Unless, of course, you only have one eye left!
What Didn’t Work
Like all game jams, things go wrong. There’s constant pressure from the theme and time restrictions, and if you’re in the compo, you’re going at it alone. I guess most of the things that went wrong were all to do with “what didn’t make it in time”, so here’s a list of what I would have liked to have seen in the game, had I not spent the first idea working on finding the fun.
The Adventurers
Let’s face it – they’re ugly. There’s no animations, no colour, no life, and only two variations (where the only difference is movement speed). I would have loved to add some animations to these, and really bring them to life. I also would have loved to see some variations in how they behave. Maybe some change direction if the beholder brushes past them in the shadow? Maybe some stop walking every so often? There’s a lot more I could have done with these, but time was always a factor.
The Environment
Okay, so all of the art is ugly, but I’m not afraid to admit that art is not my strong point (or strong at all, for that matter). I would have loved to add some more detail to the environment. Maybe add some torches, treasure chests, just.. details! I’d love to see more interesting shadows, too. Solid black rectangles just don’t look very nice.
Obstacles
This went so wrong that they didn’t even make it into the game! I had ideas to put different obstacles that the beholder had to float over/under, or time-based obstacles, like a turret that shoots bursts of fire, to add an extra challenge for the player. Unfortunately none of this made it into the game. Maybe I’ll come back another day and add some in, just to see how it would change the game play.
Audio
I’m usually the first person to set up audio in a project, regardless of how awful it sounds, or how much it just doesn’t fit the game, so I’m disappointed that this game lacks any audio at all. I doubt I’ll let this happen again.
More Effects
The laser, the particles, death animations, they’re all just a bit stale. The lack of screen shake while the laser is shooting is also upsetting. Still, the game is functional, and that’s the main goal in a game jam. You can’t get it all done in a weeekend, so some things just have to be sacrificed.
Overall I had a lot of fun working on this game. I did come close to quitting the jam at the end of the first night, but I’m really glad I pushed through (and I admit, waking up to see a post on Twitter that said “DON’T GIVE UP #LDJAM” was a huge influence, so thanks for all the supportive people out there!)
The game may not be perfect, but it’s a small sample of what I thought would make a fun game, and that’s enough for me. 