We cut it really close with our game - we had a bunch of life stuff get in the way of development, but the end product turned out pretty nice (and a little hard, too)!

We went with a fantasy theme, and built a game about defending your Dragon Hoard from greedy villagers. You can summon defenders using gold, which acts as health for both the defending and attacking units. When a fighter kills another unit, they gain the purchase price of the defeated unit as additional health. Attackers will siphon gold away from your hoard and run away, while defenders will deposit some of their health back to the hoard every time they return.

We recorded our development, so we'll hopefully be putting out a timelapse and a post-mortem in the days ahead. Also, we have a crazy time trying to develop and parent two little ones at the same time, so there's some fun stuff to share there, too. All in all, a pretty fun Ludum Dare - Now it's time to roll up our sleeves and play some games!

-Matt & Jen, Two Bit Studio

I think we're finally ready for some game jam action, we spent a good chunk of the morning getting our work environment cleaned up so we can focus. This time I think we're going to try to make all of our own sound effects. Maybe we'll get some time lapse of our development, too.

Good luck everyone, I look forward to playing what you make!

Ludum Dare begins. We grab our markers and boards, minds bursting with creativity. We're feverishly scribbling, ou-

"Mom, I want to watch Daniel Tiger." Our beloved son has intruded upon our creative domain. The minutes tick by as we painstakingly negotiate his entertainment. After interminable delay, he leaves.

-r minds conjuring up fantastic dreams and ideas. With precision we cut them down, select one, and begin refining. It's alm-

ring the phone goes off. It's the school with a weekend announcement. We hurriedly silence it.

-ost there, but the idea needs some more work. How does the mechanic fit with the theme? How do we keep the scope tight enough? With the idea maturing, we turn to-

ring the phone goes off again. The school, with another weekend announcement (seriously, can't you just e-mail?)

-wards developing the minimum viable product. We carefully meter out the art assets and mechanical complexity. Our minds are racing with unrealized potential, but we must be diligent and keep it in check. Our time will pass soo-

ring another phone call. sigh We call it a break. It's almost dinner time anyways. I stand up and head to the kitchen, balancing nutrition with ease of cooking - it is a game jam weekend, after all. In the distance my son can be heard - "Daniel Tiger's gone off!" ... We had better keep our scope extra small to start off with.

We managed to find a fun twist on the theme that isn't groundhog's day. I'll share more when we've got some content ready. For now, I thought I'd throw out some of our cast-off ideas for those that may be a little stuck. Hopefully they'll help stir your creative juices!

• The loop is a hangman's noose, you must escape it
• The loop is repeating musical bars, the notes are platforms you must jump between
• Frozen bubbles you're rolling inside
• You have a compass to navigate with, but it leads you in a circle
• Infinite mirrors
• A pacman-esque looping maze
• You're surround by a loop of enemies that circle you. Push them into obstacles or have to dodge their attacks as you navigate
• You're married, trapped forever by the loop on your finger

Keep jamming, everyone! Look forward to seeing what you come up with!

We're calling it quits for the first night. So far, we've gotten our theme, dev plan, an initial design and scope, a little bit of art design, some white box props, and...something approaching working physics. Good thing there's the rest of the weekend!

Hope you guys are doing well!

Janky physics last night, this morning we've got working physics AND AI!

I just wanted them to follow me. Turns out I got pit maneuvers for free. Imagine driving an escape car that always wants to turn left...

Janky physics last night, this morning we've got working physics AND AI!

I just wanted them to follow me. Turns out I got pit maneuvers for free. Imagine driving an escape car that always wants to turn left...