So this is my first Ludum Dare and I’m really excited for it. Looking at the themes some seem very difficult yet others are much easier. I have taught myself how to use programs like Construct 2 and will be using either the r130 (which I already have) or the r139 build (if my internet will not cut off whilst downloading it). I am going for 48 hour Comp but if not I will submit it for the 72 hour Jam. I have loved LD for a year now and I love some of the creative work people come out with.

Code: Construct 2’s HTML5 with WebGL. I know it really well and I know what I can do and not do with it.

Graphics: 2D made using Pixelformer. I quite like the layering and the minimal features it has. I will also be using Dawnbringer’s 32 palette with a few added colours to give more colourful sprites.

Music: Will be added if I can, it really depends on time and the theme we all get. It will most likely be some royalty-free music like Kevin Macleod.

I can’t wait to get started and wish you all the best of luck 😀

Last LD I participated in was LD27 and I didn’t get to upload due to internet issues, should be fine this time.

Most likely doing an IF game based on the theme in Python so here we go…

Language/Engine: Python 2.7.6
Storyboarding and things: Twine 1.4.2
Compiling: py2exe

can’t waint for my second LD, woo \o/

My name is Brian Ash and I made a game for the Ludum Dare #29 Jam portion. I know it’s not post-mortem yet but I still want to talk about my experiences with Ludum Dare and what I feel like I could do for next time.

If you haven’t played The Ice Pond yet, go check it out here

Looks pretty dreary, right?

So first things first, I am never making a text-based adventure game ever again.

What I mean by this is never, I had so many difficulties with the command base that in the end I had to narrow it down to the point where you couldn’t experiment. I also used functions to refer to areas and get it inside one larger function, making it more stressful when I wanted to call something outside of the function.

It could be that I decided to code it in Python, a language I have had little experience in, although my only options past Python were Visual Basic 2010 which I am not fond of or just not doing Ludum Dare.

Due to my choice of Python, and my limited knowledge, I had about 70% of my code be ‘print’ on a single line to leave spaces between sentences. I also had to spend the last hour I had aligning the text with the console, just so you could read it.

Secondly, that writing a cohesive story and coming up with humour is difficult.

Most of the humour in the game was written in a sleepy haze during the second day and I had no sleep by that point so I wasn’t 100% there when I wrote it. Most of it gave a short-lived chuckle but past that it didn’t really help. In addition, most of it was only funny to me and the people I’m friends with as we all have similar tastes in humour so yeah.

Finally, what to do next time.

Hopefully by then I will have gotten a lot better at Python, enough that I can at least use pygame and a better editor than Sublime Text, something as advanced as Eclipse.

Next time I might try to focus more on the story and have a simple gameplay system, one that’s easy to understand and master, whilst also adding a bit of a challenge. I feel like with a text-based game, you need to focus on both whereas I not great with gameplay, if given the time to plan, I could get a good story done.

Hopefully by Ludum Dare 30 I might have convinced some friends to help me, as one of them writes and another is learning Python as well.

I hope that everyone has a great 3 weeks worrying about rankings and see you all at Ludum Dare 30 😀