At last, I finally got to join a Ludum Dare which doesn't align with my job stress surges. And like a college project, I submitted at the last minute (God bless the submission time extension).

AEOS is about a boat that needs light to do anything. Beware that your orb will die out if you stay long in the darkness.

link: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/aeos

I have just uploaded the Linux and Mac version of "AEOS" on itch.io (https://yetman.itch.io/aeos)

However, The Mac version is currently untested so I can not verify that the game works from start to end.

LD39 Link: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/aeos

Version 1.1

Based on the feedback (Thanks to everyone who commented), the following Bug Fixes and Tweaks have been included in version 1.1 on Itch.io (https://yetman.itch.io/aeos): * ​Lowered default mouse sensitivity from 10 to 5. * Added control over mouse sensitivity​ using "+" and "-" keys (+Numpad). * Lowered boat turning torque from 5 to 3. * Lowered the emissive power of everything. * Added missing colliders on a few objects. * Less boat rocking while moving.

Problems not solved yet: * ​Increasing boat speed since it will require tuning other game-play parameters. * Some light leaks due to low lightmap resolution. * Checkpoints (Highest priority right now).

Note: The original version (Ludum Dare Submission) is still uploaded on Google Drive.

LD39 Page: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/aeos

First I would like to share the gameplay videos I received (Thanks a lot @icxon, @sarrixx and kanetsu).

@icxon video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx1-dbh-Q3A

@sarixx video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yDZ1gd1QPE

kanetsu video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4rQoQJPX5Q

And finally my own gameplay video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flvY9mD3D4o

As the developer of the game, I already know how to finish the game; no exploration needed and I even believed that the game was too easy that nobody is going to ever die. It is easy to see from the feedback and the videos above that I WAS WRONG and now I understand: Respect the wisdom of the elders, Respect the long praised feature "The Checkpoint".

However, It took me too long to implement it but it is now ready. Version 1.2 on the Itch.io page has checkpoints implemented at the boundaries between area (gates).

The Checkpoints are invisible and activates only once on entering the region. Upon death, the boat returns to the checkpoint location and all actions done after the checkpoint activation are reset.

Implementation Details: The checkpoint system is implemented using a stack to store delegates to undo each action (activating switch, opening gate, etc). * Whenever an action is done, its corresponding undo delegate is pushed into the stack. * Upon death, the stack elements are popped and applied till the stack is empty. * Entering a checkpoint clears the stack and stores the new boat location, rotation and orb power.

I don't how efficient it would be compared to storing the state of everything but it won't cause a problem in the current version since the number of actions are low.

LD39 Page: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/aeos

Although I was planning not to blogpost this jam, I couldn't resist the bandwagon :D

Despite the controversy around the "Combine 2 incompatible genres (e.g. turn based racing)" theme, it made me wonder for a few days: "What genres are incompatible with each other?"

The example "turn based racing" doesn't help in my opinion. I think they are uncommon together but not incompatible. In racing, the goal is to reach the end line first (or within a time limit). If we make it turn based, then we need to pick in each turn the actions that will ensure we reach first after a number of turns (or within a limited number of steps or seconds). This may remove the need for quick reflexes which is common in racing (except if turns are timed), but I still think that this is a compatible combination.

What do you think?

Now that I think about it, my genres are not very incompatible as I initially imagined but I no longer care. I just wanted shoot stuff in crazy taxi (and in 2D since I am bad at 3D shooters and have no time to make a 3D city in 72 hours).

I also got the chance to try adding too much parallax scrolling inspired by NegSpace.

Play It Here (Available in HTML5 and on Windows Desktop)

If you like it, give me your feedback. If you hate it, give me your feedback too. Thank you.

This is my fourth LD jam in row and in total and my first "I'm in" post. I am excited since I will hopefully be free for the 3 jam days so I will try to make a 3D game.

I will probably use Unity, Probuilder/Blender or MagicaVoxel (depends on the style I seek), LMMS or Sunvox (for music which I am horrible at), Aseprite (if I decided to do pixel art).

I may try also HaxeFlixel instead of unity if I changed my mind and went for 2D instead.

I saw people share their Ludum Dare wallpapers which made me feel excited but I am bad at wallpaper design and image editing so I decided to try making something in MagicaVoxel instead since it is very easy to use.

Theme slaughter is tiresome but fun. Although many themes are useless, a lot of them instigate nice ideas. Out of 3360, I kept only 69 themes (~2%). The slaughter question is "Would this be a good Theme?" but near the end, I realized that I was answering a different question: "Do you like this theme?". Looking back, I should have been more open and kept much more themes.

My personal view about themes

I believe that restrictions should only be a side effect of the theme and the main goal should be inspiration. That's why themes should be broad as long as you can discern games that follow it from those who don't. For example, GGJ 2015 theme "What do we do now?" is too broad because anything can fit in. I see themes as a tool to break creative blocks (like randomly browsing a dictionary) by motivating the mind to explore new possibilities outside its current box.

In the 3 GGJs and 3 LD jams I participated in, I feel that GGJ submissions had more diversity in theme interpretations compared to LD. My hypothesis is that GGJ themes translate to personal experiences while most LD themes translate to game mechanics. For example, GGJ16 "Rituals" has no translation to game mechanics and its interpretation differs with culture, age, gender, activities and so on. GGJ 17 "Waves" is broad too and can be seen as sea waves, sound, light, signals, enemy waves, heat waves, trend waves, mood waves and so on depending on your background.

On the other hand, LD39 "Running out of Power" easily translates to "limited and consumable resources" (energy, fuel, moves, time, etc). LD40 "The more you have, the worse it is" is very similar to "The game gets harder as you make more progress" so many games just increased the difficulty when you collect coins, items, etc. Some games still had their unique interpretations. LD41 "Combine 2 Incompatible Genres" had more diversity since it has no obvious translation into certain game mechanics.

The main thing I like about LD is that even if many submissions in LD 39 & 40 interpreted the theme as similar mechanics, they still experimented with many unusual combinations with other mechanics and genres.

What do you think?

After I published my unfinished game, I spent one day drowning in disappointment. I was hoping to push my limits in this jam since I am free for the whole 3 days but I did some big mistakes. In the end, I learned new things and implemented some useful stuff for later.

After the theme was announced, I came up with a few ideas: 1. A Sokoban-like memory game with more files of different shapes and sizes being generated over time. 2. A game where corpses of enemies don't disappear and can be obstacles (or useful objects too). 3. A 3D space game where running out of a special fuel will make you lose your 3rd dimension (the game becomes 2D and you can't move up or down). 4. A 2D/3D hybrid Puzzle game where the 3D character has to go from one point to another through rooms that can be arranged from a control panel (Every level adds more rooms and the panel gets crowded). 5. A photography game where you need to capture images with requested objects in a limited amount of time but take care of your remaining space till you upload the images.

I started with Idea #3 but I couldn't get the look I was seeking so I switched to Idea #4. Then I spent the whole first day working on the console code/art and I was nearly done by the end of the day. On the next day, I started working on the 3D part but I didn't like how it looked. After iterating many time, I got burned out and started to give up. Near the end of the 2nd day, I was a bit satisfied with the look but there was still a lot of work to do and I no longer felt excited about my idea so I decided to give up. Here are some screenshots of the first abandoned game:

Attribution: The font is taken from REXPaint files (a free tool for ASCII Art).

On the 3rd day, I decided to try a different idea. It was remix of Idea #3 but this time, the player has to collect a fuel (Threedmium) to transfer between non-euclidean planes of existence to fight enemies (Inspired by Space Dandy Episode 24). In the end, it was unfinished, unoptimized, unpolished and buggy. I still shamelessly submitted it though. Here are some screenshots of the second unfinished game:

On the positive side, I have learned: - To focus on game mechanics first then polish the visual style. - To stop hesitating in the middle of work. When one feels lost, it may be better to just keep pushing forward. - How to implement a console in Unity (I have always wanted to make one).

If you would like to try the game in its current state, you can find it here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/toroid

Now, I am ready to play some games. If you wish, send me your game in the comments and I will play it and give you my feedback.