The results

Grats all on completing another LD event! We were very pleased with the feedback we got on our game, thanks to all who gave it a go! As always, it feels great if you've hit the top results - but don't dispair if you didn't score as well as you hoped. The rating system can sometimes be skewed or feel unfair, so try to focus on the written feedback if the results have left you disappointed.

The usual

As usual, the community carries LD - and its been a pleasure to see the games of fellow jammers and friends made during the jam! The incentivisation to leave written feedback on games, along with the willingness of the community to do so really makes this jam stand out. Thanks everyone!

A less-fortunate common occurance comes in the form of organisational mishaps. This LD, again, we saw the a few hiccups: lack of pre-jam announcements; untimely voting rounds; results event timing issues. Whilst on the surface they might seem small issues, for those who've been active over the past few years here on LD, its unfortunately the same issues repeating time after time.

I was regretabily blunt in expressing my frustration this time, replying to Mike's tweet saying "the excuses are wearing thin, you're lucky the community is so patient". I've since been blocked by Mike, which is fair enough as he doesn't have to put up with people giving him shit on his personal social media. However, I wanted to at least give a little context so it can be seen that for the last few years I've actually tried giving constructive feedback to improve the jam in a less blunt manner.

LD49 - Results Event Announced - I initally pointed out that it'd be really important to be punctual with things like this, as content-creators would plan/schedule around the event.

LD50 - Discussing Results Event - Positive discussion in comments with replies from Mike regarding ways to improve.

LD51 - Tried to arrange a community keynote - Since they are a tradition of LD but Mike wasn't able to arrange one this time around, tried banding together to provide something for the community. Didn't hear anything from Mike in response to this.

LD51 - Offered help organising - Asked Mike if he needed any help organising the Results event or coordinating things with streamers, but got no response.

LD51 - Large detailed post outlining ongoing issues - I wrote a large amount of feedback regarding the result event and the future of LD events, with a large response from the community but 0 response from Mike.

LD52 - Suggesting a Community Manager - tried drawing attention again to the benefits of having someone help with the organisational side of things.

LD52 - Suggested short-term mods to help with spam - On an announcement post, giving ideas and volunteer to help moderate the spam posts, but no response from Mike.

LD53 - Suggestions for Community Manager/Mod help - I actually got a really good response from Mike for the first part of this, but then no response to my follow up reply which left a lot still unanswered.

So I am not sure I'd say my tweet was warranted, but perhaps people can see how my patience with the organisational side of this jam has worn thin. For more context, This post from last year gives decent summary of the main issues. This LD, we pretty much saw many of the same issues.

The end?

Since my first jam in LD40, the community has really been what drives this jam to be different. I would love to see @pov focus on the COMMUNITY going forward. Things that I think it'd be great for the LD organisers to focus on: - Continue keynotes, reach out to previous winners from the community - Promote community lead projects: The LD Discord, Streamers, Score Chasers competiton - Actively respond and engage with the community via the LD website when they post or comment - Improve punctuality and communication to respect the time and effort of those getting involved

Last LD I was close to quitting, though Mike's explanation in the comments here convinced me to give it another chance. However, I've realised at a certain point the responsibility is on me; I am causing my own frustration if I continue to hope and be disappointed time after time.

As it stands, I don't think I'll be about for next Ludum Dare. I've enjoyed meeting many great folks over the past 6 years though. Perhaps some of us will kick off a bit of a community jam sometime next year if there's an appetite for it - so keep in touch <3 My handle is HonestDanGames on most social media platforms.