Our 23rd main event is coming up in just a few weeks. It also marks the 10th anniversary of our very first event! You can check out the theme list of all the events run in the past 10 years over here, as well as some of the results (Our archival of the early days could have been better though).

Last time, Ludum Dare 22, we had an incredible 891 games submitted. This time we’re looking to break the record again, and what better way to celebrate the 10th Anniversary than to make over 1000 games!

So with that, we’d like you to help us spread the word! Tell your friends, tell your classmates, tell your co-workers, tell everyone! We want this next event to be big huge!

Veterans of Ludum Dare’s past, I want to send a special invitation out to you too. Especially if you haven’t competed in years, we’d love to see you back for this one. Ten year anniversaries only come so often ‘eh. 😉

Thanks everyone! We hope to see you taking part in Ludum Dare 23!

* * *

PS: A bit of a heads up, we will be doing another Warmup Weekend April 13th-15th. Details forthcoming, but in essence we want to encourage you to spend some time getting your tools ready for the main event on April 20th-23rd.

Since I watched Notch’s livestream, while he was coding a LD entry, a strong force said that I should participate, too. 😀

But at that time I wasn’t very good at game programming, I only programmed other stuff than games in my university. So I started to get in touch with some graphics/game libraries for C++ and I ended up with SFML 2.0.

I really like SFML and I hope I can make something nice for LD23. It doesn’t have to be very good. I just want to have fun.  And now I think I can start with my first project in LD23. I’m really looking forward to this compo!

The main priority for me is to finish the game and of course to code 48 hours

So in conclusion: I wanna code! I hope you too.

And for everyone who is interested: My coding place

A bit messy, but that’s OK for me.

PS: I hate to say this but I hope my english isn’t too bad. I’m from germany

After watching Notch make Prelude of the Chambered and Minicraft, I decided that i am inspired enough to try to participate a competition!

Who am I? I am just another Unity dude out there, with a specific passion for basic geometic shapes (my poor modeling skills also contribute on this) and pixellated stuff. I mainly program in JavaScript, but I’ve learned that C# is much more complete un Unity. Lately I’ve been playing with Jurassic to implement a modding API, with no success. Maybe after some forced exercise I’ll catch the train (not sure if this expression exists in English). I guess i should follow those posters below and post my workspace.

Yes, there is a mrror behind my screen.

It’s a kind of average gaming computer. I like to play games and code stuff (mostly obnoxiously useless tests) and play with physics.

If anyone wants to see what I’ve made, visit my site.

Tags: ld23, unity, workstation

In the past, I’ve made a few arcade ROM hacks, new Z80/Pac-Man hardware ROM code, as well as writing some tools that quite a few people have used over the past 15 years or so (AGE and Turaco). Being that this next LD is notable as being the 10th, I figured I’d celebrate by attempting to do an LD entry that is “retro” to the fullest extent that I can think of.

I’m going to do a 16kbyte “Ms Pac-Man Bootleg” (mspacmab) romset entry. I will provide an emulator so that you can play it in a web browser (or at least via Java) or you can drop the romset into your MAME emulator port of choice to try it out. (Note: This means I’m targetting that cpu (Z80) Memory Map (Pac-Man Arcade Hardware), Color PROM (MsPac-Man), etc. You will be able to burn the roms, and drop them onto real hardware to play this!)

I’ll be using my z80 kernel (some routines to simplify screen drawing, handling a coindrop menu, that kind of thing) which is available on google code here: http://code.google.com/p/bleu-romtools/ . (Also there are the graphics tools mentioned before (Turaco), as well as a slightly modified Z80 assembler, adding some things that simplify use in a constrained ROM memory map)

It should be pretty fun and very challenging! I invite any of you as insane as I am to pick your retro platform of choice (Commodore 64? PET? Amstrad? Sinclair? Atari 8-bit? Amiga?) and go for it for this one along with me!

I haven’t really been in a Z80 headspace in a couple years now, I’ll be starting this on the end of a work business trip ,coding in a hotel and airplane, then working on it while helping care for a toddler, and that the tools aren’t as advanced as for other platforms…

I’m sure my entry and effort will go down in a blaze of failure, due to so many things being against me on this, but I’m going to give it a try anyway. 😀

Tags: ld23, pacman, retro, z80

I got buried under a mountain of base code. I have an executable that runs some silent tests in the background and exits successfully. That’s not really a game, so I didn’t bother submitting.

Here’s what I do have to show for this exercise.

I have burdened myself with several major issues:

• Indecisiveness
• Extra work
• Poor time management
• Lack of focus

So… I’m going to talk about these a bit. I’m putting a break here for folks who don’t necessarily want to read all of this. If you’re curious about why I think I’ve failed, go ahead and read after the break.

Still reading? Cool.

Indecisiveness

Here’s the biggest issue that I have. I get an idea and then drop it when it’s already too late to change ideas. This has caused problems for me in lots of ways, including in game jams.

I have to get it together and actually pick something to work on.

Extra Work

Oh yes, extra work. I enjoy C++ and low-level libraries. I have enjoyed Love2D, which provides very… limited… data format support (like, it only supports media and plaintext). Perl+SDL was an interesting choice for me and certainly a learning experience, but Perl makes it hard to do anything big due to being poorly suited to organized code.

I will have to find some way to save myself work. I’m thinking of biting the bullet and using Python+Pygame for LD like I do for PyWeek.

Poor Time Management

I have a tendency to spend my time unwisely. I get caught up in high-level stuff (XML content, high-level classes I don’t need yet) while ignoring what I actually need to make the game work. I also tend to work non-stop during the day and wind up exhausted, making me less effective as I go.

From here on, I’ll probably use Pomodoro to manage my time more effectively.

Lack of Focus

I, like many here, spend too much time on IRC during the compo. I also get distracted by other things, like cooking or drawing. It’s really embarassing.

So I’ll have to develop some focus. That’s not a matter of strategy, just discipline. I can manage it, though.

Conclusion

So… I did have something to show. A really good lesson about my problems as a game developer. These things don’t just happen in jams, but all throughout my life. I’m going to need to take steps to correct them.

Also… Sorry about posting late. I’ve been working on something and forgot to post here. That something… well, I’ll post about it later.

Peace, love, and determination,

– Henry

So I’m going to give this another try.

This year, the spring PyWeek happens in May, so I will be able to do both! Yay!

Here’s my loadout:

• Language: Python
• Library: Pygame
• Graphics: GIMP
• Sound: Some sfxr variant, not sure which
• Music: Milkytracker, if at all
• Level Editor: Tiled, if needed

I’m not sure what I’ll make, but probably a shmup. I’ve been meaning to make another one. Besides, shmups are pretty easy to make.

Remember, folks:

Failure is always an option!

Peace, love, and ambition,

– Henry

So I’m going to give this another try this year, but with a team this year!

I am working my little studio, consisting of Me(Jeremy Stark), Aaron Cahn, and Will Eriksson.

Here’s our info!:

• Language: Java
• Graphics: Photoshop
• Sound: Bfxr
• Music: Logic Pro

– The Apparat Team

I’m probably going to use whatever I make during the competition as the basis for my next game

Language: Java, I was going to use ActionScript, but I don’t feel comfortable with using it right now.

Graphics: GIMP

Music: Almost certainly F.L.

IDE: Probably Eclipse

-Mikk

I’m pretty excited for this next LD, but I’ve decided to dump SFML. So, either I’m going to use SDL, make a text-only game, use an HTML5 canvas, use Unity or maybe use Java or Processing. I think I’m going to spend a lot of time looking at documentation this time around. I’m pretty sure that GIMP and Garage Band will be in my toolset though (if there’s audio & graphics). In any case, this will be my 4th Ludum Dare, and hopefully it will be as awesome as the last 3.

Hi folks,

I am in for LD #23. This should be interesting as I have 0 artistic skills.

Here is my current loadout:
Language: D
Library: SDL through Derelict2
Graphics: Paint.net
Sound: sfxr

I may switch to java for easy cross-platform but we’ll see.
No matter what comes out it should be fun!

Wow, we’re having another warmup weekend! 😀

I’m definitely in for that.

I’m probably going to make a shmup of some kind. It’ll be a good break from my current project.

So, that’s cool. Warmups are always a good idea.

Peace, love, and exuberance,

– Henry

I’m planning to take part in Ludum Dare 23. This will be my first ever Ludum Dare.

I’ve recently been doing a lot of Ruby at work (via a Ruby on Rails project) and have been looking for more opportunities to practice the language. This resulted in me starting to play with Gosu and Chingu. I’m currently learning them by trying to make an Astrosmash clone.

I worked on a couple of somewhat notable mod projects in the past:

• Marble Mania 2003 – a Marble Madness-inspired mod for the Unreal Tournament 2003 engine (textures, music, sound effects, level design, web site)
• Scavenger Hunt – a team-based game type for the original Unreal Tournament engine (everything, minus user contributed maps)

I’m waiting to hear the chosen theme before I decide what type of game I’ll be trying to make but I will likely be using Ruby with Gosu and Chingu. If I decide to do something 3D instead, it’ll be done with Unity (or even UDK…)

My tools of choice:

• Platform: OS X Lion on my iMac
• Language: Ruby with Gosu & Chingu
• Editor: vim (w/tmux)
• Version Control: Git
• Graphics: Photoshop & Illustrator
• Music: Ableton Live
• Sound Effects: Cfxr and Ableton Live
• Screen Capture: ScreenNinja
• Organizing: Trello
• Focusing: Pomodoro
• Notes: TextMate w/Markdown
• Books: Level Up! by Scott Rogers, The Art of Game Design & A Deck of Lenses by Jesse Schell

My desk:

My tools of choice:

Platform: Windows 7, ASUS A53E i7 2630QM, on-chip Intel HD 3000 GPU
Language/libraries: Java with libgdx.
Editor: Eclipse
Version Control: Git
Graphics: Gimp, Corel Painter, Inkscape
Music: Sibelius, Epiphone Dot Semi-Acoustic Guitar, Korg X50 Synthesizer
Sound Effects: Amateur folio with built-in laptop mic and Audacity.
Organizing: Emacs Org-mode or just a *scratch* buffer
Focusing: Panic.

Currently a little addicted to Drawception, but haven’t completely forgotten about Ludum Dare, nor has someone else – http://drawception.com/viewgame/H1PYLSpPSp/ludum-dare/

Looking forward to LD as usual – LD23 will mark 2 years for me and while it’s been a pretty dull 2 years in general, LD weekends are never dull. As usual I’ll probably forget about the warmup, start the LD proper unprepared, complain about the theme on IRC for half a day, then make something surprisingly ok anyway.

First, a rundown on what got me thinking of this idea….

I have no real complaints about how I scored in LD22, it was overall around where I expected, but one thing kinda stuck with me.   My actual scores were VERY inconsistant with all the feedback I received.  For instance I was pretty universally praised by all that commented (a fairly good number of people) on my community effort in doing a build for multiple platforms, a timelapse video, and even commenting my source, In the end I got a 3.2 score in that category which does not seem to reflect that (especially compared to the fact that many games that had no such things, and single platform were averaging a score of 3.5)  Quite a few people both in the comments and on IRC said the game was really fun!… I actually got no negative feedback at all on that….I scored a 2.66.  As you can see here I found it bizarre that the actual ratings were pretty much completely opposite of comments I had received.

My main point to this being, It would have been nice to know why those rating at a 1 out of 5 hated it so much, nobody seemed to want to leave any negative feedback (And I’m not just speaking for myself, a lot of other people had expressed the same confusion as to why their scores were opposite of what they would have expected from their comments), so perhaps it would be nice for 23 when we rate something it could have an anonymous comments box attached to each rating category where you have to quickly fill in the main “problem” or main “draw” as to why you’re rating a 1 or a 5?  In doing this it could actually help improve future games instead of pretty much just leaving everyone confused as to how the scoring worked after the compo is over.

Another thing I would like to see is more detailed instructions on each rating category, and a N/A rating for games that don’t use it at all (for stuff like humor…many people were rating games down overall due to humor scoring a 1 on games that were not supposed to be funny)

Also, add a “Does not run” button that removes a entry from your list of ones to rate but doesnt set a rating on it, I fear too many people were scoring games low that they simply couldn’t run and it was throwing off the statistics

Well I’m going to do my first Ludum Dare, and probably will enter the mini LudumDare just before the main event (maybe, not 100% sure).

I’m 17 and I am from Australia =D, don’t know if there are many Australian developers will be entering, but good luck!
I will be using Java, and probably will not use any other libraries then the default Java ones (aka no slick2D or any of them)

I will be using Eclipse to program in and use Paint.net to do the art.

I Will use the sfxr for the sound.

I will be using a Windows 7 computer, 12gb ram, 1gb graphics, 2.66ghz quad core (2 years old, still good =D) and may switch between my iMac, 3.4ghz quad core, 2gb graphics, 8gb ram

Hoping I can get a working version done, even if its not 100% complete by the due date =D.

The Love Letter has been settling into its long tail and finally broke 500,000 views recently, so I thought it was about time to make good on my promise to release the source code.

So I did. Get it on GitHub! 😀

4 Ludum Dare’s ago, I went at it alone. Not so this time, as I will be taking part in the jam, joined by my “lovely assistant” ckaotik, a first time Ludum Dare contestant.

Our platform of choice is THIS:

We’ll try to use what the platform and modules give us, and write new modules where needed to bend this CMS into a decent game!

Our editor of choice is Sublime Text 2, along with the usual suspects (Paint.NET / Pixelmator / sfxr or the likes) for our non-programming needs.

We’re looking forward to a fun weekend!

I can’t justify entering this LD. I’d absolutely love to be a part of the 10 year anniversary and I’ll definitely follow along from the sidelines but the dates don’t work out, it’s the weekend before I go back to school for the last of my exam revision and it’s a bit too much pressure and time already without be throwing LD into the mix.

Definitely in for LD24 though

Angus

For fun (and science), I printed up a pack of Ludum Dare themed stickers (bringing 40 with me). Come find me at PAX East, and ask for one. I’ll be around all 3 days, occasionally helping exhibit Vessel (NOT MY GAME) at the PAX Indie Megabooth. See you there!

This entry was posted on Monday, April 2nd, 2012 at 11:21 am and is filed under LD #23. 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.