Ludum Dare 57 April 5–8, 2025

Update of sorts from mikes Bluesky

Apologies for the lack of #LDJam updates. Found myself crunching on a few unrelated things the past week(s). I have something due by midnight, and I sincerely hope I have that working soon. If all goes well, I'll open up signups tonight. 🤞😅

My theme suggestions!

Quite glad that Mike is able to get LD57 started, and it's exciting to see that theme suggestions are open. My theme suggestions are, •Liminal (occupying a position at or on both sides of a boundary)• •Non-Newtonian (resistance to force changes with force applied)• No idea how good or bad they are, I just thought it would be fun if the theme were some fancy science word and I can think of some interesting ideas from it.

Theme Suggestions

The last theme was a bit of a surprise for me. Here are my themes: -Creation -Uncovering the past "Uncovering the past" was inspired by me revisiting Minecraft Infdev and deobfuscating the game's code in order to make a mod for it. "Creation" was just the two past themes combined - LD 54 and LD 55 combined into LD 56. March is very busy for me, yet luckily, LD 57 is in April. Looking forward to it!

welp here we go. theme suggestions.

I've tried in the past to come up with themes that aren't stuck to a rigid image and i think i failed at that, so this time I wanted to bring something very open to the suggestions.

"Rings" there is a very wide range of things that this could mean, fighting ring, sonic style collectable rings, ring weapons, magic rings, halo rings etc.

and

"Doctor(verb or noun)" this could be medical, or manipulated, altered, changed, etc, lots and LOTS of open space here for interpretation, maybe too much.

Yesss! LD is back. And obviously: I'm in

But my suggestions are really not the better I ever proposed
LD57Sugg.png
Well, they're not the worse either, so I guess it's ok.

Taking on My First Compo, entirely in VR with Godot on Quest 3!

Hey everyone!

I have a Meta Quest 3 and recently discovered that Godot is available on it. So, I’m going to try making my first game jam entry entirely inside my headset!

This will be my first compo, my first time using Godot, and my first VR game, so I’m keeping my expectations low. 😄

That said, I plan to prepare for a week or two before the jam. If you have any tutorials to recommend—especially "Unity to Godot" guides—I’d love to check them out!

I’m also looking for tools that can run on the Quest to create assets (images and sounds). I already have ShapeLab for modeling and Virtuoso for music, but I’m open to other suggestions. Android apps and web-based tools should work as well. Also, if you know any good ways to use Git directly on the Quest, that would be super helpful!

And if you have a headset (especially a Quest 3—I’m not sure about compatibility with other devices yet), let’s connect! I think it’s going to be tough to find testers… 😭

Thanks in advance for any tips you can share!

Iron-on patches and Invitation Codes?

First, just wanted to say I have plenty of those Ludum Dare patches available if anyone wants them: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/the-call-of-qthulhu/iron-on-laptop-bag-patches-for-donations

Second, I was wondering how new users get their invitation code? I have some colleagues who want to join and they're asked to provide an invitation code while signing up. I've been searching but can't find any info.

I'm in!

Let's all invent the Torment Nexus from the famous sci-fi novel "Don't invent the Torment Nexus".

Captura desde 2025-03-14 16-25-12.png

What makes a solid theme

themes.png If my schedule allows, I might participate this time around!

Because there are a lot more newcomers than veterans among participants, it is common for theme suggestions to fall into the same traps. This is why the theme slaughter round exists! But how do we make them better, and more importantly, how do we increase the quality of themes that make it to the final rounds?

Well, I got you covered! Over a decade of jamming, I've somewhat identified the patterns that make a theme sterile and difficult to work with, and came up with 3 rules to follow:


Keep it simple and vague

This opens things up to more varied interpretations. "Stuck in a loop" can be trimmed down to "Loop", which is less restrictive.

Many words have a wide array of meanings when decontextualized, such as "Fall" which can be an action, or a season. Also, the simpler the theme, the easier it is to scope, as it tricks the mind into not thinking too much.


Avoid tunnel vision

A theme is a seed that grows through the personality and experience of the people making the game. Thus, a seed that has potential not only in terms of game design, but also art direction, is much more powerful.

From my experience, "things that do things" make for pretty great themes, because they give you a foundation for both function (game design) and context (dressing). "Consequences" is functional but will not give you an immediate visual interpretation, whereas "Tide" serves both purposes.

Try to also be as genre-agnostic as possible: You might love puzzly strategy games and will come up with themes that are skewed towards these, but they can sabotage jammers who specialize more in fast-paced action games! Try to imagine an interpretation of your theme from both of those extremes, and see if they work and seem fun.


Let jammers be the creative geniuses

This is the most important one! I've seen many people struggle (and have struggled myself!) to make games on poisonous themes that are actually game ideas in disguise.

A theme is not and should not be a rule or mechanic, and it should not try to be subversive, nor descriptive! Avoid things like "XYZ is key!", "You are/have XYZ", "Only XYZ", or "X but Y", like the plague! These are very heavy handed, pointlessly complexify things, and are more difficult and unfun to work with.


"Restriction breeds creativity" is only true when you know how to creatively navigate around it. Experienced and/or talented jammers will always find a way to make a great game with a really cool interpretation of just about any theme. But a good theme can and will make the difference between a beginner dropping out at the starting blocks, and them releasing their first game and being very proud of it!

Some examples (that you can steal if you're really out of ideas :stuckouttonguewinkingeye:): Mist, Mirror, Glass, Land, Horn, Spray, Vision, Ammunition, Mask, Scream, Gift, Dispenser, Train, Advertisement, Book, Clean, Accident, Cactus, Tower, Giant.

One-word, straight to the point, "things that do things". All creative seeds that "push" instead of "pull"!

As for jam advice: Preparation has the biggest impact! Tidy up your gamer cave, make a basic framework with utilities (singletons, scene loading, save system, audio manager, event bus, etc.) functional menus and settings that can be used for any game (this is huge, and does not break Compo rules!), get comfortable with your tools, buy food in advance, rest well, go outside and stay hydrated!

Happy jamming and see you on the 4th!

My debut game is coming to Steam!

Hey everyone!

Super excited for this Ludum Dare, it's gonna be awesome.

Since last LD I started working on my first commercial game: Bleached!

Wishlist Bleached on Steam!

It's an incredible journey already. You can already wishlist on Steam to show your support, join the Discord and watch the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln_3J-8sE78

Cheers everyone, and have a nice LD!

home.gif

57 Incoming

Count me in.

Love you all!

So glad to say I will be doing my 33rd consecutive Ludum Dare. Was extremely disheartened by the news but I'm really happy the community and industry came through for Big Kasprzak. LET'S JAM

Classic latin proverbs as themes

Might call me unimaginative...

...but decided to dig my previous suggestions from three years ago and give them a shot again!

themes.png

Alright, here are my suggestions!

I tried to make them abstract enough for creativity but specific enough for inspiration. Hope you like them! Screenshot 2025-03-15 183450.png

Count me in!

It will be my 1st Ludum Dare, goodluck to ya'll!
Here are my theme suggestions: Screenshot.PNG

When does voting begin?

Super excited for LD 57! When does voting start?

Two flexible themes for creativity

themes.png

I think a lot can be done with either one.

Communication can be done any number of ways: talk, sign language, telepathy, leaving notes or messages on signs, smoke signals, morse code, cryptic patterns and clues and many more.

Direction is a course and also guidance/instruction. Lead or follow which way to go, cook meals by following recipes, take advice from the right (or wrong) NPCs, travel from planet to planet or town to town, go step by step with a treasure map, etc.

How to invite a friend?

Hey, guys! My friend is trying to sign up and it appears this message. Can I find such invitation code somewhere?photoem2025-03-17/em12-19-19.jpg

My themes

I'm gonna try to solo this year, but here's my suggestions that I'd like to see:

-Defenseless -You aren't the main Character

My themes

themes.png

WOOO LD SEASONNNN

I was disappointed when I saw it wasn't gonna happen, but then it's back on so?? I am IN and Excited! The plan this time is to go sol ocuz I really need to work on my ability to plan out projects and finish them, my programming was an absolute shitshow last time and I don't wanna let my partner down next time we team lol.

Anyway 2025 be wildin', I consulted tarot cards for what themes I should suggest and these were the phrases that popped into my mind lookin' at them lol. The cards have been helping me heal my creativity and self esteem tremendously so I'm looking forward to using them to help me brainstorm when the theme drops lmaooooo

chrome_6mo4X1PRt4.png

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It's baaaaack!

Awwww I'm so happy the community came together to give Mike a hand, it's heartwarming, really! :heart:

Time for the obligatory "I'm in!" post.

My suggestions are somewhat conflicted this time around: Screenshot from 2025-03-18 11-28-29.png

I'm in. I will go. I will work. Can I have some new

This will be my 34rd ludumdare in a row. xD i started at LD24, hi. I’ll be using these this time:

IDE: Eclipse - Eclipse Foundation

Engine: LibGdx - Open Source, originally written by Mario Zechner

Graphics: aseprite/paint.net -david capello/Rick Brewster; Tiled - Thorbjørn Lindeijer; TexturePacker - main guy: Metaphore, also: tommyettinger, devjn, terafog, thefacecore, hangman and voidburn.

Fonts: FontForge - George Williams and the FontForge Project contributors

Sound: Audacity - Dominic Mazzoni and Roger Dannenberg

Music: Cakewalk by BandLab

Timelapse: Chronolapse - keeyai

Another great event with gen con at the same time. That means my game will be more art than code! haha. Going to try to go simple! (which is hard if you know me) I'm just hoping I will survive the event!

Problems with site

Please help!

The website https://ldjam.com/ won't open on my PC. It works fine on all laptops, cell phones and other devices, but on my PC the screen goes blank. Could someone help me fix this little problem?

IMG-20250319-WA0006.jpg

Participating after a long time!!

Taking part in the jam again after not participating since the 49th edition! Been strugling for a while with making a full game to publish so i guess going back to jams is a good ideia to get something done. 😊 sug.png

Looking for VR Playtesters for My First Compo!

Hello everyone!

I'm making my first Compo/VR game/game developed IN VR/first Godot game for this LD. So, I'm looking for future playtesters who could test my VR game!

Feel free to follow me and leave a comment so I can follow you back!

Hi! Joining as a tabletop/solo journaling creator!

Hi! My partner, Angel, and I typically make tabletop and solo journaling games. So I put that spin on my two suggestions :D

Screenshot 2025-03-21 120139.png

Also, we'll be going through Theme Slaughter live on our Discord server, and rating games on video/voice chat too! We're an LGBTQ-friendly, (mostly) positive group there, with not so many people that it feels overwhelming (I TOTALLY relate to that lol). Check us out over at https://discord.gg/2fb6tFnUTh

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[LATEST] FREE Instagram Followers 2025 - Generate Unlimited Instagram Followers

Instagram Followers are free to choose within the low tiers, but if you haven't unlocked an item that comes up, feel free to generate a new set or just one single item by clicking on it. And keep making that victory royales until you own every single one of them or until you have earned enough V-bucks to purchase the one you love.

➡️👉 Copy and Paste the links: http://appbitly.com/zTJfN

➡️👉 Copy and Paste the links: http://appbitly.com/zTJfN

Sometimes you get bored of always playing with the same character, and the same good old equipment you chose long ago. If that's the case, this tool is especially designed for you! The tool gives you the opportunity to edit your loadout without even giving it one single thought.

Instagram Followers explanation

There are a lot of different items available within Instagram Followers. All items do belong to one of the following six categories The background color of the square will change based on the rarity of the generated item.

Random Instagram Followers

The first square in the random generator will show you a Instagram Followers outfit, such as 'Dark priestess Naomi', 'Shadowbird', 'Slurp Jonesy' or even 'Holly Striker' and 'Aloy'. There are quite a lot of them, and most of them are really awesome.

Random Instagram Followers

A glider is the tool you use after making the jump out of the party bus. The second square in the random generator will show you the Instagram Followers you can use, a few examples of them are: 'Fennec’s ship', 'Wolf kissed longboat', 'First order tie fighter' and 'Batglider'.

Random Instagram Followers back bling

The back bling (back pack) is just a cosmetic item within Instagram Followers. There will be no benefit from it, besides that it looks cool when it's on the back of your character. You can really make a big entrance while carrying the 'Sweet spikes', ‘Wavepiercer' or the 'Dark paradigm'. You will find your random back bling in the third square.

Random Instagram Followers pickaxe

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A glider is the tool you use after making the jump out of the party bus. The second square in the random generator will show you the Instagram Followers you can use, a few examples of them are: 'Fennec’s ship', 'Wolf kissed longboat', 'First order tie fighter' and 'Batglider'.

Random Instagram Followers back bling

The back bling (back pack) is just a cosmetic item within Instagram Followers. There will be no benefit from it, besides that it looks cool when it's on the back of your character. You can really make a big entrance while carrying the 'Sweet spikes', ‘Wavepiercer' or the 'Dark paradigm'. You will find your random back bling in the third square.

Random Instagram Followers pickaxe

Pickaxes are used as a harvesting tool. You can demolish all different materials and you can use it against your enemies when you're out of ammo. Not only does the pickaxe look very cool while taking down an entire building wall by wall, it also does finish your character's looks. Some of the axes like 'Spider snare', 'Mello mallets', 'Zen axe' or 'Stun rod' are very rare or even legendary, but therefore are some of the best looking axes in the game. Your pickaxe will show up in the fourth square after generating the items.

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TikTok Followers are free to choose within the low tiers, but if you haven't unlocked an item that comes up, feel free to generate a new set or just one single item by clicking on it. And keep making that victory royales until you own every single one of them or until you have earned enough V-bucks to purchase the one you love.

➡️👉 Copy and Paste the links: appbitly.com/alzfh

➡️👉 Copy and Paste the links: appbitly.com/alzfh

Sometimes you get bored of always playing with the same character, and the same good old equipment you chose long ago. If that's the case, this tool is especially designed for you! The tool gives you the opportunity to edit your loadout without even giving it one single thought.

TikTok Followers explanation

There are a lot of different items available within TikTok Followers. All items do belong to one of the following six categories The background color of the square will change based on the rarity of the generated item.

Random TikTok Followers

The first square in the random generator will show you a TikTok Followers outfit, such as 'Dark priestess Naomi', 'Shadowbird', 'Slurp Jonesy' or even 'Holly Striker' and 'Aloy'. There are quite a lot of them, and most of them are really awesome.

Random TikTok Followers

A glider is the tool you use after making the jump out of the party bus. The second square in the random generator will show you the TikTok Followers you can use, a few examples of them are: 'Fennec’s ship', 'Wolf kissed longboat', 'First order tie fighter' and 'Batglider'.

Random TikTok Followers back bling

The back bling (back pack) is just a cosmetic item within TikTok Followers. There will be no benefit from it, besides that it looks cool when it's on the back of your character. You can really make a big entrance while carrying the 'Sweet spikes', ‘Wavepiercer' or the 'Dark paradigm'. You will find your random back bling in the third square.

Random TikTok Followers pickaxe

Pickaxes are used as a harvesting tool. You can demolish all different materials and you can use it against your enemies when you're out of ammo. Not only does the pickaxe look very cool while taking down an entire building wall by wall, it also does finish your character's looks. Some of the axes like 'Spider snare', 'Mello mallets', 'Zen axe' or 'Stun rod' are very rare or even legendary, but therefore are some of the best looking axes in the game. Your pickaxe will show up in the fourth square after generating the items.

A glider is the tool you use after making the jump out of the party bus. The second square in the random generator will show you the TikTok Followers you can use, a few examples of them are: 'Fennec’s ship', 'Wolf kissed longboat', 'First order tie fighter' and 'Batglider'.

Random TikTok Followers back bling

The back bling (back pack) is just a cosmetic item within TikTok Followers. There will be no benefit from it, besides that it looks cool when it's on the back of your character. You can really make a big entrance while carrying the 'Sweet spikes', ‘Wavepiercer' or the 'Dark paradigm'. You will find your random back bling in the third square.

Random TikTok Followers pickaxe

Pickaxes are used as a harvesting tool. You can demolish all different materials and you can use it against your enemies when you're out of ammo. Not only does the pickaxe look very cool while taking down an entire building wall by wall, it also does finish your character's looks. Some of the axes like 'Spider snare', 'Mello mallets', 'Zen axe' or 'Stun rod' are very rare or even legendary, but therefore are some of the best looking axes in the game. Your pickaxe will show up in the fourth square after generating the items.

I'm in!

Just two more weeks till LD57!!! In it for the 9th time and as hyped as ever!

My main goal this time is to improve my sprites. Last time, I went with generated images, but that just felt wrong. I want to get a stable basic game running within the first 24 hours, then focus on sprites until I'm satisfied before extending the game. I also want to put more effort into my UI—too often, I get so caught up in the gameplay that I end up with a rushed and messy tutorial, menu and/or start screen.

Well, at least that's the plan. Knowing myself, I'll probably deep dive into gameplay coding again and struggle with all of the above as always. XD

On that note — how do you all feel about games without UI (as in menu/startscreen ect. not gameplay UI)? Do you only rate the game itself, or do you consider UI a core part of a good LD entry?


My Theme Suggestions

  • Rules
  • Combination

I AM IN!

Hello! my name is GameMaker3000 and I AM IN LUDUM DARE 57! this will be my first Ludum Dare. I am hoping for a good result, but I am not expecting it.

My Suggested Themes

Let's all hope for some good submissions this jam. No idea if mine check that box, though. thems.PNG

I better hurry!

13 days before it begins and I'm not half done writing the game engine I plan on using, wish me luck!

10 Years Of Gamejam Games

It's been a while, but I'm in ... or rather, we're in since I'm teaming up with my sibling this time.

This upcoming jam will be my 10th anniversary, bot of doing gamejams in general, as well as doing Ludum Dare specifically. (Well, almost LDJam 32 was nearer to the end of April than the beginning.)

In order to celebrate, the social media account of my sole-proprietorship company* I erected in 2024 will be posting a thread each** for every gamejam game I made, in chronological order, leading up to Ludum Dare 57.

(I've never really been on social media, so a bit of a new experience for me.)

Here's links to the threads I've already made:

Here's a quick preview of some of the games I'll be covering in the threads: lotsagames.gif

Stay tuned for more!

(* Play Dolphin Splash! :dolphin: for the Playdate :wink:)

(** I'm not sure if every game gets it's own thread, I'm thinking of maybe bunching the Tri-jam ones together at the very least.)

What's a good theme, and what's a bad theme?

I've noticed lately Ludum Dare themes have been pretty bad in my opinion, so I decided to compile what I think are "good" and "bad" themes. A general basis for good themes is: how many properly unique and totally different games can you think of with this theme, if you can't think of at least 5 different games possible to make within the time limit, it's not a good theme. A general basis for bad themes is: does this theme restrict creativity, or is the theme too broad? When making a theme suggestion, you always want a Goldilocks' zone, not too broad, not too specific. I think that last year's theme, "Tiny Creatures," was a bad theme, as every game was destined to be about tiny creatures, and you couldn't make a twist to it, it was just tiny creatures, it was a noun rather than an adjective. I also think the theme before that was bad, "Summoning," was quite literally just summoning, a verb. Limited space, LD54 presented many ideas, you had possibility, every game felt different, not like, "this game is a roguelike about rushing across town to deliver packages," "and this game is a beat 'em up where you beat up people trying to stop you from doing your job," everything felt unique. Not the same idea executed differently, different ideas, executed their own way. I've been rambling for a while, but please can we get a good theme this year, the theme can't just be: "Snowman," it has to be something with different definitions, something that brings up creativity in unique ways! I've been rambling for too long now, have a good day, and make good themes.

Simple Strategies to Check if Your Theme is Nice

It can be hard to accurately assess your own theme. After all, YOU have a good idea for it. Likewise, it can be hard to tell if others' themes are nice after only a minute of contemplation. Luckily, I think I've got two simple (and quick) strategies to tell if a theme is likely to be well received.

  • Oops, All Squares-- Try to think of game ideas where every visual in your game is a square. No characters, no detailed environments, and no story. Just gameplay. This can help you realize if your theme idea lends well to unique gameplay ideas. Themes like "Western" or "Fairy Tale" might not be ideal because they rely mostly on the art, music, and story to convey the theme. Game jam themes that can be fulfilled through gameplay alone are bound to bring about some creative games that would never've been made otherwise.

  • Literally Just Tetris-- This strategy is essentially the mirror version of the prior strategy; can you make a Tetris clone, keeping the gameplay unchanged, and still fulfill the theme? This strategy checks if a game could fit your theme using just art, music, story... all the stuff that surrounds the gameplay. Theme ideas that are too meta and relate to the actual mechanisms of games, such as "one level" or "controls reversed" don't lend themselves easily to an art or story focused experience. Of course a good writer can work around an obtuse prompt, but its best to be considerate of their goals when constructing your theme. (I don't recommend actually making a Tetris clone for your game, as ideally your game fits the theme game design wise and thematically, but this is a good exercise to test if your theme suits art- and story-based games).

Some people are here to make an innovative, unexpected gameplay experience, and others wish to flex their artistic muscles to create stunning stories and visuals. Ideally, your theme can fit the desires of both these groups. It would suck to be super excited to make a gipping story using the theme, and then you get "pong-like" or something as your theme, and vise versa.

  • Genres Genres Genres-- Try to think of as many ideas as possible and keep track of which genres they are in. Try to get as much variety in genres as you can. Are the majority of your ideas platformers? Is if hard for you to think of an idea that's a FPS? Do your ideas only work in 3D or with a particular art style? If that's the case, it could be good to broaden your theme.

  • Avoid Idioms-- It can seem fun to make a game about a certain saying or phrase that you know. However, since people from all over the world and from all different cultures are participating, it's important to recognize that idioms might not translate well and could lead to confusion.

Of course, this isn't gospel; your theme might lean more towards gameplay or visuals and still be good. I just think this is an easy, consistent first step to picking your theme suggestions. I'm excited to see what all your themes are in voting (that's my fav part for some reason lol), and good luck and have fun if you end up making a game! sun animation.gifdance guy (2).gif

themes... hmm

okey, i'm done~ изображениеem2025-03-24/em121804434.png

LD57 Theme Suggestions

I thought I'd share my ideas for themes, maybe they are cool: SuggestionsLD57.png I think both can be interpreted very creatively, as both words have multiple meanings, and even in a singular context (for example with Resistance) there are multiple possible ways to include it. Feel free to give feedback on the Suggestions if you want. ^^

I'm in! (preferably with a collaborator - looking for artist!

Hi everyone! I'm looking to try another Ludum Dare, having done 12+ in a row and taking a bit of a break since LD49.

I would really love to collaborate with a 2D/pixel artist. Maybe you?

My main skills are music, game design, and programming, so I mostly need an artist to help create something super awesome. I'd be happy with either a true collaborator/co-designer who provides input on the project, or someone who just wants to do art while I handle the rest.

I'm not 100% settled on engine/tools for the project, but the choices are probably Godot, Ren'py, or RPG Maker MZ, depending on our goals and how much time I squeeze in to prepare. (Agh! Less than two weeks! :eyes:)

You can see my past Ludum Dare entries here (although it's honestly not much to look at :sweat_smile:) and if you want, my music portfolio on SoundCloud.

Interested? Send me a note: * Email: retroindiejosh@8bitstoinfinity.com * BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/retroindiejosh.itch.io * Discord: @retroindiejosh

Of course, if this line doesn't get any bites, I'm still in... but doing it all myself. XD

Slaughter Round

We should be seeing that pretty quick I would imagine...

This is from LD56

Slaughter Round.png

How are these for suggestions?

Trying to follow the suggestions of @equalenergy on what makes a good theme, I aimed for vague enough to leave room for interpretation but specific enough to give inspiration, and applicable to a story based game or game mechanic.

Screenshot 2025-03-25 at 13.14.23.png

️Artist is looking for a team ✨

Hello! I'd like to join a team of at least one programmer as an artist to make a nice game during upcoming 57th LD jam. I work in Unity, also I don't mind Unreal but can only add art and do minimal adjustments there. Can do 2d/3d art, animations, UI, help with finding/making sounds etc..

My Artstation

Let's make something cool together!

blocks.png

Anything & Everything

Hey all.

Figured these two support an exceptionally broad range of interpretations.

At first glance, the second suggestion might seem odd, but it has a few intrinsic benefits not available to other theme suggestions: it's an open world that jammers can leverage legally - great for inspiration or adding depth to otherwise simple games.

And, as always, participants can choose to interpret the theme as they wish, and ignore the SCP reference altogether.

p4ld57-suggestions.png

Invite Code

Do you know what the current invite code is ?

So, what happens with duplicate themes?

I've seen a few duplicates during the Slaughter Round (I want to say my own suggestion, Communication, was there at least twice).

What happens in this case? I think some people will not vote for a second copy of the same theme so duplicate themes will have less votes than they should, right? Has this been addressed before? Is it somehow corrected after the slaughter round?

Slaughter round completed...

There are some very interesting themes this time around. Hopefully one of them make the cut. I saw a lot of 'Gambling' and 'Card' type themes this time. That might be interesting.

Also, every Jam I ask this, so why mess with tradition. Is there a way to get the entire slaughter list to download? There are many good ideas in the list and they could be a real inspiration for game development later on.

Slaughter Round.png

I'm a little picky

I should have put all my answers into a simple AI so she could give the answers for me next time %) изображениеem2025-03-27/em185949434.png

Programmer looking for team/artist

Hey, all good? I'm currently available and looking for team. If you need/want a programmer, please feel free to reach out!

Some past work: - Portfolio (wip): https://renanvieira.carrd.co - Cute Army Conquest (24th overall): https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/cute-army-conquest - Tourist Chaos (42th overall): https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/tourist-chaos - Nex Machinan (30th fun, done alone): https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/39/nex-machinan

Duty done

LD57Slaughter.png

Will Ludum Dare 57 happen?

I have not found more information since this https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/56/$398871/stay-tuned, it would be nice with and update and to know if this jam is confirmed :)

Hope you are well Mike!

GUTS is the Gamedev ULTIMATE Toolkit System!

If any of you are thinking of participating in the upcoming Ludum Dare, consider GUTS!

https://github.com/Seeders/GUTS

GUTS uses 2.5d Isometric graphics to display animated 3D models created in your browser.

Check it out here: https://seeders.github.io/GUTS/editor.html and you can play the sample game here https://seeders.github.io/GUTS/index.html

It comes pre-packaged with a simple tower defense game and some random assets to help you get a feel for how everything works.

Basic Overview:

The core object types are:

Configs, Entities, Components, Renderers, Functions, Levels (Terrain), Visual Objects, and Data.

Configs - store settings for various systems including the editor, the game, and plugins.

Entities - Collections of Components and Renderers that define the structure of your games objects.

Components - Standalone simple behaviors that implement an update() function.

Renderers - The same as a component, except it implements a draw() function.

Functions - Global functions for your game you may want to include in components or renderers.

Data - Global collections of data you may need for your game that dont necessarily have visual graphics. Upgrades, effects, etc.

Levels - Tilemaps that render as terrain for your levels.

Visual Objects - Data for Player, Allies, Enemies, Projectiles, etc. They have stats like health and speed, and also a render object that stores their 3D model and animations. This data can be fed in to their respective Entity definitions to create game objects.

Tips:

To add object references, just make a key on the object with the types plural or single name.

Known issues and troubleshooting: all the data is saved in localStorage in your browser, so make backups. i dont have a history system yet, since i just use git.

You have to click the save button next to the script editor to save your script, if you click the save object button it wont save your script.

The graphics editor tends to stop rendering sometimes, just refresh and it should work again.

The level tilemap editor is slow when placing tiles.

The sound editor is brand new and sucks, and is basically useless.

This project is less than two weeks old, so please let me know if you have any suggestions.

I'm in

Slaughter done. I have to say you guys are rubbish at suggesting themes. :8ball:

Screenshot 2025-03-28 103025.png

bRuH

i finished it but:Zrzut ekranu 2025-03-28 173322.png

Theme Slaughter results

There were lots of good themes this time. Almost half of them were things I could see working :)

Screenshot 2025-03-28 172252.png

(there were lots of duplicates though so I went and voted for both)

Invite Codes?

Hey all, I'm trying to invite a friend who hasn't been in ld before and it's asking him for a code when he signs up?

Anyone know where I can get that?

Theme Slaughter

Screenshot 2025-03-28 214700.png

A lot less themes this year but still took a while to get them all slaughtered. Feels like the quality of themes has improved a bit since last time although we still have some old "favourites" like Folklore, Floating Islands and Tiny creatures. Looking forward to seeing what theme wins. Good luck everyone and see you in a week.

Slaughter time!

Slashy slash! :crossed_swords:

Screenshot from 2025-03-28 19-30-13.png

I feel I get more and more picky with the themes each event. There's some real bangers in there, though.

Done.

Actualy, my favourite ones is all about mining and digging. Dont know why ^_^

изображениеem2025-03-29/em104204975.png

slaughta

If you flagged anything you're a baby. These themes were awful for the most part, but there were enough ok ones that I'm not too worried. I feel like half of my NO's were some rewording of, "Minimalism", "Opposites", "Choices", "Consequences", or "Gambling." May the most inspiring concept prevail LD57 THEMESLAUGHTER.JPG

the slaughter

slaughter done. ...I'm reminded of why we need a slaughter. I think I only kept about 10.

game name

its gonna be called Turbo-Powered Cow Milker

Favorites

Tried to be more open this time around...also enjoyed there being less in slaughter lol

Manipulation

Mixed senses

Use your surroundings

Preparation

Hi there, hello

Looks like Ryan George fans have infiltrated Ludum Dare XD

barely.PNG