Every year I do this post, just to remind you that your health is important. Consider it one of those quirky little traditions lots of us do in the week(s) before the event starts.

Welcome and have lots of fun! Here are some tips :-)

• You are the most important this weekend, so take care of yourself (drink/eat enough, sleep enough, use a good chair, take a shower before the event, etc)
• Be aware of 'feature creep', a good way to do that is to plan something that should take half of the weekend to create. Be sure to playtest it and if there is more time, THEN implement some of your scrapped features. Always aim for a "least viable product" in the first day of the LD weekend.
• Make sure the game is easy for you to play: you know the mechanics very well as you are the designer. For other players it should be harder to play, as they did not spend an entire weekend to design it :-)
• Take time comming up with a solid, fun and doable idea, it will save time later as you can ground your development in this first concept.
• Controversial one here! Don't be afraid to use new techniques and tools. It will take up time ofcourse, but it is a great way to force yourself to grow as a gamedeveloper. Keep time in mind though.

If you leave a comment, then I will put your name on my 'to play list'. I'm curious what you all end up creating :-)

The answer is 42. You're welcome :grin:

Hello, I am SodaPop7720, a (mostly) solo developer, most known for my footprint in the Friday Night Funkin' modding scene.

I just got done with Jonny Razer's Bad Ideas Game Jam, and I had a lot of fun with it. The game I made for that jam is far from my best work, but again, I had fun, so I decided to join the Ludum Dare this year! I really can't wait to participate in this, 3 days compared to a month is a big jump, but I don't care, that's probably gonna make it more fun if anything.

Wish me luck, and I wish every other participant luck!

Last jam, I managed to submit 1/2 of a short humorous JRPG about a hero having to rescue his sister's kids after turning his back for 2 seconds. Six months later, it's finally finished:sparkles:! So come one, come all - come see the full version of the game that funneled anyone who had ever cared for a child into the comments to say "That's just like kids!" :smile:

https://kobato-games.itch.io/harold-babysits

After over a dozen jams this is the first time i actually got through the whole list!

Hyped as always :fire:

Im just making something that links to ChatGPT

Slaughter is done. Was thinking earlier I might make an adventure game this jam, but am not committing to a genre at this point.

The news about the end of LudumDare is making me a little sad, but I'm still going to give it my all this time! I feel like I did really well with my last entry, so here's hoping I can keep up my momentum!

Also, to celebrate LudumDare, I made a little wallpaper. There's a doodle for every single 'proper' LudumDare theme! (Well, at least based off of Wikipedia's list... and maybe one of them isn't a real theme yet... !)

Favorite software list:

Engine

🫖 Construct2: HTML5 game creation software!

Graphics

🫖 Aseprite: Pixel art program!

🫖 GNU-IMP: Open source image editor!

🫖 Tiled: Excellent tile-based level editor!

Sound

🫖 LSDJ and bgb: Authentic Gameboy synthesizer and emulator!

🫖 Chiptone: Superb “old-school” style sound effect generator/creator!

🫖 FL Studio: Classic versatile music software!

🫖 Audacity: Open source sound editor!

Hosting

🫖 itch.io: Storefront/games host!

NOTES

🧠 I WILL NOT USE ANY AI TOOLS. ALL ART/MUSIC/SCENARIO/SFX/ETC WILL BE CREATED BY ME OR WITH “OLD-SCHOOL”-STYLE GENERATORS. ANY AI INFLUENCE WILL BE ACCIDENTAL (SOME SOFTWARE COMPANY SNEAKING SOMETHING INTO MY TOOLS, FOR INSTANCE.)

⏳️ There are only 6 LudumDares left. My milestones...

🧮 I have made 25 Compo Entries since starting in ~2013.

✅ ⭐️ Get top 100 in any category (LD28)

🔲 🌟 Get top 100 in every category at once

✅ 💫 Get top 10 in any category (LD29)

🔲 🌌 Get top 10 in every category at once

✅ 🥉 Get 3rd in any category (LD40)

✅ 🥈 Get 2nd in any category (LD58)

🔲 🏆️ Get 1st in any category

🔲 🗻 Win 1st Overall

✅ 🛸 Remake an entry as a 'proper' release (2019)

Let's see if I can check them all off before the end!

My 12th LD. Of course, some life events will be taking place at the same time, so I will do my best.

Planning on using Godot and will most likely enter the Jam due to time constraints. If I enter the Compo, I will use the standard additional tools (Affinity, Audacity, etc).

I don't know how to find my friends and team up. So i try to post it.

邱珠一西qiuzhuyixia

Taking a few days off from work to participate in Ludum Dare has been a tradition of mine ever since I first participated in LD36. (I can't believe that was nine years ago!) I've only missed two Ludum Dares since I started -- LD37 because I didn't even know about it when it happened, and LD53 because I had a schedule conflict. (I didn't ship a game for LD52 because my team got overambitious, but I still participated.) The spring ones in particular tend to fall around the time of my birthday, so I consider it to be a birthday present to myself.

I'm probably going to use html52d again this jam unless I want to do something in 3D. This is an engine I built by myself between LD42 and LD43, and I designed it to be efficient at runtime, fairly easy to use, and very fast to load. I was tired of the headaches that I was having trying to do 2D games in Unity (especially before Unity got a native 2D system) and how slow the Unity editor was.

Other tools I use: * Noteworthy Composer - music scoring * Element - audio plugin host * GIMP - graphics * jsfxr - sound effects * Audacity - sound editing

For this jam, I'm gonna try to keep it simple and not worry if it's gonna be good in comparison to other people's entries. Much like the two quotes on a sticky note on my monitor "Sucking at something is the first step towards being sorta good at something."

My main engine of choice is GameMaker, because it's the one engine that clicks to me the most out of all of them I've used over the years (please don't crucify me in the comments, I like godot but it just doesn't click with me as much as GM).

Wishing you guys luck on the same :>

One of my suggestions made it into this one, nice

WDYM only 6 left?

Then I'll do something small for fun. Will probably use pico8 because it's always more easier than using Godot and just having so many options.

last ludum dare was my best so far and for this one I aim to do worse but we'Ll see

Sorry, accidentally posted it twice ^_^

Following the trend, I'm making a post too!

It's going to be my first jam. Yikes, how original ^_^
I’ve been preparing for a while, making prototypes and recreating some potentially useful features and mechanics. I’m hoping to at least finish the game before the 48 or 72 hours run out, haha.
And yeah, I’m very determined to write some soundtrack for it as well. Hope I’ll be on time.

Yep, aaaand the tools:

Engine - Unity (whoah, hot-dog)
Visuals - Photoshop and mb some Pixelorama
SFX - ChipTone <3
Music - Reaper
Audio Editor - Audacity

glhf all!

I guess I should do one of these too. Why not. I have other work to do that I'm procrastinating, so this is perfect! 😅

My partner (Angel) and I are tabletop creators! Not, like, digital board games. We make printable games you play on a table, as well as TTRPGs! We generally make solo, beginner-friendly stuff anyway, but we usually simplify stuff even more for Ludum Dare since we know most people don't have printers, or a hundred dice of all different sizes, etc. But we've entered nine Ludum Dares previously as tabletop creators, and everyone has been so welcoming and encouraging! 🧡

We use Canva (NOT the AI tools though, eww, no AI for us) to make stuff, and an HP Smart Tank printer. We subscribe to HP Instant Ink, so we get like 300 prints a month and never have to buy ink (because we pay monthly, but as expensive as ink gets, that still feels like a good deal).

Anyway, we're typically uplifting, encouraging creators who like to focus on identity, individualism, choices, and our struggles (I've got bipolar, Angel has severe allergies and illness issues). Our last game, Oceans and Spirals, was an Alan Wake fangame and it was awesome getting to explore a much darker space. It fit my bipolar PERFECTLY.

It's lovely to meet all of you. Here's to an amazing Ludum Dare! 🙌

Well I'm sad to see Joe's Corner didn't make the cut, but I like a lot of these themes. I haven't decided what game to make, but I'm definitely doing carrier pigeons for Unusual Communications.

Also everyone's going over what they're using for the jam and whatnot, so I might as well

Engine: Unity (probably 2018, dunno why, I like it)
Visuals: Not sure yet. Don't even know if I'm using 3D or 2D graphics
Music: I'll compose/record in Songsterr and Musescore, and edit it all in Audacity
Hosting: Itch.io

I won't use AI, I hate it. Maybe if I like my game enough, I'll make it a full game later. We'll see. I want to try and come top 100 in something. Maybe I can in music, that seemed to be my strong suit last jam. Anyway, good luck, I'll see you again when the jam commences!

For this Ludum Dare, I created a two-column table: one for themes and one for ideas. I vote for the themes that inspire me the most. Interestingly, some themes that didn’t appeal to me at first, like “Chains” and “The Wrong Tool for the Job”, ended up inspiring me more than the others. I'm excited !

Since everyone is posting this, here's the setup I will be using for the Ludum Dare. Can't wait!

Engine: Godot
Art: Procreate
Sounds: freesound + my own mouth
Music: Ableton

My personal goal for this jam is to improve in making pretty UIs in Godot. So whatever game I'll choose to make will be using a lot of UI elements. I've been struggling with really grasping UI in Godot for too long, especially how to properly draw the UI sprites.

I will be using AI for coding and manual stuff, like automating the slicing of my exported sprites from Procreate sprite sheets. I won't be using AI for anything creative, nor for editing anything creative I make. My art and music is and will always be my own.

Hi All! I try to get a bit old-school with my own personal website by providing a list of links I found to be cool on the internet. I would like to expand the list as I only have three links at the moment (as a test)

If you have a personal website / portfolio you'd like me to check out and maybe link (no itch.io pages please), please post them below!

are just excellent.

I choose themes by reading them and seeing if a game idea pops into my head. This year so many of the themes were extremely easy to do that with.

It is going to be a really good Jam.

Hi guys ! We are really excited to join this Jam for a second time ! Should i do anything before the jam starts to join ? Last time i get approval from somewhere as i remember but for second time should i get something like that again ? Or can i post my game during ludum 59 without do anything extra?

I couldnt find jam rules for ludum 59 that`s why i want to ask for you guys Thanks !

Been a rough year but I've really missed LD all the time my depression got in the way in previous years. If there's only 6 left I wanna make an effort to be in.

Missed the rest of the slaughter tho rip.

Since I'd like you to use your brains, I decided to encode it. Enjoy figuring it out :smile:

Encode formula: my $result = 0; for (my $i = 0; $i < @themes; $i++) { $result += ($themes[$i] + 1) << ($i * 2); }

Encoded result: 84044166

I'll share my thoughts on why I'm not a big fan of most of these themes. And this is not to hate or complain. All these themes are definitely workable, but I want to reflect on what I tend to prefer. Other people may have other thought processes that make them prefer these kinds of themes, and I'd be happy to hear from your perspectives. So, here are some of the problems I find in some themes:

#1. Refers to high level progression mechanics:

My main problem is with themes that speak to very high level game progression mechanics. For example, "fragments" is something many games have tied to upgrades or powerups (or to open door to next world...), but it doesn't affect the core of the game in any way. Same could be said for "paths", "leave something behind". Although of course you can find other interpretations of these.

#2. Too abstract - harder for brainstorming and idea association:

Another problem I have is with some abstract words, which are uninspiring, bad creative prompts (i.e. they don't associate with as many interesting ideas, moods, concepts, etc. as some other prompts do). For example, "paths" taken literally, is a very dull concept. There are paths everywhere, but it's such a generic concept it doesn't make my mind run. Instead, if we had something like "pasture", you could think of sheep, grass, dog, shepherd, farmers, nature, plants; mechanics-wise you could think of shepherd fighting monsters and protecting sheep, or dog trying to round up sheep, or you could be the sheep, or it could be a farming or simulation game where you control plantations... See what I mean? It's easy to brainstorm. In contrast, if I think of "split", "layers", "flow", "unusual communication", or "merge", my mind almost goes blank.

#3. Hard to adapt game design a posteriori:

Somewhat tied to previous point. Creativity-inducing themes also allow for a lot of leeway changing the design. If the game isn't fun I'm free to change pretty much everything: the sheep could have stats and eat grass or could not, the farmer could have guns or melee or whatever, there could be waves or monsters or new scenarios you enter... So basically I'm allowed to do my job as a game designer.

On the other hand, with the theme "split", for example, imagine I make an action roguelike where you keep growing by eating stuff, which makes you stronger (and maybe slower), but to go to the next level you have to "split", essentially halving your size. If I implement this and it turns out it would play better if instead of halving I get to spend my size in a shop for upgrades, then I just can't do that, because that doesn't fit the theme at all. Same could be said for "leave something behind" or "cartography". Or with "chain", imagine I make an top-down shooter where you're always tied to a pole, and then, surprise surprise, the game is more fun if I remove the chain and let you move freely, but I can't do that.

#4. Too limiting if applied to mechanics:

Then there are themes that either won't affect mechanics (but rather the lore/story), or if they do they will limit the game very much to a specific mechanic or genre. Like "chains" screams physics-based. "Shelter" screams survival game. "Cartography" and "layers" can be hard for mechanics. Reflection seems kind of limiting mechanics-wise.

Note: I know "horde" is also kind of limiting, but I just feel like making a zombie game, so that's what I went with.

We are in for Ludum Dare 59!

This marks the 5th entry for the aptly named NamedLudumDareTeam, and this time our terrific trio has become a formidable foursome as we welcome Phil of Pixel Prophecy fame to the team.

Phil will be handling graphics for the most part, but when crunch time hits he has the skills to jump in and help wherever needed. With him joining us, the team is feeling more well rounded than ever, and we are excited to see what the four of us can make this weekend.

And now for some words from the squad!

Phil Strahl (GFX Wiz)

This Ludum Dare I decided to join a team of seasoned Ludum Dare veterans; BizzyBee, Ballimar, and Frank. My plan this time is to focus on art and visuals and then wait for it to meet the harsh reality of the traditional "all hands on deck" scramble. No matter how it's going to turn out, I am itching for some game dev in an amazing team!

Fgeva (Programming and Premiere Bug Squasher)

Time to do this again, with a newly expanded team. Of course I've forgotten most of what I knew about Godot again, but that won't stop us. With graphics and music from Phil and Biz, Balimaar and I should have all the motivation we need to write some passable code. And whatever he says, Phil is also a programmer, so with this many pairs of eyes looking for them, even the toughest bugs will not be able to hide!

Bizzybee (Music and Audio Genius)

I am so excited to make a great game with this wonderful group, and to welcome the new, fellow unicorn-loving addition to our team. One of the best things about making a game is seeing someone else play and enjoy it, and Phil's streams have been a highlight of my last LDs. He's a delightful presence on stream, and I'm sure he will be even more so on the team. (I kinda can't believe we're actually working with him??)

This jam I'm trying out a new program, FMOD, and I can't wait to see what I can do with it. I am so grateful to get to collaborate with such amazing creatives and to participate in such a lovely community, especially when so many of us are struggling with fitting into a world that doesn't feel built for us. I know I'm feeling that a lot lately, anyway. Here's to another ludum dare full of community and self discovery. We'll all have to figure out where to create together next once it's gone!

Balimaar (Programmer and Professional Bug Creator)

I can't believe this is my 6th consecutive LD game jam! I have enjoyed 95% of my time here :D The 5% comes from occasions where I am staring at a bug for an hour thats threatening to nuke 12 hours of otherwise good work shudders Lets hope that doesn't happen again this time!

I am thrilled to have Phil join us. He's been behind some of my personal favourite LD entries in the past! It's also been a genuine pleasure to see him play the team's humble efforts on his stream. His sense of humour and the way he provides constructive criticism really speaks to the epicness of this gent's character.

I think I can speak for the whole team when I say....

LET THE JAM BEGIN!!!!!

I was considering skipping again to work on other projects, but with the announcement that Ludum Dare will be coming to an end, I've decided to try entering each of the last six. It'll take me up to a grand total of 21 Ludum Dare entries, which is a lot when you stop to think about it.

As ever, I'll be working in either PICO-8 or TIC-80.

Im trying to be specific, themes i have an active idea for are green, yellow i have a cursory idea, red I don’t want to deal with or my idea is too complex for my time this jam.

This is my first time participating in Ludum Dare, I'm SUPER EXCITED! WHOOOOOOOOO

This isn't my first jam but it's definitely the first one that I'm coming to fully prepared and skilled enough to complete something. A bit nervous since I haven't made a game now for a couple of months as work and life as been a bit busy, but I've set aside the time to give this my all!

Engine: Unity (I know I know)
Graphics: Blender / Krita
Music: LMMS
Audio Audacity

Team: Me 🥲

Here's to giving it our all! Good luck everyone!

Here are my votes. -1 means I have no ideas, 0 means I have vague or over complicated ideas, and 1 means I have a strong idea

...how do you suppose we explain the controls to the players? Or does that not count as text?

I want to make a local co-op game

I've decided to try Ludum Dare again after like 3 years in Ludum Dare 53 (oh my god i was 13 at the time) but I'm very excited to join again!

Engine: GameMaker

Visuals: Aseprite (cause I like pixel art)

Music: BeepBox. (cries in broke teenager)

SFX: LabChirp

Hosting: Either itch.io or my own website

Audio editor: Audacity

Good luck to everyone!

Some were pretty cool while others either didn't interest me or were a bit confusing.

Yeah not gonna lie, I really don't care for the themes this time around. Probably just gonna skip this, if I don't feel it.

Wow, my theme made it to round 2! I find a lot of these themes interesting, but I need to narrow it down and make some choices.

Was really bad.

Hi there!

I can't wait for this new LD to begin! :heart_eyes:

During the last Global Game Jam, I fell in love with PICO-8 and made a little shmup named POLARITY (hugely inspired by Ikaruga :two_hearts:). I'll do my absolute best with this retro fantasy console to make the greatest game I can! :fist:

This will be my 3rd LD, following my 1-bit LD57 entry Life&Depth and my LD58 entry DrunkHunt (a Duck Hunt reverse/revenge game). Those two previous entries were made with my coding bro, NOT. This time, I'm going solo! :fearful:

It'll be my 3rd time doing a game jam alone (after Godot Wild Jam 88 last year and GGJ 2026 earlier this year). We'll see if I can manage to keep my motivation up throughout the jam :sweat_smile:

So, are there any other PICO-8 fanatics out there??? (or fans of other fantasy consoles?)

Follow me on itch.io if you're interested in my work: JackySan

Then you should definitely check this video out:

I made the TINIEST 2D Game Engine POSSIBLE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NszAPdz4lA

I believe it's the perfect fit for Ludum Dare. And yes, it's free. :smile:

I, as many participants, am often disappointed by the populist vote that inherently finds the lowest common denominator of themes. That's fine. But I would like to share my view on the themes that made it through. Just like you, and you, and you, and....you? Really, you too? XD

• "Leave Something Behind" and "Falling Apart" - These are so similar that they are nearly the same, thematically. Very trivially different in the mechanical sense. That being said, they are interesting from a design perspective. Both specific and also open.
• "The wrong tool for the job" - This is mildly interesting and makes a developer reconsider priorities, but also seems to be a bit gimmicky.
• "Chains" - This is technically challenging and thematic. This is my favorite in this round, other than the tied two at the top. I'm actually hoping for this one to win. I know it's just a noun, but it's both an overloaded term and also mechanically complex and I already know I can hit at least 4 other themes with it, lol.
• "No Text in the entire game" - Mostly a challenge, but it is so antithesis to literally ALL games that it both forces careful thought and consideration and breaks the paradigm of standards that I couldn't resist voting it up. Definitely in the top 5 for me even though it doesn't really prescribe the gameplay thematics themselves.
• "You are the Environment" - This is tied with Chains, in my list. It requires a lot of thought and reversal of patterns from common game design. I'll touch on the neutrals briefly: Dungeon - I love dungeon games as do many people. That's enough reason to accept it while not promoting it. Limited Movement - All movement is generally limited in games. It's a lazy, non-descript theme but it has potential for specific design and exploration of technical restriction. Side Effects - Games are made of side effects, so again, this is a bit weak as a theme, but one could probably really focus in on it as a core mechanic. Shelter - Not particularly notable but it's decently both open and constricting as a theme. Layers, Horde, Out of Bounds - Again, these are just only slightly interesting and yet too generic and broadly applied to games in general. Unusual Communication - 'unusual' is doing a lot of work in this one. I had some ideas, and this is a hard one. That's why I didn't dislike it. I could like it.

All that being said; I'm glad to be excited and participating. And that's all that really matters to me :)

S

• Split - Lots of mechanical opportunities, as well as thematic opportunities
• Leave something behind - Mechanical opportunities
• Layers - Mechanical opportunities

A

• Paths - Mechanical opportunities
• Signal - Mechanical opportunities
• Cartography - Mechanical opportunities, built in aesthetics
• Flow - Complex to implement, but multiple interpretations
• Reflection - A few interpretations, but might produce a lot of similar games
• Deja vu - Time loops are fun, but it feels like they've been done so well that it's hard to do something new in a jam
• Side effects - Could be interesting mechanically and thematically

B

• Merge - Match 3 and puzzle games are likely to overwhelm
• Fragments - Interesting, but doesn't quite provide enough of a hook

C

• Shelter - Thematically interesting, but might have limited mechanical opportunities
• Transformation - Interesting, but can lead to difficult implementations
• Waves - Too many wave-based games already, literal waves could be interesting but difficult
• Falling apart - Difficult to implement, few mechanical interpretations
• Strange machines - Generic, could apply to most any game
• Out of bounds - Not sure how to interpret it, tbh
• Unusual communication - Actually interesting, but very explored by the board game space. Too focused on multiplayer.
• Orbit - Lots of orbit-physics based games have been done, somewhat limiting
• Trapped - Feels generic and story/setting focused
• Chains - Chain physics can be difficult, and many games about connected characters or objects have been done semi-recently
• Protect - Not really awful, but overdone and generic
• Voyage - Thematic/aesthetic focused, but not the worst of those
• Limited movement - This feels like more an extra challenge than a theme, even though it could theoretically speak to mechanics.
• Illusion - This doesn't quite click for me. It doesn't really inspire mechanics or aesthetics
• Vessel - This is... Odd. There's some ideas here, but it feels like a small and hard to pin down design space.

F

• The wrong tool for the job - We had a theme like this on a previous LD and it wasn't great
• Hidden spaces - Feels generic? Lots of games have hidden spaces. Not inspiring
• Parasite - What do you even do with this one? It's purely thematic
• No text in the entire game - Annoying limitation. Too many options, not enough inspirations
• Dungeon - The most generic
• Horde - Too generic
• You are not supposed to be here - Generic, thematic focused, similar to past LD themes
• Wrong character for this game - Limiting, similar to past LD themes
• You are the environment - There's SO few ways to actually implement this

Like, what's the point in joining with good intentions if people are openly willing to basically cheat on their game entry? (I know its not technically cheating since that isn't a written rule but its the principle of it)

Jams are events made with the express purpose of experimentation and idea creation, with AI non of that is happening. The struggle comes with the process. The stress, the learning, the parts in which you need to improvise and change according to other people's feedback, AI just doesn't allow that, everything's a product with AI.

Hi all. I've actually done LD a few times now, but I sadly couldn't get my old account's name changed as I needed, so I made a new one instead. I'm excited to get reacquainted with the community and make some games for the event's last hurrah(s), though!

Hey everyone! I'm unsure if my first post got eaten because my account is so new or if something just went wrong, but just in case, I'll say hi here again! I've done this jam a few times, but I'm starting fresh with a new account.

Here's my reasoning for all of my picks, just for fun:

No text in the entire game: Interesting, but more of a restriction than a theme. Will probably not bother making an entry if this one wins.

Protect: I could see some cool gameplay mechanics emerging from this one, but it's a bit generic. It gives me a few ideas, but I'm just uninspired by it.

Voyage: Feels way too vast in scope for such a short jam. I think a lot of the entries would be over-scoped.

Transformation: I'm squinting at this one after hanging around too many furries. Really, though, I just don't feel like it lends itself meaningfully to unique gameplay mechanics. It's not completely boring or unusable, but it's more of an aesthetic theme than anything, which I don't like for super short jams.

Signal: I guess there are multiple ways to interpret this one, (signal from your crush, signal from a beacon) but I just don't really like any of them. It feels vague, but in a way that would somehow be harder to work with than something like "Protect."

Wrong character for this game: I think this could lead to some cool genre mashups. There's a clear gameplay idea without being too restrictive; whatever two genres you want to combine could be combined, or you could choose to interpret it in an entirely different way e.g. in a purely narrative sense. It's a cool idea.

Side effects: I think this would lead to a lot of one type of game I don't want to play much of. (Upgrade system that causes problems for you as you use it.) Still, it is a bit more gameplay-focused, and I can think of ways to subvert it. I just feel it would be an uphill battle for a lot of devs.

Limited Movement: Probably one of my least favorite gameplay mechanics, and a bit overused as a jam theme.

Deja vu: There are a few gameplay ideas I could garner from this, but none of them are really something I want to code for or see 100 times in the jam. Like with "side effects," I feel like there would be a lot of repetition in the game mechanics.

Orbit: Could lead to some cool ideas. It just didn't speak to me, and it feels a little more aesthetic-focused than gameplay-focused.

You are the environment: Gameplay-centric, but a little too restrictive for my taste.

Illusion: Again, very aesthetic-focused and vague. I can't see a lot of interesting gameplay mechanics with this actually baked into them.

Parasite: Yeah, it's got some of the problems I had with other themes on the surface, but I think this one is cool. It lends itself reasonably well to shaping actual gameplay mechanics without feeling too restrictive or like one style of game is being pushed.

You are not supposed to be here: Kind of "Wrong character for this game" with less focus and intrigue.

Vessel: A little too obviously-Deltarune-focused. I just don't see how this would lend itself smoothly to a lot of unique games.

Hidden spaces: I feel like this would produce a lot of games I don't wanna play, and it would lend itself too much to overscoping.

Strange machines: Lends to aesthetic over gameplay.

Dungeon: Would lend itself to overscoping, and is an aesthetic/setting rather than a theme.

Am I too critical??? Maybe!

It’s sad to realize that LD will end without ever reaching this fun number…

In the last LD, I took 1st place in the Humor category. Now I’m wondering what’s better - to make another game aimed at winning this category again and become a two-time humor champion, or to start making more serious games and compete for a spot in other categories?

Good luck to everyone at LD - I’ve been waiting for it more than my own birthday :)

Before that, I had completed only 1 project. I hope I can create a game here and people will like it.

I have a couple of questions:

1) Can I show the game to my friends? What would they rate until I'm done?

2) How honest is it to write a draft text/dialogue/description and edit it using a neural network to make it readable?

3) Where is the line between acceptable AI use and opting out of the judging category?

4) Does anyone have any tips for the first jam?

Engine: Unreal engine 5

Art: Blender and Photoshop

Sounds: sfxr/Own recorded sounds

Music: FL Studio. (Although I have a little experience, I will most likely use free songs.)

The rules state we should be fair about our voting, but I am personally rather inclined to disregard any AI generated art or text as something that deserves praise. I'd like to know you guys' thoughts on something like giving 1 star (in this case on graphics) to something that obviously tries to ride on AI generated assets like Meshy or comparable stuff. I get that for some people it helps to have certain fillers like programmer art to actually get a game done, but to me it feels disingenuous to then do AI instead of that.

I'm very sad that Ludum Dare is ending. I haven't been contributing as long as some of you, and I don't know how things were pre-LD50, but I still wanted to share my opinions on what made the jam special (to me), and what a future successor could look like:

This is an excerpt from my blog post on this topic: https://sirlich.dev/blog/ludum-dare/

Lots of Feedback!

The world has enough game jams. You only need to browse the itch.io jam calendar to come to that conclusion. And that's not even counting local (or global!) in-person events.

But not all jams are created equal. Part of what made Ludum Dare so special to me, is the quantity and quality of feedback that I got on my jams. My first ever submission to Ludum Dare had just short of 30 ratings and comments. One person even updated their graphics drivers after catching Vulken errors, in order to provide their feedback. My submission to GMTK in comparison had just 3 comments.

Ludum Dare does feedabck really well. They have an algorithm which drives more traffic to your game, the more reviews and comments you leave. Of course there are always going to be a fair-share of nothing comments ("Nice game!"), but overall I feel like the quantity and quality of feedback on my Ludum Dare games has been really excellent.

I think any serious replacement for Ludum Dare would need to solve keep this feedback system, or something similar.

The Community and Independance

Ludum Dare isn't just a game-jam website. It's also a forum! And how refreshing that is. There is technically a Ludum Dare discord, and various Ludum Dare Socials, but it feels like all the real conversation is happening on-site.

People share their jam "stack". They share their thoughts on the themes. And sometimes, in the quiet moments between jams, they share updates on projects which started as Jam games, and are being finished as comercial projects.

It's nice to have a corner of the internet that exists outside of Discord/Reddit/Facebook etc. I strongly feel that the Ludum Dare community is so strong because of this distinction. I would hope that a Ludum Dare successor is able to remain similarly independent, and doesn't become just another itch.io jam.

Theme Voting

I don't neccesarily view the current implementation of theme-suggestion, theme-slaughter, and theme-voting as critical. But I think it is critical to have something community driven. Compared to other jams, Ludum Dares theme system is clearly more interesting. It drives more discussion, more hype, and indeed -more drama.

I would like to see a successor to Ludum Dare iterate on the theme voting, while keeping the core identity intact.

Before that, I had completed only 1 project. I hope I can create a game here and people will like it.

I have a couple of questions:

1) Can I show the game to my friends? What would they rate until I'm done?

2) Where is the line between acceptable AI use and opting out of the judging category?

3) Does anyone have any tips for the first jam?

Engine: Unreal engine 5

Art: Blender and Photoshop

Sounds: sfxr/Own recorded sounds

Music: FL Studio. (Although I have a little experience, I will most likely use free songs.)

About two years ago I had this idea that one Ludum Dare I want to make a game without a single line of text. Only symbols, etc. And now seeing this... is this a sign?

Ok, I want to try to attend again. Will be very limited on time (I expect about 4hours per day max, so like 8hrs in total), but still want to make something small and silly.

To dust my skills I have created a small tileset and random objects generator to prove myself that I still know how to code at least some minimum :)

Last week Mike (@pov) announced that Ludum Dare will come to an end. As someone who participated in every Ludum Dare since #21, I was sad to read this news. Ludum Dare has shaped me as a game developer, and got me to make many games I am very proud of. Luckily, Mike has stated that they want the legacy of Ludum Dare to continue, which is a big relief. However, I see many problems in Mike's vision for their continuation of its legacy, and fear that it will not succeed.

In this post I'll be talking about - The lack of community leaders - Why a new Ludum Dare is useless - How Mike is vague about the future - The importance of Ludum Dare's legacy - Why we are what makes Ludum Dare - The failing of Mike's leadership

Note that I will not be talking about any plans for a future Ludum Dare. That's not what I'm here for. Perhaps another time. For now we must address the problems with the mission that is given to us.

Community leaders

On Bluesky, Mike posted the following:

My hope is that leaders within the community can build something better, more welcoming, that honors our legacy.

I think what's great about Ludum Dare is that there aren't really leaders in the community. There might be people more well known than others, there might be popular streamers, but leaders they are not. From time to time I'll find a profile of someone participating for a long time, who I never heard of before. You might have never heard of me even though I participated for so long. I wouldn't be surprised.

Ludum Dare is a big community, and someone who is seen as a leader by some, might be a nobody to others. Besides, the most popular person is not necessarily the best person to create a new Ludum Dare. There's also a good chance that multiple people will create a new website. Then what? Should the community split up?

A new Ludum Dare

I “DARE YOU” to make YOUR better LUDUM DARE in 3 years!

Because Mike gave us an assignment to make a better Ludum Dare. If it's the website they're talking about, this has already been done, and it's called Down2Jam. I've never participated, but from what I understand it's basically a copy of Ludum Dare's system, and a quick glance at their website shows that it's a lot better than Ludum Dare's current site. It's what ldjam.com should have been. I should point out that Down2Jam has made it clear it does not aim to be a successor of Ludum Dare. They have their own goals and ideas. But with their website they show the potential of what ldjam could be.

So when it comes to building a better Ludum Dare, the website is not the problem. If not Down2Jam, there exist a ton of other game jams for people to migrate to. But all those game jams, any "better Ludum Dare" that anyone might build, miss one important thing: they are not Ludum Dare.

To me, and many others, Ludum Dare is still the game jam, being one of the first big game jams, starting all the way in 2002. I don't believe any new game jam could take over that title, no matter how well they replicate the original. The continuation of legacy will be broken, and Ludum Dare will be no more.

The only way I can see the legacy properly continue is if Mike instructed us where to go to. That they, as the current leader of Ludum Dare, tells us what will be the official new game jam for us to participate in. Whether the community would follow is the big question.

What is the plan?

Okay, let's say that a "community leader" built a better Ludum Dare. Then what? Do they start hosting events? Well, no, not right away. First we still have 6 more Ludum Dare events to go, after which we get one more encore event in April (and maybe two?).

So after April (or the second encore event), is that when we're ready to launch our new and better Ludum Dare (with a different name)? Maybe, but Ludum Dare could return "as needed". Imagine the new jam plans an event, and then Mike decides to run a Ludum Dare event around the same time. Now you have a community split as to where they should participate in.

Do you see how messy this is? You might think "We'll figure that out as we go", but if your goal is for the community to create something new, and for the legacy to live on, you should be clear as to what they can expect from you. You tell the community: * This date is the last Ludum Dare event. * That date is when the new jam should start their first event.

And you promise to be gone after that. You can't break up with your partner and tell them to find someone else, but then call up to make love after they found someone.

If Mike's plan is to not host any more events after the better Ludum Dare has spawned, they should communicate this. A lot about their post is vague. For example, what if they manage to find a job? Will Ludum Dare continue as normal? We don't know. This is a problem. We're talking about the legacy of a 24 year old internet community. It should be handled with care.

Legacy

A lot of these problems would be solved if the new jam would use the name Ludum Dare, but Mike does not allow it.

I want our legacy go on, but this name (this era) should end.

And I want to eat ice cream without getting fat. You can't have it both ways. It could be possible for a legacy to continue with a different name, but you're making it extremely difficult if you don't intend to kill the website that holds the original name.

And what a legacy Ludum Dare has! It all started in 2002 on the Ludum Dare forum, created by Geoff Howland. He and Isaac Vanier got the idea for a 24-hour game programming competition. Note that in the forum thread nobody used the word 'jam'. While maybe not the first game jam, it must have been a rare concept at the time.

As Mike mentioned in their post, Ludum Dare "died" multiple times. The original site has a timeline, which I'll lay out here:

| # | Date | Host | Website | | ---- | ------------- | ------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 0 | April 2002 | Geoff Howland | ludumdare.com | | 1 | July 2002 | Geoff Howland | ludumdare.com | | 2 | November 2002 | Geoff Howland | ludumdare.com | | 3 | April 2003 | Geoff Howland | ludumdare.com | | 4 | April 2004 | Mike Hommel | hamumu.com | | 5 | October 2004 | Richard Jones | mechanicalcat.net | | 6 | April 2005 | Richard Jones | mechanicalcat.net | | 7 | December 2005 | Geoff Howland | ludumdare.com | | 8 | April 2006 | Geoff Howland | ludumdare.com | | 9 | April 2007 | jinxd and Seth Robinson | thewavelength.net | | 10 | December 2007 | Phil Hassey and Mike Kasprzak | imitationpickles.com | | 11 | April 2008 | Phil Hassey and Mike Kasprzak | imitationpickles.com | | 12 | August 2008 | Mike Kasprzak and Phil Hassey | ludumdare.com | | ... | | At some point Phil Hassey quit | ludumdare.com | | 36 | August 2016 | Sorceress | ludumdare.com | | 37 | December 2016 | Mike Kasprzak | ldjam.com | | etc. | | | |

Here are a few things I learned as I was assembling this timeline and went through the archives: * Ludum Dare died in the sense that it was no longer hosted on the same site, but never did a year go by without a Ludum Dare event (the biggest gap being #3 to #4). This is not a Ship of Theseus question. It was the same thing all the way. * In all the old Ludum Dare sites I kept finding the same message: If things break, we use the IRC chat #ludumdare as a backup. In a sense, that channel seems to be the root of Ludum Dare, and it still exists. * If someone stops hosting Ludum Dare, there are other people willing to take over. In 2016, after Ludum Dare #36 was cancelled so that Mike could work on a new website (this website), after realizing the old one had problems with its rating system, Sorceress took over, and we got our event anyway, albeit without voting.

How cool is it that after those messy early years of swapping hosts, Ludum Dare still exists to this date? And I haven't even mentioned the many successful games that were spawned out of Ludum Dare entries, like Hollow Knight and Inscryption. This is the legacy that the name Ludum Dare holds. This is the game jam that I want to continue to participate in. This is what will die in a few years, because that is Mike's decision.

Ludum Dare is us

What makes Ludum Dare awesome is you! Not my PHP and JavaScript glue that keeps things going. It’s you.

I agree, it's us. We as a community are what makes Ludum Dare. So it feels weird that Mike decides for us that Ludum Dare will be no more. Imagine if Linus Torvalds, who Mike compared himself to, said that Linux would come to an end. Would anyone take him seriously? Perhaps he would respond with the question on whether we met Dennis Ritchie.

Have you even met Geoff?

They say they don't mean it arrogantly, but it's hard not to take this as arrogant. No, I have not met Geoff, the person who started Ludum Dare and hosted it last 20 years ago, but for the past 10 years or more, me and others have participated in pretty much every single event. Does that not count for something?

We as a community come together twice a year to make a game in a weekend, and that event is called Ludum Dare. Why must that come to an end?

And besides, who could I actually pass the event on to anyway?

Someone in the community who has shown that they deeply care about Ludum Dare, who has experience hosting big jams, who can be trusted that they will respect Mike's wishes, and has the time to host the events. Those people exist (and yes, that includes me). Is MckFunkyPants seriously the only person they could think of? Have they asked McFunkyPants if he was interested, or did they only assume he was not? Could they at the very least not have asked around to see what is possible?

I’ve done my best to keep up with the folks involved in the community, but past a certain point you just can’t. I want to and I do try, but there’s still just one me.

In what way though? They're not active on the (unofficial) Discord, and it's been ages since I saw them comment on anyone's post or game. I can understand if they're too busy, but if they believe there are community leaders, they should ask us to point them out to them, so that they have a starting point.

Leadership

I am grateful to Mike that they have hosted Ludum Dare for so long, despite all the hardships they have faced. They have made sure that the spirit of Ludum Dare has stayed the same after all these years. But at some point one must wonder if they would not be more grateful had they passed on the role of host to someone who would have done a better job.

No I’m not blind to the comments bellyaching how “meh” events have been and everyone who thinks they could do better job than me.

How could they not? It's no news to anyone that this website, ldjam.com, is a big mess. Even if you're a new user you will quickly encounter the bug where images take time to load (where you first see an earlier loaded, irrelevant image as a placeholder), and that many pages don't work. I'm used to it at this point, but I shouldn't be. This is not the website that such a big game jam deserves to have.

Earlier I said that d2jam.com is what Ludum Dare should have been, but I also think it's what it could have been. People have tried to contribute to this website. There are multiple pull requests open on the GitHub that after years have never received even a response from Mike, including an entire frontend rewrite.

The event page for LD59 still says "EDIT ME". Key moments like theme slaughter, theme voting and especially the results are often late. This made streamers and people in general no longer having result parties, as the time they go live is unreliable. Ludum Dare as a whole is at a decline the past five events. In the right hands, I can imagine it could have grown even bigger than what it was during covid, but right now it's rather a surprise how many people are willing to keep participating with all these flaws present. It doesn't help that you need a secret password to register.

You might think: "Yes, but Mike is busy." I know, and I don't blame them for not fixing all of these problems. What I do blame them for, is not figuring out a way forward so that Ludum Dare can improve. To delegate tasks to other people. Share the database schemas in a repository, and have the community build a new website. A lot of Mike's time is spent handling GDPR emails, because the website misses basic functionality, like changing your username or removing your account. Had Mike requested the community for help with this, to add these features to the website, I bet a pull request would be ready faster than a compo.

At some point Ludum Dare turned big, and it was unsustainable for Mike to keep it going as a hobby project. After the community granted him permission to make money off of Ludum Dare, they opened a Patreon. This never reached the desired goal ($3000), and because of this Ludum Dare could not become their full time job.

That's unfortunate, but alternative solutions, like asking community members for help, were never explored, as seen by the ignored pull requests. I think that's been a mistake. A good leader recognizes when they need help, and are not afraid to ask for that help. Mike has failed to do so, and now here we are, with a broken unfinished website after so many years, and with no reliable person to take over.

Conclusion

The current envisioned future for Ludum Dare is blurry. Personally, I'm not convinced I'll participate in an event that is not called Ludum Dare, but perhaps over the years I'll be able to get used to the idea. Regardless, Mike should communicate more clearly what we as a community, and what potential creators of a future Ludum Dare, can expect.

But far more preferable would be if Mike was convinced that they should in fact pass on the torch. That is no easy task. I myself host an annual game jam, and I can't imagine passing that onto someone else if I ever decide to quit. Will that person do as good as a job as you did? Maybe not at first. But they will learn, and grow, and maybe, eventually, turn it into something even better.

Instead of using these next three years to teach us how to make a better Ludum Dare, teach us how to run this Ludum Dare. Become more well known with the community, and find your new leader. Have them watch over your shoulder as you manage the event, and when it's time, they can take over, and Ludum Dare's legacy can live on.

I'll leave you with a quote from Mike from 2016:

Bottom line, I want to turn what we have here in to something that is sustainable. In the near term something that can support me, in time others, but eventually in to something I can step away from. Something that can actually out-live me. It shouldn’t be catastrophe if I go away.

I could just assume the community will pick things up, but that would be irresponsible of me. It should run itself. Both technically speaking, and as a sustainable self sufficient entity.

Ludum Dare should not have to rely on any one individual to run.

Cant wait to start the jam ! I really like most of the themes that have been suggested so far, even tho not everyone dont seems to agree with this

All 3 of you, raise your hands!

My main computer perished horribly. I have been itching to try gamedev again. Ludum Dare is around the corner. Godot released a copy of the game engine that runs directly on my Quest headset. And the Meta OS just added a virtual keyboard that is actually fairly reliable. Do you see where this is going? Sounds fun. Sounds miserable. It can be both.

Sooo, what ever happened towards the idea of submitting an entry that is other than a Game?

More tools would have been nice, I guess...

Sorry I've clearly missed the memo here -- how do I get invite codes for new team members?

Any other jam a lot of these would be great, this one with my limited time I dunno.

I get why its fun, but I use a text only program for story games which already gives me a challenge :coldsweat: Think... I will still try if so but no actual clue as to how. I just refuse to sit out just because its different and/or difficult :confused: :sweatsmile:

Been a bit busy working on my first Steam release ever but will happily take the weekend off for Ludum Dare!

As always, I'm doing the compo since it's always super fun to race against the clock and do something out of nothing.

Tools of the trade:

• Godot for the actual game stuff

• GIMP / Inkscape / Blender for the eye stuff

• Psycle / Cakewalk SONAR / Audacity for the ear stuff

• Git for the oopsie stuff

• OBS / Kdenlive for the preview-y stuff

I'm not even in confident in most of these, but they sound like interesting challenges.

Hello world! I am indeed very excited for the whole LD59 thing, gonna be my first game jam ever :D

Was really debating if I should join this time around but it's been forever since I released anything... So I shall throw my hat in the ring once more. Hopefully I can make something playable. Good luck to everyone else to :)

Hi everyone, Providence with a little post again. I see a lot of people feel discouraged by a bunch of the themes. I just wanna put out there that I belive you should try regardless. Not always is there a jam like the Ludum Dare where there's so many people who will actually play your game and leave helpful feedback and a theme should not stop you. Here's some tips from me to help make it easier for you:

• Pull up a dictionary and try out alternative meanings you might not have known about (if very obscure, reference it somewhere tho)
• Put the theme on a blank paper or whiteboard and just stare at it. Start trying to make sentences after a couple minutes and put those around the theme. After like 4 to 10, start actually thinking if any of those could make a game you'd like
• Talk about it with friends and family and employ their brainpower (or brainrot). No shame in using someone else's good ideas.

Even if after all that you can't think of any good game, know that theme is just one of many scoring points. Just make a tiny version of that game you've been wanting to make for years. If you properly put on your game page that you couldn't adhere to the theme but still wanted to participate, I bet 90% of people here will appreciate your honesty and desire to keep going.

Make something great, y'all. You have it in you :)

Most fun theme I've seen since tiny creatures. I'm just imagining playing one incomprehensible game after another on stream while treating the instructions like a terms of service and I feel reanimated with childlike excitement. FUCK text. Tutorialize these gonads

I hope someone kind-hearted person can give me a ready-made invitation code. My teammate forgot to register. Please, I'm so confused about registering on the external network.(My English is really not very good. I don't know if I can speak it clearly) o(╥﹏╥)o

Final round voting is done! There were a few other themes I would have liked to try but couldn't think of a simple enough idea that could create within a short time frame.

Countless forms split and merge: a parasite, buried beneath a shelter that is falling apart, begins its transformation.

You received a signal from the strange machines and must begin your voyage. The goal is to protect the paths and ensure you leave something behind. Be careful not to choose the wrong tool for the job.

There is no text in the entire game, yet unusual communication happens everywhere - though not without side effects.

So I just wanted to say "Hello" and that this will be my very first Game Jam, even if I have known Game Jams for years.. But always from the far. I don't know what I can create on my own, but I think I will use UE5 to get better in it and the rest is not planned yet.

Hope all of us have fun :D

Its been a while, and I'm currently hard at work on my studio's first title, Nightmare Kitchen - a Co-Op FPS with a cartoon-horror culinary theming...

...but I could use a break and I haven't done a LD since 56. So lets do this! :sunglasses:

I run a gamedev blog and motivated 118 followers to take part in LD. Many of them are joining for the first time. If every creator encouraged their audience to participate, LD64 could reach 10,000 participants… or is that never going to happen? 😄

I think my last submission to a compo was 6 years ago, so to say I'm a little rusty would probably be a severe understatement. A lot has changed since then (got married, moved around the world, changed careers and more!) but rusty or not, I'm ready to return to LD this weekend and HOPEFULLY have something to upload at the end of the 72 hours. Going to jam with my husband who is a longtime gamer but new to game dev, I'm really excited to do a game project with someone else for the first time.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and good luck all!

Whatever theme comes from this is going to be interesting. Although I did not vote for it I believe 'No Text in Entire Game' will be LD59 theme.

Disclaimer, I focus mainly on story driven games, so these ideas are rather story related than gameplay related.

Parasite - Either fantasy or scifi - you have a parasite/chip in your head and you two are arguing with each other. Your goal is to get it out (Cyberpunk, BG3 style)

Unusual communication - You have met some unknown entity, an alien, or some fantastical creature, and you need to figure out their language to understand each other. For example, a UFO crash landed. The ET needs help, so you need to translate what they need.

No text in the entire game - You are in an old ruin underground (something like Pyramids), and you have to figure out symbols and meanings of everything around you. There is no text anywhere. Not even the main character tells anything.

Side effects

Leave something behind - You write a book. But I have no idea how to pull this off haha.

Strange machines - I don't know anything now, but I freaking love drawing robots, so I'm sure I will be happy with this haha.

Voyage - You are traveling in the sees in the 19th century. You are attacked by a mysterious creature (Mobydick, Kraken...).

A bit late but I managed to do a 50-50 score for the theme slaughter (optimal strategy? low standards??) :D

Here are some of my ideas from my perennial 5-year-old spreadsheet of theme ideas which is going stronger by the minute.

Merge

A smith makes bronze, by merging copper and tin. One day he steals all your Tintin comics because it's twice as good as tin. Get it back. Also reality is merging with those comics.

Voyage, Paths or Transformation

You are one of those robot lawnmowers. Today, evil drones burn your yard. Now in the untamed countryside, you must cut crops for fuel, nettle for oxidizer, and drones for scrap. Use that to blast off to kill them. Bonus for otherwise minimal damage to nature.

Signals

You’re riding a bicycle and your weapon is stretched arm signals.

I'm currently on holiday and the "visit everyone, do all the things" phase is over. Now, I was just going to laze around and grow some mold until I have to go back to work, but my game dev friends just had to go and remind me that LD was happening this weekend during a break at board game night.

I originally created this account four years ago or so to participate in the Jam with one of said friends, but the whole thing fell through because of scheduling (being an adult sucks so fucking much, but who am I telling that). Originally, however, I participated for the first time what I am now realizing was

12 fucking years

ago!

Honestly, LD is the reason I actually went ahead and made my first real game instead of just durdeling around (that's M:tG lingo for aimlessly fucking around, btw).

In a sense, it's the reason I studied Games Engineering, though I can't really work very well in the industry because of my sleep disorder; I just need a job with a looooot more flexibility than you can get in the industry to accommodate that disability.

So there I sat with my game dev friends, talking about the games they have been working on, when the LD came up, and I realized that, though I had participated in two and a half local game jams since the pandemic (programming with a fever sucks so bad), I hadn't participated in LD since before the pandemic.

So, here I am, tossing my hat in the ring, going for the full nostalgia: Just me, a programming language I haven't touched in a few months, and a library where I'm going to have to look up every single damn thing because I don't remember. I'm going to evaluate my options over the next 24 hours, but my fallback will be zig and SDL.

It would probably be smarter to pick one of my main languages, but that would probably mean fucking Javascript/Typescript, and after spending two entire weeks before my holiday upgrading packages, swapping out no longer updated dependencies, and configuring three different package managers across all of our JS/TS projects, I am currently acutely aware of how much the entire ecosystem fucking sucks; I would quite frankly rather throw myself into a vat of acid than set up a new TS project just to use a library I'm not familiar with in a garbage language with a garbage ecosystem.

I might use that Javascript based music live coding thingamajig I've seen a bunch recently, though. That way, I might actually get some actual music instead of random bleeps and bloops that sound like they were randomly fuzzed until they could barely be recognized as music.

Might use Godot if my idea goes in a direction that requires 3D, because I don't trust myself to remember enough OpenGL from 5 years ago to get off the ground right away. Maybe something to work on for the October LD. I honestly enjoy the "writing your own engine" part too much to not do it at least once this year. It used be almost a speedrunning thing, those game dev friends' eyes almost fell out the first time they had me on the team for a game jam during university.

Gonna get some preliminary brainstorming on what to do with the possible themes done first thing tomorrow, but I usually do nothing more than the vaguest of ideas before the official theme is revealed. Anything else feels like cheating.

I've rambled enough, though. Gotta go to sleep, I can feel the crash coming :stuckouttonguewinkingeye:

Good luck to everyone, especially those who are first timers.

You're welcome. I'll be using Construct 3.

Share your +1 themes. This is 110% accurate.

https://linkto.run/p/Z5CUDM7Q

I'll make a new post with the partial results in a few hours or so.

@popmiii hello lets following each other

@popmiii

gogogo @atGiselle @popmiii

Hey everyone!It's my first time joining LDjam,and cant wait to start . But there's a bit confused that cant search or add account of my teammates,and where to fill team members while the game subbmits? Hope it looked clear since my English is not very well... Thanks a lot for the help!

Vote here with your +1 themes: https://linkto.run/p/Z5CUDM7Q

There will text in the games I guess.

Hi!

I'm Andrew Vyalkov a.k.a. Advarsky, a 2d artist and a gamedev. I'm looking for a team to join for the upcoming LD59.

skills:

pixel art, animations, illustrations, game assets

game design, coding, some sound and video editing

Unity, Aseprite, Photoshop, Git

previous entries https://ldjam.com/users/advarsky/games

portfolio https://advarsky.wixsite.com/portfolio