Ludum Dare 51 September 30–October 3, 2022

Can't wait

Ludum Dare 51 + a big announcement

Ludum Dare 51 will be my tenth Ludum Dare. As always, I'll be competing using the TIC-80 fantasy computer, and I've booked some time off work to give myself more leeway in case I need to switch from Compo to Jam. Instead of trying to push my boundaries and try new things, this time I'd like to cut loose and focus on simply making the best game I can.

To celebrate my tenth Ludum Dare entry, on 10/10 at 10am BST - one month from now - I'll be re-releasing my first seven Ludum Dare entries on itch.io. My most successful entry, 15 Minutes to Live, will also finally be coming to Newgrounds, with a long-overdue update featuring new music, enhanced graphics, extra content, and more.

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As well as itch.io and Newgrounds, you can follow me on Twitter for occasional dev updates. Life has slowed me down recently, but I'm hoping to ramp up work on my current project Prism Warriors, and get a demo out before LD51 starts.

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I'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone who's supported me throughout my ten Ludum Dares and counting, as well as those whose own entries have captivated me. May we all continue to grow and support one another for many years to come.

Our theme suggestions posted

Our Theme Suggestions

  • Sanctuary
  • Ancient

Its a bit of a shame we can't do 3 suggestiins anymore, then "solstice" would be our 3rd suggestion

After 10 + years, and 12 compos, I did'n't know you could suggest themes!

It's actually harder to think of something generic enough it could spawn 2000+ games and be original.

I like the idea of machines / vehicles / creatures running amok - could be interpreted a number of ways, from a runaway train, to herding animals etc.

That or I reckon something with sticky / magnetic abilities could be cool and interpreted a number of different ways.

Like some sort of physics sim with electromagnets, or cats climbing on curtains , lizards up walls, or spiders down drainpipes , or the whole world covered in treacle.

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finally

Which weekend were we talking about with regards to signups opening 'by the weekend', eh? :eyes:

Anyway, obligatory 'I'm in' post. Won't be sharing my themes (at least for now) because I'm not sure I've committed to them lol, the ability to delete them and put in better themes always exists up until it doesn't. Shame to only get 2 suggestions this time though. :slight_frown:

Never ended up making a post-mortem for or continuing development after LD50, which to be fair, I was under a lot of pressure. Grief & schoolwork are both very difficult to balance. Since then, I've graduated and gotten some distance on the grief - still sad a lot, but sometimes managing to function. I've worked a bit on my music skills lately and followed most of a godot tutorial to learn tips and tricks I wasn't able to figure out on my own. So, not exactly learning things in the calculated order I came up with in that one analysis/post-mortem about my skill levels, but maybe that's okay. Maybe it's okay to just grow in random, interest-based spurts.

I don't know how well my mental health will be holding up by the time the jam's truly upon us, but I look forward to trying. My goal this time is to seriously scope down whatever I come up with in favor of being able to make a "full" game: functioning mechanic, tutorial, menu screen, pause/options, end screen(s). Maybe that's still a lot to chew on, but if I scope down my mechanic like hell, the others should be doable, right?

Planning on using Godot and Beepbox for sure, not sure yet what I'll want to do for art. Might keep things simple pixel art, might do some extra shenanigans. Probably no AI generation, though I do find the thread discussing it to be fascinating.

Good luck everyone!

Midjourney/AI generators

With the sudden burst of AI art generators and high quality art being available to anyone, there should be an update to the rules which would explicitly state if those are allowed and if they are, in what capacity.

@pov ?

Finally the Theme Suggestions are open!

I'm very excited, it's my third LD and the first time I'm suggesting themes. Those are my ideas:

  • Based on a true history
  • The art of storytelling

2 instead of 3 suggestions is...

awesome. Because that means that the theme slaughter round is not soooo big (sometimes slaughter around 3000 themes isnt really fun haha).

I thinking about: why not reduce it just to one ? I mean one theme you can suggest is enough. So people have to choose more wisely :)

Warhead Stroll is on the Google Play Store now

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You might remember Warhead Stroll, game from the LD #49 in which Old Roger walks his dog and must not explode.

Last week I ported it to mobile! I didn't add any content so it remains pretty short, but it's still completely free. My first mobile game, so maybe controls are a bit clunky or something, let me know!

Play it here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cagibidev.warheadstroll

Or here for the jam/desktop version: https://cagibi.itch.io/warhead-stroll

I'm in!

…And here's my theme suggestions
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