Hello guys, here's the story (along with my appreciation) for this event! First off, thank you all and to @Mike for all the positivity which is felt throughout this jam! I got pleasantly surprised!

Let it be time-lined (you will laugh)!

• 26-27 Apr - I recall there is sth like Ludum Dare, I say to myself, why not do this, had it on my list 1 year ago (in the meantime, I am not in front of a computer and in the jam weekend, I am going to be busy with other things, haha)
• next few days {life is busy as hell} - you know, people today live x20 speed nowadays> - I read the rules, I see there is possibility for an Extra entry, phew, awesome... maybe that would happen
• I am checking out the themes - oh my, there are some pretty cool ones - maybe I don't like a few like delivery; my brain is already pumping ideas (maybe I will finish a game this time, haha)
• 27th - 31st Apr - nope, I am not here, I think I skimmed through here to see it's the Delivery theme, I am seeing some posts, not sure what is going on
• 3rd May - here I come! - my Phaser3 setup is a bit dusty, haven't gotten to this in 6 months, I decide I would do a game which includes physics, why not?!
• (3rd - 10th May) - hell yeah, I was able to squeeze around 5 consecutive hours into... doing basic setup around 1 particular issue with my physics engine (where everything speeds up enormously) - finally resolved ;;((( but the scars are real
• (10th - 16th May) - hell yeaaah - I was able to sit around 4-6 times more (nor sure exactly), some sits around 1 hour - I was able to actually (almost) get a core loop running, I still have just 3 levels in my game
• 18th May - I came with a nifty mechanic to make my game more meaningful - eject areas - otherwise it would actually be pointless haha
• 18th - 19th May - I add more levels, clean up some rough edges, fix a few bugs, add main screen content and level selection
• 19th May (I do italic this for a reason) - I create a LDJAM account now and post post my game 19 minutes after - it works but... I don't see it listed anywhere; people don't see it ; ((((( I cannot create posts, it doesn't work, but I can post comments on existing posts...
• 20th May Evening - I am going over the site, checking out how stuff work...
• 21th May - Thankfully to Mike's effort (and to me commenting in a few posts and maybe writing to support, not sure which one), my account gets whitelisted! I also start to play some games... I am totally blown away by the quality of those games, many games! I am totally blown away by the positivity going around in commenting games. Thank you guys, this is awesome! I think this was the day I also noticed the post by Mike on the huge spam... then everything (on the whitelisting) was clear.

I will be playing more of your games, if get time, they are awesome!! ... Thank you all!

Oh, it's a post-mortem, kind of... then here's a few things from my side: - DON'T try to do physics games if your setup is flaky - HAVE an LDJAM account earlier... not on submission day hahaha - Polish your setup/framework and flows for the things you want to include in your game / in my case I didn't even have a visual level editor; all code - Plan plan plan but keep it simple... 1 core mechanic done well is much better than 3 mechanics done in a mediocre manner - Note: while I was not on the computer, my head was pumping stuff, some of this stuff had to go on paper to get validated - I've spend a lot of time thinking about what's to be done next, not "trying to just code it" - novice programmers should take note of this

Oh, here's the game, it's ugly and has one nasty bug :D but... if intereseted Airborn Island Delivery (AID)

New Features

• Score screen - after you deliver the prophecy, you will get a screen showing the effects your choices had on the client. - Depending on your overall score(positive or negative) this can affect future conversations with the client.
• Animations - added some more animations to make things look a little nicer
• Branching Dialog - dialog changes depending on your overall score with each client.
• Saving - automatically saves after each prophecy and you can continue from the main menu.

Available here - https://chrisashtear.itch.io/ld53

Let us know what you think!

For anyone like me who still hangs around, subconsciously opening this page every now and then, I hope you enjoyed this blast of a jam! and hope to see you in September. goodbye!

Is there any way to find the number of games rated in each category? I checked out the stats page and saw total number of submissions as well as percentage of submissions rated—but those weren't broken up by compo v. jam—and also there were plenty of games that excluded themselves from one category or another.

I'm just a game writer, so I have no idea how to read the open source code to get this info, but I'm happy to learn if anyone wants to teach me...just hit me up...I'm a fast learner, I swear...

Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for 9th in humor!! I am amazed that we got top 10 and I am glad so many of you liked it.

As I promised everyone else on my team, VS Mode is now out! We made the mistake of planning to make a fighting game before the theme was announced, and then when it was after many idea switches we finally made a beat-em-up instead. The true fighting game will come someday, but for now you finally have the power to beat me up as one of my friends, or vice-versa. Thanks, and here's to next time!

Play Here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/fission-fight

Wow. Our fifth dare and our best result by far. It all came together this time. A good theme, a good idea and good programming experience. However it wasn't all smooth sailing and there were a few times it nearly fell apart.

What went well

A bit of backstory. Me and @pegasys first dare together was LD48 back in 2019. After a 3 year gap we returned in April 2022 for LD50. We had two ideas we really loved for this jam. A stock market card game, which would eventually become Market Maker, and a lorry delivery game where you would have to place packages and then drive to avoid obstacles. I think you can see where we are going. We had this idea on the back burner in every dare since then. Slowly refining it each time till where now for LD53 it was our strongest idea. So when Delivery won we were excited and highly motivated to finally make this game. This is reflected in it being our most polished and complete game yet and, in my opinion at least, our most fun game to date.

(Our original sketch from Ludum Dare 50)

Another aspect that we are really proud of is the 3D. Every game we have made so far has been 2D. Mostly due to our lack of experience in 3D. This time we decided to take the plunge and create a game in 3D. While functionally it still behaves as a 2D game, all the packages are on the same axis. The added depth from an artistic standpoint really makes this part of the game pop.

What went poorly

Our biggest issue was a lack of planning on what the exact gameplay was going to be for the lorry section. We had a vague idea of placing packages and then items or mechanics to make this more challenging or easy. Near the end of day 2 we had the placing of packages in place in an empty van with one test item. It quickly became apparent that the item wasn't very satisfying and that this section of the game had little actual "gameplay". It caused us to have a bit of an identity crisis over what the game actually was and this combined with having spent a non insignificant amount of time making the item lead to a steep drop in morale and motivation. Thus we decided to end work for the day and start fresh on Monday. In the end we removed the item and added different box sizes and shelves to put the boxes on. While we still think this isn't as fun and in-depth as we would've liked we are mostly happy with how it turned out.

The next issue is one of consistency. We worked (mostly) separately on the two sections of the game, regularly communicating but implementing each section alone. As such the visuals of the two sections diverge and the art style isn't entirely consistent. We have several ideas on how to alleviate this but unfortunately there wasn't enough time to work on this during the jam itself.

One way I would personally like to improve this in future is by getting more practice with 3D art so that we can both work on each section rather than having to split between the two of us. This would not only reduce the chance of inconsistent design but also allow more parallelisation of workload and less of a potential bottleneck for art heavy games.

Lastly is audio. This has been an area that has consistently been a weak point for us in all our games. From being absent entirely in Untitled Robot Game, to being two sounds in Market Maker. Once again the audio is a weak point. While some sounds are very good, such as picking up and dropping boxes. There are several noticeable omissions that hurt the mood of the game, such as background music and engine sounds.

Post Jam Version

Given how much we enjoyed making this and the results we have gotten. We have decided to continue working on this post dare. Our plans currently, after refactoring the current code, is to greatly expand the gameplay in the lorry as well as improve the art style and consistency and add more levels and content. We also plan on making a mobile port of the game, the drag and drop gameplay seems like a natural fit for touch screen displays.

Closing remarks

We are really proud of how Packing Heat turned out and are excited for where this game goes in the future. We'd like to thank everyone who rated our game and left valuable feedback as well as all our fellow jammers who make each of theses dares super fun and lastly Mike for creating this Game Jam and running it multiple times a year.

We'd love if you tried out our game Packing Heat. See you all in LD54!

My game for LD53 was an improvised speech-giving game interrupted by Cue Cards that tell you words, actions and emotions, and literary devices to incorporate. I decided to do a bit of a devlog/post-mortem video that starts with me using the game to explain the game:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=91uTOmCMfeM

I hope you enjoy the game and the video!

We just released an EP with the music from our Jam entry: BANKWAVE: Neon Networth. Check out the album art!!

You can give the EP a listen here: https://greggrossetti.bandcamp.com/album/bankwave-jams.

We're planning big things for BANKWAVE. Join the Waitlist for our Kickstarter! https://bankwave.frabjousstudios.com

I tried to get into game dev about 3 years back. This for the most part was working fine. However I hit a massive road block. I simply could not code what I envisioned. That be it visually or gameplay wise. I tried to overcome this but simply could not. This was mainly I believe because as game devs a lot of the time we are told that coding is not all that important and math is mostly useless. Or atleast that is what I was told. This ended my attempt at game dev a year in. Recently I was inspired again a couple months ago. This time however I found what I was missing. Instead of focusing on creators like architect of games and Gmtk or Mental Checkpoint. I focused on the technical side of game development. I ended up watching through every publicly available Freya Holmer video and now feel technically competent. I have programmed everything I've envisioned with no problems whatsoever. I can program shaders pretty confidently aswell. So if you're hitting the same road block just look up Freya Holmer game dev math and that should really help like it did me.

Does anyone remember the animated sprite generator I wrote almost 10 years ago?

http://tmtg.nl/ludumdare/spritegen/

It's based on mirrored random pixels, and used the same animation technique as my AI sprite generator. The Java code is a bit outdated now, so I thought I might as well re-implement it in my new tool. I improved a lot on the original, with nicer colour schemes and more animations. I also fixed a bug in the animation code, so the walking characters should also look better. So now you can create both walking characters and other kinds of sprites in 8x8. There is also a 10x10 version, like the original Java generator. However I think at 10x10 the sprites look a little too random.

Use the selection dropdown at the top right to select the type of sprite to generate.

http://tmtg.nl/ludumdare/ld53-charactergen/

Hello. My project for the 53rd LudumDare has been positively rated with the 100 rank in the Overall category. I don't use any dependency so as to develop my games for LudumDare. It's a challenge for me, a way to increase my C++ skill - and this time it worked as well. I created a little template (a Pixel Game/App Engine) to get what is required for a simple game - a frame using OpenGL 1.0, some keys for strings, a basic ECS system for objects, an appCreate/appUpdate section (virtual functions), a single function for randomized values, etc. Using this template, you cannot load any sprite, sound or something else. You have to create everything by code - and usually it is possible. This template is free and available on GitHub. If you want to learn C++ developing games, it is a good tool. Take a look at the link below if you are interested. I hope that you will be with us for the next LD. I wish you the best. Be safe ++

https://github.com/geckoo1337/Geckoo1337-engine

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/the-overlooker

Hey guys,

HMS Deliverance v2.0 is live now on itch.io

https://sherwinkc.itch.io/hms-deliverance

Update includes:

Players can now choose which weapon to install at any install point on Mothership.

Mothership weapons now have health and can be destroyed individually.

Rail Gun added.

Expanded upgrade options per weapon.

Weapons can also be installed via the Quick Access UI.

Destroyed weapons lose all upgrades.

Two Super Weapon options added.

Expanded enemy roster to include Elite, Drone Gunner, Frigate and more.

Enemies can now spawn in via a portal.

Added a Scanner to help locate objectives, resources & objectives.

Multiple Harvesters are now purchasable (max count of 3).

Harvesters now have a health bar & resource bar.

Multiple command options added for Harvester Management.

Adding New Weapon types & multiple upgrades per weapon.

FTUX/Tutorial added.

Added Tooltips for many selectable options.

Explore & Battle Music updated.

Graphics and Display options added in the FE.

Multitude of bug fixes and improvements.

Would love for you to play the update and feedback welcome as always.

Original Entry: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/hms-deliverance

Had some crazy and fun moments working on Rocket Lawnchair 2: Baby Deliverydoo! Here's a video with some stream highlights for you to enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd3-XK_TvZA

Flap flap drop post jam will be soon with a hard difficulty, engaging flaps, enemies, too many commas, and a pause menu. I suspect done by 6/15/23

Ever since the dawn of my game programming journey I've been struggling to find a better alternative to Unity. Because it's way too bloated for 2D and I also just wanted to make my own engine or other engines. (Plus it's been controversial more or less recently. And I just HATE the obligatory splash screen.)

The recent DOTS update though, along with jobs system/burst compiler, and other updates like fullscreen shader node... coupled with my very recent shopping spree in the Asset store such as full fledged AI pathfinding etc... made it utterly impossible for me to leave it. I'm just gonna throw my white flag and decided stick to Unity. Doesn't matter how "unprofessional" it seems to have its logo on it. Unity has come a very long way now and fully solved its possible performance issues, not that it ever mattered for my very very small 2D games anyway...

The only reason I'd ever choose another engine is when I can't stand with its still painful UI system, especially in pixel 2D where its scaling is pretty much non-deterministic (I don't know if that'll ever change with uxml)... or if I'd "ever" need the 3D graphic capabilities of Unreal, now that it has Lumen (global-illumination) and Generative AI for auto-world building. I'm pretty sure Unity will catch up as it always have, but I'm especially tempted by the latter - I can see why people say Unreal is setup well for artists and world designers, while Unity set up for for programmers' ease of use.

So yeah... tl;dr I'll probably see you again in October with Unity. Again. I'm not gonna reinvent the wheel. I like making games. Not engines. I tried, I really did. But it's too much for me, trying to find the right language and workflow and all that... after wasting my past month trying different things, I'm back to Unity and sticking to it for good, especially with its promising updates.

Won't someone PLEASE do something about that splash screen though? Do I still really have to pay for that thing too? Does it realize how much it makes my game seem unprofessional?... It's not my fault the engine still has that stigma.

Hi everyone. This is not a marketing post, since we are all devs here. Okay it still kind of is.

Early this year, I made Crop Rotation during LD52. The game was very basic but I really wanted to make a card drafting game.

After working on it for close to half a year, it is finally (almost) ready. I will be participating in the coming Steam NextFest, which means that there is a Demo :)

You can find the demo on steam or if you prefer to do it on web, you can find the web demo on itch.

The game looks totally different from the original LD version, but the core idea of "drafting" is still there. Do give it a try and if you have any feedback do let me know here or you can find me on Mastodon/Discord :).

I remember checking in here around the end of last LD, and it was just full to the brim with spam, I'm glad it's doing better now (:smile:)! I know it's not perfect yet, but I've been up to date with the effort that's gone into to fixing it, so thank you @pov! I appreciate seeing people talk in here without the bots, haha. (monkey nod of approval)

Today is release day and i am happy to announce that my game "Super Drunken Guy" is available today for Nintendo Switch.

Super Drunken Guy is a platformer which i initially made for a nerd party where you get drunken the more beer you collect. The drunk idea was previosly an idea for a part of my LD40 Jam ("The more you have, the worse it is").

Some of the gameplay footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxk8Tp74aXQ

You can get it here if you want:

US : https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/super-drunken-guy-switch/

EU : https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Super-Drunken-Guy-2395839.html

PS4 & PS5 Ports are planned and in progress :)

Ahoy, daredevs!

We listened to your feedback carefully, therefore present a visual adventure based on real paintings made for Adventure Jam on itch.io, in 2 weeks from scratch.

Play HorseMare

Play for the Horse, waving in the distand dreamlike fields. Bite blooms to get on with the story.

Feel emotionally attached to whatever's going on.

We're developing a full-play in this lore now. Wish us luck and time, and all the logics and gameplay done smoothly.

Thanks again for being such a great community.

Slainte!

hey i would love some ideas for weapons/items that i should make as a pixel art sprite :)