Hello fellow Gamejamers,

Ludum Dare 48 was my first game jam ever and I really loved it. When I was developing nail-it I wanted to add an online highscore system so that players can compare their scores with others. Unfortunately I didn't find any service that would fit my needs so in the end I didn't implement a leaderboard. I think I wasn't the only one having this issue because most of LD48 games didn't have a leaderboard implemented. After the jam I thought to myself "I will make a highscore service, so anyone can easly implement a leaderboard in their next Ludum Dare game" :wink: . Recently I started working on it and it's finally ready.

I proudly present :drum:

:tada: The Simple Highscore Service! :tada:

It's based on REST API so probably every game engine should handle it. Personally I'm using Unity, so I prepared an example implementation and a live WebGL demo where you can test the service. If you are using other game engine and you implement this service into your game please consider sharing the implementation with others.

The service is totally free and no registation is required. You only need to generate a pair of keys needed for using the API but it takes just about 2 seconds. This service is hosted on free AWS account so I can't guarantee anything :wink:

Please do not abuse the service so everyone can use it without problems (send requests only when it's really needed - not in every game tick :wink: )

(If you consider using this service I suggest testing it before the jam starts)

For more details go to https://www.highscores.ovh - there you will find all you need to start using this service.

Finally, if you decide to use my Simple Highscore Service in your next game, please let me know.

Happy jaming! :smile:

Good morning good evening or what ever time of day you find yourself. I am looking for around 2 artsits to join my team if your intrested please message me at KingOfNova #9334

I'm a lazy piece of poo so that's why this post concerns the previous round, number 2.

I posted about the first round of Theme Voting, and I didn't really give a care about the selection. And it seems that I wasn't the only one; though I do seem to be the most cynical. The second round was a little better; still couldn't really care that much about the themes, but I do know what I could do for "Road trip".

In my previous post, I talked about the noobie's biggest fear entering an accelerated game dev competition, and that is not being able to make something you’re proud of. And I dug my own grave by now having to come up with something else to uphold my promise made in the comments section of that post.

Well, I guess this time, this post will consider something much more real.

(I originally envisioned this post being about ideas, but there's not that much you can do with that, ironically)

The point of a game jam is to finish something, by way of forcing a deadline upon entrants. Many of us have started projects, but not so many of us have finished them. This could be for many reasons:

Maybe it felt like the project is going nowhere and you quit. * Perhaps you've bitten off more than you could chew; or you are/were new to game development, and you didn't fully understand what your project needs.*

You might've gotten stuck up on a particularly minor part of the game, and let yourself get defeated by it.

You encountered a problem that no one could've prepared for, and it seemingly doesn't want to go away.

That last one is where you all (optionally) come in; this is my question for Ludum Dare participants:

What was the most difficult part of development that you hadn't expected? And if it didn't kill your entry, how did you overcome it?

Simple oversights are allowed

It'd be silly if I didn't try to answer this myself (uh-oh)! Seeing as I currently only have a single entry to my username. (of which I intend on doing something special, but only after the jam, as everyone's currently preparing)

I only have one real mini-story to tell: In my entry, the shapes all have random colors, and upon destruction their chunks share the same color. But for whatever reason, it wasn't working at ALL the way I had intended; that was, until I realized I was using the wrong RGB "function", THEN it started working. Story over. Yeah, not very long, is it?

Apologies for being late; I already know my punishment in the form of coming up with another idea, and typing up a full post for later today.

So yeah, like before, I found out this neat little trick where if you beg for responses, you'll get them! And so, with this post, I'd totally like it if you all, you know, made a relevant reply; that'd be great. You can certainly trust you goddamn LIFE in me being able to reply while typing the next post! (sarcasm)

In all seriousness, I'd be interested in any stories; but if there's a bunch of responses, I won't respond as quickly, as I'd rather make one long post as opposed to several small posts. And of course, I'm going to write that next post. Have a great day, everyone..

..not too sure about myself, though.

I feel like stuck in Groundhog Day. Voting round 3 is brings even more themes than round 2, that we see every Ludum Dare in the voting rounds. - One tool, many uses - Summoning - Delay the inevitable - Inconvenient superpowers - Rules can be broken - Mutations - Ruins - Butterfly effect

Come on guys, it's always the same. The slaughter round had such a big potentials this time and we are ending up with nearly the same suggestions every time.

After participating in a new LDs, I sort of like to add a few learning goals on top of completing the game and following the theme.

Sometimes I don't get around to it, and almost definitely won't this time (still up in the air if I'll even submit anything), but I try to keep some challenges in the back of my mind.

After reading about how the ghosts in Pac Man actually have similar, but unique, AI, I wanted to create similar AI opponents who'd have unique behaviors. I accomplished that with Last Bot Standing.

Also, after playing the board game Ninja vs Ninja, I wanted to make a similar strategy game with a somewhat intelligent AI opponent, and have my game support both single and multiplayer. I accomplished that with Dragon Eggs.

There's still a few more challenges I have on my list:

* Smarter AI * Yes I had AI chasing opponents in one game, and a strategic AI in another, but I already have ideas on how I could've made both of theme smarter. I hope I can improve on my AI skills in future jams.

* Map generation * In my mind I have an almost-finished idea of how to generate a Pac-Man style maze, based on some of my own ideas and some map generation tutorials I read. Maybe I'll update or make a sequel to LBS someday, or use it for a different game.

* Achievement System * As I started sharing my games on Newgrounds, I noticed they have a built-in achievement tracking system. I ran out of time to implement it on my last two games (1,2), partially because of time constraints and partially because I wasn't overall satisfied with them anyway, but I want to revisit this

* Online Leaderboards * Pretty much same as the last one, I'd like to have a competitive nature to my games, maybe I such a way that the scoreboards will link to the players LD submissions.

* Multiplayer * I won't make any games without single-player support (because honestly, everyone's likely to play it that way anyway), but I was satisfied with how DE's turned out. I'd also like to take a crack at online multiplayer, but I'm unlikely to ever accomplish that, at least not in LD.

* Memorable Characters * I'd like to actually make games with my own unique, reusable characters, so hopefully frequent jammers will recognize them. Usually the theme requires me to go a bit more generic.

Doest anyone else have personal challenges they've set for themselves?

See the themes that appeared again with attention, between LD48 and LD49. Let's try varied and challenging themes!

Sure took me a long time to think up that title! Anyways, here's what you wanna see:

Here's what you don't wanna see:

I can understand what @majadroid said, that none of the themes this time around are unique in any way. This will pretty much be the middle child of recent Ludum Dare memory, and that doesn't mean the theme should be generic, but isn't it about time ONE of those themes win? I'm not necessarily a big fan of them myself, I'm not encouraging people to root for them, and I definitely don't have anything against the number 49. I love that number, it's luck SQUARED! Well, at least it is in the U.S.

I'll admit that I can get rather carried away with these posts. They're always several paragraphs long, which might not be everyone's cup of tea (psst, I don't like tea). This isn't just limited to Ludum Dare however; this is a problem I have everywhere, even real life, though I'd imagine Twitter would be a different story. But the only reason I would ever consider making a Twitter profile would be to change my Ludum Dare username.

I feel like this post should be fuller, like the previous ones. If I were to make this post shorter, I'd feel lazy. With each of these rounds, I want to make a post containing some question regarding Ludum Dare/General game dev. Problem is, I don't really have all too many questions for the community; I should probably look at some post mortems to help form potential questions, but that sounds ambitious for what amounts to a side activity. It also would no longer feel genuine.

Anyways, here comes question time! This one's a little more generic, however (kinda like this third round):

What feature do you think Ludum Dare needs/will need? (no pressure, Mike)

That could apply to both this site and the event in general. Personally, I'd like to be able to change my damn username!

Apologies for being posted so soon after the previous one, I wanted this to be posted while it's still relevant. Also, there still be none mah themes 'n here.

Probably, at least :)

I realize this is oddly late, but better late than never, right?

присоединяйтесь в дискорд

I've started at LD32, failed and then succeeded on LD 35... (old website)

Have fun, folks!

Gday all,

Some of the early concepts for themes I am throwing around involve a world map and I will use Wonderdraft to make it if so. Part of this tool is a bunch of "stamps" (eg. small lined peaks for mountains which are used to generate mountain ranges, tree shapes for forests etc) which come integrated in the tool, is this allowable within the compo rules? Or is the expectation that you create the individual stamps as well? The tool also has stanalone art stamps (eg. full buildings, pictures etc) which I would assume are clearly outside the spirit but I am not sure on the lower level stamps.

eg. Map from homepage https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hJr62Mhgl2k/W7GGLGSIjYI/AAAAAAAAF1k/OoviekPvQXgjxUWxcp0XJ4r_vUqraUQAgCLcBGAs/s1600/featured-image.jpg

By extension is other black box generators (like village/terrain generators) acceptable? eg. https://watabou.itch.io/village-generator

I am assuming the use of these stamps may fall outside the expectation (and preparing myself to make them if needed) but if integrated tool assets are acceptable then I will be able to take one thing off the big TODO list for the day!

This will be my fifth LD in a row!

It's probably my 10th overall, as I did a few on an old account back in the day. Usually, I use Unity but I've decided to use Phaser this time.

I've been teaching myself the basics of Phaser over the past week and I'm confident that I can get a small, fairly simple game across the line for this LD but I'll still very much be learning as I go... so that should be fun!

Engine: Phaser

Art: Aseprite

Sounds: BFXR

Music: Logic X

Other tools: Tiled, TexturePacker, Trello, Git

Super excited for this one! :smiley: :smiley: :videogame: :videogame: :smiley: :smiley:

I hadn't participated in a game jam for more than a year this time. I'm extremely excited for this jam :D

The themes seem okay so far, really happy with some of them, not so much with others, but that's the nature of jams I guess. Anyways, good luck to anyone participating, really looking forward to this weekend.

I started learning the basics of Unity a few weeks back, now I'm excited to put that knowledge to the test this Saturday!

Best of luck to everyone participating, stoked to see what games come out of this jam.

Hello everyone, this is the third time we participate to LD. We are sure to go ahed with unity but here I'd like to ask you for advice to find a nice source fo audio/fx assets, maybe a tool for creating sounds or some free to use database. We have no real clue on the right path to follow.

PS. Am I the only one that kinda feel that themes are for a big part the same as the last ldjam?

Hey everyone! It will be my third ludum dare and I am super excited to make something new. Recently I started learning websockets and decided post a question: has someone made a multiplayer game for ludum dare? Is it just worth it or not? If someone has such experience please share.

This is going to be the first Game Jam i've ever done. I hope to do well even though my skills in the art department are lacking lol!

Well, I'd glad to work with team as an artist only, but time has come, SOLO JAM! (not compo yet) I'll be use GMS2, wish me luck