Ludum Dare 45 October 4–7, 2019

New update for Minigod. LOAD and SAVE!

Have you checked out yet Minigod? A game where the developer was so lazy that he preferred to let the players write the AI!

Anyway, I just added a major update. SAVE and LOAD! This was the most requested feature. In fact, I think the game was kinda unplayable without it :stuckouttongue:

Check it out! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/minigod

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Mac people, have you tried Hellion yet?

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With the release of V1.1 we have also included a web and mac build!!

Check the game out here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/hellion-is-now-finally-published

Have you played The Greatest Game in the World yet?

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WebGL capable. Link can be found HERE.

Developer Dave has taken the humble medium of video-games and fashioned it into a thrilling and musically rich artifact of mass entertainment. As described by Developer Dave himself:

". . . the atmospheric, non-linear, open-world, puzzle-based MMORPG elements, the scenic legerdemain, the soaring melodies and the exceptional old-England feel are all at the service of an involving and piquantly offbeat epic storyline, all of it staged with brilliantly organized flair by me, back in top form in my very first game."

Given the near-hysterical anticipation aroused by this latest, big bertha Ludum Dare smash, “it’s not that good” will probably become a familiar refrain along the byways of comment sections. No, it’s not “Dark Souls”, "This War of Mine" or “Fiddler On The Roof,” but, as Developer Dave puts it:

". . . it’s a major achievement in the entertainment industry and a high water mark in my phenomenal career."

Come for the glittering technical wizardry but stay for the strong story and characters.

New bug fixed version out now!

Just made a big bug fix. Here is the complete list: - Couldn't shoot at certain directions: Fixed

  • Enemy's death sound didn't play: Fixed

  • Some enemies couldn't shoot bullets at the player: Fixed

  • Sometimes keys didn't appear in none of the enemies in the room : Fixed

  • Health bar was interactable : Fixed

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Play it now!

Last Day of Dare to Play 45!

Our final Livestream of Ludum Dare 45 Dare to Play is starting NOW over at https://twitch.tv/cyberlightgames Come on over and !submit Your game in chat!

Wanna play around with vacuous words?

Then I've got the game just for you - Something from Nothing! https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/something-from-nothing

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It features: - over 99 words to build from various nullities - saving system so that you don't have to find all these words in a single go - incremental particles - a misplaced alien - last but not least, the most essential feature in video games: toilet flushing

On a side note, if you leave a review on my entry, I'll do my best to reciprocate... which might or might not end up well for you. ^^'

While we're at the shameless promotion, check out "There was something here", it's awesome: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/there-was-something-here

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Greta Thunberg's Planet Converter

If you have ever wondered how it is to be in charge of an entire planet's existence and climate, here you have possibility to try! And don't forget to leave grades ;p

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/planet-converter

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Rhythmic Nothing - patch 1.1

I finally fixed out-of-sync!

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Thanks to everyone who played, rated and left feedback!

You can play and rate here : https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/nothing-21

Ninja-Wizard Ghost of the Forest vs Robot-Pirate Cats

Play the post-dare version for fixed Mobile controls.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/forest-ninja-wizard-ghost

Here's an example of the light effect in action -

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Gameplay of the Dare / Compo version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giNuK13kyEk

Still trying to figure out procedural trees without killing performance -

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Also seeing if it's possible in the Unity engine -

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Web Game browsers - for the 5 days remaining!

Thanks to @tsjost for his super in-depth version !

https://tsjo.st/r/ld45/

Allows you to pick a random one, or search by type etc. Loads of options.

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And ot @ithildin for poiting out the itch.io link

Allows you to see WAY more than on the LD rollodex

http://ludumdare.itch.io

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Looking for ratings and games to rate!

Please put your game in the comments, and try out mine if you have a chance. Thank you!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/ludum-and-the-lost-pages

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Choose your way

Select your strategy here.

Maybe 🦀 into 🐟 into ⭐

Or 🐟 into 🦀 into ⭐

Or just ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ XD

Or find a winning strategy yourself!)

A car game ...without the car ! XD

Nothing is my car

It’s a game about driving … But driving nothing ! XD

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You can drive the air in “Nothing is my car” here : https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/nothing-is-my-car

I hope you will like it !

Choose your life

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From birth, we have nothing.So we need to choose something. I hope you can feel my expression.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/because-we-have-nothing-so-we-need-to-choose-what-to-get

Leave a comment and I'll play your game~

A Purrrfect Score: Creating the Soundtrack of "You Gotta Be Kitten Me"

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A behind-the-scenes look at my creative process for scoring the Ludum Dare 45 videogame “You Gotta Be Kitten Me”. If you haven't tried our game out yet you can play online here!

Start With Nothing

The Ludum Dare 45 theme, "start with nothing", is actually a great metaphor for game development, music production, or any other creative endeavor for that matter. This is usually how it all begins....with nothing. Nothing but an idea that is. I've seen some really creative ideas in this jam so far and it's been super interesting to see how they were executed.

We kicked it off with a group brainstorming session that led to some pretty wild scenarios. One idea I had was to create a survival game in a forest or on a desert isle using MacGuyver style crafting mechanics. Another idea was to create a strategy RPG about colonizing and terraforming a barren planet in the distant future. Last but not least, I suggested creating an escape game where the player has to find their way out of some sort of prison or cell. We actually ended up incorporating this idea, but in a completely different way than I expected.

https://youtu.be/i2Ujrd8n6gM

When I got the word we were making a game about mutant kittens escaping from a secret laboratory, I can't say that I wasn't excited. My first thoughts were to create a soundtrack with elements of synthwave mixed with spy music. Synthwave, for those who aren't familiar, is a style of electronic music inspired by 80's sci-fi films, cartoons, videogames, and cyberpunk aesthetics. I also wanted to incorporate a jazz element to the score, mainly because in the 1920s the word "cat" was also a slang term for a "cool jazz musician". That and I always thought that cats were sort of cool and "jazzy" in a way (especially the way they move and sneak around). I dunno, maybe I just like really like jazz.

A Purrrfect Score

https://youtu.be/kAsNHGfh88A

For the main title theme, I was heavily inspired by David Wise and the original Donkey Kong soundtracks. I remember being a kid and just sitting on the DK menu screen, scrolling through music tracks and listening in awe. I wanted to make something contemplative like that, something that would evoke the same sense of wonder and mystery I had playing these games as a child.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slKNBP7VEvI

To begin, I started the track off with a synth pad alternating between two sustained minor chords. Then I added a funky bassline underneath, which hints at the main melody to follow. The melody riff (played by a chip-tune style synth lead) was actually composed while jamming separately on the following track; I transposed it over to this one and it worked perfectly with the new chord progression. After that I created the drum pattern, which I played live via MIDI controller. At first I planned on using an 808 or something similar, but instead I went for the most lofi, SNES-cartridge sounding drum sounds I could find. I ended up using the '94 Drumkit from the Koji VST plugin, which includes a great variety of retro 16bit style videogame samples.

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Meow Mix

Next up was the main level music. This is the music that plays when the player is sneaking around, exploring the laboratory, knocking over beakers, etc. For this track I wanted to incorporate more jazz, (for the reasons I mentioned earlier) and also an element of spy music. What I ended up with was something more along the lines of electronica, chillout, downtempo, or trip hop. First I started with some jazzy Rhodes chords, and a bassline inspired by the music from games like Perfect Dark, Goldeneye and the Metal Gear Solid series.

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Most of the battles and cinematic sequences in those games have an action packed soundtrack, but when your sneaking around  it's more of a hybrid of electronic and downtempo music (typically around 80 BPM or so). I tend much use a similar formula for starting out a lot of my productions: jazzy chords, funky bassline, a catchy melody and a groovy drumbeat. I also added some DJ/turntable scratches for the extra hip-hop flavor.

https://youtu.be/5th88xcaF6o

Housekeeping

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The battle theme was inspired by synthwave, Sonic The Hedgehog, and racing games like Outrun. Other influences include Drum & Bass artists like LTJ Bukem. I originally wanted to do some form of interactive or adaptive music, in which the main level  or "sneaking around" music transitions seamlessly into the battle piece. That idea ended up getting scrapped because of time constraints, but both tracks still bear a lot of similarities. They are both in the same key, and both were designed to alternate smoothly between 80 and 160 BPM. In essence the battle theme is just a beefed up remix of the main level theme.

https://youtu.be/dOycxB_-6hw

The second half of the arrangement switches to a minor chord progression. and is meant to signal a departure from the high energy momentum of the first half (possibly a moment where out feline hero is struggling or trying to overcome his Roomba nemesis). This is a common technique in linear game music composition, in which the composer intentionally writes a "victorious/triumphant" section and a more darker section representing the player's decline or near defeat. Then you just kinda roll the dice hope things line up when they play the actual game (which they surprisingly do from time to time). Although the battles are pretty short in this game, this is a great trick to use when composing RPG battle themes or Boss Fights (which are usually longer and a lot more more intense). Which brings us to our next song:

Roomba's Revenge

Roomba's Revenge is actually a remix of the victory theme from my LD44 entry "Elevator Pitch" (I like to shamelessly reference my own work from time to time). I used mostly the same musical palette from before (drums, bass, horns, synth lead, organ) but wanted to create something a lot more dark and menacing. This track was also inspired by the opening of the final boss theme from Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (although someone else who commented said it reminded them of Sonic The Hedgehog 2: Death Egg Zone.

https://youtu.be/RyoMQg3d5cs

https://youtu.be/ojxKfBBDIGg

For the melody I interpolated some of the the main theme from the title track, starting with same progression of notes but then spiraling into something completely different.

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Menu Theme (Melody)

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Boss Theme (Melody)

Conclusion

This is my second Ludum Dare entry and I'm quite happy with the results. Our team Enigma Dragons was very organized, and I particularly enjoyed being a part of the brainstorming process. If I had more time I would have liked to contribute to the SFX department, as there's still a handful of sounds that didn't make it into the game. That said, not having to work on sound gave me the opportunity to really focus on the music. Big shout out to Austin Dhillon who did a fantastic job on the sound design.

The idea to use interactive music was probably unnecessary for this type of jam (considering the layout of the rooms was pretty straight forward). If it were a more open-map type level design I could see that making more sense. But composing the music with interactivity in mind definitely caused me to think about it differently, and I believe the transitions from exploration to battle music still feel pretty seamless even without using middleware. I would have still liked to incorporate some type of adaptive music transition (or even a low-pass filter) for the pause menu, but maybe next time. I think my favorite part of the jam overall was seeing the game come to life and playing new builds. Also the brainstorming process.

Thanks to everyone who played so far! It's been a blast playing/rating all the other LD45 entries as well :)

  • Play the game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/45/you-gotta-be-kitten-me
  • Download the OST: https://amerigo.bandcamp.com/album/you-gotta-be-kitten-me-original-game-soundtrack

I'm still looking to build my game audio portfolio so if you still need music/SFX for a post-jam version of your game (or another project) I’d be happy to collaborate. You can reach me via email at amerigomusic@gmail.com or on Discord (AmerigoGazaway#4558).