While the play rating goes on (and probably for a considerable time after that) you can download the soundtrack from my timelapse video as MP3 files here: https://goo.gl/qTTtHC (61.7MB - free download)

The music is retro/chip inspired but with a modern vibe. I am greatly influenced by music from the C64, Amiga and Demo Scene eras which is a period I dream back to and probably glorify more than I should :)

The package contains 9 tracks with a total duration of 27 minutes and 31 seconds:

• Imphenzia - Chip Up.mp3 (3:12 - not yet officially released)
• Imphenzia - First One.mp3 (3:25)
• Imphenzia - Golf N Grenades.mp3 (3:36 - featured in my LD41 game, made during the 48h)
• Imphenzia - Lift Me Up Platformer.mp3 (2:03)
• Imphenzia - Nostalgia.mp3 (4:29)
• Imphenzia - Once Upon a Platform.mp3 (2:18)
• Imphenzia - Past Times.mp3 (1:53)
• Imphenzia - Pixels.mp3 (4:21 - not yet officially released)
• Imphenzia - Secret Game 2.mp3 (2:13 - not yet officially released)

If you enjoy the music, I have 10 hours of music available on my web site as well (imphenzia.com)

Here is the timelapse of my LD41 entry which also features the music: https://youtu.be/zOSlkF98v8I

So the results are in and the lights are fading LD 41 into history as we start to look forward to LD42 in August. This was my 6th consecutive Ludum Dare but LD36 was not scored so I have five entries with results to reflect upon.

I didn't by any means make any top scores in individual categories but all categories combined I see a slight improvement. I was hoping for a better score in graphics as my Robot Power game made #9 in LD39.

The most disappointing trend I see is that my entries are becoming increasingly more boring as the "Fun"-category is dropping - that must be addressed as that is arguably the most important category for a successful game =)

I value the feedback that I received and I look forward to applying lessons learned to LD42 :) Have a great summer everyone and see you all in August!

Thanks for playing and rating Golf N' Grenades!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epsdrbSEAp4

Following LD41 my mind has been totally sold on low-poly so I couldn't help but boot up Blender again and make a car and a racetrack. For 25 years (no joke) I've been considering making a top down racer and I got close with my old project CTCC, later renamed to Performa Cars, which I finally released as a freeware due to not finishing before technology outran my 2D implementation of the time.

I will continue to mess around with this prototype and see if inspiration and time allows it to become a proper game =)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq90lN1VnV8

In this video clip I am just doing a lap and a half and I do manual shifting - I like how that gives you the ability to downshift before corners and "scandi flick" the tail end out.

I am Swedish... and 42 years old... so I had to model a Volvo 242 Turbo to be true to my old Swedish roots!

I am having waayyy too much fun prototyping this isometric top-down racing game! =) I was meaning to finish off a more polished version of my LD41 game "Golf N' Grenades" but my passion for top-down racing was revived and got the better of me for some reason.

https://youtu.be/yOnBraCYarQ

Argh, I was looking forward to LD42 but I knew early on that this would become a dilemma since I am away on holiday with my family. This would be my 7th consecutive compo entry and I've had a blast the previous 6 events so it's difficult to not participate. Saying this, I will actually be coming home ON the weekend so maybe, just maybe I could make a small game after all. I would have to limit my compo entry to a 6 hour effort which would be asking a lot =) The benefit would be that I would get a lot of time to just think of the gameplay and design AFK before I begin so I'll see what I'll come up with but don't expect anything extravagant :)

I wasn't planning to attend LD42 because I was on a holiday with my family. Since I knew the theme, on my way home on our boat trip back from Gotland to Nynäshamn yesterday I started to sketch an idea on a piece of paper:

I managed to keep my Ludum Dare consecutive suite going and I have now submitted my 7th Ludum Dare game since LD36. I could only put about 8 hours into making this game and considering the small amount of time I'm quite happy with the result.

You can play the WebGL (or Win Download) game here:

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/parking-spaces

Well, time for bed but wanted to share a video of some game play footage from my entry "Parking Spaces"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvrs-i2zIX0

Hope everyone had a great event! Excited to check out creations the coming weeks.

I have successfully completed 7 consecutive Ludum Dare competitions now and always submitted my final game before the deadline. At the same time, I have failed 6 consecutive times to produce a post-compo version of the game which I have planned/hoped to do pretty much every time :)

Will I succeed this time?? Tonight I spent 4 hours to model new versions of low poly cars that I plan/hope to use in a mobile version of my game Parking Spaces :)

Here's a screenshot from Blender of the new cars.

While I make the post-compo version, please feel free to play my game and provide feedback that I can apply to the version I hope to release =)

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/parking-spaces

Ok, now I've done something stupid =)

Ludum Dare 42 was my 7th consecutive LD and for the first time I couldn't spend much time making a game. I was returning from a vacation with my wife and kids and since I knew the theme I could use the kids drawing kits and sketch out an idea of a game to fit the theme. I then had about 8 hours of actual "computer time" to make everything. I was quite happy with the result considering the little time I had for this event and I actually found the game fun to play myself which is a bonus =)

Well then. Now to the stupid thing. I have been making assets and games for many years but I have never released a mobile game. I decided to make my Ludum Dare 42 game "Parking Spaces" my first official Mobile game release so over the last 7 nights, after my dayjob and after the kids have gone to sleep, I am doing a post-jam version of this game that should be release-worthy by 1st September. I am going for polished game-play, improved artwork, 8 track music soundtrack. I have no idea if I'll make it but I'll give it my best shot. I've just finished all the artwork I need (16 vehicles), road tiles, title artwork, mobile button icons etc. I've also got 2 of the 8 tracks composed and I'm going for a 1950s inspired modern chip style to fit the low poly artwork.

Here's what I've got so far (the song is actually 4+ minutes, but this is just a short extract from the new menu scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0HlmQmCKcQ

I will continue to compose the remaining music in parallel of developing the game. The mechanic is up and running already and I'm making it more robust to support unlockable parking lots with different challenges.

Here's what my LD game looked like 6 days ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvrs-i2zIX0

...and here was my original sketch on the boat:

Wonder how this will pan out =)

I'm now 8 days into making the post-compo version of my game Parking Spaces and it's coming along nicely. I think I've managed to amp up the graphics and a more "tactile" feel to the game. I will continue a couple of days with the game play and menu and then I'm aiming to compose another 6 unique music tracks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQCcSwdu-SQ

And here was the original game I made during LD42:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvrs-i2zIX0

Here's my entry: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/parking-spaces

Btw, you can still win $50 if you do a Let's Play video and setting the highscore :) See details on the itch.io page.

I have spent the past 3 weeks remaking my LD42 game "Parking Spaces" and it's getting close to being ready for Google Play Store now with new graphics, more game mechanics (thanks for the suggestions in the feedback comments), new music, more levels, and an economy system to unlock new content and levels. Here's a preview video of what it looks like as of today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRGwsbaFu7w

Here's a closeup gif of a car wash mishap too =)

Check out my game page for the original entry :) https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/42/parking-spaces

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Law of weirdness: I put 8 hours instead of my normal 30+ (in my previous 6 Ludum Dare), and my result is way better in some categories. I am super thrilled of a 4th position in "Theme" and 20th overall!

Since LD I have remade the game from scratch and I'm in the process of publishing it to the Google Play Store now.

Original sketch using my kids pens on our way back from vacation (half way in to LD42):

Original LD42 game, menu + in-game screenshots:

New remake version (3 weeks in the making):

I'm really thrilled to announce that I've remade the game that I made for the LD42 compo. It took about 4 weeks of "spare time" to make this new version that you can download and install from Google Play. It's currently an open beta that you can test and this is the first game I'm releasing on mobile so I am treating the publishing process as a learning journey.

You can download the open beta here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Imphenzia.ParkingSpaces

Screenshot from the new Android version:

A trend for many of my LD games is that I use lowpoly art and I guess the obvious benefit is that it's fast to make so I suppose the bonus is that it's fun to make and also that it is a bit of a style on its own.

I have now created 24 cars and 4 levels for my LD42 remake of "Parking Spaces". Here's a fresh level with a tram that makes it a bit harder to plan your parking =)

I am now on my 5th week making the new version of the game and the beta is available on Google Play. I think I should have about 8 levels before I do the public release and I also need to make a tutorial and some more options. For example, you need to be able to mute unlockable cars because when I unlock the ice cream truck and family van it's driving me crazy :)

I am happy to announce that I released Parking Spaces for Android on Google Play today!

Parking Spaces is a remake of my Ludum Dare 42 game and it's actually my very first release on Google Play. The LD42 version of the game scored quite well in the competition and it received some very positive feedback which fueled me to remake and polish the game for a public release on mobile. I see it as a great opportunity to get experience in actually publishing a game so I can practice the necessary skill for a larger game release.

I hope you enjoy playing Parking Spaces =)

Check out the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLJK3E94rYI

I'm currently polishing the iOS version so it will be released shortly in the App Store too.

Finally, I'll also publish a post mortem of my journey, both making the original LD42 entry and remaking it into this game.

Not long ago I wrote an answer to a post on Quora how to become more efficient making games in Unity and one of the key advice I decided to give was to participate in Ludum Dare. This applies to making games in any engine, and from scratch, it just happened to be a response to a Unity question this time.

I want to share the parts of what I find so powerful, useful, and fun with Ludum Dare in specific. This is aimed at the compo part of Ludum Dare but most points are valid for the Jam as well.

Time framing - You only have 48 hours to do everything so you can only spend so much time on each task.

Avoid Scope Creep - You won’t be able to let the scope creep where you spend a lot of time on details you didn’t have in mind to begin with - this lets you focus on making a complete game.

Multi-Disciplines - Since you have to do everything yourself you spend time on all elements that make up a game. This allows you to improve your skills in each area but you also learn what takes time and what it entails to create and implement mechanics, graphics, and sound.

Repetition - If you participate in multiple events over the year it lets you repeat this process of making a game over and over again. Implementing game states, game loops, and game logic helps you to cement the knowledge and figure out what works well and what does not.

Post-Mortems - When I have made a game in Ludum Dare, I write a post-mortem about the experience and go through what went well and what went wrong. I also read other post mortems (since there are 2–3000 other people making a game the same weekend) and you can learn a lot from that too.

Finish(!) something - It’s all too easy to prototype games and then dive into a project with great ambition which may take years to complete. You can easily lose yourself in such projects which both affects your motivation and your ability to follow through to a finished product.

Learn what takes time - By doing game jams you will find out that when you have what may feel like a “nearly complete game” and you estimate you are about 80% finished, you are more like 20% finished in reality. In the prototype you may have implemented the core mechanics, but transitioning between game states, resetting levels and objects, implementing the menu system, creating enough levels and figuring out good level progression (or story), implementing tutorials, doing play testing, and polishing the final product takes a lot more time than you may think.

I have participated in the 7 most recent Ludum Dares and when I got started I haven't been able to stop. It's just too much fun and too powerful of a tool to learn. My games so far have been:

LD42 - Parking Spaces

LD41 - Golf N' Grenades

Narrated "making of" Timelapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_DmQ1kcYHM

LD40 - Robby & Coppy

Narrated "making of" timelapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXS9gZ671sY

LD39 - Robot Power

Narrated "making of" timelapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSCYn3dQX_4

LD38 - Planetary Remains

"Making of" Timelapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc0YHI3KqMc

LD37 - Space Junk

"Making of" Timelapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUAVqYFoueg

LD36 - Ancient Tech to Return

"Making of" Timelapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VNQiAZPdvE

You can play these games and download the projects on my itch.io page: https://imphenzia.itch.io/

Hope you manage to find the time and motivation to participate in Ludum Dare 43. Take care everyone and make sure to practice your main tools a few days/weeks before the event begins :)

LD43 is closing in and I'm in for a 8th consecutive compo. Can't believe it's been that many already. I remember when I participated in LD36 I thought, "great, that was a lot of fun, glad I participated once but probably won't find the time to do it again". Yeah right =)

I'm just checking my tools now to ensure everything is running. Made a low poly character in Blender that I am rigging and animating (that part is super importance to practice prior to LD for me as it saves a lot of time remembering everything on game day otherwise). I am also making a track in Cubase to ensure all works as planned there as well and no surprises with the software when it matters.

I'm often in Unity anyway so that seems to be a stable environment too.

Here's the low poly guy I am making:

And you can listen to a draft of the music I am making here: https://soundcloud.com/imphenzia/imphenzia-astro-draft (This time it happens to be trance which I haven't made in about 2-3 years for one reason or another)

This is what I do the week before LD starts. I can highly recommend playing around in the software that you plan to use during LD.

Wishing everyone best of luck and a great event!

Put a couple of more hours of practice in Blender to rig and animate. It's past 2am and I have work tomorrow, and alarm clock will go off in less than 4 hours. Why am I still up? And why did I even make a video like this when I have no idea how to keyframe dance moves? :) Happy prepping!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHXZBiD3igI

Excited that LD43 is about to kick off. LD36 was going to be my one and only LD and here I am, overly excited to participate in my 8th consecutive event =)

Remember to always keep pushing forward during the weekend, try to not get hung up on something. I share my astronaut from LD37 to demonstrate:

I'm happy to have finished submitting my game Blót for Ludum Dare 43. I probably won't score too well in originality but the ideas didn't come so I decided to focus on practicing graphics and animations for the most part.

• 3D modeling and animations made in Blender
• Music made in Cubase
• Game made in Unity3D
• Sound Effects made with Sony PCM M10 Recorder and edited in Sound Forge

Effective time used, approx 20-25 hours I estimate. My timelapse will tell =)