Hello, fellow game jammers! Just want to let you know, that there is a scientific conference on game jams, hackathons and game creation events. It's called ICGJ and it will take place in August. Earlier it was four times organized in San Francisco, just before GDC.

Its scope covers a wide variety of topics: techniques of quick prototyping, team forming at the game jams, processes of idea creation, etc.

Right now the call for paper as well as the call for game submissions are active. You can submit a reseach paper, event report or a game created during Ludum Dare or any other game jam.

If you are working now to obtain Master degree or PhD in computer science or Art or anything related, participation in the conference and publication can be useful for you. You are welcome, here it is: http://icgj21.gameconf.org/

As usually on Ludum Dare I record the videos of how I play the games by other participants (starting from those who comment on our game). Here's how the reviews look like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j45lN1wDlV0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp5mpRmR4sE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTdYZC_SH5A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnE4hkobueY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8ZdPqf9TUQ

[Full playlist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j45lN1wDlV0&list=PLU_iW_uK7HGRm34XNrXEtHGhfdrycFFmV)

Would you like to have your game reviewed in the recording? Please, check our Farm&Mine game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/farm-and-mine

At LD48 the theme "Deeper and Deeper" gave us an inspiration to combine a farming simulator (where you dig potatoes and carrots) and a mining simulator (where you are reaching the core of the Earth). We continues the work after the jam, and now we would like to invite you to the beta test. Here is how the game looks like now: https://youtu.be/SmHsWq-fUy8

It is an incremental idle game with a big shift towards tycoon genre. The things which (as I humbly think) differentiates this game among the others, are: - it has embedded auto-clicker, just press an object, and continuous clicks will be applied to it - 2 currencies: "money" and "workforce" are used to upgrade 2 sides of the game. Money upgrades productivity (output per single cycle), and workforce - automation (speed of workers, number of simultaneous productions) - custom prestige bonus: on restart the player can select, which aspect of the game should get the boost from the prestige points. There are 6 of them: Tap effect, Housing capacity, Population growth, Prices level, Production efficiency or Transport capacity - 3 interconnected systems: agriculture, industry and population

Android (Google Play): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airapport.farm.mine.idle.ludumdare48

PC (Itch): https://airapport.itch.io/farm-and-mine

Discord: https://discord.gg/qpDbwpF5un

I would also like to invite you to exchange video first impressions. If you record your very first play session of 5-15 minutes and show me, I can do the same for you. Watching such recordings is really useful, as it lets the developer to see how will the fresh player behave in the game

Hello, fellow game jammers! I'm a long-time Ludum Dare participant with over 10 years of experience. One of my most recent LD entries has turned into a successful mobile game gaining 100k installs.

Also I'm a Regional Coordinator of Global Game Jam, and a Chair of International Scientific Conference on Game Jams.

I hope I've got your attention :) There is something important I want to tell you.

Ludum Dare and Global Game Jam are very popular events among the Ukrainian game development community. As you know, Ukraine is now defending against a full-scale Russian invasion. Today is the 427th day of the invasion. Many game developers, just like the other citizens of Ukraine, had to move out of their homes, others have joined the army or work as volunteers providing the needed with resources.

If some of us have a luxury to keep making games and even participate in game jams, it is only thanks to the Ukrainian defense forces and the help we are receiving from our friends worldwide. And we keep telling the world of what is going on, as it is important to be aware.

This is what I said to the Global Game Jam at the Theme announcement event in January: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zC6DxiBbgo

This message is still relevant now, as the invasion still goes on.

Therefore I ask you, our game development friends and colleagues, to keep supporting Ukraine, keep talking about Ukrainian noble struggle, or, maybe, you'd like to highlight Ukrainian culture motifs in your Ludum Dare entry?

Also please consider donating to the Ukrainian funds, for example, the Game Dev under Bombs fund, which is run by game development conference organizers: https://globalgamejam.org/news/supporting-global-game-jam-community-and-people-ukraine

Or to the President's initiative UNITED24, where you can select what to support: defense and demining, medical aid or rebuilding of Ukraine: https://u24.gov.ua/

And please read the Global Game Jam's interviews of Ukrainian game developers: https://ggconference.com/en/conference/games-gathering-gamedev-under-bombs/

We really appreciate your help and support! Wishing you successful and peaceful jam!

I started developing Farm and Mine in April 2021, being inspired by the theme of Ludum Dare 48 "Deeper and Deeper". The idea was to combine agricultural and industry simulator by digging potatoes at the farm first, and then mining for coal and other deposits.

The game was released in August 2021, It had 25 unlockable facilities that form production chains and 18 inventions. The game progression involves interconnection of 3 currencies:

• coins (regular production upgrades and new facilities purchases)
• workforce (automation upgrades, limited by population, can be rolled back)
• ideas (inventions)

After prestiging the player can distribute prestige points on permanent boosts.

Since then I keep updating the game. In the subsequent updates new facilities and inventions were added, such as Fishing, Cats, Lemonade, Oil drilling, Ferry, etc. Also new prestige upgrades and convenience improvements were made within these 2 years.

And now I'm proud to announce that the newest content update, Farm and Mine v.1.2.1 is live in Google Play, AppStore and Itch. It adds 2 new production chains: Cotton - Textile - T-shirts and Lavender - Perfume. Also there are new inventions and new Prestige points applications.

So the current version of Farm and Mine has 52 work facilities, 28 professions, 51 inventions, 6 cats, 8 permanent prestige upgrades. I'm happy that it was rated 4.5-4.8 on mobile platforms :)

The game is available for Windows and Linux (on Itch), Android (on Google Play) and iOS (on App Store). Just type the name in the appropriate store's search :)

Many ideas from the newest update were suggested by the viewers of my livestream. Starting from Sep 1st I'm running a streaming marathon where I play Farm and Mine for 30-60 minutes every day. During the streams I share strategy advice, answer questions and discuss plans for the future.

The next stream starts today in just 2.5 hours (20:00 Kyiv time), you are welcome to join - It can be found on Youtube by "Farm and Mine developer stream"

Game discussions are also going on in Discord (link available inside the game :) )

I'm thankful to Ludum Dare as it is an event where this game was born! Wishing you luck on the upcoming LD 54!

Hello, fellow LDJammers! I hope my story will be motivational and inspirational for you. Three year ago, at Ludum Dare 48, the theme was "Deeper and Deeper". I decided to make a game where you first dig potatoes, and then dig deeper to mine for coal, ore and other deposits. I named my simulator "Farm and Mine", to stand out among other idle resource managers, which are usually either entirely farm-based or entirely mining-based.

At the jam the game performed moderately, but the players noticed the potential and I decided to keep working with it afterwards. After 4 months of open beta testing I was ready for the mobile release, which I did in August 2021 at Pocket Gamer's Launchpad event.

Since then I updated the game with new content on a regular basis and responded to the players' suggestions and reaction. And now I'm proud to tell that the game is available on 4 major platforms

Google Play. Farm and Mine is available for Android phones and tablets, and also for Play Games on PC https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airapport.farm.mine.idle.ludumdare48

App Store. Farm and Mine is available for iPhones and iPads and other Apple devices. If you try our game on Apple Vision Pro, don't hesitate to share your impressions! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/farm-and-mine-idle-tycoon/id1564694016

Itch. Here you can get play Farm and Mine in full screen on Windows and Linux computers. https://airapport.itch.io/farm-and-mine

Poki. Web HTML5 version of Farm and Mine is available here, so any device which can run web games will run this version of our game https://poki.com/en/g/farm-and-mine

Here is what to expect in Farm and Mine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdWdXowA9Tc

• Over 60 facilities which produce resources, convert them, sell, or provide new game aspects;
• Integrated autoclicker: just click on the facility which you want to boost and the autoclicker will do the job for you;
• Unlimited offline time: having made sure you automated the production chains, you can leave your farm to return later and see how much did your citizens produce;
• Interlocked resource branches: agriculture, industry and population, each one depends and empowers the other;
• Elaborate prestige system which allows you to select which aspect of the game boost the most (and you can change your mind and try a different strategy on the next run);
• Human-drawn buildings and characters who work everywhere in your growing city;

Feel free to use these ones to activate the timed bonuses which will speed up your progression:

EUZUMQO: Time speed x10 (2:00) EPHP7UI: Clicks x10 (1:00) EO6MWON: Transport x2 (12hour 0m)

The current game rating on various platforms is around 4.4 - 4.8 after thousands reviews, so we hope you will enjoy the idle farming and resource mining, too. Have fun!

Remember the theme of Ludum Dare 48? No wonder if you don't, over 3 years passed :D Long story short, as we learnt the theme "Deeper and Deeper" we thought about a game where you first dig to harvest potatoes and carrots, and then dig deeper to mine for coal, oil and other deposits. And here is how the game looks like now! Our game is called Farm and Mine. Looks like outside links are forbidden, but by simple googling or searching on the platforms it's possible to find it. The game is available for Android, iOS, Windows, Linux and Web.

The gameplay of Farm and Mine is focused on the production chains. For example, grain-flour-bread. Or cotton-textile-T-shirts. There are dozens of them. And the newest update just added an Ice-cream factory, which needs milk, ice and sugar. Also several new game objects and concepts are added, like tasks list, skyscrapers or marketing invention.

I hope you'll find the game fun. And for our fellow game jammers this post might be a motivation to show how a 48-hours creation can be released as a successful game.