Stayed up a little later last night because I was on a roll.

These creatures are affected by spectral pathogens. You can help them out by shooting them with magic! :D As a token of their thanks, you will recieve a bit of their "bullets power" which you can then shoot at more affected creatures.

Got distracted with gamefeel per usual, but still hoping I can bring it home!

I probably should have been working on the boss battles... but the allure of drawing dancing monster people... it's hard to resist. These are two of the main character's friends. They met in witch college! They are all ecologists and magic enthuisiasts. If you bring them herbs and pinecones for spells, they'll hook you up with cool stuff. The one on the left is a jar-of-living-oatmeal-guy and the one on the right is a mermaid lady.

The news about the end of LudumDare is making me a little sad, but I'm still going to give it my all this time! I feel like I did really well with my last entry, so here's hoping I can keep up my momentum!

Also, to celebrate LudumDare, I made a little wallpaper. There's a doodle for every single 'proper' LudumDare theme! (Well, at least based off of Wikipedia's list... and maybe one of them isn't a real theme yet... !)

Favorite software list:

Engine

🫖 Construct2: HTML5 game creation software!

Graphics

🫖 Aseprite: Pixel art program!

🫖 GNU-IMP: Open source image editor!

🫖 Tiled: Excellent tile-based level editor!

Sound

🫖 LSDJ and bgb: Authentic Gameboy synthesizer and emulator!

🫖 Chiptone: Superb “old-school” style sound effect generator/creator!

🫖 FL Studio: Classic versatile music software!

🫖 Audacity: Open source sound editor!

Hosting

🫖 itch.io: Storefront/games host!

NOTES

🧠 I WILL NOT USE ANY AI TOOLS. ALL ART/MUSIC/SCENARIO/SFX/ETC WILL BE CREATED BY ME OR WITH “OLD-SCHOOL”-STYLE GENERATORS. ANY AI INFLUENCE WILL BE ACCIDENTAL (SOME SOFTWARE COMPANY SNEAKING SOMETHING INTO MY TOOLS, FOR INSTANCE.)

⏳️ There are only 6 LudumDares left. My milestones...

🧮 I have made 25 Compo Entries since starting in ~2013.

✅ ⭐️ Get top 100 in any category (LD28)

🔲 🌟 Get top 100 in every category at once

✅ 💫 Get top 10 in any category (LD29)

🔲 🌌 Get top 10 in every category at once

✅ 🥉 Get 3rd in any category (LD40)

✅ 🥈 Get 2nd in any category (LD58)

🔲 🏆️ Get 1st in any category

🔲 🗻 Win 1st Overall

✅ 🛸 Remake an entry as a 'proper' release (2019)

Let's see if I can check them all off before the end!

When the theme was announced, I wasn't sure what to do. A game about a literal "pirate radio" ship where you send signals with flags? An "RTS" style take on that? A morse code puzzle game? And, I wasn't feeling well (allergies) and then I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I knew exactly what to make! A flag-based-communication strategy puzzle game hybrid!!!

Now it's time to quickly, QUICKLY make the game's mechanics so I can pour love into making it feel amazing and complete. I am considering low-resolution 'hand'-drawn (mouse) graphics this time

Three or more flags in a row get sent up the flag pole to guide your captain's ship! This is a similar control/placement scheme to my LD55 entry. You can also swap the position of the flags.

You will have buddies to your left and right with bombs! You can use these to clear the board of flags you don't want (not in yet...) and they will also hold onto flags for a little while. It's kind of like a combination hold/mistake-fix mechanic

I am very happy with how things are coming along! The brown crates interfere with your flag signals, but if you line up 5 in a row they go away!

Very uneven development so far. I need to refocus a little bit and make sure things are moving in the direction I want

It's coming together, but I still have to work really hard to finish most gameplay by 6 PM.

Extremely proud of what I've gotten done, but still hungry to somehow get as much as I planned into the game. I've decided to turn it into a sort of one-screen gauntlet like a lot of my other entries, but I'm going to try to include some fun story stuff and progression, and maybe an ending.

I was getting really demotivated by my progress. I was working really hard, but I could tell I didn't have the time or energy to make the "strategy" component of my game feel fun. So! I'm just going to focus on the part that I can make fun, and will be making an action puzzle game that incorporates a little of the strategy. (and hopefully includes the characters I came up with, too.) Still buggy though and much to be done!