Finished movement, going from screen to screen, text boxes and question boxes.
Next up: The entire battle system. Once that’s done, the rest should be relatively easy.

I believe that I finally managed to get the battle system in full working order!

You can now run away, try to catch the critters, and do one of your own critter’s two attacks.

Next challenge: Breeding. Let’s hope it doesn’t take as long as the battle system did.

Each Ludum Dare usually has different things that go badly and things that go well, but there is one dilemma that’s always the same for me.

Do I make something simple that I can polish and test properly? Or do I challenge myself to do the impossible?

Each option has its own pro’s and cons:

Something simple that I can polish and test properly

• I can make a finished product that works, looks good and sounds good, almost guaranteed.
• It’s more fun to read comments after LD has ended.
• Will likely end up higher in the rankings.

Challenge myself to do the impossible.

• More fun during ludum dare, more exciting.
• Less limiting
• It would be awesome if I actually managed to finish the game.
• Likely results in something incomplete/ buggy.

The first 2 times I entered I tried to make something ambitious, the last two times I tried to make something simpler. This time, I tried doing the impossible again.

I guess what it comes down to is who you think you are competing against. Am I competing against everyone who is also entering LD, then I should probably go for option one. Am I competing against myself, then I should go for option two.

Anyway, what I ended up with is more than I actually expected. My game is playable and I find it fun to experiment with it. But while there is a lot to try out, the game does not feel complete.

My game: Critter Criminal

In critter criminal you fight, catch, breed and butcher friendly critters for your own personal gain. In the ludum dare version fighting, catching, breeding and butchering all works, but once you’ve caught or bred the ultimate critter, there is not a whole lot to do with it.

If you’re into breeding type games, I think you can have fun with this entry but you’ll mostly have to set your own challenges.

You can play my entry here

I finished a html5 port of my ludum dare entry. I wanted both the Html5 version and the windows version to be finished at the deadline but I ran into some problems with sound and drawing with the html5 version. But now it’s finished and those who don’t have windows should also be able to play the entry.

Play the game here!

I’ve tested the game in internet explorer, firefox and chrome. It works in at least those three browsers, but looks best in firefox or chrome.

I already made a post the day after LD ended about how ambitious my LD concepts should be. When coming up with a concept for LD I like it when that concept borders on the impossible of what I can make in only 48 hours. Of course it’s easy to venture into “way impossible” territory, and that’s what usually happens. It happened this time.

I never did a propper post-mortem however, so here it is.

What went right:

Graphics: I had very little problem finding the right style and keeping it consistent. It didn’t take long for me to create a nice palette and start pixeling. This was important, because I had a lot of programming ahead of me.

Music: Music came naturally as well. I had only 2 pieces planned (battle and overworld) but I missed a town piece, which was finished in no more than an hour. I didn’t end up spending a lot of time on either audio or graphics and I went on to programming sooner then I would normally have. The best thing is I don’t think it actually shows.

Programming: Making an RPG, I knew programming was going to be long and difficult, but I never really got stuck anywhere.

Unintentional humor: I never set out to make a funny game, and I think most people who do set out to do that usually fail. What ended up happening is that a lot of test messages, initial dialogue and one second decisions ended up staying in the final version, somehow giving the game a cohesive humorous character, that people have seemed to like.

What went wrong:

Programming: While I didn’t run into any mayor problems, there was simply too much to do. The battle system took up so much time, and after that I still had to program breeding, which I had already carefully planned out before making the battle system so it would take less time. I’m actually happy I managed to finish those two things at all.

Feedback: A lot of players commented that it wasn’t clear to them why they died. The game doesn’t really give good feedback on how much damage something does and why. If elements align up in the opponents favor that quickly ends up in an instant kill. In the end one of the more important skills for a player to learn was knowing when to run away.

Enemy design: By the time everything was in place and I could start designing the world and enemies, there was almost no time left. What should have happpened was that I had a number of enemies that increased in difficulty, forcing the player to breed bit by bit to create better and better critters. In the end I only had three enemies. The difficulty gap between those enemies was so large that I don’t think many players felt motivated to breed better critters.

Conclusion:

Yes, I did end up choosing a concept that was way too ambitious. But in the end I did have fun trying to do the undoable. I’m proud of what I did manage to do, and I will probably try to do something insane like this again next time.

Some things you just never learn.

 
Play the game here

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 6th, 2013 at 6:18 am and is filed under LD #25. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

I’ve been looking forward to this so. very. much.

I signed up for the global gamejam this year without a group and ended up making a game with a group of people I didn’t know yet. We had a lot of fun, but the end result was… not very good.

Because of this experience I’m more motivated than ever to make something awesome this Ludum Dare.
Nothing is going to hold me back this time:
I’ve got three bottles of pepsi in the fridge, pizza’s in the freezer, the day off monday so I don’t have to worry about being tired at work… It is going to be perfect.

This is my fifth consecutive Ludum Dare. So I think it’s about time I’m going to make a timelapse as well. Got the software downloaded so now all I have to do is figure out how it all works.

To make this game I’m going to use
Gamemaker to make a game in
GraphicsGale and/or Gimp to make graphics in
Anvil studio to compose in Free, Recommended!
Ableton Live to mix music in
SFXR and Audacity to make sound effects in
Chronolapse to timelapse in

I think that’s all!

I’m going to sleep now so here’s my third progress report, It’s been 9 hours since the last one.
Well, I’ve made a couple of cutscenes since then:

Also made a song for the title screen, I’m not really happy with it but it will have to do for now:

Other than that I made a couple more rooms and saving and loading works now. So that’s at least one improvement over the last Ludum Dare

So the theme is minimalism, huh?

Let’s make a metroidvania!

Timelapse and html5 version of my game “The epicly short adventure” are finished!

Note that in the html5 version you cannot save, and the graphics may be blurry (depending on the browser, chrome and firefox should be ok)

The timelapse also show the two hours I wasted on a different concept, so you get a glimpse what could have been. Not that it will make any sense.

View game here:

A little bit of background information first, I’ve been working on an RPG on my own for over a year now. It’s going well but it’s taking a really long time to finish (obviously.) I guess my dream this Ludum Dare was to make a simple, solid, polished game that I could port to touchscreen devices without too much effort, just to get a taste of the whole commercial thing.

Well, that didn’t happen, but I think the game I ended up making is still a great portfolio piece. Especially in combination with the timelapse.

What went wrong

It’s the same story, again. Every Ludum Dare I tell myself I should make something simple and solid, so I have time to test and polish. And I NEVER do. I always end up making something big and ambitious. I got so close this time too! The night before I had this dream the theme was going to be “afterlife” and I made this beautiful game where you played charon who had to take the dead to the afterlife in a beautiful greek vase art style.

But the theme wasn’t afterlife, it was minimalism. I did try to somehow connect charon and greek vases to the theme, as you can see in the timelapse. But I couldn’t.

I also had some problems with the theme. I do think it’s a good theme, but in my mind there was a difference between what I thought were good ways to make use of the theme and what the majority would think. I thought that if I didn’t make something super low-res or something with primary colors and basic shapes, it would get downvoted in the theme category. I thought the best minimalist games wouldn’t even get recognised as such, because they arn’t the games with the low res graphics and barely-enough gameplay elements, it’s the games with exactly the right amount of gameplay elements that make a real minimalist game. It’s about getting to the essence, not to anything less than that.

So in a way it was the perfect theme to make that simple, solid, polished game I wanted to make. But I let possible public opinion hold me back. It would have had comment after comment with “I don’t see how you used the theme.”

I discarded a first Idea because it was too complex mathematically (I wanted to make a game that created minimalist music through playing, with everything that happened in the game having a corresponding instrument/ tone.)

Then the theme made me think of a game I once made that started as a text adventure that was seemingly solved by just typing “go door” but turned into a visual adventure when you typed “look room” and kept introducing new elements from there (Its called secrets) But that game focussed on the fact that there was more than there seemed to be, which felt like the opposite of the theme.

So in the game I ended op making, it is obvious from the start that there is more. Collectables in unreachable places tell the player “There is stuff to collect! There are new powers to gain!” But you are stuck with a character that wants to do no more than is absolutely necessary (minimalism). Too bad for the character, because the player is in control of the game.

I thought – and still do – that that was a pretty interesting premise, so that’s when all my previous plans to make somethin simple, solid and polished went out of the window.

…Somewhere I also decided that I should hand draw everything… Do you get me? I don’t.

What went right

In the end I’m happy I made those choices, I don’t have a perfectly polished game now, but I don’t think that’s what Ludum Dare is about.

The fun of Ludum Dare lies in trying to do the impossible. And hand painting an entire game in under 48 hours? I am not supposed to be able to do that. Yet that’s exactly what I did.

I could talk some more about the fact that composing went great, sound design went right, programming went okay and it’s unfortunate you can get stuck in walls, but that’s not what I take away this time. What I take away is that I love to challenge myself, I need that every four months while I’m working on that RPG that seems to take forever to finish, and it’s unlikely that I’ll ever make a simple, solid, polished game for any ludum dare yet to come, even though I may try to do so again.

Play my game here

I’m excited! The new Ludum Dare never comes too early. My big project Nadia was here keeps going on and on, and I really feel the need to finish something again!

I think I’m going to make a short analysis for myself of my previous 6 LD’s to refresh what I’ve learned and to help make number 7 as lucky as it should be!

No worries, you can read it too! After the jump!

LD21: Escape route, The one with the awesome music

Interesting facts:
*Ranked #8 in sound, even though it only had a single track and no sound effects
*#8 in sound, but below #100 in every other category

What I’ve learned:
*Good music and mood go a long way!
*Complicated, confusing games don’t rank high.
 

LD 22: Alone in a cave, the one with the bugs

Interesting facts:
#Ranked #94 overall, first time in the top 100!

What I’ve learned:
*Don’t try to do too many things you’ve never done before! <<Guys and girls, this is an important one!

LD 23: Ancestor’s sword, the one that let me have a taste of succes and left me wanting more

Interesting facts:
* #38th overall, first time in the top 50!
* Top 50 in 4 out of 8 categories

What I’ve learned:
*Sometimes everything just comes together. It doesn’t have a lot to do with preperation. Sometimes the theme just inspires you. The graphics and music come naturally, and you never hit a spot where you just want to give up, and things just get done. That’s what happened here.
*The goal I set for myself was challenging but not undoable. I both learned a lot and had a nice entry. I guess that’s what I should be aiming for this time.

LD 24: The ducks are taking over! The one where I didn’t have time that weekend.

Interesting facts:
*Only scored high in audio. (#47)
*I only spent about half a day on this entry because I had other things going on.

What I´ve learned:
*Spending more time on your entry obviously results in better entries BUT
*If you have only a couple of hours to spend on LD next weekend and you wonder if you should even enter or not, my advice is DO IT! You will learn a whole lot every time, even though your entry might not be as good as it could have been.

LD 25: Critter criminal. The one where I decided it would be possible to make an RPG in 48 hours

Interesting facts:
*#62 overall

What I’ve learned:
*Don’t friggin’ try to do things you’ve never done before. Again!
*Yet, challenging yourself to this degree IS a lot of fun.
*A simple but effective graphic style will save you time AND will look good.

LD 26: The epicly short adventure. The one where I drew everything by hand.

Interesting facts:
*I didn’t have to go to work on monday. It made a huge difference! Every hour counts.
*Ranked #45 overall and scored top 100 in 5 out of 8 categories.

What I’ve learned:
*There is more than just one way to challenge yourself.
*Every hour makes a difference.
*I can recommend everyone to make a timelapse. It’s just a great way to look back on your weekend.

So I guess my advice to myself is: Stick to what you know in all but one aspect of the game. Don’t try to do too much. Don’t do things you’ve never done before. Pick a simple, effective style for your game. Pick up on timewasters early and don’t forget to have fun!

I wonder why this theme is so persistent. Do we all want to make that game where you use your own dead body that landed on spikes previously as a platform?

I for one think I’m going to turn it around and make a game that shows how incredibly useless and final death is.
Of course that will get horrible scores in the theme category, because you are not allowed to turn the theme around, but making a clone of a clone will be perfectly okay and encouraged.

I mean, I like the theme, but I’m not looking forward to playing the same game over and over again. (And then have those games rank higher in the theme category than mine :p)

I went to bed early last night to prepare for Ludum Dare, but instead of sleeping, all kinds of game ideas fitting all kinds of themes went through my head all night long, no matter how hard I tried to sleep.

Now I’m still not rested.

First I got an idea and worked on the concept, then I slept on it to see if I’d still like the idea when I wake up.

Turns out I do! But this is going to be a though one!
Let’s start that timelapse!

A lot of tiles and sprites left to go, but I’ll pixel those as I need them.

This one was a real challenge. For this Ludum Dare, I tried to make a game with some amount of depth or meaning.
I think in theory my concept could have worked brilliantly, but because there wasn’t a lot of time to think things through fully, the game is full of unintentional silly elements and dialogue that’s not exactly spot on.

But I’m not going to shoot it down completely yet. I’ll let you decide.

Here’s my entry:
Link

A timelapse of the making of my entry “the only one”

Play and rate here

A match three game I first designed about 7 years ago seems to be of about the right scope. I do still need to find an artist and a composer somewhere though. Doing it all myself in one month might be too much of a challenge for me.

I remember when I first found out ludum dare existed, I kept missing it by a week or two every time, then forgot about it until it was too late again.

But since the first time I entered, I havn’t missed a single one. Spent only a few hours on one of them because I didn’t really have the time, but never completely skipped a single one.

This time I’m in it full force again. Nothing to do next weekend but work on a brand new game! It’ll be hard to improve my last score (I was eighth overall) but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try!

The fact that this is my eighth time makes it even sadder that I still havn’t figured out how to make an avatar for this site (solved!)

I didn’t allow myself to start working on a concept before I had at least two other concepts so I had something to choose from. So now I have thee concepts.

The problem? They all have huge downsides!

*One Takes so much work
*The second had a charming story, but i can’t think of a good ending, i can’t even think of an ending, at all.
*The last is a sad story with a nice ending. But I can’t think of any gameplay.

And since the last two problems are absolute dealbreakers, I have to go with the first.

Which will be an RPG.

Here we go again…