Howdy everyone! It looks like it is time for me to hop on the Ludum Train. This will be the second time I will participate in the compo, but I have been following it for quite a while longer. Last time, I wasn’t able to finish, because of distribution problems, but I am a lot more prepared this time!

Coding specs:

Code: Game Maker Studio; Pro (http://www.yoyogames.com/)

Art: Gimp 2 (http://www.gimp.org/)

Sound: BFXR (http://www.bfxr.net/)

Distribution: Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com)

Music: Any Suggestions (?)

Other resources:

Pandora: I Fight Dragons Radio, Ed Sheeran Radio, Trance Radio (http://www.pandora.com)

Prep: The Game Jam Survival Guide, by Christer Kaitila (http://www.packtpub.com/game-jam-survival-guide/book)

I am super pumped for this Ludum Dare, and I hope you guys are too! Follow the creation process on Twitter (http://bit.ly/RsDiQl)

Howdy Fellow Ludumers!

For the first time ever, I have actually been too busy coding to get any kind of blog post out! Hooray! My productivity has been off the charts, and my game is just a hair away from being finished. I think, if things go smoothly, I should be done by tonight, and I will be able to add tons of polish tomorrow.

Concept: Dungeon Builder/Dungeon Defense game

My original idea was a simple platformer, but where is the fun in that? Instead, I decided to create a game where you are a bad guy, defending your dungeon from the puny heroes. The basic gameplay is set in 2 stages, the planning stage and the attack stage. In the planning stage, you are allowed to fill the rooms of your dungeon with baddies and traps to protect you. In the attack stage a lone adventurer delves into your dungeon to try and defeat you. Here is a screenshot of the progress so far:

Rather than trying to describe what is going on in the picture, I am just going to list the features currently in the game:

-Randomized pathfinding!

-Boss combat!

-Multiple hero characters (currently 3)!

-Stats! (Attack, Speed, Health)

-Money!

-Unlimited Levels!

Things that are almost implemented:

-Enemy combat

-Purchase units

-Upgrade units

Things that I hope to get in before times up:

-Sound/Music

-Multiple boss choices (5+)

-More Heroes(10+)

-More Enemies(10+)

-Traps!

-Goats!

Wish me luck!

~Blooperly

I have been putting off writing this because I don’t really want to think about this game anymore, but I guess It has to happen some time.

Tiny sprites 😛

I started out the compo with 3 hours away from the computer. On one hand, this was good for coming up with ideas, but in the end I switched again about 6 hours in. My first programming sesh was good, I got a lot done as far as player movement went, and I really solidified what I wanted the gameplay to look like in my mind.

I really hit a speed bump at about hour 16. Even after getting some sleep, I was struggling to concentrate. I started coding boss combat, which was fine, but everything began to fall apart when I did enemy combat. This is where I really began to regret having such sloppy code. Usually, I am meticulous about storing variables in the right place and such, but at this point I was just creating new ones instead of trying to deal with the ones I already made.

After a whole day of code, around hour 28, I decided to go to bed again, and promptly forgot to set my alarm. 10 hours later, I was well rested, but in a very bad place as far as time went. I finished enemy combat, and worked on unit placement, which became another big pain. I simply didn’t have enough time to test my game much, and by the time hour 48 rolled around, I was only able to submit a terrible game, that honestly did not work.

But I did not give up! I took on the challenge, and kept working on the game. Long story short, by the time the Jam competition was ending, I was able to submit a working version of the game (more or less). It had different hero types, different enemy upgrades, and sound! Much better than what I had for the compo, though still kind of buggy. In the end, I was happy that I had a working game at all! This was the first game that I had ever finished, and I am so glad I had the opportunity to participate in Ludum Dare.

10/10 Would do again.

What went right:

Interesting idea, pretty good art, sound, distribution.

What went wrong:

Sloppy code, BUGS, cut features, slow combat, stress.
Play it here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-25/?action=preview&uid=18930

Whoooo! Ludum time!

This is going to be my third time participating in the compo, and I am excited. My past two attempts were “complete”, but neither game was particularly fun. This time that will change. I WILL make a fun game, and I WILL succeed at time management!!!

I just completed my warm up weekend game, and everything is looking peachy. The game is called “Eye of Ra”, and it helped me test all of my various tools to make sure they were working. I am most proud of the music, seeing as my past two games had no sound at all. I have been practicing with Famitracker, and I think the background music sounds great, even though it is a short loop. This warm up also let me work on animated sprites, which I have never been very good at. All in all, this warmup game which I made in about 6 hours is already better than my past two entries. I am excited! Play it here.

Egyptian shoot-em-up? Why not.

As far as my actual compo entry, I am going to be using the following (not all information is relevant):

Code: Game Maker Studio Pro

Art: GIMP

Music: Famitracker / Audacity

Sound: BFXR

Distribution: www.blooperly.com

Pandora: The Hush Sound Radio, Ed Sheeran Radio

Workplace: Bean Town Coffee House

Staying Awake: Vanilla Chai Latte + Espresso (the best)

Good luck everyone!

Hello Ludumaniacs. My first post for this competition! I’m not sure how excited I am about the theme, but I am definitely excited about all the tools I am using this time.

Programming: Game Maker Studio, Notepad++

Art: Gimp, Hexels

Sound: Famitracker, BFXR

Music: Pandora (Bastille Radio)

Food: Delicious Homemade Cookies (thanks Stephanie!)

I have already started on my game, and it looks like it is going to be a puzzly-rogue thing. You are only going to be able to hold one weapon at a time.

In other news I <3 Hexels.

Good luck to all, will have more soon!

It looks like level one is almost done! I have movement down, and text display working. All I have left for this part of the game is to add a working exit to the level. Hopefully I can create 4-5 levels before the competition is over!

Side note: Any name ideas? I don’t really have any kind of story behind the game… So I can’t really come up with anything. Something that sums up “You are a little glowy dude who has to solve puzzles to escape.”

I finally decided on a name for the game: “Go Home”

Here is an update of the second level. Just need to add in the puzzle elements.