Been working on sketching ideas for a few hours now. Haven’t been very happy with my ideas so far. Then when I thought I had it, I discussed it, and decided I was trying to work the theme into another game – Not creating a game out of the theme.

With that, I have finally settled on two concepts I’m happy with:

Both of my ideas are based on instant gratification. The first one is an RPG where every 10 seconds, you level up and learn new spells, are given new party members, and have quests that are given to you to complete. The second is a society where people have everything they need and indulge themselves completely, but are continually unhappy. Every 10 seconds they citizens will work to fulfill whatever they desire. Your job is to put restrictions in place to make your citizens happier beings.

Any input would be greatly appreciated! Will be doing some more sketching this evening, and then it is coding time tomorrow!

Well it is off to the races! Got a couple hours of work in after an initial brainstorm session. Namely, a title screen, bringing in some prototype art (Thanks Kenney!), a temporary character sprite, and some basic movement.

Going to do a single-player co-op (faux-op?) game where two characters enter a magical dungeon, where you change control of each character every 10 seconds. Maybe a bit unoriginal but I think with some interesting puzzles and magic, it could be fun.

My goal for tonight is getting basic movement, character switching, and split screen in.

Have about 4 hours for tonight, then a full day tomorrow, with the goal of the full game without polish by tomorrow night.

Sunday is polish, and we'll see if things are good enough for the compo, or if I want to do a bit more and do a jam entry instead!

Ahead of schedule! Split screen and movement in a good place, going to move alternating between the two characters every 10 seconds to tomorrow morning. Feeling a bit of code fatigue after working today and then going straight into this. Going to work on some music and get some sleep!

Feeling pretty good about day one. Got a little tired of coding after already doing that for work, so after hitting my goals (besides moving the player switching to tomorrow), I moved to writing a track. Something both vibe-y, but also building up as the puzzles get a little more challenging?

Anyways, here's the link to the song as it stands right now, and a few more images of progress!

Chill Dungeon Puzzles:

https://soundcloud.com/djrobotdinosaur/ludum-dare-51-demo-1

Before Bed:

Update 2:

Update 1:

Alright, so it was a tiring day! Lots of random bugs coming up, but mechanically, 70% of what I want is there in various forms. Still need to add actual level graphics (Dirt and stone mostly) and some basic lighting. Also need to integrate the two main powers...

But the random other baseline mechanics - Respawning, doors/switches, checkpoints, and switching players is all there!

Also made some updates to the main track for the game. It will be a race in the morning to build out the puzzles I have in mind. May need to audible to the Jam, but we'll see!

Updated Music - Dungeon Jazz-ish vibe

https://soundcloud.com/djrobotdinosaur/ludum-dare-51-demo-2

Hope everything is going well for the other people out there! I'm learning quite a bit and having a lot of fun.