I did an LD in 2005 or so, when the theme was light and darkness. I’ve been following since then but haven’t been able to participate again. I saw this highlighted on Reddit though and as it turns out I have some free time this weekend, so here I am. 
I’ll be using mtpaint, “Just Another Game Engine” (C++), and Audacity. I’m really looking forward to playing everyone’s games. Good luck, all!
I’m making a platformer game set on a tropical island, in which players compete to collect coconuts. They do this by jumping on the tops of trees and shaking coconuts into a moving basket below. Right now there’s only one player but it will eventually support multiple players on a single PC.
I started this project backwards; I did the sound, music, and art before I started coding. I don’t think it’s really affected how likely I’ll be to finish, but it is nice to know I won’t have to do very much except code for the remainder of the project.
I’m pretty happy with how things have been going. There are some bugs in the engine (for instance, I can’t seem to get the monkeys to stand flat on the trees all the time) but overall the project has gone pretty smoothly. Barring any huge issues when porting to Windows, I should be able to finish with time to spare!
Overall, things went really well. I’ve certainly limited my audience by making a game that requires three players (didn’t have time to add AI) and only runs on Linux (lol), but I had a great time and I’m happy with what I did accomplish. I’m looking forward to playing all your games! They are going to have to wait until I’ve caught up on some sleep though. . .
Hi guys/gals- I can’t find this question answered on the rules page and the submission guidelines page “doesn’t exist”: is it okay to upload ports after the deadline if the original submission was made on time? I submitted a Linux version on time but not a Windows version because I couldn’t get it running. This morning the solution came to me while I was shaving (lol)- I didn’t have the game content in the same directory as the executable, duh. Do you think it’s okay if I submit a Windows version now, since no code has actually changed?
I put the game content in with the Windows executable and, magically, the game runs now. 😉 So in addition to the Linux version, there’s now a working Windows version. I updated my submission.
I’m pretty happy with this project. It’s the first complete and playable game I’ve submitted for Ludum Dare. I think it went better than previous projects because this time I did as little programming as possible. I used a mix of MVC3 and Javascript to create a simple interface, allowing me to spend most of my time creating content. I would have liked to have added sound effects and some visual effects but as it is I think the result is a unique and (hopefully) enjoyable experience.
