Hi, Gravity Games here, and I can’t wait until the next Ludum Dare! I do however have a few questions about the rules if you don’t mind.

1) I saw in the rules that we ARE allowed to use base code if its mentioned before the dare, but how far would be considered base? Like, a basic routine to open a window and draw graphics? A basic engine with a level editor (though I’m assuming that this would be a little bit too far to be considered a base).

2) Continuing the above question, I have a level format that I tend to use for every project I start. I was wondering if it would be okay to copy and paste the same code that reads these files, or would I have to recode the same format from scratch. Or would I have to make a completely new format entirely?

3) Continuing from the level format question, I already have a level editor for this format. Is it against the rules to use this level editor presuming I use the same level format? If so, would it be acceptable to program a new editor, or should I just type in the levels with a text editor?

4) Is it against the rules to submit a game to the dare, continue to work on it for the rest of the hours of the jam, and then resubmit it for the jam?

5) Finally, I’ve never completed a game before (not 100% anyway), much less in 48 hours. Quite obviously this is a big challenge for me, so how would I start practicing? Would you recommend going to past ludum dares and completing them, or is there an ongoing challenge I can use for practice?

Tags: help, question, questions, tips

Well, I guess this is it, I’m officially doing this (as long as something doesn’t go wrong with my laptop…)! I’m about to strip a copy of my current project down to just the base engine, with the tile collision, graphic drawing, player object, stuff like that (nothing like enemies obviously…). Wish me luck, and happy Ludum Daring! (Also, I’m hoping “You are the Villain” is the theme, ’cause I actually have an idea for that theme that ISN’T a Wario Land knock off. Though I’d probably be able to figure something out with another theme…)

Tools used:

IDE: Eclipse

Language: Java

Engine: Caiman Platformer Base Engine

Graphics: Paint & maybe Pickle

Sound: FL Studio 10 & LPMGv.1.2-B (Edit: Oops, I forgot, I’ll use that one SFX generator, SFXR)

Other Tools: Caiman Engine Level Editor, XSplit

Anything else I need to post here?

Yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t have time to livestream during programming, but now I’m about to stream whilst playing video games made during Ludum Dare. So if you want me to (try) to play your game live, be sure to say something in the chat! (Be kind, its my first stream…)

http://www.twitch.tv/gravity_games_interactive

Hopefully nothing will go wrong at this point, so I’m in. Just like last Ludum Dare, I’ll be using Java, Gimp, MS Paint, that one sound effect generator, and either Famitracker, FL Studio, or Beepola, depending on which way I want to go for music…

Good luck to everyone BTW!

If anyone wants to see me fail, well, here you go.

http://www.twitch.tv/gravity_games_interactive

Almost forgot to say I’m in! So uh, yeah, I’m trying a bit of a different setup this time, lets hope it doesn’t screw me up…

Tools used:

Laptop using Ubuntu 13.04

Eclipse SDK (using Java)

LWJGL (for OpenGL, I found out the hard way that Ubuntu doesn’t seem to like the vanilla Java drawing

I may also be using the platformer engine I’m working on, so if that happens, I’ll enter the Jam instead of the Compo this time. Here’s hoping my game will run on Linux this time (mostly because it’ll HAVE to…).

Alright, I’m really excited to participate in this Ludum Dare (even though I’m not nearly as enthusiastic about the theme), and I’m using this as a chance to test out how flexible my game engine is so far (making a game in it that it wasn’t necessarily designed to make is a good test IMHO). So yeah, I’m doing the Jam instead this time, so sue me.

If you actually care, you can follow my blog here: http://gravitygamesinteractive.tumblr.com/

Its for my company as a whole, and not just for Ludum Dare stuff, but at the very least that’s all it will be for the next three days. I know I could just post here, but I just prefer to keep things in a seperate place (I’m just weird like that). I look forward to distributing the demo for testing some time tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I’m at that point where because I had to learn a completely new library (lwjgl) and because for some reason Linux refuses to open up the stage files, I may have to drop out. If I can’t figure it out that is, its a shame too, because of this, I probably won’t be nearly finished anyway…

Here’s a song I’m working on for my Ludum Dare game:

I’ll reveal the theme of the game tomorrow, after I get the enemy graphics done…

So yeah, I’m in. I actually have a slightly different setup this go ’round, as I have a different (albeit old and hand-me-down) PC I’ve been setting up for graphics stuff, so I can multitask I guess. I also have a new charger for my old netbook, but it’s unreliable, and it would be overkill anyway…

Language: Either Java as usual or Unity. I’m actually undecided.

Other tools: OpenMPT (maybe FL Studio as well), sfxr, Gimp, Inkscape (you know, more or less the usual…)

Good luck to everyone participating this time!

…

…

…we’ll all need it if that robot is participating again…God help us…

Well, since it’s really too late for anyone to take my incredibly terrible idea, I might as well reveal it in an ill-fated attempt to get some hype going.

Alright, who here has ever played Eversion. Because I’m toooooooootally not just ripping that off </sarcasm>. So yeah, here’s a screenshot of the happy peaceful world (the only one which I currently have all the graphics for):

TOOOOOOOTALLY NOT RIPPING OFF EVERSION PEOPLE.

Just so you know the name of the game (in case you care how this turns out), it’s “Kyle’s Dreamland”. Yes. I’m ripping off Kirby too. So sue me. It’d be appreciated if you followed me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Gravity_Games, where I give updates around every hour (usually…). Don’t be shy to comment, I love constructive criticism, even when it’s negative! Good luck to everyone else!

Hello, Gravity Games Interactive here, and for the first time ever, I’m (intentionally) entering the Game Jam, as opposed to the compo! I’ll be working on base code during the week, and we’ll see how much better I do when I actually want to enter the Jam (looking at you SSFSoO…).

Tools:

Programming Language: Java

IDE: Eclipse

Libraries: lwjgl, slickutil, ibxm

Graphics: GIMP, Inkscape

Music: OpenMPT

Other: If I have time, I may try and finish my custom image formats, but only if it will help rather than hinder. I will also be making a level editor this time, as at least I learned SOMETHING from Chomp X Ludum…

Currently my game is of too low of a quality to meet my standards, and there’s not enough time left to finish it. I did like the concept of my game (and what I currently have) a lot though, so I might revamp it later, but as is, it’s just not really playable (as in, less so than my last Ludum Dare game, Chomp X Ludum). Maybe this has to do with the move I’ve been making recently to OpenGL, maybe not, but I should have known good and well I wasn’t prepared enough, and with college things to do as well, I’m just not going to be able to do this one, sorry. Good luck to everyone else!

Well, I’m in this time, nothing out of the ordinary to be honest, let’s just hope that this event’s theme is better than notoriously bad themes such as “Minimalism” and “10 seconds”. For once, I’m actually sort of doing what the keynote says, as this is the first time that I’m using my game engine for Ludum Dare (the third time I’ve used it) and it has been released under open source recently. While there are some unpublished changes, I will be using the public version so I can do the Compo, and more importantly, so others can actually learn how to use Scorpio 3D from my source. That said, I will also likely use these extra classes and this shader that have not made it into Scorpio 3D’s current version, so I’ll post a link to them too so you guys can use them.

Scorpio 3D: https://github.com/GravityGames/scorpio3d

Extra Classes and Shaders: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/29071079/Scorpio3DLDExtraClasses.zip

Good luck to everyone, and if you decide to use Scorpio for anything, Ludum Dare or otherwise, shoot me an email at therealgravitygames on gmail, I’d love to hear from you!

EDIT: Accidently left out a class. Added and reuploaded. If you’re wondering, FontSpec loads fonts generated in BM Font from this very site, and is a class created for my current WIP game, “Chomp Hoppers”, and will likely later be used in “Chomp’s Wacky Worlds” and “Kyle the Caiman”. BM Font is towards the bottom of the tools section.

Not sure if I remembered to make an “I’m In” post last time, but this time I am. Going to likely be using a multi-computer setup, and since I am not yet confident in my Javascript abilities, I shall be using, for the most part, the same setup as usual:

Tools:

Eclipse Java IDE (and of course, Java)

Gimp/Inkscape

OpenMPT

sfxr/bfxr/jfxr

(possibly) Bosca Ceoil

(possibly) Tiled

Libraries:

EasyOgg

(possibly) That one Tiled Java loading library

I’ll also be starting from a code base (which just contains window creation code and the libraries to import), and will also be sharing my source under the MIT License (I probably need to go back and do that for all of my older Ludum Dare games at some point). For those of you who are working and Java and would like to use the same window creation code, or those who will be interested in the final source for the project, I will be uploading it shortly to a new GitHub repository I have created here.

Why? Well, since it’s required by the rules to share your base code if you’re participating in the 48 hour compo, and I was planning on making my source code for the game available under the MIT license anyways, I figured “why not?”, and decided to make some basic window creation code so I don’t spend the extra 2 minutes doing that.

I wish everyone the best of luck this Ludum Dare!

I forgot to mention that I’m participating, so might as well before the event starts!

Tools I’ll be using:

https://app.hacknplan.com (planning, saw an endorsement for the program sometime this morning, if it’s one of the themes that I had sudden inspiration for, I’ll have plans)
Gimp and/or Inkscape (graphics)

Unity3D (yes, I have given in and decided to use the horrible, imfamous, cheaty-mc-cheat-cheat dev tool, Unity3D)

BFXR (sound effects)
OpenMPT and Audacity (music)