My comp entry went in last night: Adrift

 
So I guess it’s time to write a little about how it went.

The not so good:
– I was coding in Java using the LibGDX framework, which worked really well. Unfortunately there are parts of libGDX with little documentation, so I was frequently ducking into the source to try and work out how to get it to do what I wanted.

– I had plans for a much more elaborate game with more graphics, more levels etc but as is the case with this, ran out of time. I think I spent too much time on the menus and other screens whereas the game should probably have come first.

– Why can I never get up when my alarm goes off?

The better:
– Sound effects were much easier to add than I had expected. Setting and remembering volume was a bit fiddly though, and making the sound I wanted in sfxr was time consuming although quite good fun.

– I actually finished a game! Usually I get caught up in trying to optimise everything as I go along, but for this I was forced to just get on with making the game. This does of course mean performance is hit slightly. I was only getting about 20 to 30 FPS on my old laptop, but more modern machines should cope better.

– I stole a second monitor from my sister after about 12 hours. Wow did it make everything easier. But now I have to give it back.

– libGDX meant I could get a dekstop and applet version of my game made easily at the same time. I also have an Android version, but I have no idea how/if the controls work, what the performance is like, or what it looks like. I also have no way of testing it, so decided not to release the .apk file.
(I did have it running in android-x86 in a virtual machine, but that was really slow).

Now to sort out my sleep patterns and retrain my fingers not to press Ctrl+s all the time.

So I am up for another fun filled weekend staring at my computer screen (not at all unlike every other weekend), except this time my friend Justin will be helping me make the game. Obviously I will be going for the Jam – unfortunately I do have other real world stuff to do at the weekend as well.

The aim is to write the game in java, using the wonderful LibGDX framework. Graphics will be cobbled together in Paint.net probably or whatever program I can find that works reasonably well. Sound might happen, and if it does will possibly be made in sfxr or something similar, we shall see.

It has been quite a while since I last even looked at game code, so this could be a fairly rough lesson to do some homework before Ludum Dare.

Hey, so I’m a little late to the party, but I figured I might as well give this a shot. I’ll be coding in Java using LibGDX and some helper classes I wrote to help with animations which can be found here.

Some other software I’ll probably use are:

• Tiled – for making maps
• bfxr – for making sounds
• paint.net – for making pictures
• git – to have a fight with

This should be fun. I really like the theme, should produce some interesting results.

I’ve had a busy day so far. There’s a guy who just about moves and jumps, he won’t fall through the floor and he is followed incessantly by a camera.

The physics are being handled by Box2d, so I’m not sure how to get the controls to feel great, but there’s time for experimentation.

Now I’m having a break before prettifying it a bit. Maybe.

So the first day is drawing to a close and not much has changed from a few hours ago. I have struggled to get it resizing gracefully which almost works now.

Debugging requires the most attractive overlays otherwise what’s the point.

I also managed to escape out of the level, but got trapped in the walls. It was like an inverse level and was fairly cool, so might even get included.

So another Ludum Dare is over. This time I managed to get some sort of a game made that actually works and (I think) is kind of fun.

I think that this time I did quite well at sleeping and eating as well as ceaseless coding. Still, my eyes hurt so it must be time to go back to bed. Especially as I’m going to the zoo tomorrow! Yay!

My game is up here: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview&uid=8858

Its a fast paced platformer with a few short quick levels. It won’t take long to finish (except I’m not sure if the last level is beatable) but I had some fun both making it and playing it.