(Game quality considerably higher than GIF)

Finally. Seventy-two hours of work, and this is the product. I’m very happy with myself, to say the least.

As I expected, I was able to really really polish the game for release today. I made the enemy difficulty scale as they were spawned, and added experience as an extra incentive to kill them instead of running past. Also implemented elite enemies and added scattered stone blocks using Perlin Noise.

Anyway, I’m not going to write a wall of text this time. Play the game here.

Tags: 2d unity, existential, finished, jam, platformer, unity

So yeah, I’ll be participating again. This’ll be my fourth Ludum Dare, and I’ll be using most of what I usually use, with a few additions: Unity, SharpDevelop NEW!, Paint.NET, Audacity, GIMP 2 NEW!, BFXR and Beepbox.

I aim to not make a platformer this time around, but despite that, I’m going to once again link some C# scripts I wrote for Unity to help with making them: UnityPlatformerUtils

It includes a script that automatically creates Box Colliders for tiles, sized as efficiently as possible, a script for automatically adjusting the sprite of tiles to match neighboring ones, and a simple library with only a few methods that is mostly there to provide functionality to other scripts.

Good luck, and have fun!

Probably not going to be done in time for the Compo, but I’ve still gotten a decent amount done today.

The gist of it all is that you use game errors / glitches to kill robots who are for trying to kill you for some unknown reason. I’m planning to make 2 attacks and one extra ability. I’ve intended to focus more on graphics this time around, as I’ve been inspired by the keynote to try. So far I feel like I’m doing better, having drawn a character I don’t consider eye-cancer, but animation is still ahead and I feel it’s going to be tough to tackle.

Anyways, what’s done so far:

• Player can move and has basic sprites in place
• Simplest attack available implemented (albeit roughly)
• Basic level created
• 1/3 planned enemies completed
• ‘Error Log’ added
• 3 tiles added, with 4 variations each

Going to try and finish up gameplay tomorrow, with some audio work if I have time.

Technically seven and a quarter hours, but you know, whatever.

Got an absolute ton done yesterday, which left me extremely tired, but it was worth it. As you can see, I’ve completed the HUD, there’s now pushable boxes, robots spawn out of doors, conveyor belts exist, and you have three abilities. Teleport – the second ability in the list – is somewhat unfinished, so it isn’t portrayed in the gif, but in short it teleports you randomly up to 4 tiles away.

Still have plenty to get done today, though. I originally planned for three enemies, and I’ve already cut the big one as I know I won’t have time, but it’s looking like I may have to cut the other unfinished one too. On the board for today is the following, ordered by priority:

1. SFX
2. Music
3. Pause & start screens – functionality and content will be similar to my last game, as I don’t have time for better
4. Minimum polish (walls don’t look like walls, killing enemies is not made obvious, level could be better, etc)

After that, if I still have time, I’m going to complete some extras:

• Movement animations
• 2nd enemy
• New spawnpoint for the first enemy type only
• More effects
• Final enemy, if I have tons of time

Lets do this.

Just barely got everything important in before submission, but it’s done!

Play it here!

“Survive as long as you can against a constant stream of evil robots out to get you, utilizing various glitches and exploits along the way to defeat your opponents. Robots spawn faster over time, and there’s no healing.”

Because I’m going to be streaming today and tomorrow, and the more games to play, the better!

If you’d like me to play your game, feel free to send me a link over on twitter or reply to this post with a comment. If you send it via Twitter, I’ll also let you know when I start streaming it.

Todays stream is actually live right now, so if you’d like to watch or submit more directly, come drop by!

This’ll be my fifth Ludum Dare and I can’t wait to get going. Gonna be using the same as I usually do (Unity 5, Paint.NET, beepbox), with the exception of using Visual Studio for code and Chiptone for sound effects. In the event that I make a platformer, I’ll also likely be using some Unity platformer code I wrote a while back to make things easier.

Best of luck to everyone!

Tags: chiptone, im in, unity, visual studio

Got a slow start, but finally getting somewhere.

Tags: corruption, gif, LD33, progress

Tons of stuff done, tons of stuff left to go.

In this little turn-based game, you play as a form of corruption taking over the land, trying to beat out the opposing forms of corruption for the area. I originally wanted to have you fight some settlement that wanted to protect its land from you, but couldn’t think of a good way to make that fun.

So far, you earn a point each turn per tile you’ve corrupted, and can corrupt more tiles with those points, with doing so being cheaper the more of your tiles that are next to it. The AI will attempt to take over tiles randomly until it can’t afford one each turn. There’s no win/loss conditions yet, but you can lose or control all tiles.

On the agenda for tomorrow: Better AI, more features, more polish, probably music. Off to bed!

Tags: corruption, gif, LD33, progress, turn-based

Not as good as I’d hoped – ran into innumerable bugs getting units to work, and couldn’t finish the AI, UI or any sound at all. Nonetheless, the actual gameplay is there and while a bit buggy, it works.

Play it here!

Tags: corrupt ground, finished, jam, LD33

This will be my sixth time and I’m looking forwards to it! Planning to make a smaller game this time around, as I feel my ideas have been too large for me to accomplish in the time frame. As for my tools, I’ll be using Unity (Game Engine), Visual Studio (IDE), Beepbox (Music, some SFX), Chiptone (Other SFX), Paint.NET (Art) and Gimp (Art extras)

As always, I may end up using (and fixing up) some old Unity platformer code I wrote a while back – feel free to use it for your stuff if you want.

Good luck!

Tags: code, tools

So I’ve finally finished what is technically my first day. I didn’t make any progress yesterday or the day before due to lacking an idea, but fortunately that changed last night and I was able to make a good amount of progress today.

I’ve decided to go with the Growing theme, and I’ve taken a lane-based war game and aim to throw a twist to it in that your troops can level up and grow more power so that when they reach the other side, they deal more damage to your opponent.

So far I’ve managed to implement spawning units and units attacking each other. Leveling up is also technically implemented, but there’s nothing to indicate it yet as I’ve found it difficult to add any effects for it.

I doubt I’m going to be able to do a lot of things – namely a main menu or music – but I’m hoping to at least finish the gameplay. Either way, I feel I’ve succeeded in attempting a smaller idea given how much of it I’ve already completed. Had I come up with this idea sooner, it probably would’ve been my most complete game yet.

Oh, and side note: turns out drawing and animating swords is super fun. Swoosh!

Tags: 2D, boxes, Growing, late, progress, progress update, Swords, unity, update

Play it here!

Didn’t manage to get in a lot of stuff, namely individual unit control, victory/defeat UI and audio, but nonetheless a lot got done; I’m very happy with the end result.

Since my last update, I managed to implement leveling up for the units and health for the player / AI. Each side starts with 100 health and takes damage from enemy units reaching its end of the map. For every level a unit gains, it gets a small maximum health boost as well as an extra 2 points of damage to the enemy team if it reaches their side of the map.

Surprisingly enough, this has resulted in the simple ‘pick a random lane and throw stuff there’ AI actually being more easily lost to than I imagined. Not paying attention to a lane can cost you; if enough enemies build up in a small spot, it may not matter how many units you throw there, they may just level up repeatedly, causing you to kill almost none and empower the rest for when they finally get to the end. I’ve lost up to half my health at once to incidents like this.

Anyways, this has been a bunch of fun as usual, and I’m looking forwards to playing everyones games. The few I’ve already tried have been amazing as ever, and I cant wait to try more tomorrow!

Tags: 2D, animated gif, finished, lane king

Seventh time running and looking forwards to getting started! I’ll be using my usual setup of Unity with Visual Studio as my engine/IDE combo, Beepbox and/or Chiptone for SFX/Music with a mixture of Paint.NET and Gimp for all my graphics needs.

Best of luck to everybody – can’t wait to see what you make!

Tags: im in, seventh time

Click for higher quality GIF or if it doesn’t animate.

Not much so far, but I’m happy with what I’ve gotten done in a short amount of time.

So far: Parallax backgrounds, particles, movement and aiming.

To do: Asteroids, enemies, level boundaries, shapeshifting and more!

Tags: day one, particles, space, update

Click for higher quality or if the GIF doesn’t animate.

So it’s been a long one, but it’s been productive. Building is in, as are all the effects associated. I’ve also added level boundaries so you can’t escape into the endless void, so that’s good.

I’d been hoping to add basic enemies today as well, but I figure I can squeeze that in to tomorrow without pressing things too much. All in all, today went well, and I’ve got high hopes for the future!

Tags: asteroids, lasers, progress, space, space lasers, update

Play it here!

“Shapeshift asteroids into mines and blow up enemies with them without getting blown up yourself. Transform enemy remains into more stuff and see how long you can survive! “

Couldn’t get a lot of stuff in – in particular most of the interface and sound are missing, but stuff works and you can watch it explode, so not all a loss!

Everything considered, though, this was still a great Dare for me. I learned a number of useful things and had a bunch of fun doing so. Definitely worth the time spent.

Good luck everyone – I look forward to playing your games!

Tags: boom, explosions, finished, lasers, mines, morph space, space

Can’t wait to get started, especially after seeing the final round themes – there really is a lot of good-looking stuff in there this time around. I’m particularly curious to see what Level Changes While Your Playing or especially Plan Then Execute may bring to the table.

Oh, and as for my tools of the trade:

Game Engine: Unity3D
Coding Language / IDE: C# / Visual Studio
Graphics Tools: Paint.NET, Gimp, Inkscape
Audio Tools: Beepbox, Chiptone

That said, good luck to everybody – looking forwards to seeing what the weekend brings!

Tags: im in, LD36, tools

And Other Alternative Ways of Saying “I’m In”!

Can’t wait to get started, now. New site looks amazing, and I’m looking forwards to seeing what it’ll be able to do.

As for what I’ll plan on working with, I’m planning on the same tools as I always use, i.e.:

• Unity, game engine
• Visual Studio, IDE
• Paint.NET, 2D Graphics
• Inkscape, 2D Vector Graphics
• GIMP, Alternative to Paint.NET for anything it can’t do
• Chiptone, SFX
• Beepbox, Music

Hoping to fare better this time around, as I’ve been spending time learning since the last LD, and have learned a number of useful things that I think will benefit me greatly. Unity also recently made their line renderers not suck, and things not sucking is pretty undeniably fantastic. Lastly, I finally found a way to prevent tiny gaps between sprites, which is nothing short of a blessing.

Anyway, it’s time to get prepared. Good luck to everybody!

…and playable here!

Gotta say — really happy with how this went down. Started off with a quick idea, but the first few days had doubt seeded deep. Nonetheless, a number of things ended up going quicker than expected, and I was still able to finish all the core gameplay and necessary assets in time.

Time to take a breather before heading off to play some games. Best of luck to everyone!