I’m in for my first #LD48.  Not certain yet which primary tools I’ll be using – it’ll depend on the theme – but likely be one of node-webkit, PlayCanvas or CraftStudio.

Other tools I expect to use:

• 2D: Gimp
• 3D: Blender
• Audio: Audacity, eJay and/or MixSuperstar (Wii version)

As a web developer it’s likely that I’ll stick with node-webkit and enter an HTML5-based game, in which case I’ll probably want to use Three.js or Voxel.js for the rendering engine.

Looking forward to reviewing all the awesome and may the best games win!

My first Ludum Dare postmortem…

What a blast. What a horror.

Web developers are advised not to look at the source code – your sanity depends on it.  The code… it’s… well, it’s been hacked to bits.

What went right:

• Pre-planning and concept.
• Simple screens and menus.
• I’m a web developer so I did the web. But I wanted to stay away from stereo-typical web gamedev techniques: no 3D or canvas, just the DOM.
• Sending optimization considerations to the bit bucket.
• Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) makes stunningly-awesome and evocative music. And shares it. =D  Originally I’d planned to add to my collection but after passing the 48hr mark…  Hell yeah.
• Multiple views of the same objects (cards) worked well.
• The “10 second” theme did not present any real difficulty; when the extended mechanics are in place, it should improve the value of Scene cards.
• It’s entirely possible to play The Deep Dark without a computer.  Of course, you’ll currently need to print your own cards.

What went wrong:

• Pre-planning focused on the scene animation area of the engine; when it came time to implement, it was the first thing to break… The nested resumable timers sounded like a good idea but weren’t and forced a costly refactor about halfway through day 1.
• Hurried code caused a really nasty chain reaction of bugs on day 2… the more it got fixed the further it broke. What a pain and the root cause was a ridiculous, stupid-stupid error.
• I included schema for extended mechanics too early; should have waited until the core mechanic was complete.
• I completely underestimated the time to produce card images: started in Inkscape and ended up with paper and a marker.

And as a result…

• scene animations didn’t happen at all; the engine can place other cards within the displayed scene but the code is a steaming pile of awful.
• extended mechanics never happened. Examples: elemental affinities (earth/air/water/fire/spirit), special items & talismans, gold/rupees, inventory, the evil-eye and other mini-games (originally central to the concept).
• I missed the compo (48 hour) submission deadline. A buggy, minimum playable version was ready but there were only 5 cards (2 scenes, 2 encounters and an ally).

What’s coming:

• I’m sold on the concept and will be creating a proper sequel – albeit without the time pressure.
• Using my TicTacToe for OUYA demo, I intend to release the sequel on OUYA at the same time as the web.  The wife tells me to make it playable on Facebook so that’s a possibility too. 😉

Thank you all for this pleasantly horrifying experience.

/EOF

Edit: Add link to The Deep Dark entry.

This’ll be my second attempt, going to take PlayCanvas for a spin.

Was planning on going compo but won’t have enough free time this weekend.  Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with!

I’m in the jam for sure, the compo if time permits. Alas, it’s a busy weekend

Have been through #ld48 a few times, I find tooling & engine are in large part dependent on theme selection and the ideas that come to mind after the announcement.  That said, my engine of choice is likely to be one of :

• 2D: custom HTML5 or GameMaker
• 3D: Unity 3D, FPS Creator: Reloaded, Goo or custom HTML5 with three.js under the hood
• 2.5D: any of the above (edit: save FPSCR 😉 )

Generic tooling may include any or all of: the Gimp & SketchBook Pro* for 2D asset creation, Blender & Qubism* for 3D assets, along with Audacity & Audio Evolution* for sound and music.

Notable changes will evoke an edit to this post, otherwise the relevant deets will be included in a retrospective following the jam.

Looking forward to seeing all the amazing.

Again. =D

G’Luck Everyone!

* Android apps, available on Google Play

Not my first lap around the track; probably the first with a plan though

Tooling ultimately dependent on theme selection but likely involves some combination of:

• AGK v2 or Unity 3D
• Node.js
• Sketchbook
• Blender
• Audacity
• Audio Evolution

And will almost certainly blow this budget but some things I’m going to try to limit:

• Core: 1 hour
• Mechanics: 5 hours
• In-game UI: 1 hour
• Non-game UI: 1 hour
• Assets: 6 hours
• Deployment: 2 hours
• Website: 2 hours

Deployment targets will (likely) be limited to:

• the Web (HTML5 or Unity® Web Player) and/or
• Windows™ and/or
• GNU/Linux and/or
• Android™

G’Luck to all!

=D

Not sure which engines or libraries I’ll be using yet – waiting to see what the theme suggests

Will be using github & zenhub together for project management. Aside from adding a Kanban board, my pre-themedrop considerations are much the same as last time.

Have fun all – looking forward to playing your creations!

Won’t have much time this weekend but who knows? Having learned numerous lessons over the past few Ludum Dare sessions, maybe they’ll pay off

Anyway, since we’re in the middle of an election here in Canada I’m thinking to perhaps have a little fun with politics. Maybe.

As usual, theme selection will likely guide most of my decisions; due to family & work commitments this weekend I’m probably going with a custom HTML5  engine. (Likely engine alternates include Unity 3D, App Game Kit 2 or GameGuru).

Best of luck to all participants and may the best games win!

In once again, and once again with the aim of actually completing something end-to-end.

As usual, will let the theme guide tool selection

Good luck all!

In for another jam, with the usual theme-decides-toolset disclaimer ‘Luck All

In it for the jam (or the challenge if things go well this time around).

Looking to validate my js13k stack and strategies so I'll be building directly for the web, on top of Kontra.js

Have participated (and failed to complete) so many entries over the last few years that I've lost count.

Going to switch things up this time... Going with Twine.

Will be attempting compo. If things don't work out, will try for a jam entry.

Success or failure, every attempt is worthwhile & informative. #RelentlessImprovement

I resolved not to submit for compo a couple years ago, but here we are at LD48.

My plans rarely ever survive the theme drop; I'm currently looking to use

• Unity 3D
• Blender
• Gimp
• Music Maker JAM for audio

(though I may switch over to a web-based game instead of Unity, depending on what works best for the theme)

Best of luck to all. May the source be with you!

Not planning to participate in the compo this time, unless things go really well, really early. Though it won't be AAA, or very long, I'm excited to be unveiling a new sci-fi universe for LD's 20th anniversary. It's been in the works for a couple years now, since JS13k 2020 and it's unusual theme of "404"

Will be using the LittleJS Starter Kit mvp I published this past weekend, along with Blender, Gimp. Possibly DAZ Studio and/or Music Maker JAM as well, if there's time.

May or may not have a team this time, depending on availability - if not, I'll be taking a shot at compo with the dev stack decided after theme drop :thinking:

Failed to submit once again, sigh.

The lessons are difficult, but are slowly starting to sink in. And despite failing to submit, this was a decidedly better run than usual.

What went right:

• Deciding on a simple arcade style game, something like a 3D Lunar Lander
• The core mechanic is like Lunar Lander - take off, fly around and land places. It's not great, but it works. :tada:
• Worldbuilding: considerably more notes on paper before getting to the keyboard + diagrams and storyboards
• Overall concept: love it - SCP meets 2001: A Space Odyssey. I want to play the vision in my head.
• Leaning heavily on Unity UI features
• New & updated learnings: shaders, old tv screen effects, and creating ambient pads in FL Studio

What didn't go so right:

• Deciding that a simple arcade game was actually too simple and without enough substance - then pivoting to make it narrative driven without additional up-front planning. Yolo!
• Muscle memory: spent the last year in Daz Studio and not enough time in Unity... had to look up somewhat more than was ideal
• Secondary mechanics include powerups (oxygen and fuel tank pickup and deliveries) and narrative. Neither were completed before end of jam :sob:

New plan for October: Same approach as ld53, but spending less time in concept development and more time documenting required systems up front. Failing to properly plan the work was a critical failure, and blocked both secondary mechanics this time around.

Hard to believe April's almost here already; looking forward to 55 and maybe actually finishing a game :)

... well, maybe. I guess we'll know in a week :)

This post is not an ad or promotion in any way, but stems from a deep-rooted frustration: despite many tries, I never seem to get far enough along in my jam entries to actually submit a reasonably complete game. I don't mind failing to submit - every attempt has proven an incredibly valuable learning experience - but I'd like to prove to myself that I'm up to the challenge of meeting ldjam compo constraints, as a solo developer. And that will require a submission.

So, poking around lesser known engines a couple weeks ago, I discovered GDevelop and now I strongly suspect that it may be the ultimate weapon for solo ldjam participants. It's easy to learn and has some decent tutorials to reference over on youtube.

Most folks can likely pick up the basics in a couple of hours, and make a game on their first day. Despite the "no-code" paradigm, it's easily the most efficient self-contained pipeline for game development that I've tried to date.

To avoid proselytizing, or appearances of such, I'll just leave it at this: if you struggle to submit for jams like I do, a few hours on this engine might just be worth the investment. Good Luck!

Hey all.

Figured these two support an exceptionally broad range of interpretations.

At first glance, the second suggestion might seem odd, but it has a few intrinsic benefits not available to other theme suggestions: it's an open world that jammers can leverage legally - great for inspiration or adding depth to otherwise simple games.

And, as always, participants can choose to interpret the theme as they wish, and ignore the SCP reference altogether.

Not really sure what I'm doing, or what stack I'll be using, this time around. Going to see what the theme is and play things by ear ¯_(ツ)_/¯

https://soundcloud.com/psema4/6-minutes