Well, halfway through the compo and I think I am back on course from last night’s missteps.

3 levels of “Werepenguin’s Escape” are through rough drafting.  Two are ready for final texturing; one still needs some more testing before it can be considered stable enough to be textured.

Right now, objects can be moved around the level by nudging them.  One of my next steps is to give the ability to latch onto and push or pull objects, which will give a substantial improvement to gameplay.

Sounds and music are pretty close on the heels behind that. I also want to add at least two more levels, and fill the game out with a story.  At that point I will consider the game submittable.

My stretch goals after that are to add one or two more puzzle mechanics, and add as many more levels as possible before the deadline.

And that is pretty much my plan for the next 23.5 hours.

Well, I finished with only 15 minutes to spare, but my entry “Werepenguin’s Escape” is done and is ready for play.

Despite wasting Friday evening trying to do this in 2D, I think this turned out quite well.  I’m very surprised that I was able to model 5 full 3D levels as well as build the rest of the game in less than 48 hours.  Deciding to go with 3D was the right move; it gave birth to the most hilarious element of the game – the ragdoll slip and falls on the ice patches.

The game itself is a simple puzzle game that involves redirecting moonlight to the right places in the level to serve your purposes, with a twist: That very same moonlight will turn you into a penguin! While in penguin form you can move across ice, but you are unable to jump.

I hope everyone enjoys my entry, I certainly enjoyed making it these last two days.  I look forward to seeing what other great games came out of this jam!

Duke

The ragdoll physics in my entry “Werepenguin’s Escape” worked out so well that I just had to make a montage of it in action:

Be sure to check out the full game! http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-35/?action=preview&uid=21630

My hat is in the ring for my fifth Ludum Dare.  My planned toolset has one important change since my last entry.  As usual, I will be using Unity 3D, probably blender for 3D models and Audacity for sound editing.  cgMusic is out, though, (since it no longer runs), and abundant-music.com is in, seeing how it did wonders with last year’s music in “Werepenguin’s Escape”.

Last year I hit a milestone, posting in the top 100 for a category for the first time (#66 in Humor).  Of course, I hope to do even better this year.  Maybe a top 25?  It’s going to be hard to top those hilarious ragdoll physics in “Werepenguin’s Escape”, though.  Since humor keeps being such a strong category for me, I’m just going to continue to roll with it.  Maybe I have a future as a comedy writer.

Good luck, everyone.  Once again, I look forward to playing some terrific games after the submission deadline.