The Feedback Friends game browser now lets you explore and search all the games submitted to LD39. Have fun reviewing games!

Ludum Dare Feedback Friends

While we're waiting for the results, maybe you'd be interested in answering this quick poll for Alakajam!, a new competition we're organizing in between Ludum Dare events.

Among the topics we’re trying to figure out, we’re wondering what would be a good improvement over the current rating categories, which are as we speak: Overall, Graphics, Audio, Fun, Innovation, Theme, Mood & Humor.

If you have suggestions, make your voice heard by answering this quick form! Thanks for your contribution :)

EDIT: The submissions are now closed, thank you everyone! You can see the results over there. If you’re interested in joining us, the first competition will be held on the 22-24 September week-end, see you there!

The new Alakajam! site, founded by Ludum Dare veterans is hosting its first competition on the 22-24 September(*) week-end! Since it's only two weeks from now, we have just launched the theme selection phase for the event. In a variant from Ludum Dare, people can simultaneously suggest theme ideas and rate them. Come & contribute your theme ideas!

Theme submission/voting page

(*) Apparently we're clashing we're the Music Game Jam, another event organized by LD members! I think we announced our respective events around the same time :P

We are just a few hours away from the 1st Alakajam, a new 48 hour long competition hosted on a dedicated website. This is your last chance to join the launch of this young but enthusiastic community! We're planning for around 50 entries this week-end, which looks just about the right size to get to know each other, yet big enough for proper competition.

~~You can still help choose the final theme by ranking the theme top 10. See you there!~~

Update: The theme is ALCHEMY!

Hi guys! At the neighbor Alakajam! community, we have hosted something special this month: 8 games from Alakajam! and Ludum Dare have been handpicked for people to compete on them, post high scores, and climb the leaderboard!

We're having a lot of fun so far, and it's quite a different experience to really play and try to master the games, rather than just test them to give feedback. The competition is fierce but there's still a chance for good players to get a spot in the podium.

Of course this is all just for fun, with no prizes or anything :)

The competition ends on May 31st, before we switch to the next big jam, planned for the 22-24 June week-end. The last Alakajam was pretty exciting as well, with 71 entries on the theme "You can't see everything". We hope to see you around for the end of the Tournament, and hopefully the next jam!

Tonight at 7pm UTC launches the countdown to the 3rd Alakajam!, starting with theme submissions! It will all lead to a happy week-end of jamming on June 22-24th :punch:

• The two weeks prior to the jam are dedicated to an original theme voting system (Week 1 = submission/voting, Week 2 = shortlist ranking)
• After a live launch stream hosted by DanaePlays, the jam is held for 48 hours, both for solo & team entrants. Start/end times are suited to European timezones! (7pm UTC)
• Two weeks of community voting then take place until the winners are announced

Our last event ended with 71 games on the theme You can't see everything (see winners below). We hope to see you there! :grinning:

Feedback Friends is a game browser that was initially made for LD36. It has been more or less updated in the following jams, and you can once again use it for LD40! Enjoy

NB. With the latest LD game browser improvements and the new notification feature, this external browser is slowly getting less and less relevant, but you know, cartridges are fun :)

With two months passed since the last LD, some of you might miss jamming already... Well, good news, the 2nd edition of the Alakajam! event starts soon!

If you're free on February 23-25th, you might be interested in joining our young community for a week-end of jamming:

• The two weeks prior to the jam are dedicated to an original 2-step voting system (Week 1 = submission/voting, Week 2 = shortlist ranking)
• The jam itself lasts 48 hours, both for solo & team entrants, with start/end times suited to Europeans (7pm GMT)
• Two weeks of community voting then take place until the winners are announced!

Our first jam back in September was great fun, ending with 50 games and some really awesome entries! We hope to see you there :)

After an exciting launch stream hosted by DanaePlays (which peaked at 100+ viewers!) the 2nd Alakajam! theme just got announced.

Entrants have 48 hours (both as solo & team) to make an entry around the theme "You Can't See Everything". People wanting their game to get a ranking will have to submit before Sunday 7pm UTC. If you're interested, join us at Alakajam.com!

Here's a recording of my sequencer playing the Runnink out of Space soundtrack!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DumYSU9i3o4

The making of Runnink out of Space's music

This is the first time I've entered Ludum Dare strictly as a musician, which was an exciting change. I knew working with the talented @Aurel300 would be a breeze, and the challenge of making Amiga-sounding music was quite attractive.

I'm used to making more modern elecronic music, so while I wanted to make the music sound retro, I wasn't comfortable going with true vintage software like a music tracker. Instead I stuck with my software of choice (Propellerhead Reason), and tried to study some Amiga game music, eventually looking for samples, instruments & production tricks that could help get a fitting feel. I eventually found this public domain Amiga sample pack which was of great use, as ~90% of the music ended up built out of samples from it.

The first hours of production turned out a bit frustrating, if only because my LD participation was quite improvised and I had no keyboard, no quality headphones, just a small netbook with cheap earplugs to work with. Brainstorming melodies and other ideas was difficult in the beginning, but I eventually figured out a base that conveyed a fitting atmosphere for our "quirky puzzle game in space". Eventually I got hooked into the work and forgot my hardware limitations :)

In the end the main theme is... not exactly what I pictured it would be! In particular it's less ambient that I aimed for, but this wasn't a big issue. The overall retro sound feels also less "authentic" than I hoped for. But overall, I still feel the track is good, catchy, and not too repetitive. It also seems to do its job of helping set the mood of the game.

So this was a great experience overall, and one which grew even more my curiosity for retro music and chiptunes.

Alakajam! is a sister community to Ludum Dare, founded by moderators of the old website. On top of regular week-end jams, we are hosting more unusual things, like the current AKJ Tournament :smiley:

How it works

For two weeks, everyone gets to play on a selection of 6 games (mostly from the 3rd Alakajam) on which we'll try to make the highest scores/best times as possible. Using screenshots as proof, players will battle to enter (and remain in) the leaderboards.

Leaderboards points are awarded to all players that enter the top 10 of a game. At the end of the event, on September 23rd, the player with the most points wins the tournament! Check the 1st tournament winners to see the current title holders :)

Of course, there's no prizes to be won other than bragging rights. We're just here to have fun!

Current leaderboard

We're only 2 days in, but the competition is already strong! Come by and see if you can make yourself a good spot in the rankings :wink:

This Friday, at 7pm UTC we will start the 4th Alakajam!, a competitive game jam set in-between LDs, more intimate (50ish entries and a lovely little community) and is adjusted to EU timezones. It takes place over 48 hours (even for teams) and we're now in the final steps before the launch!

:bulb: Theme shortlist

For one week the community has submitted themes and voted on them, and now only the top 10 remain. You can still rank them by order of preference here!

:checkered_flag: Jam launch - on stream!

About 30mn before the jam starts, DanaePlays and AurelDev will host a livestream on Twitch to hype up the final countdown. Just join the website at that time or directly watch the stream on her Twitch account.

Expect some polls, possibly givaways (hint below) and a live elimination of themes... until just the winner remains! Then the jam starts and we can start wrecking our keyboards for 48 hours :heart:

After my teammate @thrainsa missed Ludum Dare for over a year, and I only joined LD42 as a relaxed composer, we're back together for a full week-end.

Thrainsa & I have jammed over 12 times together. Taking a nerd week-end off for gamedev every once in a while is a tradition for us :smiley: This time, close friend of ours Eagle is joining the fun as a game designer. And lending his place for the occasion.

We should be using Unity3D, possibly TilEd, plus Photoshop & Propellerhead Reason + Audacity.

Have fun everyone!

List of @thrainsa and @wan's shared game jams:

Our LD39 entry King of Mithril:

With almost two months passed since the last LD, some of you might miss jamming already... Well, good news, the 5nd edition of the Alakajam! starts soon!

If you're free on February 22-24th, you might be interested in joining our community for a week-end of jamming:

• The two weeks prior to the jam are dedicated to an original 2-step voting system (Week 1 = submission/voting, Week 2 = shortlist ranking)
• The jam itself lasts 48 hours, both for solo & team entrants, with start/end times suited to Europeans (7pm UTC). An official Twitch stream is animated by DanaePlays for the launch :eyes:
• Two weeks of community voting then take place until the winners are crowned

Our last jam back in December was quite competitive, ending with 79 entries! We hope to see you there :smiley:

In case you didn't keep track of the 5th Alakajam, the theme submission & voting phase has just started! Everyone is invited for one week to simultaneously share their ideas and rate the others.

The 48 hour jam itself will take place on February 22-24, you can learn about the full schedule here.

Alakajam! is about to start a competition where we won't make jam games, but play and compete on them!

The tournament

For two weeks, everyone is invited to play and post high scores on a selection of games, using screenshots as proof. Players can then earn points according to their ranking (see below), climb a leaderboard and try to win the tournament :tophat: (see this as an example!)

(Before you ask, screenshots can be faked indeed, but we haven't had any cheating issues so far. There's no prize any way, just the fun of competing on jam games and making their authors cry by finding glitches :wink:)

How to submit your game

Any jam game that supports high scores in one way or another can qualify. We prefer web games but cross-platform desktop games are fine too. All you need to submit is to:

1. Create your jam page on the Alakajam! website

Once logged in, go to your user profile and the "My entries" section to create a game by hand (or through the importing tool).

2. Submit your game here

The Alakajam team will then pick 6 games to play for the next two weeks. See you there!

This week-end, the Climate Change Jam (10-18 August) is starting on Alakajam. Hosted by indie developer RatKing, the goal is to engage with the hot topic of climate change and make a game out of it!

The focus here is not on competition but rather to try and make something with an impact - which means it doesn't even have to be a game. You are also free to choose your own start time and jam duration according to your availabilities.

Click here to learn more and join the jam

With Ludum Dare having switched to 2 jams a year, the two 48h jams are closer than usual this year. We at sister community Alakajam! chose to stay on a 3-jams-per-year schedule, and you're welcome to join us for a fun week-end!

It will be held on September 20-22th, and the schedule is as follows:

• The two weeks prior to the jam are dedicated to an original 2-step voting system (Week 1 = submission/voting, Week 2 = shortlist ranking)
• The jam itself lasts 48 hours both for solo & team entrants, with start/end times suited to Europeans (7pm UTC). An underrated unranked category also lets you have a relaxed approach to jamming (you can even work on a long-term project of yours!), while still taking part in the karma/coolness system (= get more feedback the more you rate other games).
• Two weeks of community voting then take place until the winners are crowned :crown:

Feel free to check out the results from our previous jams to get a feel for how things are run. We hope to see you there :smiley:

For the first time in Alakajam's history, we're hosting theme voting at the same time as Ludum Dare :sweat_smile: Our 7th Alakajam is taking place on the September 20-22th week-end, so if you're not available on early October or just feeling on jam spree, you're welcome to join us :)

Our two week theme voting system has just started, and is slightly different compared to LD: * First week is both for theme submission and slaughter * Second week features only the 10 best themes, which people rank from best to last (example from last time) * The remaining themes are then eliminated one by one live on a Twitch stream until the highest rated one remains and the jam starts!

Theme submissions and voting (only good themes pls :stuckouttonguewinkingeye:)

Due to LD's the switch from 3 jams a year to 2, the 7th Alakajam is almost clashing with Ludum Dare this time. The 48 hour jam is held on the September 20-22nd week-end, and we're now in the final phase of theme selection...

...the Shortlist ranking :sunglasses:

Only the top 10 themes (as voted by the community) are now kept, and everyone can choose to rank them in preference order. You can do it here if you're curious. There's also still time to steal them and submit them to LD I guess :smile: