Ludum Dare 27 this Weekend

I'm attempting to throw together a game for the 27th Ludum Dare game competition this weekend. I'll be posting updates over here if you want a closer look.

The theme is "10 seconds", and I think I have a decent idea in my head, but I know I'm going to have to compromise to implement it. At the end of the competition I'm sure I'll have something to show though, and I've already learned plenty of lessons on how to do something like this in the last few hours of coding.

I'll post my game back on this blog at the end of it, and hopefully I'll release a sort of boilerplate project for similar games on Github as well.

Update Post-Compo

Finished a game! Next time I'll be doing a ton of things differently and hopefully building something a bit longer, but I'm still very proud of successfully completing the competition. Play it live here or check out the submission on Ludum Dare here.

Also, below I've reposted my Ludum Dare blog posts from during the competition.


Ludum Dare Blog Repost

Waking Up in Beijing Ready to Go

Friday, August 23rd, 2013 6:32 pm

This is a nice time to start for China’s time zone, 9am and ready to go. Brainstorming about “10 seconds” and then I expect to spend the day coding.

I’ll be going the HTML5 route and using…

  • Coffeescript
  • Grunt/Yeoman
  • Audacity, and maybe a mic and guitar for audio
  • Gimp and a steady mouse hand for graphics

Not the fanciest setup but it will work for what will be my first Ludum Dare. Good luck to everyone.

My Biggest Mistake So Far

Saturday, August 24th, 2013 3:09 am

I really should have gotten a lot more boilerplate code prepared before the contest started. Way too much of today was spent just setting up the most basic stuff and not on actually implementing my ideas. I’m heading home for a dinner break now with a decent start on the core of my game’s gameplay, but I could be so much further.

At the end of the competition, even if I don’t have a good game, I’ll be sure to wrap up an html5 game boilerplate project to post and use for next time!

Slow Progress, but Progress

Saturday, August 24th, 2013 10:08 am

Things are coming along and getting to the fun part after my slow start, but I’m still feeling far behind. I have one lingering performance problem that I really should have figured out before even starting the competition. My concentration has been dwindling for the night as I think about heading to sleep, but I actually just was able to finish a mechanic I had been trying to implement, so I feel like I earned some sleep.

Tomorrow I hope to be working much more on adding content. I’ll be up early and back on it soon.

(Very) Minimum Viable Product

Sunday, August 25th, 2013 9:47 am

My graphics are choppy, there is no sound, and the game is only a few minutes long at best, but it is a game. Unfortunately, this is how my submission will pretty much end up looking like. It’s 12:30am in China, and I have too much to do tomorrow to stay up all night.

Despite all my unfinished ideas for the game’s content, I feel strangely proud of my game. This is my first Ludum Dare and one of the first real games I’ve made, and it’s been a lot of fun. I hope to be making a lot more (and expanding on this one!), and next time can only be better.

I’ll be waking up a bit before the deadline tomorrow to submit and poke around at a few things. If only Grunt would quit giving me problems…

Submitted

Sunday, August 25th, 2013 5:58 pm

Part of me wants to fill this post with excuses for why my game is only a minute or so long, or why it’s glitchy, or the bugs… But I also feel incredibly accomplished for submitting an actual game, on time. I really like the idea behind my game, and I hope to flesh it out a bit more in the future. And for the next Ludum Dare, I’m going to be so much more prepared.

I’m excited (and a little embarrassed) to see everyone else’s games and start voting, but now time to run to work! Thanks for a great Ludum Dare.