Ludum Dare is about to start

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo

by hoffcoder • 12 years ago

115 27 12 years ago

netcraft2• 12 years ago

I always enjoy watching the streamers during this weekend. Its amazing how much you can learn by just watching someone code. This one snuck up on me, I haven't heard of a lot of streamers this time - does anyone know of any good ones to watch?

munchor• 12 years ago

Just try watching the top viewed ones on Twitch.

Personally, I enjoy watching Ananace, Notch and TheCherno. Oh, and don't forget deepnight (Sebastian Bénard). He has won 3 or more Ludums and I love watching him making them.

flexd• 12 years ago

I was watching Notch coding his christmas santa game in Dart/WebGL the last time, that was fun.

If you try to keep up with what he/the streamer is writing in your own editor you can get a better feeling of how certain things work.

It's like a nice interactive workshop where you get no help and it's hard to keep up.

Lerc2• 12 years ago

I did Ludum Dares 6,7,8,9,10,13,14,15,20,21,24 and 26.

That's a bunch of stuff that I've made that I wouldn't have without the Ludum Dare. It let me explore ideas and learn a lot. I haven't Won a Ludum Dare, nor do I expect to (I got 1st for graphics once) The standard is extremely high.

Here's a sampling of some of mine that play online.

Some Games came out a bit mad http://screamingduck.com/Lerc/LD13.html

Some were insanely hard http://screamingduck.com/Lerc/LD14.html

Some were pretty but otherwise fairly crappy http://fingswotidun.com/Ludum20

This one just about gave every web-browser a hernia http://www.fingswotidun.com/ld21/

And some were, well I don't know what the hell this is, but it was pretty neat. http://www.fingswotidun.com/ld24

TillE• 12 years ago

I've done it twice, and while I like the concept and it was great to get feedback on my game and everything, the themes leave me cold. People vote for the most boring, broadest things. I gave up after "minimalism".

A theme should inspire. It shouldn't just sit there as a framework for you to shove your existing ideas into. I'd love to be prodded into exploring new game mechanics, and LD just doesn't do that for me.

nimblegorilla2• 12 years ago

Minimalism was a great theme and that round had some of the best ludum dare games in my opinion.

On the other hand, I agree that things like "You only get one" are not very inspiring.

FreezerburnV• 12 years ago

Honestly, a theme doesn't have to "inspire" in order for you to be able to explore new game mechanics, or even make something interesting. It is there as a guideline, a limitation in order to bring about real creativity. On top of that, having a prompt to bounce off of helps focus each developer into making something within the short amount of time given. Even the theme "minimalism" could bring about all sorts of interesting games if you give it enough thought. (heck, you could basically do anything you want under that, if you define the theme to mean minimalistic graphics/abstract representations of something in a minimal way. or even minimalistic mechanics that allow for complex puzzles/levels. look a VVVVVV, that could EASILY be a candidate for the minimalism theme, and is a widely popular and acclaimed game)

cvbncvbncgbc• 12 years ago

LD14 has a very innovative mechanic, you should expand on that.

Did you use Box2D in your games?

Lerc2• 12 years ago

No, usually I just wing it and write my own physics during the compo. I've gotten quite quick at throwing together simple verlet physics engines.

w1ntermute• 12 years ago

Any word on whether Notch is participating this time around?

netcraft2• 12 years ago

He just tweeted that he is, but isn't sure if he will stream. https://twitter.com/notch/status/459703644213227520

bluetshirt2• 12 years ago

So when they say "game", do they really mean "video game"?

This is a semantic shift that leaves me uncomfortable.

jameshart• 12 years ago

yes, when video game developers talk about 'games' they generally mean video game. It's a convenient shorthand in their community. Much how when a computer programmer refers to a 'file' they typically mean a 'computer file' rather than a physical one, when an electronic engineer says 'circuit' they mean an electrical circuit rather than a racing circuit.

zevyoura• 12 years ago

Actually, there's nothing in the rules that limits the competition to video games; I wouldn't be surprised if people had created print & play physical games for previous LDs.

quill182• 12 years ago

People have in fact done so.

bluetshirt2• 12 years ago

References to "source code" apply only to video games.

gagege2• 12 years ago

Are games not a subset of video games?

edited: the word "video" next to the first games

Kiro• 12 years ago

Is that supposed to be an infinite loop?

Rusky• 12 years ago

I've enjoyed doing short game dev competitions many times before but I've never done LD. I'm planning on live streaming it this time if anyone's interested: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2014/04/25/im-in-with-a-live-...

bayesianhorse• 12 years ago

I sometimes think that it would be nice to know the theme in advance to know if you want to spend two days on this.

The idea behind the theme revelation is to prevent cheating, but then again there is no cheating protection beyond a code of honor anyway. I've seen tons of games in LD that only barely fulfilled the theme.

quill182• 12 years ago

If you have any interest at all in game programming, I highly recommend that you participate. It's invigorating to have a fixed deadline that forces you to actually FINISH game instead of just add to a heap of incomplete ideas.

This is going to be my 8th time participating, and I'll be livestreaming the whole thing -- which to me is at least 80% of the fun. It helps that I have a large audience to keep me motivated (I'm not Notch, but I am a YouTuber).

Ludum Dare is about to start

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