Tag «Mini Ludum Dare»

Mini Ludum Dare 37, a not-game jam (part 2)

This is the continuation of my homage to all the games made in the Mini Ludum Dare 37. I made (nearly) all of the screenshots myself! Missed the first part? Click here.

Featheriness Knight Simulator, by derevensky: Swing your sword and kill those skulls ... in SPACE!

Ideas, by bodseay: Hey guys, listen! Hey! Guys! Listen! Guys! I got ideas! I could build a hut! Or dig a hole! Or kill someone!

JoyBringer, by Patacorow: Jump around, collect colors and make people happy. Because 50 shades of grey are dull and colors aren't.

Little Stories, by Falkreon: Be some kind of God and use all your powers: changing the world's variables AND lighting the streetlamps!

Loss of Control, by Jeremias: You can't do anything in this one, but this you can do on a high level.

Mars Miner, by figman123456: Clicking on the Mars until there is no more Mars!

Model of the Solar System, by Phoenix_Incorporated: For this not-game I learned how to make a screenshot on a Mac. And that outer space is pretty big.

The Modeleum, by ratking: Yup, it's my entry. Walk around and have a blast.

Not Boardgame, by ratqueen: Jana's entry! It's some kind of advanced tic-tac-toe or rock-paper-scissors for two players.

Phlowers, by keppinakki: Hate flowers? This is the not-game for you. Be pollution and get rid of the little bastards!

Physics Rules, by Manoloko: A not-game for the physics engine enthusiast. Find out how a sphere with negative gravity and high elasticity behaves in a box!

Roloc, by bentoc: It may be an endless straight hallway, but still try to not get lost, okay?

Unfinished Work, by Rolph: Every life simulator where you can jump from the roof to end it is an accurate simulator. Even when it's not finished.

Waiting 2: Deterioration boogaloo, by limbster: Man, I really waited WEEKS until this game was submitted!

Wire, by Loyalty: Suddenly the world is a TRON-like wireframe. Hint: It's all blue lines.

Ludum Dare Client, by Jorjon: I got this to work with a little bit of help from amodo. The #ludumdare on AfterNET, accurately visualized with retro pixel graphics!

Instant Gratification, by Jezzamon: As long as the buffer doesn't overrun, don't walk to the left.

Jump!, by Sheep: For me, this isn't any different to almost any platformer I know.

Let nothing wear you down, by Ditto: Enchantingly suicidal.

MEMEME, by ThomasRyder: Much better and more memorable than anything the face generators from Oblivion or Skyrim can create.

I'm tired now, but the last part of the series is coming soon!

Mini Ludum Dare 37, a not-game jam (part 1)

Last month, which means 2012's September, it was up to me to host the "Mini Ludum Dare" - the 37th installment of this relaxed little game jam. As I love Ludum Dare and the community it surrounds I signed up as a MiniLD host at least a year in advance. And suddenly, it happened! I chose the theme "Not-Game" (as I also love irony) and wrote a lengthy announcement post, so people would know what not-games even are. The secondary theme "Real Real-Time" was meant as much as an alternative for those who hate not doing games, as it was also another kind of food for thought.

I'm proud to be able to report that a whopping number of 54 (not-)games were submitted, with only two of the entries not being related to the themes in any way, this one and that one. The entries are very diverse - some are sophisticated and clever, some are neat, and only a few are just jokes which mock the theme (which I don't mind).

My own entry is a 3D model viewer. To make it more enjoyable, the 3D models are presented in a very game-similar environment, but ultimately it's just a random-generated museum. I call it "The Modeleum", and you can submit your own OBJ models, if you want. In the beginning I wanted to create some kind of a "internet visualizer" which would present images and links of a website in a gallery-like 3D environment - unfortunately, getting the pictures from a site which is more than just a simple HTML document proved to be quite tricky (and not much fun to do).

Jana submitted a two-player board game named "The Bored Game", and I can honestly tell that it's fun to play despite (or because of) its obvious simplicity. All you need to play it are the rules and some colored cards (or a printer).

Now following is the first batch of games and not-games that were submitted. The order is random-ish, because this is not about quality or popularity!

A Bad Day On The Toilet, by Thurig: You sit on a toilet and all you want is to take a dump. But you have the totally funny Crohn's Disease and now it becomes a live-threatening adventure!

A New World, by plule: The daily work can be very relaxing, if all you have to do is staring at a screen staring at a screen starting at a screen staring at a screen staring at a screen staring at a screen

Adrift - A realtime castaway simulator, by Tyen: Don't get seasick! You stand on a boat and watch the sky. Doesn't really need more!

Alternet, by Jedi: Everyone can participate - a multiplayer sandbox with randomized Wikipedia textures. It's a big world to explore, and can get bigger!

Bus Stop, by Connors: You sit on a bench. You wait for the bus. Minutes later, the bus comes. You get on the bus. I don't know what happens if you don't enter it!

Conway's Game Of Life on Arduino - anachrocomputer: You need a Nokia display for this one - and an Arduino!

Cube Mark, by Arowx: A lot of cubes pop up, until your computer slows down. Then: a number appears!

Dot, by Gallefray: Can you hear it clickin'?

Escape!, by fr-automatik: Wait, this is the wrong Ludum Dare! But, oh well, it fits nicely. A man in a prison, and a lot of opportunities to get out.

Game Developer Life, by Jacic: This thing contains nothing but pure truth: everybody hates your games. (Okay, now and then your mom should appear and say that she loves it even though she doesn't know what it is.)

GTFTSTG - Go the Fuck to Sleep the (not) Game, by aquasheep:  This is a benchmark for how much you're qualified to be a parent.

Hello World, by timgarbos: Please leave a message after the *beep* ... - well, I created the one behind that thing! Search for it! A moving capsule in a cube world - usually the first thing you do in every Unity project, but this time it's actually pure enjoyment.

Math Pet, by dem0: I think I should feed it. But why the hell does it want me to calculate 123*456? I'm not the one sitting in a computer!

A Grid With Some Adventure In, by Norgg: Well, it is a grid, with some adventure in. (But only if you actually type in something adventurous.)

Chameleon, by Tempest: Quick, open your colored pencil box! A new way to use your good old webcam.

That's it for now! Rest comes later!

Ludum Dare 24 and Mini Ludum Dare 37

The voting results for the big Ludum Dare 24 are in! The theme was the long awaited "Evolution", and together (which means Jana, Björn and me) we created a game that could be described as the evolution of Shodan or a similar evil AI. In our entry kernel exception you start with two robots (and a security cam) and try to get in control of a whole randomly generated space station by hacking and zombifying its inhabitants.

After the more or less disappointing results  for my last Ludum Dare game, Wunderworld, I'm quite happy about the average ratings for our team effort: out of exactly 400 entries for the jam, we are #15 overall, and even cooler, #12 in the graphics category (which is kinda what we hoped for, as our team had two artists).

It was also nice to get mentioned on superlevel.de as one of 73 memorable games.

But wait, there's more!

Right after the results were published, the Mini Ludum Dare 37 started - and this time I am the one doing the hosting. A lot of thinking went into the theme, and therefore there are two: Not-Games is the main theme, and for everybody who doesn't like simulators / serious games / art games, I created the alternative theme Real Real-Time (which means that your entry should depend on the real time outside the computer).

The main reason why I chose those themes was the urge to trigger people to do more unusual games, at least more unusual than usual. Something to make people thinking outside the box. Not-games are a nice way to think about the rigid definitions of what we believe games are and should be, and if there should be rules regarding game design at all. The real-time thing is another direction in this regard.

I hope to see some exciting entries for this Mini Ludum Dare, and I surely will write about them here on our blog!

The Grumpy Jump Stigma

Since the founding of our little business we're pursued by a stigma. Probably everybody knows this problem: A failed project, which follows you every game design discussion and questions all of the great ideas you have.

Those of you attentively following our news on this blog and Facebook may know the project called “Grumpy Jump”. Friedrich made a game called “1930” for Mini Ludum Dare #23 and we decided to make a full game out of it for iPhone/iPad.


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After the first post you have never heard anything about the “Grumpy-what?” again, haven't you?

The calculation is easy. You “just” take a working game concept made for a contest and complete it by filling it with more and better levels. Zing, instant success! Especially with a cross-platform engine like Unity3D. Also, the idea behind “1930” was very simple so it should take two months at most to transform it into “Grumpy Jump”.
We are always very accurate and planned this game with a design document, added some more features, more themes, story and some sense of humor. We have a concept - the work can start!

Late in the process, we unfortunately recognized that this wasn't the game we loved to make ...

How could this happen? On the one hand there is the project you might think the platform's users are looking for – and on the other hand there is the game you'd love to develop. Of course we are free, independent, passionate – we do what we want! But there is also the wish to actually make a living from game development. And in favor of this goal an analysis of the platform is needed.

The iPhone looks like a great choice for indies:

  • Everybody can join, after paying that little fee of €79/$99.
  • You can develop for every category from finance till gaming.
  • The platform is very widespread (particularly in the U.S.), but of course totally popular in Europe, too.
  • If you plan well a small team can create a nice app that corresponds to the price customers pay.
  • The iPhone is a great console for innovative gaming because of the touch screen, accelerometer, camera and GPS.

These were my arguments for the iPhone. Some of them turned out to be true, others I recognized to be just my vision but not reality. So let's think about the people having an iPhone. The main users love it for style, usability and all the new functions a smartphone presents.

As a mobile platform you can assume that people ...

  • … don't have the leisure to intensively deal with your game. Playing happens in little breaks while being in the bus, to pass the time or just doodle around.
  • … are also new to gaming and the confrontation with complex concepts over-strain their time/ attention span/ grasp.
  • … mostly prefer mainstream graphics, which means cute, colorful and friendly graphics
  • … have a high quality pretension.

All that in mind we decided to concentrate on the target group. We never wanted to be mainstream, and if you take a look at our old projects you understand what I mean. We love to try unconventional games with reduced colors and strange characters. But those projects were prototypes only: We planned what we wanted, because we just needed to show the ideas of style, gameplay and characterdesign (e.g. for university courses).

Omerta Screenshot

Über Leben und Sterben Screenshot

“Grumpy Jump” was the first game we wanted to finalize for selling. But Grumpy wasn't even fun to play at all. What happened?

It went like every project you neglect. With no motivation and no passion it gets harder every day to constantly work on it. In the end, the game should have needed less than two months to create but still wasn't finished by any means! That the stuff you have to do in order to found a company takes away time from producing games didn't help either.

Then there was the Seven Day Roguelike Challenge we wanted to take part in: “Just one little week interrupting our real project! After this week we will go on developing our mainstream, colorful, funny product!”. But in this week we thankfully recognized (or better: rediscovered) which kind of projects we love to do. How games have to be (considering time, team and abilities). That it's not right to bend yourself just to please a target group you don't even really know. And so we decided – with a heavy heart – to stop developing a game we worked on for about two months.

It's very hard to stop a project, especially your first commercial one, and admit a failure. But to finish something, come hell or high water, is stupid, too. Now every project gets compared to “Grumpy Jump”: Do we love the game and its mechanics? Is it fun?!
My advices (they seem obvious, but when concentrating on development you might forget about them, just like us):

  • Play the game as much as you can.
  • Use agile project management and only implement new stuff when the old/current features are working.
  • Never do a gameplay or style you don't like, everybody will feel that it's not your passion.
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