Nooo! How dare you be Wednesday already Time! I’m not ready yet! Noooo!

It’s all your fault Time! Blamed is you!

You guys and your impromptu compos.

From the mailing list:

Hey,

It’s time for some more game compo good times! The compo is going to be on the weekend of Feb. 23rd. Since it’s a warm-up, there won’t be exact start and end times, just show up and have fun! Theme voting will be on the website prior to the compo.

Join #ludumdare on irc.afternet.org
www.imitationpickles.org/ludum/

Hope to see you there!

-Phil

I’ll be back soon. I’m just trying to minimize my distractions for the next week or so.

Start the year right ‘eh? I think each year I’ve had a blog, I’ve told myself “Yes sir! This year we’re going to blog more often… and it’s going to be great!”. I’m not crazy enough to think that’s going to happen, but there’s always the intent. - - - - Some [...]

Thanks everyone for coming out and making Ludum Dare 10 a great success. A fitting close the fifth year of of the compo.

If you haven’t seen it yet, the results can be found here. Final entries can be found here.

Now, as much as we’d love everyone to idle with us in #ludumdare until April, we understand this isn’t practical for everyone. So, in addition, we have a mailing list at gamecompo.com.

To subscribe, e-mail: gamecompo-subscribe@sykhronics.com

To unsubscribe, e-mail: gamecompo-unsubscribe@sykhronics.com

And when in doubt, hit up ludumdare.com.

- - -

Now, unlike prior years, we’ve tried to make it clear that the next compo will be in April. Anyone that’s stayed up with our shenanigans will know April is our magic month, the anniversary of the first Ludum Dare compo (the original 24 hour compo in 2002). If there’s one tradition we’ve kept over the years, it’s been holding a compo in April. Be it organized a month in advance, or pulled together last minute.

So the first order of business is to pick a weekend in April to hold the compo. I’m not looking for suggestions per se, but reasons to include or exclude a specific day. Our options include:

• April 4th-6th Weekend
• April 11th-13th Weekend
• April 18th-20th Weekend
• April 25th-27th Weekend

Ideally, we like to plan around such things as Game Industry events (GDC, E3, Game Connection, etc), Exam season (we love you students), national holidays, or any such event that either hinders or benefits the majorities chance to participate.

- - -

And in final, if you have any comments, suggestions or feedback for us, please do share them. Ludum Dare is and has always been about the community. Without you all, we’d just be an IRC channel.

Thanks again everyone, and have a great 2008.

Well, this started as a clever idea.

One of those drinking birds, with a pelican beak, drinking from a trophy. Alas, it really looked terrible, so I hacked it somewhat, creating this slightly more carnivorous scenario.

The idea was to use something iconic embossed on a medal.

It’s still early, but it’s usable. Get ready for sfxrVst.

Windows (32bit): sfxrVst - pre release 0.2

Any feedback, confirmations that it works with your host would be appreciated.

Notes:

• The interface is not yet ported, but most VST hosts support interfaceless VST’s. All parameters should be tweakable just like in the sfxr interface. Magic instruments and Load/Save buttons coming.
• Start Frequency (Freq) parameter disabled (midi pitch takes it’s place).
• Volume parameter isn’t functional.
• Using a small decay sometimes creates a hum sound where the note should have ended. That’s a bug.

History:

Windows (All notes same Freq): sfxrVst - pre release 0.1

I’m not sure if I grossly overestimated my available time, or just wanted to do it right, but I’m certainly not going to be done by the deadline. I knew this a couple hours ago, and decided to work on things that will help me after the compo ends.

I’ve been taking all kinds of notes, and doodling many pictures. I could have probably got the mechanics working correctly by the deadline (with a keyboard based control scheme), but I wasn’t going to have time to build a level. Man, a general purpose level editor would have been sooooo nice. ;D

So instead, I’ve continued on the game as if I entered a compo that ends monday or tuesday.

Rather than going out posting nothing, I decided to whip up a mockup, to see if my thoughts on paper would work. So in closing, here’s the mockup image.

The idea of the game is you control this block mass. You (automatically) walk towards other blocks and add them to your mass. You don’t jump, but can pivot yourself at any block in your body (similar to a Tetris block rotation).

Legs sprout on the lower parts of your body to give you momentum (purely visual). The face goes on whatever side the of direction you are facing. The art look I wanted was one where everything was very rigid, made of rectangles. The mockup demonstrates that well enough. I wanted trees and little bushes in the mockup as well, but I wanted the collision to be a little more obvious in this mockup.

So that’s what I was/am working on. Hopefully I can put another day or two on it, and get it somewhat playable (I have my doubts I’ll get legs working, so it’ll just hover). I’ll post it as a “post compo” game if I do.

Thanks everybody for a great compo. See y’all again in April.

Top of the mornin’.

Time for some breakfast.  I’m thinking, cereal.  Sugar cereal.  That stuffs got the magic to start my day right.

Oh dear.

It’s getting tight. 16 hours to go, and I’d like some sleep tonight. I’ll try to set my alarm to get 5 hours, ’cause I’m gonna need as much time as I can take.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m going to have enough time to do any art or sound, but I should still make playable.

I just finished up a vitally important class, the guts I need to get the rotation mechanics working clean and stable. I’m actually surprised I hadn’t thought of it before the compo, but that’s what’s great about LD.

A 2D grid class.

Sure, sounds easy enough, but that’s until you want it dynamically resize able, resizing alignments (centered and/or edges), merging of grids (generating new grids that contain 2 grids), Grid merge blending (color zero style), rotation, mirroring, and element counting. And you want it made in 48 hours with a game from scratch.

So anyways, now I have a nice clean way to implement the rotation mechanics.

So after some sleep, I’ll have 8-12 hours to make it a game. I am concerned, as I haven’t yet got to start my mouse input code, or any minimalistic gui features (buttons). Off hand it sounds easy, but in 8 hours with everything else?

Even if I don’t make playable by the deadline, there’s a good chance I’ll still finish one. I think this concept has a lot of potential, and I’d love to see it through.

To sleep I go!

Yee haw.  Finally got the physics working.  It’s pretty simple stuff.  Axis aligned bounding boxes, with a verlet/relaxation based solver.  As far as my concept is concerned, the shapes should all be axis align.  Otherwise, your multi block monstrosities would fall over in most configurations.  On to the screen shot.

Next up… I don’t know yet.  I might run out for some groceries (I hear there’s a no tax sale at “Super Stores” this weekend, 5-11PM).  That should give me time to think.

It’s as if I’m here just to post food photos.

This delight comes to you all the way from India… assuming India was in Canada. Authentic or not, I’d go as far as to say this is the tastiest Butter Chicken I’ve ever eaten. I keep a couple of these in my freezer at all times, for just the right occasion (i.e. dinner).

And a surprising good contrast, Red Rave. The Costco cheap Red Bull clone. I actually like it better than real Red Bull. It’s sweeter, or something.

And a fork. I shouldn’t have to explain to you what that’s for.

I’m heading out for breakfast with my parents, and photographing that might seem a little awkward. So I bring you the next best thing. Remains of the shave.

This is Ludum Dare people. You gotta look your best as you stare in to that computer monitor. Somebody might be watching…

I think I found a concept I like. I’m currently calling it “Pillar”, as in a pillar/tower, and caterpillar. Here’s some concept art.

A character composed of blocks, that acquires new blocks as he moves. The controls I haven’t figured out entirely, but at the very least I think it’ll be based around the idea of picking a block on the character as a pivot point, and rotating him.  Probably constanly moving, walking in to walls, until told to turn around (or automatic after a few seconds).

As blocks are collected, they become part of him, evolving in to Tetris like shapes and beyond. The rotating mechanic is your ability to get to new heights, and cross gaps. Physics wise, I think it’ll be entirely axis aligned, since it’ll be far too easy to make shapes that couldn’t normally keep balance.  Legs would sprout wherever needed, purely for look cohesiveness.  Face always moves to the front middle of the shape.  Perhaps tails and other things sprout if a shape deems it.

My only concern at this point is trying to figure out, level design wise, why you wouldn’t want to always create a long piece.

Corndoggin.

I’m embarrassed to say, I forgot to add Pineapple.  So much for a signature food item.

‘cmon coders. You’ve got crazy book collections. Bring it.

Some of us have decided to document the meals that make a game in 48 hours. I’m starting. 5 hours prior to the compo start time, dinner.

As you can see here, I enjoyed some leftover Pizza (Pepperoni, Bacon, and Pineapple). Reheated in the Microwave for about a minute, then in the toaster over to “re crisp” it.

To make it more intense, I added a slice of pineapple, a creamy garlic dip (Pizza Pizza), and surrounded it with a choice of hot sauces. It should be pretty obvious which sauce I like.

It’s that time again.  Counting down as we are, it’s time to see what madness each of will be doing our villainy in.

And the Fridge.

To be clear, we are ready with Caffeinated drinks.  That, and canned Pineapple, leftover pizza, tomato sauce and yogurt.

Tomorrow is the big day people. Yee haw.

Assuming I get around to entering, there’s a good chance I’ll be using this as my foundation, with Allegro.

My “Custom” Library

It’s a collection of header files and code, commonly found in my more recent prototypes. C++.

• A vector math/matrix library, plus some other math tools. Partially documented!
• A set of functions for drawing circles, lines, and rectangles with Allegro, transformed by a matrix.
• A collection of string functions to compliment STL String. Mostly for filename manipulations (get the base name, directory only, etc).
• Class building tools (including the “useful” part of Boost)
• FileIO with Compression (LZMA, BZIP, ZLIB)

And that’s that.

Yeah, sorry. I wanted to do detailed commentary of The Spider stuffs, the in between stuff, and get in to the new PuffBOMB stuff, but it looks like it didn’t happen. I wrote an outline and drafted a couple parts, but I wasn’t happy with the results. “New PuffBOMB” has been down to just [...]

Ludum Dare #10, December 14th-16th 2007. Make a game in 48 hours. Updated rules, after all these years. If Geoff doesn’t have the site functional by the start time, Phil Hassey’s hosting. For the latest, see: http://www.imitationpickles.org/ludum/ Also, if you’ve entered a previous compo, do stop by and add your game to the blog.

I hate “I’m still here” posts, but I still feel I owe something. Blame thinking too much, and being busy. I do.  A drunk rabbit, just for you.

Ludum Dare #3, theme Preparation. My game, PuffBOMB. Propel a hamster character to an end zone using bombs. Incredible Machine with explosives, burning, and screaming. :). The original compo version, unfortunately, featured only 2 levels.

PuffBOMB scored a Silver for sound, and came in 5th place for fun.

Download: Original compo version

After the compo, I continued to work on the game over a couple weekends, adding 10 actual levels to the game. Also, adding custom level support, due to Stephen Stair offering to build a level editor. The game was later featured on several on several game magazine coverdisks.

Download: Post compo version (0.8)

Eventually, in 2005, I went ahead and fancied up the original game for submission to the IGF and Slamdance competitions. Changed the graphics dramatically, toyed with some graphical effects like a cartoony fire effect, white outlining effect, and so on. Added a proper menu, and ported the game to the Mac.

PuffBOMB was a finalist for the “Popcap Casual Game Award” at Slamdance 2006.

Download: Windows, MacOS X

Today, development continues on the so called “super remake” of the game.