Caverns! I love it! Let’s rock!

If you’re thinking about participating, you might want to read these survival guides (of varying degrees of seriousness).

Sol_HSA’s Ludum Dare Survival Guide
MrFun’s Survival Guide
GBGames’ Survival Tips

Also, make sure you make an account on the WordPress blog so you can post in-progress reports and screenshots. As well as what you’re eating (hey, there’s a “food” category; if you can’t win with your game you can win with your delectable recipes).

And finally, you must join us on IRC!

Um…I don’t mean “must” as in “you can’t enter unless you do”; I just mean “must” as in “you’ll miss out on half the fun”.

See you guys in three hours!

Yep, “Kittens” scored a miserable -82. The winners of Round 2 were Connections, Clouds, Evolution and (with a score of 0) Glow in the Dark. I’m still leaning towards Burrowing, since I know just what kind of game I’d make with that one.

Thankfully, “Educational” ended up at the bottom of the list, with a score of -82.

Unfortunately, “Ages 5 and Up” ended up not much higher, with a -71.

The winners from Round 1 were: Burrowing, Caverns, Castle, Cold and Frozen, Winds and (just barely) Recycling. Not bad.

I’m disappointed to discover that “Kittens”, which is in the current round of voting, is one of the classic “joke” themes that never win.

Thanks to subscribing to a convenient mailing list I actually know about Ludum Dare 15 before it starts! Incredibar! Will I be competing?

Hmmm…I think it may depend on the theme. There are some real gems in there but also some real turkeys…if “Educational” wins I’m not going to bother. On the other hand, “Ages 5 and Up” sounds fun, as do “Castles”, “Caverns” and “Flying Dragons” (heck, you could combine all three).

I think I need to refine my working platform a bit and write some tools in order to be ready to meet the deadline; of course DrPetter‘s Musagi, SFXR and CherryBrush tools are indispensible for creating content quickly. Now, if only I knew how to use them better…

Edit: It looks like DrPetter’s site is down for the count (it was a university site) but most of this stuff is available at the TIGSource links provided.

Here’s a time lapse of my desktop as I competed in Ludum Dare 11.

I know, the screenshots got cropped. The program I was using to grab them wasn’t grabbing the whole screen. Sorry about that.

And yes, there’s a whole lot of downtime in there. I’m married and I have three kids. My wife made a pithy comment about my participation, which you can see in the video.

You can download a higher-quality version here.

I am so weary now. But it’s the weariness of VICTOLY!

I lost about four hours this afternoon because of family obligations; I kind of assumed that it was over for me after that. But when I managed to get back to my computer I hunkered down and finished what I started, adding very few new features – and it seems to have turned out okay.

Download it here. Game and source are included.

Did Viridian bite off more than he can chew again? OF COURSE HE DID!

Frankly, I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish. Using treasures in rooms requires a tag system and I don’t know if I can finish one and get all the tags on the map and debug them in eight hours. At the very least, I should have a complete game where you run around killing monsters and getting treasures…but I wanted so much more.

Despite many distractions, I now have a castle map that you can walk around in. Monsters spawn and will chase you (but don’t hurt you yet). You can outrun monsters and they’ll lose aggro.

Now I need treasures and puzzles. Puzzles will require a tag system and frankly that scares me. I now have 22:30 left…can I finish in time?! Tune in for the exciting conclusion! (Excitement not guaranteed.)