Hey! 2014! Year 12! It’s Ludum Dare time! Woo!
Final Round Theme Voting has begun! The highest rated themes from Rounds 1-4 have been collected here for the Final Grand Theme Battle! Who will be victorious? You decide!
Yeah! Final Round!
Keynote
Keynoting Ludum Dare 29 is Eniko, telling her story of Ludum Dareness.
Watch for guest appearances by Crowbeak, Benn, and Sheepolution.
Dare I say: Have an amazing weekend everyone!
Tags: keynote
Ludum Dare changed my life for sure. Back around Ludum Dare 24, I was hitting a pretty bad pocket of depression (and I still deal with it today) and was contemplating my own self-worth. Participating in Ludum Dare back then saved my life, literally and metaphorically and I’ve been doing it since then.
I wrote a post here awhile about it that’s here:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/08/06/methinks-permalinks/
This is my first time on LD, I’ve heard of it before, never really thought about getting into it.
But if LD really helps people like you bro, then I want to help you 2, and go through it with people like you – real people, doing real stuff, enjoying this awesome event together!
And remember – not only there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s when the darkest hours are upon us – that’s when it’s most reachable.
Stay cool
I’m going out to the store right now to get sunscreen. Thanks for the reminder.
Great video.
I now feel the need to do this Ludum Dare completely from a boat.
Jordanfitz sucks!!!
or a bath tub
For me, LD is basically a vacation. Hugely excited and totally looking forward to it!
I love everyone of those themes!
I like getting caught off guard and ending up with a theme that I dislike. It forces me to think deeper and be more creative…
Hum yah, I kinda dislike all those themes…
Yep this time, themes are not so bad, I think we all worked pretty well on Slaughting !
Yes! Well slaughtered guys!
I’m going to sit here for the next two days, despondent that it hasn’t started yet (;
Horrible themes as always.
“Deep Space” being the only one that is actually a theme, and not some meaningless buzzword or forced on game mechanic.
Absolutely. I upvoted beneath the surface too because it has a possibility for abstraction but most of the rest is just garbage. I think though these are the absolute worst
Death is Useful -> Everyone make puzzles where your corpse stays; I wouldn’t blame them, that’s a shit theme
Day and Night -> Everyone make a minecraft/terraria clone
Glitch -> How is this supposed to be a game theme
It’s NOT supposed to do that -> Lots of games when shooting backfires and stuff, boring and obnoxious
I’m sure people will get more creative that that
My ideas for those four themes are completely different from what you have.
That’s quite the pessimistic, defeatist attitude you have there.
i think people will be more creative than you think (well i hope they will be anyhoot heh)
‘deep space’ .. can u imagine trolling through hundreds of ‘space’ games ?
i dont find that very appealing ;p
I actually suggested “Phobia” as a theme but it got slaughtered. Personally I think that’s a good theme that people can make a mechanic/art/narrative/anything they like-oriented game and there’s a plus that if you have a phobia, the game can get really personal. But oh well if people think pepsi consultant is a decent theme, what can I do?
im afraid of loosing all my lives
boom any game ever made
hahahaha that’s clever
Death is useful: I don’t know yet, but I was thinking of some thing where you are a vulture flying above a warzone, and you’d have to avoid stray bullets and then eat corpses.
Day and night: Come on. Day and night cycles start with minecraft? I guarentee, that’s not going to happen. I think much more likely will be vampire games, games where people have alter egos, or games where you control the day and the night.
Glitch: Well, I wanted to do a game where all the data for the characters was stored on a stack, and getting hit by enemies would flip various bits, which could cause your image to corrupt, or you to go shooting into the air, or whatever. It’s a wide open prompt that has been used in literature a ton. (See, matrix, anybody?)
It’s not supposed to do that, I honestly don’t have an idea for. I guess it just doesn’t suggest game mechanics to me, but if need be, I’d probably do a game where you can hack the enemies or something. I agree, I don’t know about this one.
But seriously, be less pessimistic.
Yeah, and all the games for “10 seconds” were WarioWare, right?
Also, just because YOU don’t like a theme and/or have no creative ideas for it, doesn’t mean that applies to all of us.
If you’d drop that negative attitude though, I’m sure you’d find more good ideas yourself:
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2014/04/23/the-theme-is-awful-everything-is-ruined-forever
Interesting. Using the corpse of the player as part of the puzzle. Didn’t actually think of that.
Or what about a Chess game where when a piece is killed, it remains on the board as rubble, and you can’t use that space anymore? I’m having second thoughts on this theme idea, liking it more now.
A theme is just a tool to get the gears spinning, after that, any theme can turn into a ton of awesome games.
There are different categories of themes, the setting category (space, castles, different ages, places) which might be nice to people who want to design worlds, the gameplay restriction category (for some reasons my favorite, you could do all kind of weird stuff with “it’s not supposed to do that”, could be the most inventive themes) and also rendering categories (glitch, contrast) where you design again worlds but with a rendering element in mind. Could be interesting too.
Ha! That’s funny… I looked at the final round and went “Wow, all of these are excellent themes for a change… except for ‘deep space’ which is a setting, not a theme”. I always hate the themes that strongly imply a mechanic (errgh, 10 seconds, you only get one) – and think “deep space” COULD be a good theme but know what it really means is that we’d have 2000 “Endless runner… in space! Platformer… in space! Unity fps… in space!”s.
You speak my mind.
♥♥♥
I totally agree with you man.
At the university or at work there are always limits for games I make and I think thats really annoying. I see ludum dare as a way to have fun and well, if themes start being all that mechanic-limiting I kinda lose the desire to participate.
I also agree 100% with oxysoft.
The only ones that force you to use a mechanic are Control More Than One, Death is Useful. Every other one could make almost any type of game. Beneath the surface, you wanna do an FPS? Alright, deep-sea divers punching giant squid underwater, or something. Or a caving game. Or something where you go inside people’s minds or something. It really is limitless.
I usually hate the themes, but actually these seem pretty good. I like a theme that suggests mechanics but does not limit them. Some past themes really pissed me off because even if I could have subverted it somehow they demotivated me from being free. Most of these themes feel more like springboards than a box you have to fit in.
Yes, there are some too-obvious ideas that you can have a knee-jerk inspiration for – but dig a little deeper and there is a lot of potential.
This is why my favorite theme is “we must go deeper”. You have to go deeper to come up with something that doesn’t involve Balrog’s
But you can go deeper. You can always go deeper.
If you’re having troubles getting ideas maybe check out a dictionary or a thesaurus.
Those words may have meaning beyond what you’re familiar with.
For example, deep as an adjective:
1. extending or situated relatively far down from a surface: a deep pool
2. extending or situated relatively far inwards, backwards, or sideways: a deep border of trees
3. cricket relatively far from the pitch: the deep field ; deep third man
4. a. ( postpositive ) of a specified dimension downwards, inwards, or backwards: six feet deep
b. ( in combination ): a six-foot-deep trench
5. coming from or penetrating to a great depth: a deep breath
6. difficult to understand or penetrate; abstruse
7. learned or intellectually demanding: a deep discussion
8. of great intensity; extreme: deep happiness ; deep trouble
9. absorbed or enveloped (by); engrossed or immersed (in): deep in study ; deep in debt
10. very cunning or crafty; devious: a deep plot
11. mysterious or obscure: a deep secret
12. (of a colour) having an intense or dark hue
13. low in pitch or tone: a deep voice
14. informal go off the deep end
a. to lose one’s temper; react angrily
b. chiefly ( US ) to act rashly
I’m disappointed that Pepsi Consultant didn’t come back in the final round for one last scare :/
Yup, I feel the same way
*pours one out for Pepsi Consultant. You can probably guess which drink.*
Coca-Cola.
Quick question:
Can I use existing CC0 art for compo? Or do I have to do art in those 48 hours by myself?
You have to do all art yourself for the compo.
Themes, as ordered by pre-round scoring.
Break the Rules(+406)
Beneath the Surface (+362)
Everything is Connected (+248)
We Must Go Deeper (+176)
You Are Your Own Enemy (+170)
Deep Space (+165)
You Are The World (+115)
Isolation (+103)
It’s NOT supposed to do THAT! (+70)
Death is Useful (+16)
Contrast (+14)
Night and Day (+13)
Generations (+11)
Time Does Not Exist (+10)
Ruins (-39)
Everything Breaks (-54)
Control More Than One (-80)
Two Worlds (-82)
It Never Ends (-89)
Glitch (-94)
Please not Break the Rules. Otherwise next week is just reading a set of rules and not obeying them. I have spent many an hour thinking about another way of doing Break the Rules to no avail.
just break the rules,
and use another theme you like
Done. That is the way to do it.
I hope its not break the rules either, IMO its hard to break the rules that you make up out of thin air in a unlimited “there are no rules” universe such as video games
I haven’t given it much thought, cause what everyone thinks the theme is going to be, typically isn’t the theme
Agreed, Break the Rules just lacks any sort of interesting direction. Too much specificity is good in a theme, but too little is just going to make uninspired and dull games for the most part.
Break the rules is a fine theme you know! You can do a lot of stuff, just don’t take it too literally. It could be a game where you esacpe from a prison, or where you need to break the law to earn points (sort of GTA). You could do a game where the rules of the game change constantly (like This is the Only Level), or where the basic rules of physics are broken (time goes backwards, gravity is reversed…). Your imagination is the limit.
I felt this way too; since I couldn’t think of something good to do with “Break the Rules” I wondered if it was just an excuse for people to literally cheat in the competition. But it’s not impossible; here’s one idea: make a game, with rules, and a points. Deduct points for breaking the rules. Include a “high score” table that’s sorted lowest-first. Done.
Although, rereading your comment, I guess that’s pretty close to what you thought of already. Still, I’d say there’s fair enough amount of flexibility there…
Here’s something to think about for “break the rules”: according to the article & reddit thread below, the average American breaks 3 laws every day. There’s got to be some game ideas in that, right?
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704471504574438900830760842
http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1l4ago/the_average_american_breaks_at_least_three_laws_a/
Maybe the point shouldn’t be to break the rules as much as possible, but instead as little as possible? Just enough to get you by to the end of game, however the game may work.
Food for thought.
Nice one. Reminds me of Lone Survivor. Wasn’t neccesarily breaking the rules but some things that helped you get through the game would be bad for your mental state. Breaking the rules of your body
Fine with me.
Glitch is a damn amazing theme in my opinion, that I’d love to see.
Other than that… I dislike Deep Space somewhat but the rest feel just about fine!
Why does ruins never win, dangit? >_> I LIKE that theme and it keeps cropping up!
Yeah. Ruins is a good theme. Vote ruins!
Either of Glitch or Break the Rules would totally make my dare. This year I’m entering the JAM with a friend, and we met last night to prepare our minds for every theme. Every theme is rad if you are a rad, creative, theme loving lunatic.
Ludum Dare changed my life too! I was just a dude playing lots of video games, and programming. I thought, “nah, I’ll enter next time”. Then a stranger next to me said “no, you enter now!” I spent the two days making Mandala, and since then there has been no question in my mind: I make video games.
All of these themes seem pretty interesting to me. I think if you try to think of them beyond literal interpretations of game mechanics you’ll find that they’re pretty open to experimentation!
Can’t wait to see what we get.
Now that makes me want to compete this time!
I forgot to wear sunscreen last Ludum Dare, and up until now I’m still paying hospital bills.
Es primera vez que participo en esto, estoy contando los minutos para empezar!!
Es mi tercera vez, buena suerte!
Are we able to make games in Twine, or do games have to have player movement?
There is no restriction on programs used. Twine is fine.
Any updates on which theme is in the lead? I’m excited to see the results!
My stomach will explode and begind in five hours D:!!
I didn’t know that living in Japan is what you do! Now I do.
Final Round is useless actually. It’s stupid to suppose that everyone will voite rather than last time. So the top theme from all 4 rounds with 98% will the theme.