Even if I pick a weird simple gameplay (it’s an arena shooter where you can move left-right or up-down, with automatic wave movements (= something kinda similar to the indie shmup Waveform I guess)), I struggle to finish a game in 24 hours : too much time organizing code & doing “pretty” assets… so, I’m pretty sure my Jam submission will be not as good as I want. Again. It’s really frustrating.
Anyway, here 2 screenshots I made this night. Since then, I have re-colored some assets & added visual FX and extra “monsters”.

After some failed attempts since this Autumn, I’m back to work on game jams!

I have started this last week, and done a game for the MiniLD#58, ZPONGX. I used Construct 2 to emulate the ZX Spectrum look again for this Pong clone. Made it mostly in 1 day. Even if there are some collision bugs (and the Color Clash didn’t work as I expected so I had to canceled it), I’m pretty happy with this small thing.

Now, since this weekend I have another tool on my dev/design belt… I discovered this (French) mini handheld console, the Gamebuino (site) based on Arduino hardware.

Imagine a GameBoy Advance downsized to credit card dimensions, with a Nokia 3310 screen (84*48px, black or white)… Sounds perfect to me lol… More seriously it looks like a nice modern DIY project with a retrogaming touch. The language is easy to learn, and I made already 2 games in few days! Since emulators exist, people can still playtest games made for this console on their computers (or Android portable): they are currently shooters, puzzle/platformers, multiplayer games, etc. I think it should be OK to do small mini-games, like the ones I used to do for Ludum Dare or other game jams with a limited time.

(Screenshot) I don’t know why I give the characters such creepy faces: the game is a basic platformer XD

Engine: done

Graphic assets: done

Tomorrow, I’ll have to do all the level-design & the sound fx. Everything should be done without too much panic for the Jam. (And I will even have time to watch some 30 Rock episode).

The idea : you will move each character into an opposite worlds (Fire Element into a ice World, Ice Element into a Fire World, Earth Element into a Rock World, etc.) where each elements have to avoid traps, etc. (The Ice melts when the Fire touches it, the herbal monsters can kill the Rock Elemental, etc. You can switch from a character to another one when you grab a colored ball.

I’ll use Construct 2, Photoshop and Beepola/BFXR; I use a “ZX Spectrum” art style to save time (I won’t spend too much time to draw sprites or backgrounds).

Since I won’t have time to finish sudnay, I’ll probably submit my game for the Jam session.

Well, this game will not be my best Lumdum Dare attempt: right now, I struggle to add basic roguelike features: inventory, mobs, etc. And I have no idea how to add Line of Sight or Field of Vision with construct 2… I made an effective LoS once with Game Maker 8, but Construct 2 is really different. Anyway, I may finish something playable tomorrow for the Jam.

I use tiles from tilesets made by Derk Yu and others found on the Dwarf Fortress team.

Well, I spent these last 6 hours working on a idea i liked (controlling dreams & nightmares of a character, his different conscience states, etc.), but the gameplay was really shitty, and I couldn’t improved it  due to my limited skills with construct2… At the end, I started from scratch this afternoon, and now I’m working on a basic roguelike… yes, it’s not very original XD I wanted to create a roguelike since months anyway, and I didn’t have the time to start one, so, afterall, this Ludum Dare is the perfect moment to do it.

I will set the roguelike in a gold mine during the XIXth Klondike Gold Rush. Goals? collect gold nuggets, fight grizzly, avoid ghosts of dead prospector, etc. that kind of silly things.

Graphics will be very basic (ascii tileset probably…).

Spent too much time to polish the graphics effects. Wrote just few paragraphs. Construct 2 has some great virtues (it’s simple to use, it has some nice easy-too-use WebGL effects) but it can be tricky: the WebGL effects can be buggy (it works fine on the layers, not everytime on the sprites themselves, and it may not works with Safari), the way the events/actions work is not obvious sometimes.

Anyway, I manage to do a simple text adventure engine, with a nice title screen, but that’s all, it’s barely a game^^ It’s time to start something else!

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-29-warmup/?action=preview&uid=12512

Finished just in time XD

This time, the gameplay is very basic (you go left or right, that’s all), the story is ….w ell … very thin,  and the graphics emulate the ZX Spectrum style. I think this is a great style to tell a “primitive” adventure.

I won’t add more features tomorrow (for the Jam) or later, because I don’t have more ideas.

PLAY & RATE CHARON HERE 😉

So, I made a very simple labyrinth; I want to add keys and riddles but right now, all the texts are in pseudo-Latin, so I might be difficult to make non-verbal riddles :/ I’ll see if I have time to add them today.