So I’m traveling again during Ludum Dare and will have limited time to participate but I’m hoping to put something together. I figured since I have limited time I would actually get my workflow set up and get ready to go before the event so I didn’t spend an hour getting things ready like I normally do. I figured I’d put together what I’m doing in case it would help anyone else out. Also, if anyone has any suggestions I’d love to hear them. I always like seeing how everyone else sets up their workflows, so here’s mine.
The tools:
Engine: Phaser.io
Language: Javascript
Platform: Browser (HTML5)
IDE: Atom (Ok, it’s not an IDE, and only a text editor, but still)
Graphics: GraphicsGale
Music: LMMS
Phaser.io and Atom are new to me, so I spent some time figuring out an easy way to develop, iterate, and test. Here’s how I’ve got things set up:
Atom Setup:
I created a bunch of Atom snippets for some of the commonly used statements that I always forget the format of. Not having an IDE means no code completion so this is extra important.

Atom snippets for some commonly used statements
Now I can just type p + the command I want and it Atom builds the statement for me and I just have to fill in the variables. I’m sure this will save me a bunch of time looking up syntax.
Phaser setup:
I created a basic template for Phaser games that I copied into a fresh directory. I created a couple of states (Preload, Menu, and Play) so I didn’t forget any of them. I also made sure to have the Phaser examples and Spriter project available for quick reference so I can look stuff up without leaving my editor and going to the web.
Testing:
I also learned that Python has a simple web server built into it, so I created a quick script to navigate to my LD38 directory and start the web server. This is much simpler than setting up a local Apache instance or pushing to the web for testing.
A quick jump over to the browser and navigating to localhost:8000 and I’m good to go.
Source Control and Repository setup:
This time I set up my Github repo in advance and created the remote connection in advance so I’m not Googling how to do it during the submission hour like I normally am. If you want the boilerplate code it is up there now: Github repo
Deploying:
I also took the time to set up a spot on my website for my in process or finished game. I use Joomla to publish to the rest of the site but that takes time. This is quick and dirty with a simple index.html. I also set up FileZilla to connect automatically so now I can one-click publish. http://codingadventure.net/games/LD38/
So that’s it. Pretty simple but should stay out of my way and just work. If anyone has any suggestions let me know!