Hey guys!

It´s been a while since a posted a project in here, my last experience with a ludum dare project wasn’t very good, but here I am again! Today I will present a game that is being done by me and two other folks (Thiago Kozusko e Christiane de Vielmond) from a simple and small indie group called: Ludohood Studios.

Well, first let me show you guys what is our motivation for this project -> look this to understand the context of our game!

We are doing a art protest game (if we can call it that way hahaha) which aims to take you in a short, but deep, travel through our country (I´m brazilian btw) history. It will be a three act game:

• Act I – 1800: Slavery.
• Act II – 1970: Dictatorship.
• Act III – 2015: Schools closures.

Initially you could think that the third act is far less “powerfull” than the others and, in a way, this is true. But, what we are going to show through our game is that, regardless what happened in each of this cases, they all share a same sad thing: They hurted the human rights. For reaching this far in the text, I´ll let you guys see a sneak peak of the work of our artist:

Now, begin to prepare yourself for a awesome short history, where you gonna learn that things don´t always goes the way we want. Keep an eye on our nexts posts to know a little more about our project.

By the way, we are covering the theme “Two Buttons Control” and using Construct 2, for the game development.

See you guys again soon o/

Today I could just creating this monster, and this let me very slee.. py… zz……z z… z .. z.z .z

Entry :3

Hello jammers and compoers alike! This is my third Ludum Dare, and considering I wasn’t able to spend much time on my game this time round, I thought I’d focus on judging and contributing more to the community. I figured the best way to do this was by highlighting games and developers that get my attention, specifically other games made using Construct 2, my engine of choice.

I don’t know if people have already been doing this, but id quite like to see champions of other engines picking out their favourites/lists of games made in a certain engine. I believe giving individual engines/methods more visibility and showing what they can do shows the rich amount of choice in game development software available, along with their strengths and weaknesses, and promotes cross-engine discussion. An idea I would love to see in future LD’s is to have a section of the submission box say what engine was used, to make searching easier.

With the above said, heres three of my favourite Construct games in LD32 :

Mechanically Enhanced Nano Unit

BIO FIGHT!

Sirkles

I’ve started using the #madeinconstruct hashtag on twitter to highlight some of my favourite games made in the Construct family, if any of you have any games you make or have played that you’d like to get some visibility, feel free to use it!

After sweating until the last minute, my game just leaving without music
At least I managed to finish some enemies.
Submission Entry: Stoned Scarecrow

I’m now in a race against the clock to try to finish. Go go go!

A bit of context

This was my fourth Ludum Dare and the first time (ever, even outside LD) that I made a game that I actually like. When I say “a game that I actually like”, I mean a game that I would like to play if someone else had made it. Sure, in the past I made some games that I love, but I always had to go around their flaws, disregard game-breaking bugs and just close my eyes on my own mistakes to really enjoy them. In other words, they were my ugly childs.

With 0000, I can finally say that I managed to make a game that I’m proud of, even though it’s far from being perfect or even that great of a game. I think it’s fun (which is the most important part), pretty engaging and people seem to like it, which is a plus. It’s a small first step into actually making decent games.

I pretty much failed during LD30. Here’s what I wrote just before it started  :

Pretty excited, once again. To me, Ludum Dare is a way to see and compare what I’ve learned and how much I’ve improved since the last time. I started pretty small, with a funny, but subpar game (Don One). Then, made another game, a lemming-like that was buggy as hell, but cute and people seemed to enjoy the art-style (Daisy’s dog is dead). I think I will stay true to myself : simple, primitive graphics + game mechanics that will allow me to grow and learn as a game developer. I have no other ambitions than having fun and learning, and Ludum Dare has been a great opportunity to do so the last two times I participated.

Hey, past self. This is still true. I mean, this Ludum Dare, I went in with the same mentality. Use my already acquired but limited skillset (in game design, art and sound) and try to make the best out of it. 0000 PRESS Z is what came out of that desire. And it was fun to make!

Brainstorming and writing ideas for levels on paper

The good

AKA what my last 3 LDs taught me

• Level design has been a big challenge for me since I started game development over a year ago. With limited sprites and simple mechanics, I succeeded at combining them to create interesting gameplay and difficult, yet rewarding levels.
• The game style seems to be a big hit with people. I also love it, even though it’s simple as can be. I went with I am capable of doing, and it seems to have worked out.
• The game feels good. Adding particles here and there and a lot of feedback to the player’s actions really payed off.

The bad  

AKA What I didn’t learn yet

• The movement seems to be a big issue for players. I thought it was on point, but it seems like it might need some more work (more on that later)
• I didn’t manage to teach the player about the double jump mechanic early enough. Most people seem to discover it by mistake.
• The sound, while fonctional, is not very expressive and could be improved a lot. Maybe a soundtrack, even, could make the action feel even more frantic. If I had any music skills, I would have added music.
• The random teleportation, even though it’s the core mechanic to my game, seems to be confusing players. That leaves me with a game design question : Should I give all the answers right out, or let the player figure out the game as he loops through levels? Tough call.

What I learned

AKA things I think I understood but maybe not

• Making the most with very little can be very rewarding and push your creativity.
• Planning (just enough) is essential. It took me two hours of planning before I even started making the game. I figured out what game I wanted and went with it. It could have failed horribly, but I got lucky this time.
• Juice matters. Details matter. If you’re making a game that feels fun to you, you’re doing something right.
• The LD community is a GREAT resource for feedback. You have doubts about your game? I’m pretty sure someone on IRC will be down to talk it out with you.

What’s to come and conclusion

With all the positive feedback and encouragement I’ve been getting from the community, I’m considering making an improved version of the game.  Bug fixes, more levels, speedrun mode, highscores, new mechanics and all that good stuff  are amongst the things that are going through my head at the moment(Did anyone say level editor?). It’s still just an idea, but it’s very tempting to make some more evil levels to get the best out of you guys.

In the end, this was a very interesting ludum dare. I learned a lot and gained confidence in myself in the process. I still have so much to learn, but to me, making a game that I actually like is a big milestone.

Check out 0000 PRESS Z

Ahhhh, done.

I’m tired. There are some problems that I’m too bleary eyed to fix, but it’s good enough.

Link to entry: here