
Ludum Dare #28 starts today - WA
http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/12/11/welcome-to-ludum-dare-28/
======
Vaskivo
I'm going to participate in it. It's gonna be my 4th time. I participated in
the jam twice and the compo once (didn't work that well).

If you want to try the games, here they are:

Theme - Tiny World: [http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-23/?action=preview...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-23/?action=preview&uid=12719)

Theme - Evolution: [http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2012/08/28/tower-of-
nugs/](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2012/08/28/tower-of-nugs/)

Theme - Minimalism: [http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-26/?action=preview...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-26/?action=preview&uid=11314) (this one was for the Compo, and didn't go
as well as I hoped. Still, I believe I achieved the experience and message I
wanted)

EDIT: Github for the last game
[https://github.com/Vaskivo/LudumDare26_MOAI](https://github.com/Vaskivo/LudumDare26_MOAI)

~~~
willvarfar
A Giant Step was fun :) I remember playing it during the compo ratings.

~~~
Vaskivo
Did you finish it? I think we have a great ending, but the game ended up too
difficult.

If you're having trouble just press 'left' during the whole game for an
unintended cheat/bug.

~~~
willvarfar
Apologies I don't think I did, as I don't recall the ending. In penance, I'll
try and finish it before the new LD starts...

------
fhd2
One of these things parents typically don't get to do :(

I'm pretty sure I'd join a "48 hours in 30 days" style LD, that could actually
work for me. Is anyone aware of anything like that?

edit: Just remembered that there's 1GAM (One Game A Month), which is almost
that. Still, I'd prefer a yearly or bi-yearly thing with a lot of traction
like LD, and some kind of total time limit.

edit2: What'd be interesting about such a jam is that people would have much
more time to think. I don't consider myself less productive when it comes to
side projects than before I had kids, I get to think things really through and
solve most hard issues while I'm out and about with the little ones.

~~~
babuskov
There's October challenge each year - to produce a game in one month and earn
at least $1. Being a parent of two myself, I found this as a good excuse to
finally make an Android game. You can read about it here:

[http://bigosaur.com/blog/23days](http://bigosaur.com/blog/23days)

Too bad it's only once a year... Maybe we could start a "month" challenge for
parents, say 2-3 times a year? Rules could be like this:

    
    
      1. all participants must have at least one child (living with them)
      2. you need to complete a working game within a month
      3. theme? Well, I'm not sure about this one. Maybe a theme should be free, 
         because it's easy to throw away 48hrs at something you might not like very much, 
         but it's hard to dedicate a whole month to some theme you don't like
      4. money? I liked the "get to the market and earn $1" approach from LD.
    

What do you think?

~~~
fhd2
> all participants must have at least one child (living with them)

I wouldn't want to restrict it to parents actually, I believe there are many
other people that can't get 48 hours in a row off because of work/family
obligations, and I don't see why they shouldn't compete with less busy people.
48 (or 30?) hours in 30 days seems quite doable without much sacrifice.

The one thing that bothers me is that it shouldn't be _too_ easy to cheat and
put more hours in. Maybe the whole thing could be coupled with some script you
need to use for accessing your project and that times it.

Of course you could still cheat if you wanted to, you can just as easily cheat
in LD48. But it should be easier to not cheat than to cheat, which wouldn't be
the case if people keep track of their time themselves.

> money? I liked the "get to the market and earn $1" approach from LD.

Not sure about the $1 thing. I'd rather build a fun game than trying to bring
something unpolished to market at all costs. But it sets a higher bar for
sure.

~~~
babuskov
> Maybe the whole thing could be coupled with some script

Maybe require that code is posted to GitHub... but then there's open/close
source problem.

The whole idea behing LD is to improve and motivate yourself. There are no
rewards. If you're cheating, you are not cheating anyone else but yourself.

~~~
fhd2
> The whole idea behing LD is to improve and motivate yourself. There are no
> rewards. If you're cheating, you are not cheating anyone else but yourself.

Yeah, maybe some nasty setup like that is not necessary at all. Just a big
timer on some web site. I think I'll contact the LD folks about this whole
idea, maybe they're up for it. I doubt a game jam I start would gain traction
TBH, I've never even released a game (despite having made about 13 in 10
years).

~~~
babuskov
Well, if they do start it, I'm in :)

------
daredevildave
Ludum Dare has been so much fun over the years. We've been doing it for 2
years now, and have had mixed success :-)

[http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/12/13/playcanvas-is-
in/](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/12/13/playcanvas-is-in/)

But we've created some awesome little games (and some less awesome ones) but
always learned and pushed our platform forward that bit.

2yrs ago,
[http://apps.playcanvas.com/dave/alone/latest](http://apps.playcanvas.com/dave/alone/latest)

1.5yr ago,
[http://apps.playcanvas.com/dave/tiny_world/latest](http://apps.playcanvas.com/dave/tiny_world/latest)

6m ago,
[http://apps.playcanvas.com/will/mondrian/ld48](http://apps.playcanvas.com/will/mondrian/ld48)

6m ago,
[http://apps.playcanvas.com/dave/minimal/ld48](http://apps.playcanvas.com/dave/minimal/ld48)

------
willvarfar
I'm going to do my first solo entry this weekend. I'm not very fond of the
theme, so I'm going to try and slant things towards a Doom tribute, it being
20 years and all.

My super-proud previous team entries are:

Mini31: Afraid of the Dark
[http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/minild-31/?action=preview&uid...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/minild-31/?action=preview&uid=10313)
(2D platformer using 3D art)

LD23: The Small World of Professor Strange
[http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-23/?action=preview...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-23/?action=preview&uid=10313) (a graphical text adventure with Eclipse
IDE mode)

LD24: Cage Flight [http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-24/?action=preview...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-24/?action=preview&uid=10313) (multiplayer space sim)

LD25: The Crown Jewels Job [http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-25/?action=preview...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-25/?action=preview&uid=10313) (2D platformer, kid safe)

Mini40: Mutually Assured Destruction
[http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/minild-40/?action=preview&uid...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/minild-40/?action=preview&uid=10313)
(nice globe map)

LD27: NSA's Where's Snowden? [http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-27/?action=preview...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-27/?action=preview&uid=10313) (SQL hacking game)

~~~
phaer
How can you not be very fond of the theme when the theme is not yet known? As
far as i see on [http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/12/08/ludum-
dare-28-them...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/12/08/ludum-
dare-28-theme-voting-begins/) voting is still open?

~~~
willvarfar
Yes, but I'm not fond of _any_ of the popular themes in the final round. Same
thing happened last time, which is why I did a Snowden game. We shouldn't let
the theme get in the way :)

~~~
Vaskivo
I find the theme the best part. What I really enjoy in LD's is the first 3/4
hours where the theme discusses the theme and the games gradually emerges.

I can make any game I what anytime, but the theme give you focus and forces
you to think in something you otherwise wouldn't.

------
netcraft
I know in the past Notch has live streamed his development of things like this
- is there anyone else doing things like that?

~~~
WA
Notch will participate and stream. Other people might as well, but I don't
know for sure.

[http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/12/12/im-in-and-ill-
be-b...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/12/12/im-in-and-ill-be-bringing-
webgl/)

~~~
Mikeb85
And he'll be using Dart/Webgl. Should be interesting.

------
basicallydan
This is interesting, might take part, I have no solid plans this weekend. I'm
in London, England.

I'm curious, are there any real-world gatherings in my city that people here
know about? Does anybody know of a place/group of people who might like to
organise one?

EDITED: For clarity.

~~~
mrspeaker
Don't be curious, just do it! 48 hours, and you have a finished game. No
excuses. Might not be awesome, but feels great to finish.

There's a list of real-world meet-ups if you're feeling social!
[http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/11/19/real-world-
ludum-d...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/11/19/real-world-ludum-
dare-28-gatherings/)

------
danso
FYI, winners of Ludum Dare 27, the theme of which was "10 Seconds"

[http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/09/16/ludum-
dare-27-resu...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/09/16/ludum-
dare-27-results/)

It's fun to see the creativity behind the interpretations of the theme as much
as the actual games themselves

------
Morgawr
I love Ludum Dare, although I always have bad luck and worst timing when they
are scheduled. I was able to participate in 3 of them so far and I always take
the occasion to try and learn a new language/try a new development process
just for the hell of it. As an added challenge.

First I started with C++, as a C programmer, it was a pretty big jump for me
[http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-23/?action=preview...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-23/?action=preview&uid=8711) Then a year later, while I had just started
playing around with Clojure, I went all the way and wrote a game in
ClojureScript [http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-26/?action=preview...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-26/?action=preview&uid=8711) which turned out for some parts to be easier
than I thought. Last time I went with some plain Javascript instead
[http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-27/?action=preview...](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-
dare-27/?action=preview&uid=8711)

Honestly, this time around I wanted to try out my new Clojure game engine but
it's still in development and not quite ready, plus I have finals next week
and I'm studying like crazy. Unfortunately I'll have to skip this time but I
suggest anybody who's interested in game development (or just wants to have
fun) to go try a Ludum Dare, it's really a self-rewarding and enriching
experience!

------
VonGuard
Oakland and East Bay folks interested in participating can come to the MADE
[http://www.themade.org](http://www.themade.org) this afternoon, around 4 or
5, when the Ludum Dare will be starting. We'll be hosting open hours for game
jammers all weekend, all for free. Come make some games!

------
Lockyy
If I end up participating this will be my first full LD. I've taken part in a
miniLD before and did well, though the big names involved in the main one is a
little intimidating.

~~~
mscottmcbee
Do it for yourself. Don't worry about comparing your work to others. If you
make something you yourself are proud of, then what does it matter if Notch or
Terry Cavanagh are participating?

~~~
Lockyy
I suppose you're right. I was surprised at how few people took part in the
mini I did (#40
[http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/?p=221661](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/?p=221661)).
I wonder whether the main LD entries get more or less feedback than the minis.
It seems like it could go either way. The larger volume of submissions could
make it less likely that people find yours.

~~~
mscottmcbee
There's a pretty decent discovery mechanism. The more you rate, the closer you
are to the front page. It's not perfect, but I don't think I've gotten less
than, say, 50 people rating my games
([http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/author/mscottmcbee/](http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/author/mscottmcbee/)
If you're interested).

Rate others, leave comments, and people will play your game.

------
EGreg
I'm Jewish and all these "weekend hackathons" leave me half as much time as
those who participate the whole time. Because I don't work from friday night
to say night, I basically have less time to complete the project. I view that
as an additional challenge.

At TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon, which I attended every year, the first time I
built a real-time, quora-like Q&A app with questions of the type "What is the
Adj Noun in Noun", which invited people via chat requests. The second time I
built "spreadourmessage.com" which generated a widget organizations could
place on their page to let people "donate their fb profiles to syndicate some
organizationms posts. Neither one won anything. The third year I realized many
people were cheating and using existing sites, so I updated our existing app,
YouMixer.com (which doesn't work well with fb connect anymore) and presented a
real time social jukebox backed by youtube like a free itunes. Didn't win
either.

This year I'm going to build something from scratch using a sponsor's API and
our Q framework ([http://qbixstaging.com/QP](http://qbixstaging.com/QP)) if it
does its job, this should beat the pants off the other entries.

~~~
Udo
At the danger of sounding insensitive, you can't schedule these things to make
everybody happy. Shift workers, doctors and nurses, there are lots of people
who don't have "free" weekends. Like you, I also have a weekend hobby that
conflicts with LD. This year, I'm going to miss out on most of Saturday again,
but I came to the conclusion that in the end it can be a good thing - it
forces you to work in a more economical manner. I'd take the Jam, however, not
the Compo (with more time being the only deciding factor).

~~~
EGreg
Yeah, I don't expect the time of the "weekend hackathon" to change. I am fine
with this. Although it would be nice to have an option for diff people to take
different days since it's all in good fun. What kind of irks me is that many
hackathons seem to have winners decided by other criteria than the ones they
state...

~~~
Udo
I know what you mean. LD is probably a lot fairer and more transparent than
most though, because of the way voting is conducted. I also think it's one
where "winning" doesn't matter as much. If you compare that to some sponsored
events where the winners seem to be determined beforehand... I take LD over
them anytime.

Of course, LD is susceptible to populistic/marketing style attacks, but not as
much as it would seem (otherwise the guys who did Impetus would have won last
time).

------
reidrac
I did the compo once (solo entry), and I failed miserably :)

I've finished a couple of PyWeeks* , and having only 48 hours changes
everything: it's about being focused and effective, and definitely more about
game design than actually programming/art.

* Python game programming challenge that happens during one week, that to me translates into ~36 hours of development (because of job, real life, etc).

------
mguillemot
I did way better than I expected last time for my first entry in the contest,
with my Legend of Epikouros
([http://tenseconds.npng.org/](http://tenseconds.npng.org/) for the curious).
Now I feel that I cannot top that >_<'

But I encourage everyone to participate, that was a lot of creative juices
flowing!

------
aschearer
If you're participating and live in or around Seattle join us for a "Show &
Tell" on Monday evening to share what you've created:

[http://www.meetup.com/SeattleGames/events/153593212/](http://www.meetup.com/SeattleGames/events/153593212/)

------
Mikeb85
I'm going to attempt this, but not sure how far I'll get. I pretty much only
have Saturday evening to do a game, rest of the weekend is booked. I did find
some pretty neat tools though which should enable me to get something playable
in 5 or 6 hours...

------
Kiro
What's the theme? I don't understand the page.

~~~
Vaskivo
The theme is only revealed at the start of the competition.

The theme is revealed and BAM! 48 hours to make a game. The theme reveal is
when the clock starts ticking.

~~~
unwind
That's a good explanation, the page was really confusing when you're not
familiar with how it's done. Also, there's a clock ticking now, counting time
to when the theme is revealed.

It's currently at around 10 hours 40 minutes, which makes me feel some pain
for Notch since I'm in his timezone (Stockholm, Sweden).

It's 16:18 in the afternoon here now, so the reveal is at 03:00 in the night.
Not my peak hour for programming. :)

------
Zolomon
I hate that these jams always happen one week before my exams. This is so
frustrating.

~~~
Vaskivo
Well, there are three LD's in the year. one in April, one in August and one in
December. They also have miniLD's monthly.

~~~
Zolomon
Should try the miniLDs perhaps. But I have exams exactly in those months you
specified. I should just go and focus on finishing my master's! _logs off HN_

