In case you've never heard of it, Ludum Dare is a game jam that challenges people to make games over a weekend. There are two different levels of the challenge, the "Compo" and the "Jam". The Compo requires participants to work alone, create everything (from code, to art, to music, etc.) from scratch, and all in a 48 hour period. The Jam is a little less challenging, in that you have 72 hours, can work in teams, and you are allowed to use 3rd party libraries and base code you had prior to the start of the jam. You can even use 3rd party assets (e.g. graphics and music) but they ask you opt out of getting judged in those categories. At the end of the 48 or 72 hours, judging happens. Anyone who submitted a game gets to rate other entries for a month.
The 43rd Ludum Dare happened over the weekend starting Friday, November 30th, 2018. I had wanted to participate in one for a while, but always found out about them after they happened, or so far in advance that I'd forget by the time they came around. This time though, I found out less than a week beforehand. I cleared my weekend schedule and eagerly awaited the theme.
Theme?
Oh right, I didn't mention the theme. The games produced are supposed to align with the theme they announce right at the start of the jam. There are rounds of voting on themes for weeks beforehand with the last round having 16 options. There were a few themes that I really liked, and some I really didn't want to do.
None of the ones I thought about were the final choice.
Sacrifices Must Be Made
On Friday evening the theme, Sacrifices must be made, was announced. I brainstormed for a bit. I didn't like the theme
that much, not because of what it was but because every idea I had I couldn't complete in a weekend by myself. So, I went
downstairs to watch TV. I turned the theme over in my head all the while and before heading to bed I think I had a workable
idea. I'd get started on it in the morning.
One of the tips I had read was keep your game short, because no one is really going to spend more than 5-10 minutes playing it before rating it. I came up with what I thought was a simple concept but would still be fun and short. You'd play a Maître D’ for the Minotaur in the maze. You see while the Minotaur likes to wander the maze, he wants the sacrifices made to him placed on an altar in the center of the maze. The residents making the sacrifices just throw them haphazardly into the maze, and your job is grab them and place them on the table. Oh... and did I mention the Minotaur will eat you on sight?
Taking this concept and making it into a 2D game seemed pretty doable over a weekend. There were only 4 major components:
- The player
- The Minotaur
- The sacrifices
- The maze/level itself
- The altar (ok... 5 components, but arguably the altar is part of the level)
With a plan in hand, I promptly headed to bed. I was already tired, and I made a deal with myself that I wasn't purposely stay up throughout the whole 72 hours I had. Honestly I work better if I'm rested. I wasn't going to try for the 48 hour Compo, but I was going to do the 72 hour Jam. I was working solo but I didn't want to rule out using 3d party libraries or assets, which turns out to have been a good choice.
We'll get started building things in Unity3d in Part 2.
The full series:
- Ludum Dare 43 - Part 1 talks about what Ludum Dare is, and my design "process" where I turned the theme into an idea for a game
- Ludum Dare 43 - Part 2 explains how I generated the mazes
- Ludum Dare 43 - Part 3 adds in the player, altar, offerings, and the Minotaur with A* Pathfinding
- Ludum Dare 43 - Part 4 builds a state machine into the Minotaur's brain
- Ludum Dare 43 - Part 5 finishes up the game with points and levels