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Tell HN: Ludum Dare game jam this weekend

33 points by Udo ↗ HN
If you don't have any plans for this weekend, how about participating in the Ludum Dare game jam?

You get 48/72 hours to make a game according to the theme. You can use any (or no) game engine, work alone or in a group, use pre-existing code/assets or not. At the end, participants will rate your game and provide feedback comments.

The strictest form of the competition, the "Compo" is 48h, you work solo, make everything from scratch (if possible) and publish the source code.

I've been participating in LD on and off for many years now. The compo is a risk-free limited-scope event that helped me develop and hone skills like prototyping, time management, and overall creativity. Also, if you're not already a game developer, it's a great opportunity to code something "fun" and different.

https://ldjam.com/

11 comments

[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 51.1 ms ] thread
collingreen
Highly recommend taking a shot at LD. Games are great fun to make and doing one from scratch in a rush is a fantastic way to learn a bunch of things quickly. Also, I haven't done an LD for many years but I still have some online friends I met there. I suggest giving it a try!
huydotnet
I grow up as a kid in wishing to have sufficient experience to join Ludum Dare one day. 15 years later, with kids, I now wish I have free time to join Ludum Dare. Not to mention experience.
bobbiechen
Very convincing to get me to try it!

Also reminds me of the "Dear Abby" column story:

> Dear Abby: I am a 36-year-old college dropout whose lifelong ambition was to be a physician. I have a very good job selling pharmaceutical supplies, but my heart is still in the practice of medicine. I do volunteer work at the local hospital and people tell me I would have been a wonderful doctor. > > If I go back to college and get my degree, then go to medical school, do my internship and finally get into the practice of medicine – it will take me seven years. But in seven years, I will be 43 years old! What do you think? – Unfulfilled in Philly > > Dear Unfulfilled: And how old will you be in seven years if you don’t go back to college?

(though of course, one weekend is much easier of a commitment to make here)

huydotnet
I'm joining!
bobbiechen
Following up: your comment inspired me to try Ludum Dare. I didn't finish a game or even the core mechanics this weekend, but I learned a lot. The whole process is now infinitely more approachable than it was just a few days ago, and maybe I'll come back and finish one someday.

Thank you!

flipcoder
The shortest jam I've done so far was a week (PyWeek) and although my team won we barely finished. 48/72 hours seems tough but I really want to try it.
gnulinux
I'll probably do this! I never finished a game but sounds like a fun challenge and I some free time this weekend. I'm a composer so I'll keep everything very light and just focus on the music and programming in order to practice Rust.

Thank you for the heads up!

Do we need to register right now? Or can we just submit when we're done? Anything I have to submit today at 6PM, or can I just start working on it at my time?

EDIT: Created an account!

muzani
I was ready to commit to this, but the compo ends on Monday 8 PM where I live. I'll probably do the next one, or submit something done in 24 h.
babuloseo
Man how do people have time for this.