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Tag: Ludum Dare

  • Only One Minute Before Restart – Racing the Reboot

    Only One Minute Before Restart – Racing the Reboot

    re2.png

    You know how irritating it is when your computer keeps popping up a prompt to restart and update while you have absolutely no intention of doing so? You’re gonna turn the computer off eventually, right? And it’s only 2am, there’s still stuff to do!

    What if… wait for it… it was gonna restart whether you wanted it to or not?

    Enter: Only One Minute Before Restart.

    Made by Levi More for the Game Maker’s Toolkit Game Jam, you’re tasked with completing a quick series of puzzles/games in order to finish sending an important email before it’s erased. Playing like an extremely fast round of WarioWare, you’re given 60 seconds to figure out how to stop the reboot process.

    hurry.png

    You’ll fire arrows, play arcade classics, and scan through menus as the clock keeps ticking. As much as I wish there was more to see and do, it makes sense that the game is over nearly as soon as it starts. Additions of a few extra mini games and randomizing the order could go a long way in making this feel less like a one and done, but for a Game Jam its a perfectly enjoyable snack of an experience.

    If you’re quick enough to beat a frustrating computer, check out the game on its itch.io page.

  • The Entire Screen of One Game Will Destroy You

    The Entire Screen of One Game Will Destroy You

    then my brian exploded

    Made for Ludum Dare 31’s “Entire Game on One Screen” theme, Tom7’s The Entire Screen of One Game is a joke. It’s a joke that goes, and goes, and goes until your head hurts and you can’t take it anymore.

    You control a tiny colored block that can jump around while the screen is constantly zooming out. Once it zooms out enough, the screen is filled with a different color, your original block is zoomed out to a tiny dot, and the new screen becomes the focus of your control. It keeps zooming out, and you realize you’re in control of several screens, with the game playing out inside each of them. Uhhh…got it?

    The whole thing makes about as much sense as the last couple of sentences, but you really have to see it for yourself.

    If you want to be left utterly bewildered and a little impressed, check out The Entire Screen of One Game for free. It’s a fascinating concept, and the closest thing I can compare it to is BRICKbricksmashSMASH, which is similarly mind-bending. Keep it up you monsters of design, keep it up.

  • Birdsong is Screen-Sprawling Metroidvania

    Birdsong is Screen-Sprawling Metroidvania

    Birdsong title

    Ludum Dare always produces some of the year’s most interesting games, and Ludum Dare 31 is already shaping up with some excellent entries. December’s theme, “Entire Game on One Screen,” has already given us Birdsong, a visually striking Metroid inspired adventure. Developer Managore won 1st place Overall in Ludum Dare 29, and this one’s already shaping up to be a top contender.

    Birdsong starts off as seemingly a traditional platformer for the first couple of seconds. As you begin to move across the screen, your view is zoomed out and warped, until you can see the entire world map stretching around you to the edges of the screen. It’s a brilliant effect, made better by the shock of the fake-out introduction.

    It helps that it’s a well-done Metroidvania as well. You control a little bird, and have it hop through levels, dodging spikes and other obstacles. As you explore, you’ll find items that increase your jump height to expand your traversal skills, and others that allow you to build checkpoints in difficult locations.

    Birdsong 2

    The game’s biggest strength is in it’s totally unique visual effect. Every part of the level can be seen from anywhere, and walking simply wraps the screen around in front of where you’re moving. The furthest parts of the level taunt you from the opening moments, and finally making your way there feels like an accomplishment as you look back on where you’ve been.

    When the Ludum Dare awards start coming around, I guarantee you’ll be hearing more about this one. Check out Birdsong on its Ludum Dare page, and check out the rest of the several hundred entries based around LD31’s theme. Designing around constraints always brings out creativity, so enjoy the new ideas while they’re fresh!

  • Titan Souls is Dark Souls + Zelda + Shadow of the Colossus

    Titan Souls is Dark Souls + Zelda + Shadow of the Colossus

    titansoulsYes, you read that title right, and yes, it’s really cool.

    Titan Souls is the overall winner from the most recent Ludum Dare competition, and I think it’s absolutely deserving of all the attention it’s been getting. This bite sized epic takes the best of some of the most well regarded series, and elegantly weaves them together to make something special. It takes the idea of a “boss battle game” from Shadow of the Colossus, the difficulty and feeling of victory from Dark Souls, and the puzzle design and 2D feel of a Zelda game, and I would eat this up if there were any more of it. (more…)