The world moves so slowly sometimes. It's during those times when I get all mopey and melancholic about life and its plodding pace, but it's also time for me to be contemplative and reflective about my purpose in life and its meaning.
This weekend was an all balls-out no-nonsense time-flies exploding-pants kind of weekend though, so none of that stuff happened.
Ludum Dare 21
This weekend was Ludum Dare's 21st competition, a monthly event that gathers pretty much anybody who makes games together via the dark magicks of the interwebs and imposes unnecessarily unrealistic expectations on them. Like, produce a playable game in 48 hours. Have it be bug free. Have it include cool art and interesting gameplay. Have it be balanced.
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| Escape the Flood |
Of course, these restrictions aren't particulated per se, but the fact that they are eventually submitted for ratings and reviews pretty much confirms the fact that LD is a tyrant of the 1st degree only interested in sucking the life force of all indie devs so as to congeal it into a pure ball of shining creativity for its own diabolical ends. Godspeed, Ludum Dare.
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| Gunz and Sedanzz |
What present and temporary good that does arise from its diabolical ends are enough for people like me, what sheep we are, gently grazing amongst stupidity, to become distracted enough to forget about how treacherous LD's goals really are.
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| Prelude of the Chambered |
Ooh, these games are so shiny. And look! ULTRA INDIE DEV MOJANG SPECIFICATIONS
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| Flee Buster |
Considering the quality and quantity of the game present at this month's LD, I'd say that the monthly endeavor is really coming into its own as a place for great new talent to be found and awesome new ideas to be tested. If the crushing incapacitation of LD's servers are any indication, this compo will only get bigger and bigger with time.
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| EscapeBot |
Links to the all the submissions can be found on the Ludum Dare site, while the ones featured here can be reached through the images.
Here's one without an image, though.
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| Bomber Planet |
Be sure to tell all your friends that you totally knew where that new game comes from when MANY of these titles end up as full productions.
In not so many words
Despite all the good times everyone seems to have had over the weekend and all the presumable success it entails, the truth is that the world is still a very bleak, difficult place for many people, and they still struggle to make the game they want to make and do the things they want to do.
I recently mentioned Blight on another Indie Cred feature and talked about the creator's attempts to get funding via Kickstarter. I'm sad to say that it hasn't panned out that well.
This very honest, very pragmatic note is still full of hope and vivre though, so for that I'm very grateful. It's really so sad that some things don't happen when you want them to, especially when you see something that's being done with a lot of love and care. I don't know the fate of Blight at this point, but at the very least I will be keeping tabs on it.
Keep up the good work, Adam Prack.
