Making a Game in 72 hours: Ludum Dare 54
Published by Fluffy
Jake talks about creating a game for Ludum Dare 54 and the possibility of the future of game development at Donut Team.
Introduction
Hey everyone, it is Jake and today we have something a little different to talk about and share. At Donut Team, we're always looking for new ways to challenge ourselves and expand our horizons. Ludum Dare gave us the opportunity to step outside our comfort zone and try something new. We're excited to share with you our first true foray into the world of game development.
Glitchstream
What is Ludum Dare? Ludum Dare, one of the most well-known game development competitions, has always been a beacon for aspiring game developers and seasoned veterans alike. It's a platform where creativity knows no bounds, and where the challenge of creating a game from scratch in a mere 72 hours tests the mettle of even the most experienced developers.
This year, The Butter Donut , Loren and I threw our hats into the ring, working tirelessly to create a vertical slice of a potential project. Rogue-like games are one of our favourite genres, and we wanted to create a game that we would enjoy playing ourselves. We came up with the concept of 'Glitchstream', a rogue-like, first-person shooter. Locked in a virtual room, fight hordes of enemies and survive as long as you can. Unlock doors to expand the playing field, and find new power-ups and weapons to help you survive.
Our journey began with the first 24 hours dedicated to intensive planning and figuring out our direction. From there, we embarked on some epic, sleep-deprived nights to give it our all. In this tight timeframe, we meticulously crafted every element, including programming, art, animations, music, and sound effects, to bring you a playable creation. Despite its simplicity, there were moments when we found ourselves lost in the game, extending our playtime beyond expectations.
While what we've achieved in just 48 hours is impressive, it's far from our final vision. There's a laundry list of bug fixes and refinements ahead of us. Consider this a tantalizing glimpse of a new path Donut Team may venture down. The game is currently very barebones and repetitive, but we have a lot of ideas on how to expand on it. We're excited to see where this and any other project takes us, and we hope you are too.
With this announcement, I want to make it clear we are not abandoning our modding roots. We will continue to support our existing projects and some other mod projects we've yet to announce. We're simply expanding our horizons and exploring new avenues. To make sure that the teams stay focused on their projects, we're separating any future developements outside of modding into its own area of work with The Butter Donut leading this development team. While this development team has already fostered a relationship of working together and collaborative feedback, The Butter Donut will be on top of administrative day-to-day tasks and leading the team with real-world examples he has crafted and learned in his experience in software development and his studies.
Download
If you're interested in trying out this project, you can download it from our itch.io page.
Controls, features and known issues are listed there. We're also open to feedback and suggestions. If you have any ideas, feel free to share them with us on our Discord server or our forums.
Thank you for your support, and we hope you enjoy this little look into what else we can do.
Credits
- The Butter Donut - Programming, Art, Music
- Loren - Art
- Fluffy - Programming and Sound Effects
- Lucas Cardellini - Play-testing, Emotional Hinderance, Technical Support
- A special shoutout goes to Tyler Oram for creating some HUD art assets, even though he had no inkling of our project's nature.
