OddballGreg - Ludum Dare 31

This wonderfully descriptive screenshot which has the words "Ludum Dare 31" in it a grand total of 5 times, (in case you weren't sure), was taken from http://ludumdare.com/compo/.

A while ago I spoke about my enjoyment of game design and detailed a desire of mine to participate in the upcoming Ludum Dare 31 game creation competition. If you like fun indie games being made in absurdly short periods then you're bound to enjoy this.

First and foremost, I should point out that I was unable to brush up on my game designing skills, (that is to say, I'm useless at it currently), due to various events ranging from family hospital visits to Durban holidays. Excuses aside, I did also mention in that article that I would likely end up participating in one at some point or other, so don't feel too let down... (Please?)

Regardless of my non-participation, the Ludum Dare competition is still a wonderful and interesting event to follow. So what is Ludum Dare? By all means, I implore you to watch the video below which explains it in a particularly... novel way? (Comparable to An0nymoose's videos... I'm not entirely sure what to make of it... but it works.)

tl:dw: make a game in 48/72 hours, drink coffee, get rated, feel tired, sleep.

So how does it all work? Well, for the past month or so, people have been submitting potential theme's for Ludum Dare 31, (31 obviously meaning this is the 31st Ludum Dare), at which point sometime recently, they stopped taking submissions and began multiple rounds of voting to pick off theme candidates up until this point, where it is about 4 hours to the start of the competition and they are busy voting between the final few candidates to determine what the theme for this Ludum Dare is.

Once the theme is determined then it is go-go-go for the participants of either the "comp" or "jam" as mentioned in the video to get to work designing a game around that theme. (If you're unsure, the comp is where one person makes the whole game in 48 hours, the jam is where any number of people can make a game using pre-existing parts in 78 hours.) Once the game is finished, they need to upload it to the Ludum Dare website whereupon it is reviewed by the designers competitors and rated on various things including innovation, fun, graphics, sound, etc.

So why would anyone subject themselves to what is a weekend of torment in the form of sleep deprivation, caffeine overdose and general deadline stress? Well, creative inspiration is always a good motivation. Recognition in the game making community is another. Or maybe you'll even hear one of those strange individuals that call it... dare I say it? "Fun". *Gasp*

Jokes aside, the entire event is always fun to watch as a great multitude of people cover their game-designing processes in great detail, many of whom even going as far as to Live Stream their work via Twitch.TV, of course, with my ever-mentioned YouTube favorite Quill18 being among them. Below I've linked his "Post Mortem" of the game he created for Ludum Dare 30 and his thoughts on it and various other games he's created for the competition. I highly suggest giving it a watch as it provides a fantastic insight into the event and may prove the final temptress in getting you to watch his live-stream when he starts working on his LD31 game.

Interested to know more? Or simply have some questions about the competition or it's rules that you feel I didn't properly explain in this post? If either, do be sure to let us know down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. We here at TCSA love to hear your feedback and will be happy to assist. And of course, if you enjoy finding out about awesome stuff on the web and world then do please be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left to get all the latest posts as they're published. Also, do be sure to share posts you enjoyed with your friends as it helps us out a great deal. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.

Happy game-making (or watching) my friends.

(New drinking game, read the article again and have a drink every time "Ludum Dare" is said.)