Ludum Dare 56

Ludum Dare is global, semi-annual game jam event that runs since 2002. It is a great opportunity to create a game prototype and get feedback on it. Ludum Dare has a clever built-in honor system ("karma") that rewards playtesting the games of other participants. Playtesting is a crucial component to improve a game and I would recommend to jump on any available opportunity.     

When the 56th iteration - LD56 - was announced to take place October 6 to October 8, 2024, I decided to give it a shot, although there were my other prototypes more or less patiently waiting for improvements:

• Hot and Cold, made  at the Flame Game Jam 
• TURBO TICKLE THERAPY, made at the Global Game Jam
• iiit the riiich, made at the AMAZE game jam 

Now, it sounds a bit crazy and I certainly would not recommend this to others but I decided to make another prototype in 48 hours (adhering to the strict rules of the "Compo" mode of Ludum Dare, which also features a more permissive "Jam" mode) . 

The theme of Ludum Dare 56 was "Tiny Creatures" and I took it up to create a simple and abstract system that the player has to navigate, helping one faction to survive while more and more enemies of the opposing faction are incoming. After 48 hours, a first iteration of Tiny Sim was born.  

I was impressed by the quality and wide range of other games created at LD56, here is a shoutout to some of my favorites.  A list of Steam-published games that were created at Ludum Dare events can be found here.  

And Tiny Sim? While my prototype received some nice comments from the people who played it, the mechanics are pretty broken and the instructions confusing.  Therefore it did not  score high in the final results, but I got a lot of ideas for improvement. I can't wait to work on the next iteration.  Taking a break now.