This is my entry for the Ludum Dare 47 (LD47) Compo challenge. The theme for the event was Stuck in a Loop. The game I created is called Loop Runners which takes inspiration from the game of Roller Derby.
In Loop Runners there are two teams which consist of both Jammers and Blockers. Each team has a single Jammer player who is the only team member who can score points. Teams also consist of four Blockers which try to prevent the other team's Jammers from scoring points. You play as the Jammer on the purple team.
In the game of Roller Derby, they play in periods of 30 minutes. However since the theme of LD47 is Stuck in a Loop, I decided to have there be only a single period and it will never end. I denoted this by adding an infinity symbol in the middle of the scoreboard.
During the game all players move counter-clockwise around a looping track. Everytime a Jammer passes an Blocker from the opposing team, they score a single point.
In Roller Derby the Jammers wear a gold star on their helmets to differentiate themselves from Blockers. For Loop Runners I decided to pay homage to his by adding a large star to the Jammer sprites.
The blockers will try to stay in front of an approaching Jammer of the other team and shove them backwards when they get too close.
To add some spice to the gameplay, I added in item spawning at random-ish locations on the track. A randomly selected item will spawn every 13-ish seconds. Here is a list of the items that are included in Loop Runners:
- Speed Boost (
) - Gives the Jammer a quick boost of speed. - Freeze (
) - Freezes all other players for a brief period of time. - Invisibility (
) - Makes you invisible to the other team's Blockers for a short period of time. - Shuffle (
) - Randomly shuffles around the locations of all players. - Teleportation (
) - Randomly teleports you to a different location on the track. - Bomb (
) - Pushes nearby players away from you. - Trap (
) - Ensnares the player for a short amount of time.
The Ludum Dare Compo challenge is a 48 hour event where a single person must create a game from scratch based on a theme that is announced at the start of the event. Here is a list of development libraries that I used for this project:
- Haxe - programming language
- Heaps.io - game engine
- Deepnight's GameBase - framework
- LEd Haxe API - LEd integration
Here is a list of software tools that I used during the development of Loop Runners:
- Visual Studio Code - integrated development environment (IDE)
- Aseprite - pixel art editor
- LEd - 2d map editor
- GDX Texture Packer - texture packer
- rFXGen - sound effects generator
- Wavebots Editor - music and sound effects generator
This was my first Ludum Dare game jam that I have participated in, although I have done a handful of similar game jams in the past, but never one that was this short and that I did myself. Overall, I had a blast and highly encourage anyone who is interested in game development to give it a try. Actually, I would probably encourage people to do it multiple times since you will continue to grow as you participate in more events.
For this particular game jam, I felt like I managed my time fairly well and kept the game in a scope I could handle. This was my first time making something with the Haxe programming language, outside of a pre-warm up the weekend before. I had been reading up on it for the past couple weeks and after finding Deepnight's GameBase template on GitHub, I decided to commit to using Haxe and Heaps along with this GameBase framework. I am really glad I did too, it was a great stepping off point. My main reference points that I had studied were Deepnight's tutorials and the source code for his past Ludum Dare 45 entry, Sabotage.
I took the advice of many past LD participants and made sure I took breaks to go outside, ate enough food, and slept enough both nights. I found these simple steps super helpful. The breaks really gave me time to pace around in the fresh air and gather my thoughts on what to tackle when I got back to my desk.
I also want to give a thanks to my family for their time playtesting. My wife for taking my laundry chores for this weekend. 😄 And Sébastien Bénard for his great tutorials, the LEd editor, and GameBase GitHub template.
While I was developing Loop Runners, I recorded a screenshot every 6 seconds. I then combined the screenshots to make a time-lapse video of me making the game. You can watch it on YouTube here:
