Spring RTS Engine

Another year, another LD
Ludum Dare 35

Preparation: April 10th (exact time is TBD)
Date: April 16th(1:00AM) - 19th(2:00AM) -> Check this for local time.
Wiki: SpringCabal Wiki
Rules: http://ludumdare.com/compo/rules/

Theme voting: http://theme.ludumdare.com/
Google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wWD ... sp=sharing
Ludum Dare Entry: http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-3 ... &uid=52862
Gameplay videos:
Forboding Angel: https://youtu.be/S2tf4NqhsDg
Tech Valley Game Space: https://www.twitch.tv/techvalleygamespace/v/61687671 (first 45ish mins of it)

We're in again, sign up! (also clarify if you'll join for the prep weekend) New members welcome :)

For details what Ludum Dare is and how we do it, please check the wiki.

PS: We'll be doing a prep weekend this time, but only a single day (April 10th) this time, mostly to get the base repo updated to 101, add any new libraries, widgets or gadgets we may assume useful and maybe make a small game if we have time, but only on an experimental level (nothing polished like Hunted).

My goals for this round is to innovate more. We need to devise new, interesting gameplay elements, but also focus on how we want players to experience the game. We achieved a high level of polish last time, but we're getting stuck on the usual Spring mechanics that are limiting us too much. Keep in mind that we don't need to make a game relying on Spring weapons or (real time) combat.

I'm in.

I can't make the prep weekend but I can be around for the 16th & 17th, daytime GMT.

Re: base repo, https://github.com/SpringCabal/SkeletonGame/issues/6 is my highest priority.

I'm going to leave this here: https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/commen ... evelopers/ , might be useful if anyone decides to venture out of their field of expertise (especially the audio ones imo).

The current plan for the prep weekend is to simply close all issues, the critical ones being https://github.com/SpringCabal/Skeleton ... 0Dare%2035 . This can of course happen before or after the weekend itself, as long as it's finished before the jam.
Ideally everyone should get familiar with the new libs/tools/frameworks. It's not a big leap, especially if you've been in the previous LD, but still good to keep yourself updated.

A major change since the previous LD is that we'll be using gitter to communicate: https://gitter.im/orgs/SpringCabal/rooms . I won't go into great details why, but the consensus was that gitter is a much better dev tool than hangouts (and even skype), and it's high integration with github is a big plus.

For the prep weekend we'll make a special gitter room for the SkeletonGame, and a separate one will be made for the LD35 repo.

I can be self-admittedly flaky so I make no promises but I would definitely like to help out where I can. As far as preparing for 101/102 or general skeletongame features/bugs go, does that need to wait for the "prep day" or is it an anytime before thing?

PS I'm "Lebdooder" on github in case you see any random pull requests or want to get ahold of me

You're welcomed to help!
Commits are allowed and encouraged before the prep (I'll send you a team invite so you don't need to do PRs).

Anarchid wrote:I'm in.

Im on it.

I want in and I can help on the prep weekend, too. but I'm new.

^ This is a guy I met in Japan and he expressed interest in joining us for the LD - will see how it goes!

As far as I'm concerned, the preparation weekend officially begins now. Join us on gitter (https://gitter.im/SpringCabal/SkeletonGame) and start closing those issues!

Driving my dad to the airport this evening. I have to spend some time with the MRS but I will try and show up!

I can also try to show up. Where is this being organized?

Google_Frog wrote:I can also try to show up. Where is this being organized?

So far all chat should happen at https://gitter.im/SpringCabal/SkeletonGame . I will make a Google Doc in the following days, and a new LD35 repo (clone of the SkeletonGame) once we've completed all issues in SkeletonGame (or immediately before the jam at the latest).

Google doc link is up: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wWD ... sp=sharing . We'll use it to write detailed availability, and most importantly during the idea brainstorming phase.

There are a couple of important changes members should be aware of:
1. Once we have our game idea figured out, we'll keep track of tasks/todo list, assignments, and bugs using Github's issue mechanics (it integrates nicely with Gitter). When working with tasks, look clearly at its milestone, as that's used to set the priority (tasks will be divided into days, depending what we want to achieve). Every member is expected to write issues and assign themselves to the issue they're working on. Google Doc should be avoided for task tracking altogether. Gravitas issues is a good example of the direction I want to go, although I think that might've not been enough (assignment was done rarely, and very few people concerned themselves with milestones).

2. I want us to be more innovative, so I'm changing how we do the brainstorming phase. Now, all members that are online during that time will spend the first 30 minutes thinking about potential game ideas on their own (without discussing it with other members). After that, we will all present our best ideas and together we'll pick the most interesting one (or perhaps a combined/mutated version with the best elements). I expect this initial stage to last at least 1 hour and I won't have issues if it ends up taking 3h.

3. I won't be available in the last hour to package the game, and I want someone to volunteer. I also expect there to be a Linux and/or Windows person to test it for the other platform, although we can add multi-platform support at a later date.