Tag Archives: one week/game

Gamma4 entry for all!

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[The following is reposted from my other blog for the One Week/Game Project where I'm attempting to work on a new game very week for the entire year. You can read the original post here.]

The first public release of my week 3 game for One Week, here is Monster Monster Monster Party Party Party.

Click here or on the image to play!

Monster Monster Monster Party Party Party was created for the Gamma4 competition. The main constraint for the competition was to create a game that utilized only a single button. Here spacebar is used to play the entire game. When holding down the spacebar monsters will turn invisible and be invulnerable to tanks and helicopters. Timing your invincibility right also gives you the power to destroy the military.

I really enjoyed the artwork I created for the game with the stark colors and angular designs. I had a real blast designing the monsters and one of the things I wished I had more time to play around with was the idea of changing scales for the game (going from a single monster on the screen to up to 20 monsters at its most zoomed out). It’s an game mechanic I think that has a lot of interest and something I would want to explore in a future title or iteration of MMMPPP.

A post-GGJ 2010 status report

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One Week/Game is a side project I’ve been trying to get off the ground this year. The premise is that I attempt to build a game of sorts every week throughout the entire year. As you may tell by glancing at the site, the start has been a little on the slow side.

That being said this past weekend with the coincidence of both the Global Game Jam and Gamma 4 submission deadline I imaged to create a game in under 48 hours. Even more happily the game (Monster Monster Monster Party Party Party) even managed to vaguely be about deception and is playable using only a single button!

I managed to have enough time to complete a game largely because our local Global Game Jam site was marred a bit by weather issues. I’m responsible for organizing the local site for the Triangle area and inclement weather prevented our awesome hosts Icarus Studios from staying open during the weekend. Thankfully the participants were motivated enough to stick together and still develop 7 games over the weekend in spite of these issues. Definitely check them out and the other games from the Global Game Jam. Over 4000 people and 942 games can’t be wrong!

[Image not from a game from my site, but depict1 by Kyle Pulver from Retro Affect]

What is One Week/Game

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[Note: This entry is a crosspost from the One Week/Game. You can check out One Week/Game and the original entry here]

So it’s probably about time I started this website proper. Hi and welcome to One Week/Game (just pronounced One Week Game). This is a year-long project for me and my brand Ludoko Studios which I’ve been releasing games under since 2007.

So what is the goal of One Week/Game? The goal of OW/G is pretty simple. Make a new game every week for an entire year.

Wait a second. Back up there you’re saying. Make a game a week for an entire year? You’re probably thinking right now that you’re talking to a lunatic, a man clearly out of his mind driven to extremes by a tortured soul (or some nonsense like that). Okay, but before you close this tab and never visit again let me try to explain my rationale for such an ambitious and frankly crazy project.

First off I’m far from being original and daring here. There’s a proud history of artists and creators in various fields attempting similar projects of this scope and nature. Jonathan Coulton famous did his Thing a Week from 2005 to 2006 writing 52 songs in a span of a year. And within the games community there was the original Experimental Gameplay Project at Carnegie Mellon’s ETC program (from which such notable indie developers like Kyle Gabler and Kyle Gray first got their start) which developed a new game every week for an entire semester.

So it’s certain possible with the right motivation and proper amounts of effort. So then why am I personally doing this? How does this benefit Ludoko Studios and me?

Right now as an independent game developer I’m at a crossroads of sorts. You can only run so long on meager earnings and freelance jobs doing other things before you need to start thinking about whether or not full-time game development will work out in the long run. So this year I will inevitably need to make that big decision if making games should be my “real” job or if I would be better off doing something else somewhere else.

So in a sense OW/G is my way of doubling down on my gamble. Because my biggest problem as a game maker right now is that I simply do not make enough games. Especially for the size and scope of the games that I’m involved in my productivity should and needs to be significantly greater for any sort of success. The discipline to be productive when setting your own schedule, your own deadlines, your own milestones to me is one of the hardest part of being an independent game developer. So unsurprisingly its when there’s been outside self-imposed deadlines like Ludum Dare where I’ve shined my best. Last year with Ludum Dare I completed two games in less than 48 hours, Into the Pit and Echolon. OW/G is my way of attempting to reach that level of productivity.

So for better or for worse I’m giving this a shot. The first cycle for OW/G was from January 12th to 18th and has technically already passed. So the 1st cycle has stretched a few extra days as I add on a little more polish and basic backend stuff to push the game to a point of playability I’m satisfied with. This game from last week – Towerfall – will be released tonight for everyone to enjoy.

My plans are to keep this simple. Outside of the basic goal of completing a game roughly every week I’m not going to set any ground rules. Some games (like Towerfall) may take a little longer than a week. Other games may only take a few days. Some games will be completed during special events like Ludum Dare or the Global Game Jam. Some weeks I might try to make a game for an upcoming holiday or to fit some theme and other weeks I’ll just do whatever the heck I want. And I’ll be documenting the process the entire way with timelapse videos, post-mortems on development, rants on making games, in-progress updates, and all sorts of random other stuff.

So hopefully we can all have some fun. And make some games.