266b2e No.24212
This 10 day cycle theme: Tower Defense
Gamejolt: http://jams.gamejolt.io/agdgtowerdefense
Last Gamejam Archive: https://archive.is/nHuRR
Rules
1. Just like make game
2. submit you game on gamejolt before the deadline and add the #agdgtowerdefense tag to make it part of the jam
515aa8 No.24214
bf4543 No.24215
>>24214
Then stop complaining and make it better you faggot.
b217ec No.24216
>>24214
i never played a tower defense game i enjoyed
fbf5e3 No.24218
>>24212
Holy shit when are we going to get a different picture of strawberry jam?
>>24214
>>24216
>not liking one of the simplest yet most elegant form of RTS games
>being plebeians
84eac1 No.24219
>>24212
awesome, time to brainstorm
7f207e No.24220
>stocked up with snacks
>raining outside
>wrapped up in blankets
>listenan to comfy music
>game dev programs started up
>minijam starts
>lots of fun ideas
tis gonna be a good evening
266b2e No.24231
>>24220
I'm having a cascade of errors kind of night
I think I'm going to take a break and try again tomorrow
84eac1 No.24240
how are you guys dealing with the pathfinding for the enemies?
bruteforce calculate a path? so when you place a tower the path is recalculated with another brute force?
preset path for the map with roads you can't build over?
9f3d55 No.24241
>>24240
Preset paths for me.
266b2e No.24242
>>24240
I'm using UE4 but I'm just setting target points, telling me AI to walk to it, when they get there, get the next target point and walk there.
This means I can make levels super fast, just place target points and they'll automatically name themselves and the NPC will know what to do.
If you are worried about the player blocking the path (I am just using designated build areas, I think), you can send a super fast invisible NPC, and if he doesn't make it to his destination, punish the player.
35d242 No.24243
>>24240
Node based A*
A* (A star) works on a grid usually. However, a grid is not the only thing that can work. A set of paths is pre computed. Each node points to other branches it can take. The path distance is the difficulty factor (though you could use other qualites, such as "danger" factor instead if you want to have multiple paths and enemies that avoid danger). Then A* is run across these nodes once at the beginning of the level to select a short path. Then each time something is placed which obstructs the path, A* is run again.
If you want the enemies to stay on the path as much as possible and just make small detours then A* is run with the start as the point that was obstructed, then the new path segment and the prior path are concatenated.
84eac1 No.24244
>>24241
would make the most sense time wise,if all else fails this is what I'm doing
>>24242
UE4 sure makes things easy
>>24243
thanks man, will try to implement this algorithm
7f207e No.24264
>the more I try to work on this, the more I want to work on my main project
help
7f207e No.24265
Finally getting to the point where progress is visible.
I think this game genre is relatively UI-reliant, which is bothering me because while I don't necessarily hate making a UI, it's very slow work. I spent the most of the first day trying to figure out what the UI is going to need and how it's going to work.
a-anyone else making progress?
6334a1 No.24266
>>24265
Looks good so far, anon. I'm not really a fan of UI either.
I swore to myself that I would actually submit something for the jam this time but I haven't found time to start yet because of college bullshit. I'll probably end up skipping Ludum Dare next weekend to finish it up.
7f207e No.24267
>>24266
I'm not ready to make games in such a short period like Ludum Dare's, so I haven't even been paying attention. Plus rushing the crap out of game dev is the opposite of fun to me.
And I'm also a lazy internet addicted shit, I've spent only about 5% of the weekend on this jam even though I was really pumped to do it at the beginning.
266b2e No.24269
>>24264
lmao same problem, I've gotten tons of work done on my main project
On the plus side it's relevant to turrets so I should be able to do that fast.. I'll do it this week for reals.
7dc602 No.24273
>>24265
>a-anyone else making progress?
I'll join you soon, I promise
I haven't started yet but I guess I'll try polycode for this one
5f079a No.24274
>>24265
>a-anyone else making progress?
I can't think of a gimmick
8913eb No.24275
>>24274
>needing a gimmick for a mini jam
I think you're thinking too hard
9938dd No.24276
>>24275
If you're over the hump of figuring out how to implement mechanics, it can be hard to get enthusiastic about a jam without a gimmick or cool aspect, rather than just working on your main project.
b217ec No.24277
>>24242
>>24275
yeah man just copy gem td
5f079a No.24278
>>24275
Alright, fine. I'll just have fun with visuals. Thoughts?
8913eb No.24279
>>24278
Makes me want to collect it
b217ec No.24280
>>24278
what is this supposed to be?
5f079a No.24281
>>24279
>>24280
It's what the ai monsters are trying to attack.
Also added ai minions that will collect resources
b217ec No.24282
>>24281
looks nice
i didn't think you could do so much with just basic shapes
266b2e No.24284
>>24274
I wanted to do a Trump theme as a gimmick but I am not an artfag and I'd need some way to tell that story, and realistically that deserves more time than a week. I probably couldn't do it in a week I keep working on my main project
53840c No.24287
>>24265
>anyone else making progress?
yeah, the game mechanics are down. I still have to do a lot of tweaking to balance the game a bit. Also I haven't created any art assets yet and still haven't decided on the setting.
>>24274
I can relate to that. Took me more than a day to come up with something (for the last jam it took maybe 90 minutes). I decided to play some TDs and they felt utterly boring - probably because I played them a lot when they came out.
The biggest insight was that I knew how to beat them - even if I hadn't played one before.
5f079a No.24289
>>24287
I still need to figure out my gimmick. I might just go for a standard build -> Earn money -> Upgrade.
Also, more progress. Pathfinding, and better visuals for minions.
53840c No.24290
>>24289
I'd play your game just for the art style tbh
9227d2 No.24292
>>24212
I'll show myself out.
266b2e No.24305
>>24292
It's looking decent anon, don't be discouraged
Have you thought about how you will rotate the head individually? Will you just split it when you're done?
3377df No.24307
>>24243
I don't think I've ever played a tower defense game in which the enemies actively avoided danger.
That could be interesting. An AI that finds the least damaging path thru your defenses.
39b75d No.24313
>>24307
There are plenty that do that already.
Cursed Treasure, for example.
5f079a No.24337
>>24290
Aww, thanks.
I've barely done anything in the last few days so I need to get my shit together. I've made 3 tower types though.
Circle: All in range are continually damaged
Diamond: Continually damages nearest enemy
Crystal: Occasionally shoots at one enemy
84eac1 No.24366
>>24337
>calling that no progress
thats a work of art man
b217ec No.24367
>>24337
i like the effect on effect on the shots
what are you using to make this game?
7dc602 No.24369
Two days left and I haven't even started yet
For now I'm probably giving up on Polycode for this jam. Linux version of Polycode's build system is a disaster. It downloads a bunch of libraries but doesn't pull them in and doesn't build with recent libpng, Lua or SDL. There's also a branch with alternative build system which doesn't use cmake but it's "Linux" build is actually a GLES/RaspberryPi build. Also this branch for some reason has a bunch of branch-unrelated fixes and changes that are not in master for some reason. Also master tree has dozens of useful pull requests that are on hiatus for some reason. I know it's just a hobbyist project but I really don't like the state of things there.
d84d7a No.24373
>>24337
Looking good anon, the art style def works for me. I would play this if it had a killer electronic soundtrack to jam along with. Seriously keep this little project in the back of your mind!
5f079a No.24396
Alright, more progress. 3 Enemy types, normal, fast, tough.
3 elements also now.
You can now also lose, get money, & spend money.
Also added proper wave system
I think that's all for now
>>24366
That's nice of you, thanks.
>>24367
Thanks, and gamemaker.
>>24373
Still no sound or music. It's pretty low on the priority list
7dc602 No.24400
I hope actually starting counts as a progress for these threads
5f079a No.24401
>>24400
It does, I started pretty late too. I pretty much just started and then I did other things instead, just recently I started working seriously.
7f207e No.24403
>mfw haven't done anything in a week
At least I became more productive overall from avoiding this jam, I guess.
It seems I can only get things done when I'm supposed to be doing something else.
6334a1 No.24406
53840c No.24413
I finished a bit earlier than last time:
http://gamejolt.com/games/base-def-agdg-minijam-5-tower-defense/113392
About the game: Enemies drop upgrades which you can use on your towers or sell. You can block the path of enemies completely but they will start try to fight their way through. You also have to manage food supply otherwise the efficiency of your towers dwindles.
Drops are randomized in 3 tiers, your towers start with one tier I upgrade and you get 2 upgrades for free. It's an endless mode so you don't technically win.
Upgrades include: More projectiles, homing missiles, splash damage, poison, freeze, etc.
Nodev thoughts: This is my second game in GMS and I'm still quite pleased with it. There are obviously limitations but it's part of the fun to think about how to work with them.
There are 18 hours left I hope we get at least as many submission as last jam (three (3))
04e325 No.24415
is anybody using libgdx? why eveybody making games with gamemaker?
7dc602 No.24418
File: 1450027657827.jpg (361.62 KB, 931x1280, 931:1280, b7912998af8b45f7c6a6541161….jpg)
>>24413
>There are 18 hours left I hope we get at least as many submission as last jam (three (3))
I can't get my head around angel's built-in pathfinding. Temptation to flunk the whole thing is pretty big.
53840c No.24420
>>24418
DON'T GIVE UP! YOU CAN DO IT!
You have still over 9 hours! Think about all the things people did in 9 hours! You can beat the challenge! You can do it!
7dc602 No.24424
And I got fucking nothing, this much I could put together in a few hours.
I'll just upload it to the jam page so it won't be an awkward single-game jam. I'll make it playable tomorrow but now I need to get some sleep.
af0a23 No.24425
Things were going ok until I hit a bug on friday that made my game essentially unplayable. And I just spent the weekend trying to solve it and I still have no idea what's going wrong. fuuuuuuuuuuuckk
53840c No.24431
>>24424
Neat! Did you get the pathfinding to work? The program doesn't want to start on this PC (0xc00007b error) I try it later on my other one.
>>24425
Had a similar occurrence of a bug which I still can't figure out.
> set variable of an object to 1
> everything's fine
> program goes to a different script
> the line that executes just assigns a different variable of a different object to some value
> suddenly the first variable is 0
Step through it with the debugger several times. Changed the second value of the variable in case there's an address conflict, changed/added/deleted variables, etc. Nothing. Then I just created a second variable for the first object and it worked fine.
7dc602 No.24438
>>24431
>Neat! Did you get the pathfinding to work? The program doesn't want to start on this PC (0xc00007b error) I try it later on my other one.
Nah I dropped angel and strapped everything in few hours in love2d, used jumper for pathfinding and Tiled with ATL for map.
It's just basic mechanics unfortuantely, I've made monster types and turret upgrades but no friendly UI, only wave is like 4 monsters and worst thing that I didn't make any effects when turret attacks a monster, it looks very awkward and essentially makes the game unplayable. I'll try to fix it in 5-6 hours.
Oh, as for 0xc00007b error, I was in such hurry do I didn't really check that I've uploaded only the binary but not the libraries. I've reuploaded the build but trust me, if you want to take a peek, wait until I fix it (it's not like it's going to be good, but it's going to look like a game)
53840c No.24452
Because there isn't one yet:
New poll
http://poal.me/vwt7wl
>>24438
Alright!
b217ec No.24456
>>24452
i just had another idea for a jam theme but i don't remember what its called
it's another subset of rts basically you have a bunch of nodes that produce units if you control them and you move units to enemy nodes to fight over them
basically units and fights only happen on these nodes
anyone know what im talking about they are mostly flash games
7dc602 No.24457
Can't we just agree on the whole thing being dead in the water? Even OP didn't show up this time.
P.S. I'm too demotivated to fix my submission. But I guess this jam wasn't useless after all since I've tried two new frameworks though ended up not using them.
b217ec No.24458
>>24457
>Can't we just agree on the whole thing being dead in the water? Even OP didn't show up this time.
no i wanna keep doing this
unless you mean this jam in particular then yeah fuck td games i've always hated them
af0a23 No.24459
>>24457
I like it even though my games weren't finished. Learned a fuck lot of c++ by doing them and my unfinished td game is easily the biggest project I've written so far.
>>24452
how about instead of doing nothing we do snake or tetris or pong? you can code one of those in a few hours no need for 10 days to make snake.
7dc602 No.24460
>>24458
Well this jam in particular and probably the whole thing
I don't know why but it feels like it's not working very well in the current format. I'm not saying it was completely useless though. Can't really put it well right now.
6334a1 No.24461
>>24457
>>24458
>>24459
>>24460
I've got an idea: how about for the next jam we work in teams of two or three anons per game and use some kind of version control system to work together? It seems like a lot more people are voting and discussing ideas than actually finishing games, so maybe it would help if there was someone to shame them into working while sharing the workload?
Also, reposting this from the last thread.
9cde7d No.24462
>>24457
OP here, I didn't get far enough to submit anything. had a busier than expected week. I'm a piece of shit.
But personally I use the gamejams just to learn more than anything, and I did learn a bit, so I'm happy.
Personally, I wouldn't be opposed to month long game-jams, I think that gives enough time to focus. But, I get that people want faster ones. It'd be annoying for an entire month to be about a genre you hate. But ~2 weeks is a bit fast paced for a nodev like me
>>24461
I am completely into this. In fact I'd really like to work with someone, just to get experience doing that.
If anyone uses UE4 and wants to work together, let me know. Even if it's not on a gamejam but maybe another small project.
84eac1 No.24463
>>24457
its late December, was exam week for me :-/
so I really couldn't do much, did learn a few things about routing algorithms though(and how difficult it is to get them right)
7dc602 No.24464
>>24461
>I've got an idea: how about for the next jam we work in teams of two or three anons per game and use some kind of version control system to work together? It seems like a lot more people are voting and discussing ideas than actually finishing games, so maybe it would help if there was someone to shame them into working while sharing the workload?
Working in teams is like super-hard because you have to rely on each other. And it's not like a real work environment with financial penalties, it's an anonymous image board, it's kind of hard to shame someone into doing their part here. Not to mention that teammates should agree on a common tool set, code style, art style, game ideas, etc. Which might be a problem because out of like 3-5 or so people, every one might be using a different framework to begin with.
But we could try, right?
53840c No.24468
>>24456
I know what you mean. It's basically real-time Risk/Dice Wars
b217ec No.24469
>>24468
yeah do you know what the genre is called
i know there is a name for it i just can't remember what it is
53840c No.24470
>>24469
No idea what they're called. Kongregate has most of them under the "cell" tag: http://www.kongregate.com/cell-games
6334a1 No.24476
>>24464
Yeah I think it's worth a shot. Even if it's a horrible, disorganized failure then at least people will learn something about teamwork and version control.
>>24462
I've dabbled in UE4 but I haven't been able to get it working again since I switched to Linux, unfortunately.
Does anyone want to work together with Godot? I'm fine with 2D or 3D. Also sorry if this ends up being a triple post, hotwheels should try fixing this broken fucking site instead of begging for Infinity Next money.
b217ec No.24477
>>24452
man i can't add more than 1 answer wtf
can someone add management sim, think games like theme hospital and dungeon keeper
01e266 No.24482
a53b98 No.24484
Anyway, how are we going to team up? Kind of hard to make heads or tails
6334a1 No.24486
>>24477
I added it for you. I definitely prefer poal.me over strawpoll but holy shit the "you can only add one answer" thing is annoying, I've fucked up polls because of that too.
>>24484
I guess we just post what tools/skills we have and hope someone with the same tools/skills replies within a few days.
5ef0c3 No.24487
>>24461
I'd be down for this. Only really able to use UE4 at the moment, but I'm somewhat proficient in programming and blueprinting in it. No good at art or any of that shit, and I've never tried to use version or source control. I've always worked solo.
7dc602 No.24495
>>24486
>I guess we just post what tools/skills we have and hope someone with the same tools/skills replies within a few days.
That's not going to work
So, uh, this is like a dating website or something.
Ok with: C++ (SDL), open to new frameworks; love2d as a last resort but I don't like lua
Maybe: C# or Java (for learning, don't expect me to jump right in writing production quality code and stuff), Unreal Engine (don't know shit but used to be UE fanboy; also UE is probably overkill here though)
Probably not: Unity, GameMaker, Stencyl, Godot, etc. anything that forces to use a crippled IDE
Also I make only mspaint-tier assets that make your eyes bleed
6334a1 No.24496
>>24495
>That's not going to work
You're probably right.
I would definitely prefer to work with Godot (GDScript, which is identical to Python), but if it comes down to it then I could use Unity (JavaScript / C#) with someone. I can make shitty, basic Blender props and I am capable of drawing beautiful, flawless stick figures. I can also make fucking awful music and sound effects.
01e266 No.24498
>>24487
Hey, I use UE4 and I'm into Blueprints. Not the best with Art either, so we have a bit of overlap, but
Would you like to work together anyway, get some experience? One of us could work on one thing, while the other does another, with source control set up?
I like doing stuff that others find tedius quite often like UI and Menus and stuff too
5ef0c3 No.24500
>>24498
Absolutely. If you like using UMG then that's perfect, as I fucking hate UI shit. I mostly use c++ but if you can c++ you can blueprint too. Send me an email and we can chat.
01e266 No.24501
New jam in 8 hours :^)
Going to hit this one hard even though it's christmas
5ef0c3 No.24504
>Christmas, City-builder and Management sim all equal in votes
So which one is it lads?
53840c No.24505
>>24504
City-builder is now top
53840c No.24506
5ef0c3 No.24507
So it's a city builder then. When does it start and end?
53840c No.24510
>>24507
I can make a thread + gamejolt jam - should be ready in a few minutes
53840c No.24512