Ludum Dare
Ludum Dare (LD) (from Latin "to give a game",[1] formerly Ludum Dare 48 (LD48), also referenced as LDJAM) is an accelerated video game development competition. It was founded by Geoff Howland and was first held in April 2002.[2] Participants are required to create a video game that fits within a given theme in two days.[3][4] A unique feature of this competition is that participants often release a time-lapse video of the development of their game.[5]
History
Ludum Dare was originally only an Internet forum. The first competition—often referred to as "Ludum Dare Zero"—was held in April 2002, with 18 participants. Its popularity turned the focus towards the competitions rather than the forum. The time limit was subsequently increased to 48 hours, because 24 hours were decided to be too few.[6] Since 2011 the competition has seen significant annual increases in numbers of game submissions, partly owing to the public awareness of Minecraft designer Markus Persson,[7] who has participated seven times.[8]
Until 2014, the event was very informal as the Ludum Dare team worked on it in their spare time. Due to the increasing number of contestants, long-time organizer Mike Kasprzak announced in September 2014 that he would attempt at setting up a business model allowing him to work full-time on the project.[9] Charging for Ludum Dare is however "out of question",[9] and money is currently exclusively raised through donations.[10]
Competition structure
Currently, Ludum Dare is held three times a year. In the week preceding each competition suggested themes are subject to votes by prospective participants. A theme is subsequently announced[11] before participants are given 48 hours to create a video game (although board games or similar are accepted[12]) that fits within it. All game code and content must be created during the competition and by a single person, and source code is encouraged to be included. During the event many participants record multiple screenshots of the development of their game to later produce a time-lapse video.[5] In addition, many broadcast a live video stream,[13] particularly since April 2013, when a widget showing Ludum Dare video streams hosted on Twitch was added to the Ludum Dare website.[14] After the end of the competition participants are given three weeks to play and rate other submitted games to determine the winners.[11] There are no physical or cash prizes, but each participant retains full ownership of their game[12]—some have achieved financial success after developing their initial submission.[13]
As of the 18th edition of the competition, which was held in August 2010, a more relaxed version called the "Jam" was introduced. The Jam, which allows development teams, private source code and an extended development time of 72 hours, takes place concurrently with the solo competition.[12]
A smaller competition called "Mini Ludum Dare" is held during months without a Ludum Dare. These are each hosted by a veteran participant who is free to decide the theme within which the games must fit.[13] The rules are generally the same as in Ludum Dare, but the 48-hour limitation is usually ignored in favor of late participation.
Every October Ludum Dare hosts the October Challenge, which challenges people to "Finish a game, take it to market, and earn $1".[15] Participants have 31 days to upload a link to their game to the website. The event is not competitive and is just a small event to encourage game development from people who do not make money from their games regularly.
Results
No. | Month | Theme (bonus) | Participants | Compo winner | Jam winner | Ref. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sign-ups | Submissions | Developer | Game | Developer(s) | Game | ||||
0† | April 2002 | Indirect interaction | 18 | Endurion | Magnetic Fields | ||||
1 | July 2002 | Guardian | 136 | 46 | Hamumu | Scarecrow: Heart of Straw | |||
2 | November 2002 | Construction/destruction (sheep) | 116 | 49 | ShredWheat | Sheep Town | |||
3 | April 2003 | Preparation – Set it up, let it go | 84 | ||||||
4 | April 2004 | Infection | 341 | 66 | randomnine | Commies! | |||
5 | October 2004 | Random | 93 | Jolle | Random Dungeon Exploration | ||||
6 | April 2005 | Light and darkness | 143 | 52 | Jolle | Uplighter | |||
7 | December 2005 | Growth | 27 | Jolle | The People | ||||
8 | April 2006 | Swarms | 150 | 66 | |||||
8.5† | January 2007 | Moon/anti-text | |||||||
9 | April 2007 | Build the level you play | DrPetter | Spatzap aka N/A | |||||
10 | December 2007 | Chain reaction | 158 | 51 | Hamumu | Short Fuse | |||
10.5 | February 2008 | Weird/unexpected/surprise | |||||||
11 | April 2008 | Minimalist | 71 | mrfun/SethR | Strong AI | ||||
12 | August 2008 | The tower | 57 | Hamumu | Rise Of The Owls | ||||
13 | December 2008 | Roads | 59 | increpare | Rara Racer | ||||
14 | April 2009 | Advancing wall of doom | 123 | mrfun/SethR | Mind Wall | ||||
15 | August 2009 | Caverns | 144 | ChevyRay | Beacon | ||||
16 | December 2009 | Exploration | 121 | chuchino | Cat Planet | ||||
17 | April 2010 | Islands | 204 | xerus | Gaiadi | ||||
18 | August 2010 | Enemies as weapons | 172 | invicticide | Fail-Deadly | ||||
19 | December 2010 | Discovery | 242 | deepnight (Sébastien Bénard) | Time Pygmy | ||||
20 | April 2011 | It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this! | 288 | deepnight (Sébastien Bénard) | Appy 1000mg | ||||
21 | August 2011 | Escape | 599 | Chevy Ray Johnston | Flee Buster | Ian Brock Josh Schonstal Guerin McMurry |
Escape | [16][17][18] | |
22 | December 2011 | Alone (kitten challenge) | 891 | Pedro Medeiros | Frostbite | Harry Lee Jarrel Seah |
Midas | [19][20][21][22] | |
23 | April 2012 | Tiny world | 1402 | Tyler Glaiel | Fracuum | TurboDindon | Inside My Radio | [23][24] | |
24 | August 2012 | Evolution | 1406 | Nicolas Cannasse | Evoland | X-0ut | LD24 X0ut | [25][26] | |
25 | December 2012 | You are the villain (goat) | 1327 | deepnight (Sébastien Bénard) | Atomic Creep Spawner | Free Lives Games | Ore Chasm | [27][28][29] | |
26 | April 2013 | Minimalism (potato) | 2346 | TimTipGames | MONO | Mark Foster David Fenn |
Leaf Me Alone | [30][31] | |
27 | August 2013 | 10 seconds | 2213 | Andrew Shouldice | Probe Team | Graeme Borland | NXTWPN10 | [32][33] | |
28 | December 2013 | You only get one | 2064 | Daniël Haazen | One Take | Mark Foster David Fenn Andrew Gleeson |
Titan Souls | [34][35] | |
29 | April 2014 | Beneath the surface | 2497 | Daniel Linssen | The Sun and Moon | Shannon Mason Richard Lems Diane de Wilde |
ScubaBear | [36][37] | |
30 | August 2014 | Connected Worlds | 2538 | PixelMind | SuperDimensional | Kevin Zuhn Kevin Geisler Chris Stallman Devon Scott-Tunkin |
Antbassador | [38][39] | |
31 | December 2014 | Entire Game on One Screen | 2637 | Daniel Linssen | birdsong | Simon Larsen Lukas Hansen Frederik Storm |
90 Second Portraits | [40] | |
32 | April 2015 | An Unconventional Weapon | 2821 | 01010111 | BED✰HOGG | Bogdan Rybak Igor Puzhevich Zi Ye Megan Alcock |
The Rock the Paper and the Scissors | [41] | |
33 | August 2015 | You are the Monster | 2725 | DragonXVI | Writhe: The Thing from the Omega Sector | Pietro Ferrantelli Theophile Loaec Augustin Grassien OrikMcFly |
Mobs, Inc. | [42] | |
34 | December 2015 | Growing/two button controls | 2870 | vegapomme27 | Frank & Stein | Big Green Pillow ft Mgaia | Slash Quest | [43] | |
35 | April 2016 | Shapeshift | 2718 | Daniel Linssen | windowframe | Barney Cumming Dave Lloyd Jon Murphy Paul Dal Pozzo Louis Meyer Adrian Vaughan |
The Maitre D | [44] |
Notes:
- † — Competitions were held for only 24 hours.
References
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External links
- No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.
- Ludum Dare on TwitterLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- List of editions of Mini Ludum Dare