Ludum Dare
Encyclopedia
Ludum Dare is an accelerated game development
competition
. It was founded by Geoff Howland and were first held in April 2002. Ludum Dare has received mainstream media coverage from sources such as PC Gamer
and Wired
. A unique feature of this competition is that participants often release time-lapse
videos of their games being made.
from scratch fitting a theme announced at the start of the contest. All of the code and content must be created during the 48 hours, each entry must be created by a single person and source code
must be shown. After the competition ends, participants are given 2 weeks to play and rate games created by their peers. There are no physical or cash prizes but participants retain full ownership of their entries. Recently a more relaxed version was introduced, called the "Jam", which takes place concurrently with the main competition and allows for teams, unshared code, and an extended deadline of 72 hours.
A smaller competition called "Mini Ludum Dare" is held monthly by veteran participants. The rules are generally the same as the main Ludum Dare, but the 48 hour limitation is generally ignored favoring the participation of late developers.
Game development
Game development is the software development process by which a video game is developed. Development is undertaken by a game developer, which may range from a single person to a large business. Mainstream games are normally funded by a publisher and take several years to develop. Indie games can...
competition
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
. It was founded by Geoff Howland and were first held in April 2002. Ludum Dare has received mainstream media coverage from sources such as PC Gamer
PC Gamer
PC Gamer is a magazine founded in Britain in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future Publishing. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries...
and Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
. A unique feature of this competition is that participants often release time-lapse
Time-lapse
Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than that which will be used to play the sequence back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing...
videos of their games being made.
Competition Structure
Participants are given 48 hours to create a gameGame
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
from scratch fitting a theme announced at the start of the contest. All of the code and content must be created during the 48 hours, each entry must be created by a single person and source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
must be shown. After the competition ends, participants are given 2 weeks to play and rate games created by their peers. There are no physical or cash prizes but participants retain full ownership of their entries. Recently a more relaxed version was introduced, called the "Jam", which takes place concurrently with the main competition and allows for teams, unshared code, and an extended deadline of 72 hours.
A smaller competition called "Mini Ludum Dare" is held monthly by veteran participants. The rules are generally the same as the main Ludum Dare, but the 48 hour limitation is generally ignored favoring the participation of late developers.
Editions
| Edition | Date | Theme | Participants | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ludum Dare #0 (24hrs) | April 2002 | Indirect Interaction | "Magnetic Fields" by Endurion | |
| Ludum Dare 48 #1 | July 15, 2002 | Guardian | "Scarecrow: Heart of Straw" by Hamumu | |
| Ludum Dare 48 #2 | November 8, 2002 | Construction/Destruction (Subtheme: Sheep) | "Sheep Town" by ShredWheat | |
| Ludum Dare 48 #3 | April 4, 2003 | Preparation - Set it up, let it go | ||
| Ludum Dare 48 #4 | April 16, 2004 | Infection | 341 signups, 67 submissions | "Commies!" by randomnine |
| Ludum Dare 48 #5 | October 15, 2004 | Random | 93 signups | "Random Dungeon Exploration" by Jolle |
| Ludum Dare 48 #6 | April 16, 2005 | Light and Darkness | 143 signups | "Uplighter" by Jolle |
| Ludum Dare 48 #7 | December 10, 2005 | Growth | "The People" by Jolle | |
| Ludum Dare 48 #8 | April 28, 2006 | Swarms | 150 signups, 66 submissions | "Spatzap aka N/A" by DrPetter |
| Ludum Dare 48 #8.5 | January 1, 2007 | Moon / Anti-Text | ||
| Ludum Dare 48 #9 | April 27, 2007 | Build the level you play | ||
| Ludum Dare 48 #10 | December 14, 2007 | Chain Reaction | 158 signups, 52 submissions | "Short Fuse" by Hamumu |
| Ludum Dare 48 #10.5 | February 23, 2008 | Weird / Unexpected / Surprise | ||
| Ludum Dare 48 #11 | April 18, 2008 | Minimalist | 71 submissions | "Strong AI" by mrfun/SethR |
| Ludum Dare 48 #12 | August 8, 2008 | The Tower | 57 submissions | "Rise Of The Owls" by Hamumu |
| Ludum Dare 48 #13 | December 5, 2008 | Roads | 59 submissions | "Rara Racer" by increpare |
| Ludum Dare 48 #14 | April 17, 2009 | Advancing Wall of Doom | 123 submissions | "Mind Wall" by mrfun/SethR |
| Ludum Dare 48 #15 | August 28, 2009 | Caverns | 144 submissions | "Beacon" by ChevyRay |
| Ludum Dare 48 #16 | December 11, 2009 | Exploration | 121 submissions | "Cat Planet" by chuchino |
| Ludum Dare 48 #17 | April 23, 2010 | Islands | 204 submissions | "Gaiadi" by xerus |
| Ludum Dare 48 #18 | August 20, 2010 | Enemies as Weapons | 172 submissions | "Fail-Deadly" by invicticide |
| Ludum Dare 48 #19 | December 17, 2010 | Discovery | 242 submissions | "Time Pygmy" by deepnight |
| Ludum Dare 48 #20 | April 29, 2011 | It’s Dangerous to go Alone! Take this! | 288 submissions | "Appy 1000mg" by deepnight |
| Ludum Dare 48 #21 | August 19, 2011 | Escape | 599 submissions | "Flee Buster" by ChevyRay |