https://blog.garrettallen.dev/ Recent content on Blog Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us Garrett Allen Sat, 07 May 2022 11:00:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2022/05/07/ld50-last-breath-post-mortem/ Sat, 07 May 2022 11:00:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2022/05/07/ld50-last-breath-post-mortem/ Ludum Dare 50, my fifth Ludum Dare! I took a new approach for this one, I slept both nights! For this one I created “Last Breathe” which you can play here! The GOOD 👍 Sleep! I slept Friday and Saturday night for this Ludum Dare. About 16 hours of sleep across the two. That means my 48 hours went to 32 hours! Some advantages I felt from this was that I was able to stay creative all the way to the end of the competition. https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2022/03/13/ld49-tribulation-post-mortem/ Sun, 13 Mar 2022 11:09:40 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2022/03/13/ld49-tribulation-post-mortem/ Another Ludum Dare down! This was a tough one for me. Nothing in particular made it tough by design, but I struggled more than ever. I’m going to keep this post-mortem brief, unlike my usual! The GOOD 👍 Music The music of Tribulation played out fantastically. I ended up using Strofe, an AI system that generates music based on a few basic inputs. I was able to get music generated in roughly the style I was looking for, then use some basic editing with Audacity to tune it to exactly what I wanted. https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/12/27/pixel-dailies-2021/ Mon, 27 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/12/27/pixel-dailies-2021/ In 2021 I began occasionally participating in Pixel Dailies. Throughout the year I made 60 different pixel art drawings according to a daily theme posted on the Pixel Dailies Twitter. Here is what I drew. 6/15 - Cannon 6/16 - Fishing Garden 6/17 - Tiger 6/18 - Capsule 6/20 - Bounty Hunter 6/21 - Warm Clothes 6/22 - Beret 6/23 - Cobweb 6/24 - Spreadsheet 6/28 - Emu/Foodstall/Giant Monster (Catching up on missed themes) 6/29 - Spriggan 6/30 - Bandage 7/1 - Secret Ingredient 7/6 - Hockey 7/7 - Spiral 7/8 - Satisfying 7/9 - Precise 7/12 - Teeth 7/13 - Quick Time Event 7/14 - Glitch & Minesweeper (Catch-up on themes, this inspired my Glitchsweeper game) 7/19 - Miniature 7/26 - Minigame 7/28 - Convenience Store 8/4 - Secret Entrance 8/9 - Duck 8/11 - Safe 8/12 - Birch Tree 8/16 - Groceries 8/17 - Things You need (Part for my AC unit that failed at this time 😂) 8/18 - Ultra Rare 8/19 - Common 8/20 - Porthole 8/23 - Novelty Mug 8/24 - Flail 8/25 - Sequel 8/30 - Carpenter 8/31 - Metallic 9/1 - Junkyard Robot 9/2 - Set of Trees 9/5 - Flaming Sword 9/7 - Fox 9/11 - Chess Pieces 9/13 - Industrial 9/16 - Diner 10/17 - Villager 10/20 - Ghost Ship 10/21 - Chains 11/1 - Starfox 11/12 - Escape Pod 11/13 - Beast Titan via Art Trade (draw something per friend recommendation) 11/29 - Magical Instrument 11/30 - Orb 12/1 - Twins 12/2 - Cerberus 12/3 - Can of Food 12/4 - Icy 12/5 - Trapped in a Bottle 12/6 - Glowing 12/7 - Alien Weapon 12/8 - Organised https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/12/20/exploring-abandoned-game-projects-2/ Mon, 20 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/12/20/exploring-abandoned-game-projects-2/ It’s been a while since I’ve written about my abandoned game projects. I think it’s time to dig through the archives for some more half-built games from the last two years! These aren’t all of the games I’ve started since last time, but these are a few I found interesting to show in their incomplete state. If you haven’t read my previous post about abandoned projects, you can do so here! https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/10/17/ld49-gitlab-pipelines/ Sun, 17 Oct 2021 10:09:40 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/10/17/ld49-gitlab-pipelines/ One of the biggest improvements of my process for Ludum Dare 49 was the introduction of Gitlab Pipelines to my deployment process. In the past I’ve hosted my games on Gitlab Pages (free static site hosting), but it was a very manual process. I would export my project to HTML, upload it to another repo, then Gitlab would deploy the HTML automatically to my page. It was okay but it still took a few minutes for me to export and deploy the game when I wanted to put it out there. https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/10/03/tribulation/ Sun, 03 Oct 2021 18:00:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/10/03/tribulation/ Latest entry in the Garrett Makes Games - Jam Series. And a submission for Ludum Dare 49, based on the theme unstable. Tribulation is a game about making it out of a nightmare world while fighting back against varying levels of insanity. Play Tribulation Here https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/09/24/speed-blocks/ Fri, 24 Sep 2021 18:00:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/09/24/speed-blocks/ Latest entry in the Garrett Makes Games - Jam Series. Balance maximum multiplier values against a limited amount of time. Play Speed Blocks Here https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/08/07/faf/ Sat, 07 Aug 2021 12:00:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/08/07/faf/ Latest quick game release. Fast AF. Can you set a highscore 100m sprint time? Play FAF Here https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/07/29/bounce/ Thu, 29 Jul 2021 12:00:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/07/29/bounce/ Latest quick game release. Bounce. Can you set a highscore bouncing your buddy on a trampoline? Play Bounce Here https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/07/17/glitch-sweeper/ Sat, 17 Jul 2021 12:00:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2021/07/17/glitch-sweeper/ I’ve released a new game that is a spin on Minesweeper. In this version, there are glitches that occur after so many clicks which will corrupt your identifying numbers on the tiles. There is an active scoreboard, so you can try to get the best time! This game was made in ~2.5 hours with the leaderboard being an additional 90 minutes. Play Glitch Sweeper Here https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2020/07/28/metal-fab-update/ Tue, 28 Jul 2020 20:26:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2020/07/28/metal-fab-update/ It’s been a while now since I purchased my welder and metal fab setup, so I felt like it was time for a quick update. For anyone that didn’t read my intro to metal fab, one of the items I had acquired early on was a horizontal bandsaw from Harbor Freight. It had great review and was recommended by a few respectable people online, which is how I ended up deciding on it. https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2020/02/10/exploring-abandoned-game-projects/ Mon, 10 Feb 2020 20:00:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2020/02/10/exploring-abandoned-game-projects/ I’ve been a hobbyist game dev for a few years now. I do it mostly for some fun programming outside my day job, and use it as a creative outlet. Over the last few years I’ve started and abandoned a handful of projects like any good hobbyist developer. I figured sharing some of the assets and game play that never saw the light of day could be a fun post, so here we go! https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2019/10/29/ld45-planet-jumpers-post-mortem/ Tue, 29 Oct 2019 22:09:40 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2019/10/29/ld45-planet-jumpers-post-mortem/ A few weeks ago I participated in Ludum Dare (LD) 45! This was my third time through the gauntlet of Compo. In this post I’m going to talk through my experience, broken down into these parts (click to jump): Game Idea First Iterations (MVP) Random Generation Leaderboard Gameplay Balancing Sound Building A Menu Takeaways If you want to play the game I created, you can do so here! https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2019/10/11/planet-jumpers-endless-universe-generation-explained/ Fri, 11 Oct 2019 18:12:54 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2019/10/11/planet-jumpers-endless-universe-generation-explained/ In Planet Jumpers' third phase of gameplay, you fly (or drift) through an endless universe. The goal, to get further than anyone else has ever been from the starting point. As of writing, that records belongs to a gas planet roughly 18 million miles away named… (checks notes)… uh… that’s not that important right now… More about the leaderboard in another post. This post is to explain how the universe generation works! https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2019/10/08/planet-jumpers-explore-phase-map-generation-explained/ Tue, 08 Oct 2019 17:02:28 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2019/10/08/planet-jumpers-explore-phase-map-generation-explained/ A lot of the comments I’ve gotten on Planet Jumpers have revolved around the procedural generation. It’s not surprising, the game has a lot of RNG (for better or worse). In this post I’m going to briefly cover how the planet map in the “explore” phase are generated! If you haven’t played Planet Jumpers yet, you can check it out here! Before we get too far, it’s important to know that every planet is generated with the following properties: https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2019/10/07/planet-jumpers/ Mon, 07 Oct 2019 12:00:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2019/10/07/planet-jumpers/ A submission for Ludum Dare 45 Play Planet Jumpers Here https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2019/10/01/metal-fab-intro/ Tue, 01 Oct 2019 22:26:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2019/10/01/metal-fab-intro/ The time has finally come, I am diving into metal fabrication head first. After a few years of owning a proper project car, I’ve taken it upon myself to learn some metal fab. The main motivation being so I can properly work on the car without dependence on shops. After reading what seemed like a million reviews, and watching countless youtube videos, I settled on a Lincoln Electric 140 HD Mig Welder. https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2018/04/26/ld41-enemy-design/ Thu, 26 Apr 2018 13:30:40 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2018/04/26/ld41-enemy-design/ NOTE - This post has been imported from the original post on ldjam.com One of my favorite parts of building games is putting the player in a scenario where they can triumph and feel good about their victory. Enemy design is a key factor in making that come true. Art of the Kill (AotK) has a few interesting enemies to help generate these scenarios. For starters, I knew I needed a generic enemy type. https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2018/04/26/art-of-the-kill/ Thu, 26 Apr 2018 12:00:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2018/04/26/art-of-the-kill/ A submission for Ludum Dare 41 Play Art of the Kill Here https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2017/12/04/ld40-mutoid-post-mortem/ Mon, 04 Dec 2017 13:30:40 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2017/12/04/ld40-mutoid-post-mortem/ NOTE - This post has been imported from the original post medium.com This past weekend I competed in my first ever gamejam. This one in particular was the Ludum Dare (LD). It’s something I’ve wanted to try for many, many years. Out of the two options in LD, I opted for the compo. The compo is the more hardcore version, everything you submit must be created from scratch and created alone. https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2017/12/03/mutoid/ Sun, 03 Dec 2017 12:00:00 -0400 https://blog.garrettallen.dev/2017/12/03/mutoid/ A submission for Ludum Dare 40 Play Mutoid Here