Ludum Dare 46 staff picks

The 46th Ludum Dare competition just finished with a record-breaking 13 thousand people creating almost 5 thousand games in 72 hours. If you’re not familiar with the competition, this Ludum Dare documentary (partially filmed in GitHub HQ for the Ludum Dare GDC Party in 2017) is a great overview of the history and ethos of the event.

The theme for this LD46 is “keep it alive”, which participants had to incorporate in their entries. Here are some games that captured my attention, and kept me entertained over the last few weeks. They’re great fun to play, and the source is available to check out and experiment with.

Tower Defence of the Heart

Tower Defence of the Heart is a challenging, and satisfying tower defense game from @TerryCavanah. Protect your beating heart from 20 waves of skeletons, slimes, rats, and…pink elephants in dungarees(?).

❤️ Source (Heaps Game Engine, Haxe) · ► Play now (Web)

Fun fact: Terry is the creator of many games you may already know and love, including Dicey Dungeons, Super Hexagon, and VVVVVV, which you can also view the source code for.

Flock for Feast

You’ll have some angry birds on your hands if you let this ever-growing flock get captured by the monster in @anttihaavikko’s Flock for Feast.
🦅 Source (Unity, C#) · ► Play now (Web, Windows, macOS, Linux)

Flippy Fish

Flippy Fish is a delightful game with great art, sound, and gameplay. You play as a fish, and you need to dodge, duck, dip, and dive jump and roll your way to victory while evading a persistent sushi master.

Very well done, Axel Signargout, Dorian Signargout, Marion Oudin, Stéphane Kaufmann! 👏🏻

🐟 Source (Unity, C#) · ► Play now (Web, Windows, macOS)

You might also like: Frying Nemo and Saving the Fish

Dunkman

@cxong’s Dunkman is a retro fantasy console game that provides a great way to work out your digits before a day of coding.
🏀 Source (TIC-80, Lua) · ► Play now (Web)

Princess Ribbon

Goutye’s Princess Ribbon is a puzzle game where you’re placed in a number of tricky situations, and you must rescue the princess. Better move fast—she won’t hang around for long!
🎀 Source (Godot, GDScript) · ► Play now (Web, Windows, macOS, Linux)

What the Firetruck

After a long day of putting out fires in production, why not put your feet up, and enjoy putting out even more in @dvdfu’s What the Firetruck. This is fine.🚒 Source (Unity, C#) · ► Play now (Web)

King’s Table

King’s Table by @PetTurtle combines a tower defense game with chess and dungeons. An interesting combination, but a very addictive and challenging game! Careful, you might be playing this all “knight”.♞ Source (Godot, GDScript) · ► Play now (Web, Windows, macOS, Linux)

Solar Spin

The 80s called, and they want you to check out (version control pun intended) @mburton89’s Solar Spin.
👾 Source (Unity, C#) · ► Play now (Web)

Lighthouse Keeper and the Shadow Pirates

Darkness has fallen and some persistent, pillaging pirates are attacking your lighthouse. Keep the flame alive in @cagibi-dev’s Lighthouse Keeper and the Shadow Pirates.

⛵️ Source (Godot, GDScript) · ► Play now (Web, Windows, macOS, Linux)

Grove Guardian

Grove Guardian by @natelargo is another innovative tower defence-type game, but a little more complicated than the others in this list. It’s definitely worth reading the instructions.🌳 Source (C++) · ► Play now (Windows)

Congratulations to everyone who participated, and kudos to @mikekasprzak on another great event.

The next Ludum Dare event is scheduled for October 2-5, 2020—check back and join the fun. Don’t just take our word for it though! Watch a documentary about Ludum Dare on YouTube.

We can’t wait to see what you make!