So my youngest daughter and I have started making a game together.

When I tried to participate in Ludum Dare 38 (as I mentioned previously) I quickly remembered my worst deficiency when it comes to Ludum Daring – I cannot Art.

I’d previously explained what the LD was to my daughter Jewel, showing her this video because that’s the video I show to everyone who wants to know what LD is.

So when she came to check on me and learned of my lack of Art, she offered to help. So we switched from doing the Compo to the Jam, which allowed her to help me and gave us another day. We were heavily inspired by the movie Castle in the Sky, and eventually came up with an idea where you’re on a floating island that has an energy crystal that is about to shoot a deadly beam into the Earth. You must first defeat the crystal’s guardians, then fight the crystal itself.

While she’s good at freehand drawing, Jewel initially had a little trouble conceptualizing how to create the sprites, so I showed her the excellent work of Oryx. Jewel started furiously drawing sprites while I started furiously coding.

Stuff Happened during the weekend that prevented us from finishing, but we made great progress. Jewel got all the sprites done and designed the layout of the island. I programmed the basic project, got the map design into the computer, programmed the fairly intricite rules for not-walking-across-the-sky, and got basic movement in for the main character. Here’s where we are so far.

Isn’t it the adorablest?! Now we need enemies and the big crystal boss fight at the end! Look for continued updates!