I love Ludum Dare, although I always have bad luck and worst timing when they are scheduled. I was able to participate in 3 of them so far and I always take the occasion to try and learn a new language/try a new development process just for the hell of it. As an added challenge.
Honestly, this time around I wanted to try out my new Clojure game engine but it's still in development and not quite ready, plus I have finals next week and I'm studying like crazy. Unfortunately I'll have to skip this time but I suggest anybody who's interested in game development (or just wants to have fun) to go try a Ludum Dare, it's really a self-rewarding and enriching experience!
First I started with C++, as a C programmer, it was a pretty big jump for me http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-23/?action=preview... Then a year later, while I had just started playing around with Clojure, I went all the way and wrote a game in ClojureScript http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview... which turned out for some parts to be easier than I thought. Last time I went with some plain Javascript instead http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-27/?action=preview...
Honestly, this time around I wanted to try out my new Clojure game engine but it's still in development and not quite ready, plus I have finals next week and I'm studying like crazy. Unfortunately I'll have to skip this time but I suggest anybody who's interested in game development (or just wants to have fun) to go try a Ludum Dare, it's really a self-rewarding and enriching experience!