Jack Dandy wrote:Anyway Antti, give us some details! Do you participate for fun, or practice? What was this competition's origin? Will you create a Toorum platformer game for the next one?

Well, at least for me fun == practice.
The competition is a great motivator and, if the theme permits, makes you do something you might never have thought of otherwise. You have to figure out a lot of creative solutions to get what you need in the limited time you have and overcoming the obstacles always feels great. On Saturday I came very close on giving up a few times when I got stuck with my programming but luckily there was nothing a few
kludges couldn't fix.
I don't know exactly how Ludum Dare got started but this competition was its tenth anniversary already. It's been growing steadily in popularity. When I first entered in August last year there were 599 entries (which was considered a HUGE attendance at the time) and this time there are over 1100 games and counting submitted to the competition. Partly, but not entirely, thanks to the "mainstream" visibility of Notch's participation in the last few competitions. There are a LOT of game makers out there.
