LD50: The Theme is Delay the Inevitable #LDJam

The Ludum Dare compo has started, and the theme has been announced.

I am trying to remember if “Delay the Inevitable” was a theme I submitted, but I can’t seem to determine if that information is available.

My plan is to spend the first hour or so coming up with ideas. During Ludum Dare, there is usually an obvious idea that many people might try to pursue, so digging a little bit deeper should result in something more unique.

I just finished watching West Side Story (2021), so the inevitable violence and death that prevents two lovers from being together is top of mind.

Death is inevitable for all of us, and so delaying death might be one of the obvious ideas, but even so it seems like it could be a rich vein.

Taxes are also inevitable, but meh.

And in some areas people might argue that construction is inevitable. A game about constantly fixing roads? So are you delaying the construction, or is the construction delaying the entropy?

“Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!” That line from Firefly is classic, and perhaps a game could be built around the idea of joining forces with an enemy that you know is going to target you once your common foe has been defeated or problem has been solved.

Climate change is feeling inevitable. Perhaps a game about being a representative of a corporation trying to convince people that climate change is a personal responsibility despite that corporation being directly responsible for most of the greenhouse gases.

The expansion of the universe seems unending and ultimately results in heat death. I remember learning that Newton’s math, pre-relativity, didn’t actually work, as it predicted that the planets would spin out of orbit. Or was it Kepler? Either way, he suggested that it was God’s hand that was keeping everything in place. So perhaps a game about keeping celestial bodies in place by manually (and frantically) putting them back when they go where they aren’t supposed to. Maybe you start with the Earth-Moon system, then branch out into the solar system, then into the galaxy, etc. Might be a math/physics heavy project. But maybe it will be more enjoyable if the physics was a hand-rolled hack job anyway.

Looking at the time, I see almost an hour has passed. Eep! I want to think a bit more before deciding.