Entering into Ludum Dare 43

This is my first submission to the Ludum Dare Compo, or any game jam for that matter. While I've tinkered with game programming for years, I've never done anything like this. I've subscribed to numerous YouTube channels and watched people coding, without actually sitting down to code. I would occasionally fiddle with the Unity Editor and see how it worked, but still, had not completed a game since I sold them on the TI-81 and TI-85 in high school. 

I'd program small applications to support the other games I played, mostly offline or PHP scripted. Random generators for RP games, scoreboards for tabletop games, minor modifications or add-ons for other games, still, nothing complete. The Ludum Dare game jam, that I randomly discovered a little bit over a year ago because of a few interesting YouTube videos. Had it not been for Brackeys' random video tutorial that I saw, which led me to his Ludum Dare games, I may have never found the game jam. 

I browsed the Ludum Dare website and looked at all of the creations that people had submitted. My eye was always drawn to the Compo games. Solo creations, various platforms, 48 hours. Of course, the Jam work is amazing as well, but the solo event and some of the amazing games that I've seen had that little bit of extra interest. They were inspiring, and this event was a chance to complete at least one game. 

My goal was to create a complete experience, a manageable project, have simple interactions, and be in a style that I enjoy. The visuals should lighten the dark theme of sacrificing your beloved followers, and nothing in the game ever takes itself too seriously. I tend to enjoy worker-placement board games which influence the basic mechanics of Eldritchual. Oddly, I’m not normally a fan of the Lovecraft horror genre, but this theme and other games and movies I’ve watched recently just led me there.

The biggest hurdle is still my general preference to be obscure on the internet. It took additional support and pushing from my significant other to get me over the edge to actually hit the "Publish" button and submit. Now that I have, at least I can say that I've created something small for the first time in a very long time.