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Notch live-streams making a game in 48 hours, listens to dubstep*
Notch is participating in Ludum Dare 22, a 48-hour programming competition that challenges developers to create an entire game from scratch based on community suggestions, and he's live-streaming all of it -- including the dubstep blasting from his desktop. There are more than eight hours left in this weekend's competition, so if you have the time, settle in and watch an indie master at work. If you mute the video (or if you enjoy aural torment of the womp womp variety), you can still marvel at the speed and obvious practice this man has put into game programming, though you may miss the cute things Notch says every now and then in response to the streaming comments. In a previous 48-hour challenge, Notch made Left 4k Dead, a terrifying zombie romp inspired by Zynga's Farmville -- er, Valve's Left 4 Dead series. Also, he uses MS Paint to create his objects. How adorable. * Depending on when you begin watching Notch's live-stream, he may not in fact be listening to dubstep, but to jazzy songstresses or Disney music instead. But he was listening to dubstep at one point, trust us. We can't forget it.
The best thing you'll play today: Left 4K Dead
Normally we'd save this for Free Game Club, but it's Christmas Eve and we know a lot of you are reading this with family, away from your gaming PC and / or console of choice. If you need an outlet to vent your frustration, check out Left 4K Dead, an entry into the 2009 Java 4k Competition and, as the name suggests, a project no larger than 4KB in size. Unlike its high-end Valve doppelganger, however, you must face the zombie horde by your lonesome and armed with only one nondescript gun. The Director AI is also a bit loopy here, so think of the zombie and power-up placement as being ... random. And if you end up ignoring your loved ones today, don't say we didn't warn you. [Thanks, Josh]
