Ludum Dare 29 breaks a record: 2,497 games developed in one weekend

Ludum Dare 29, the merely days-long game development competition, took place this past weekend. In addition to the usual screenshots, panic, and lack of sleep on display in developer Twitter feeds, this weekend's Ludum Dare hit a record: 2,497 games were submitted to the competition, an all-time high. The theme for this weekend was “Beneath the Surface,” so most of the games involve mining, digging, or swimming in one way or another. Phil took a look at Beneath The City , but that's just one of the free games to come out of the weekend.

There are two modes in the Ludum Dare—Competition and Jam—each with slightly different rules regarding submission deadlines, using art from your other projects, and whether you can work in teams. The end result, though, is the same: make a game, make it fast, and give it to the world. From games where you escape an underground troll lair ( Beneath the Trolls ) to games where you navigate the inner spheres of molecules ( Atomical ), there's a lot of amazing, free games to check out. Special shout-out to Kill or Kill , a game where you have to manage your inner rage and resist the urge to kill.

Check out the Ludum Dare 29 homepage to scroll through all 2,497 of these free games by amateurs and pros alike. It's a golden age of ideas and video games, everyone: we just get to enjoy the ride. Congratulations to all of the Ludum Dare developers for their record-breaking productivity.