Welcome to day 1 of the Week of Awesome IV competition!
So far the themes are gameplayish Shadows and Evolution, and graphical Undead and Ruins.
First thought: Urgh. Second thought: Urgh.
But nevertheless, I enter, I make a game and maybe get out alive :)
Shadows is a theme that might work out with a quite similar theme from a Ludum Dare back in the days. Evolution, while sounding like a nifty idea, but graphically gives me no idea. I hope somebody does go for it, I'm curious.
That's shadows then. Undead and/or ruins both seem quite fitting, let's see what to make of it.
I spent most of the first day to get a tile system done. I added a custom lighting on top (only vertex based), which is really more or less a copy of the lighting I had in the Ludum Dare game. I intend to give it a decent overhaul though, but I need it to get the intended gameplay up and running as fast as possible.
I can't stress this enough: On a tight deadline, get the required feature running first. If it doesn't work out, you can still go for something else. If you add it last, you're hosed :)
Since I know myself I also added a quick and dirty mouse based editor in the game itself, so I can modify levels on a whim. The game will live and die by its level design, so better make it as comfortable as possible.
Here's a shot of the current state. Showing the player, carrying a lamp.
[sub]Corrected the description of the themes to avoid confusion[/sub]