Ludum Dare

Ludum Dare is a game programming contest where individual contestants attempt to create a complete game (code, artwork, sound) in a period of 48 hours. Note that, while participants must hand in the source code for their submissions, to release it as free software is not required. Each edition of the competition has a theme which the contestants must base their game around.

"Ludum Dare" means ludum play, game and dare to give in Latin.

Ludum Dare was run by Geoff Howland in LD1, 2, and 3, Mike Hommel ran LD 4, Richard T. Jones ran LD5 and 6, and Phil Hassey ran LD10 and 11.

Timeline
An up-to-date overview of all LD competitions held is available on their website.

Variations
There is a mini competition that runs once a month, with less stringent rules, created to keep the contestants busy in the off season between the main competitions. The rules were changed in an effort to provide a more relaxed feel to the competition. Some of the changes include: teams are allowed, existing art/sound/media/etc. are allowed, theme is not voted on, but chosen by the person running the competition. It first ran in June of 2008.

Concurrent with the main contest, Ludum Dare also runs a Game Jam with more relaxed rules. In particular, the total time is 72 hours, teams can compete and any libraries/frameworks/... are allowed.