Short, collaborative, worldwide, accessible game-making events are entirely my- jam. Indeed, I have took part in many a game title jam; sleeping under desks, making music, prototyping an audio game having a physical guitar because the game board. I had been even the programmer on the tiny point-and-click adventure, because of the wonderful Unity tool, PowerQuest.
The 2023 Global Game Jam has come and gone for another year, by having an incredible 33,671 jammers in 107 countries. Jam games are generally liberated to play, often published alongside their source code, and therefore are concise enough to cram into your tea break. Most of them are also incredibly good.
I desired to share some interesting game jam experiences I've found recently, culminating inside a (suitably) tiny showcase of the items you will probably find in the Global Game Jame 2023 collection.
- Rolldown
- Trust Me, I Got This!
- Pawlo Purrcasso
- You're Cookin', Good Lookin'
- Global Game Jam 2023 picks
Rolldown
Given tight deadlines, many jam games remain unfinished. Rolldown, however, is extremely finished. Made for GMTK Game Jam 2023, it's also a literal realisation from the jam's theme: ‘Roll of the Dice’.
You are a die. You eliminate creatures by rolling onto them, but only if you have more 'eyes' than they do. So, because your first opponent is really a cyclops, you hit when positioned adjacently, with two or more pips. Rats have two eyes, knights have three, and creatures get more ocularly encumbered, because the game progresses.
Creatures may also move and hit you, removing one of three hit points, even if they've fewer eyes, so landing alongside them needs to be avoided. The core of this experience is positioning. If you cannot roll to some high pip location, force creatures via a choke point striking first, you're in trouble.
Levels are procedurally generated and it is easy to spawn in a bad location, so in order to add another layer of strategy, you will find useful items, randomly, every few levels. There is a wand that kills the closest enemy and recharges over four movements, and a healing potion that recharges over six, among others.
Complete as it may be, I don't know if Rolldown has an ending. I got 15 floors. But it is the type of game you need to recommend to friends, hoping they can't beat your high score. A fellow teacher at my work got 12. But, students got 17. Now he's in danger, with both of us. The number of can you get?
Trust Me, I acquired This!
I love hearing accents in games. Wayward Strand and Henry Mosse and also the Wormhole Conspiracy, are two examples of games with Australian accents that immediately come to mind. Trust Me, I Got This may be the Czech handyman's tiny undertake Unpacking, designed for Global Game Jam 2023.
Did I understand anything the handyman said? Only a few basic words, like 'dobre' meaning 'good', however i really enjoyed hearing the language, and getting the gist via emotional tone. Instructions are in English, but I'm certain I possibly could have appreciated the knowledge if they had also been in Czech.
You're given a short listing of things to fix, and a small selection of tools. You will find definitely a few life lessons to become learned here, but you can discover them for yourself. And you will definitely require a drink.
I particularly love that Trust Me, I Got This, is ‘inspired by real world events’. As I write this, my lady is painting the ceiling and making a mess. Some experiences are universal. Jam games are an invite to engage with language and culture, so which areas of the planet are you going to explore?
Pawlo Purrcasso
Who put the world's clumsiest cat in charge of an art exhibition? Especially one showing the work of these important painters; Wassily Catinsky, Marrianne von Werefcat. An accident was inevitable, and now you (that same cat) are given the job of mocking up replacement paintings.
I love jam games which are built on a simple gag, and then take it way too far. In Pawlo Purrcasso, designed for Global Game Jam 2023, the destroyed paintings are so intricate, the colours you use are so wrong, your paws are so ungainly. Perhaps most ridiculous, you purr optimistically along to cheerful jazz as you work, seemingly oblivious to the fact you're fooling exactly no one.
Why don't more games explore blithesome failure? There's no way to get anywhere close to any type of win. Somehow, I still tried. I have no clue why.
You're Cookin', Good Lookin'
After briefly meeting students (now graduated) at a lecture one time, I had been stoked when she got in touch to exhibit us a jam game, reminding me of some other big plus with game jams; students and recent grads. Bring me a jaded, old game maker the ones won't be moved by enthusiasm and clever ideas and I'll show them You're Cookin’, Good Lookin’, made for Yuri Jam 2023.
Honestly? I possibly could have included this for its title alone (like an amazing student game I saw at PAX once, Hooked On the Ceiling, which also explained its feel-good grapple mechanic in four words). What happens whenever a veggie umami chef and a flower aroma baker are both averse to creating dinner? A (single-player) martial arts battle, in which you can play as either wife.
In You're Cookin', Good Lookin', I did encounter bugs, such as the battle not triggering, or beginning at 'dessert' rather than 'entree', however the animations alone are worth a couple of restarts. I quite enjoyed smacking one wife on the butt with a whisk, and was suitably shocked when she threw pepper. Combat is a little easy (if you are spamming buttons) but I'd encourage players to understand more about all the attacks and appreciate the timing, animation and also the health-based, dynamic stereo system.
Students and recent grads bring the best ideas to game jams. I'm excited to determine what these developers prepare next.
Global Game Jam 2023 picks
With the purpose of concluding with examples from Global Game Jam 2023, I fell down a rabbit hole of interesting content (and given this year's theme was 'roots', there were actually lots of games involving rabbits and rabbit holes). So many games. To narrow things down, I'd suggest searching ‘Global Game Jam 2023’ on itch.io, or selecting from diversifiers on GGJ's site.
Simple standouts, for me personally, include, ‘Roof’ of the Problem (possibly a typo and not to become confused with other games based on roots of problems), which casts you as a therapist for plant-headed couples. And Dude, Where's my Baby?!, that has serious Shower With Your Dad Simulator vibes, although less nudity. I absolutely loved Don't Look Down, an easy platformer with a detailed and compelling musical loop. There are some great storytelling experiences, like Etymology, where familial connections are created via household artefacts.
I was especially excited to locate Cracks, which presents your journey through a landscape of intrusive thoughts, challenging you to definitely focus on a more positive destination; a cup of tea. Each and every fork in the road, one path may cause the sound palette to become dissonant and uncomfortable, signalling the need to turn away. Most interestingly, the composition alters seamlessly, in a way I am not sure I can fully discern. Melodies dwindle prominent, and harsher electronic elements are added, as well as filters applied, until it's absolutely clear you need to retrace your steps.
Incredibly, I additionally found an ideal game to talk about last. My Global Game Jam 2023 is Over is all about cleaning up the pizza boxes from a jam venue and viewing the photos taken, throughout the experience. Created by, as well as for, Game Boy (even though you can enjoy in a browser), I most appreciated the real (but really low resolution) pictures taken of headphones, food, jammers and general jam minutiae.
It's like becoming an outsider looking in, perhaps from the far future, if this jam is only a memory. It's also very personal, with the creator documenting their wish to meet local game developers and even mentioning Lisboa Lusofona Universidade organisers by name. It is a great reminder that game jams aren't no more than output, also they are about community and learning.
I hope that this has encouraged you to definitely play more jam games, possibly even to join a jam yourself. You shouldn't have to wait until next year. Take a look at who’s jamming today on itch.io.
