The Game Maker's Toolkit (GMTK) Game Jam is a 48 hour game making marathon, focused on design, mechanics, and clever ideas. The games submitted are ranked against the following criteria: fun, originality, and presentation.This year's jam theme was: Out Of Control.
Team "Oh My God"
Great Pitches
The team was strongly drawn to the "Out of Control" theme for this year. Defining a concept took more time than anticipated due to the abundance of excellent proposals. One suggestion involved managing a group of unruly puppies at a doggie spa. Another idea drew inspiration from Tetris and Mega-man, requiring players to shoot colored panels, with the unique aspect being the lack of control over the color of their projectiles. Prior to finalizing our selected concept, we reached a consensus that for this game jam, we would create a brief, level-based game as opposed to an arcade-style high-score game.
Our team generated a variety of innovative concepts revolving around the 'Out Of Control' theme. After deliberation, we settled on a strategy game in which the protagonist's mechanics would be deliberately unpredictable. We believed this twist could offer a fresh perspective compared to what most players are accustomed to. I was particularly fond of this unconventional approach! To bring this idea to life, we proposed that the game's antagonists should be playable in some capacity.We opted for a mechanic where the antagonist's positioning relative to the protagonist would need to benefit the protagonist for both the player and the protagonist to achieve victory. We further streamlined the game to essentially resemble a themed iteration of "rock-paper-scissors".
The art team encompassed diverse skill sets, ranging from classical 2D environment and character art to an extensive range of 3D art. The aim was to amalgamate the team's various styles into a distinctive artistic approach for the game. The characters and enemies were executed in 2D, contrasting with a substantial portion of the environment that was rendered in 3D. This was accompanied by deliberate shading to harmonize with the 2D components. Employing parallax techniques to merge the 2D and 3D aspects of the environment contributed to a heightened sense of depth within the game world.
Unfortunatley, this game took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first time I took part in a game jam with remote team members in different time zones.
Concept Phase
This years theme spurred plenty of great ideas from everyone on the team. So great that we spent twice as long as we should have in the concept phase. Our playtesting time was affected as a result.
What Went Right
Level Design
The teams decision to create 3 levels in 48 hours was incredibly risky. Luckily it was a risk that paid off because we placed a heavy emphasis on the level design.
Source Control
Our source control branches were pulled and merged often throughout the the 48 hours. Allowing me to fix any issues that arised early before they snowballed at the end of the game jam.
Teamwork
Most of this team was involved in producing "Harvest Rush" earlier in the year. It came as no surprise to me that our teamwork and overall chemestry as a team was just as great as before!
