JAM GAME - THEME “ONE tIME uSE”
sOLO dEVELOPER - aRTIST/cODER/dESIGNER
jULY - 2021
At a full week long, this was the longest game jam I had ever undertaken, for Games Jobs Live. I wanted to go with the cliche route of a single use mechanic, however I was aware that players could use the mechanic too soon, and shoot themselves in the foot. As such, I wanted the reset to be part of the game. This resulted in the concept of a time loop, as well as a gun with only one bullet in it. Indicating the time loop to the player was also super important, giving them some sense of why things are happening or what was happening. For this reason I made the cause a reactor going nuclear, placed at the centre of the level, and revolved the entire game around it. The player circles the reactor, before finally entering. As the 100s time loop continues, several events occur to again, encourage the player to get a move on. At 40s left, an excerpt of piano music begins to play. At 30s the reactor begins to swell and grow, as it does this, the audio falloff changes, meaning it sounds closer. Finally at 0s, the screen begins to go fully white, and the loop restarts. I wanted to keep this central and visual, so at all times, the player was reminded of their goal, as well as had a clear visual marker to their goal.
The pistol can be used in select locations to gain information, which can then be used later on without the need for pistol uses.
The level was designed as 3 unique segments surrounding a central reactor, each with a window in, a theme, and a puzzle to solve, as well as numerous places to utilise their gun. Any red objects (padlocks and windows) were destructible by the player, keeping a bit of visual clarity.
The puzzles in each area are self contained, all trying to open a single door, with extra lore and information peppered throughout, both to throw players off the puzzles, as well as to encourage them to think about the world.
These puzzles were designed to be knowledge based, and easy to bypass once they’d been solved, however I still implemented a quality of life system, whereby once the player has done an action (open a door etc) more than 6 times, it will be done automatically on future loops. This is just to stop players being too disheartened, and turning the game off.
Response and Self-Assessment
Overall I was very pleased with how much content I had created, and how well received some of the puzzles were. I feel that the balancing done after the jam was incredibly useful, and helped players understand more about the game.
The game was incredibly well received, winning awards for “Best Use of Theme”, as well as finalist for “Best Solo Game” and “Best 3D Art”.
Play online
The game can be downloaded from my Itch.io page on the link below