Game Jams

I enjoy Game Jams (though I prefer the slightly longer ones) as it's a good idea to develop your design skills, your teamworking skills and to just have some fun with games development!

I've entered a few game jams in my time, the most notable of those being Ludum Dare 48, and this page is just going to talk about the jams and discuss what I learnt from each jam I entered.

You can find devlogs on some of the jams below on my YouTube channel

Mine The
Beat

Made With: Unity and C#

Game Jam: Ludum Dare 48 - Deeper and Deeper

Developed: April 2021 - 72 Hours

Status: Released - 433th out of 3866 - Top 15%!

Team Size: 3 - I was the artist and a designer

Other Assets: Programming (HuntersonStudio) and Audio (TKIMuse)

Play Here: https://hunterson-studio.itch.io/mine-the-beat

My first Ludum Dare, where we created a rhythm-based mining game, where your goal is to move to the beat, mine to beat, defeat enemies to the beat and get rich, and also to enjoy puns.

Evergreen
Island

Made With: Unreal Engine 4 and Blueprint

Game Jam: Confetti x NTU Sustainability Jam - Energy

Developed: March 2021 - 36 Hours

Status: Released - 3rd out of 8!

Team Size: 5 - I was the lead programmer and a designer

Other Assets: 3D Art (Elizabeth Baird), Audio (John Wilkinson) and 2D Art (Alex Farmer)

Play Here: https://gamesbysaul.itch.io/evergreen-island

This was a game jam hosted by the University to raise awareness for the climate crisis, something I am passionate about. We created a point and click game where the goal was to make money by using green energy sources, which would then allow you to clean up the polluted water around your island.

Out of your Hands

Made With: Unity and C#

Game Jam: GMTK 2020 - Out of Control

Developed: June 2020 - 48 Hours

Status: Released - 700th out of 5342 - Top 15%!

Team Size: Sole Developer

Other Assets: Art and Music from Kenney

Play Here: https://gamesbysaul.itch.io/out-of-your-hands

It was my first time entering the GMTK Jam, which is one of the largest game jams on itch.io. I did enter the jam on my own but I used an asset pack by Kenney to save myself some time and to allow me to focus on the mechanics and design of the game. In the jam I made a physics-based 2D game where you are overseeing a pink alien and have to try and keep it alive until it returns home, in a short but humorous adventure.