Paper Jam | 2D Shooting Game
Date: December 1st, 2018
Techniques: Game Art, Game Design, Game Programming, Game Sound
On Friday, November 31st, AlphaLab hosted the second Game Jam of the 2018-2019 school year!
Game Jams hosted by AlphaLab are intended to give participants the opportunity of understanding team dynamics, as well as learning how to fit multiple roles in the game development process.
Each of the 60 participants were divided up into three teams each led by this year’s AlphaLab leaders. The theme was “Sellout”.
"In this dynamic, original, action packed, arcade classic, you take the role of one of a million nationwide Tree Killers Inc. sales experts! It’s your job to make sure every Customer gets the paper they want and desperately need. Deliver that paper, and watch your profits soar. Just don’t let the customers leave empty handed, or it’s all over for you!"
Since we had only 17 hours to finish the game from scratch, we chose pixel art so our level design could be easy to design and implement. Of course, it also helps with render and build time.
The characters were the main attraction of our game during gameplay. The various sprite sheets we created made animation very smooth and helped with the overall flow of the game.
One of the best parts about these Game Jams is the interaction and brainstorming sessions. We get to delegate tasks to each other, while simultaneously helping each other improve and give constructive feedback.
Through our meticulous time and task management system, we were able to get a build ready just in time. Our primary focus was to make sure we didn't spend a lot of time making something that wasn't in our scope.
We used a Xbox controller to give the player a familiar experience of a classic arcade game like Galaga. By using a joystick, instead of a mouse and keyboard, we could give a better sense of space, and more freedom with movement.
We used traditional game design techniques to weave paths for our enemies i.e. customers. By keeping spawn sources constant and randomizing the paths chosen, we were able to create variation in movement.
All in all, the game jam was super fun, and we got to learn a lot. All the games created were really interesting, and everyone involved had tons of fun.
You can play the game here: https://elijahabarbanel.itch.io/paper-jam-documentation
