Unity C#.
Lead User Interface Programmer / General Programmer
Theme "Built To Scale"
This Game Jam spanned four days (96 Hours) and was my first attempt at participation. I enjoyed the whole process from idea generation as a team to developing the product to a high quality.
"Dive into a fresh take on "Jack and the Beanstalk" in this fast-paced Neon White inspired 3D platformer! You play as Jack, racing through levels to grab the golden goose egg as quickly as possible. But there’s a catch—your magic beans let you change your size or the size of the environment. Need to reach a high ledge? Grow yourself taller. Stuck in a tight spot? Shrink down to slip through. Use your wits and quick reflexes to find the fastest route and beat your best time, all while exploring a magical world."
I worked hard to quickly and effectively create user interface elements to display the important aspects of the game, as this was only a 94-hour project it was very important to waste little time creating elements that weren't required. Decisions were made behind every UI/UX choice to make a good product.
As we decided to target for the speedrunning style of game I knew it would be important to create a satisfying end screen which made the player either feel proud of their score or motivated them to try again to get a better score, this was accomplished by taking inspiration from childhood games, such as wii party games.
The artists for this project were not set up in engine, meaning they required a member of the engine team to import assets, assess how they feel in game, relay feedback and create an asset scene for other level builders to create, this task was enjoyable and I felt like I did a good job communicating any changes we needed from the artist team.
Once I completed the elements of the user interface it was the last day of development and we needed to create levels to show off our mechanics, which meant multiple members of our team creating their own levels with unique mechanics and themes, I was tasked with creating a level which highlighted the use of utilising beanstalks as a slide. It was also important to utilise the mechanic of scaling throughout the level to continue to educate the player all the way through the game on what scenarios they should use the beans.
We received many positive comments about our project, here are some of our favourites.
As a team, after the end of the official Game Jam development time, we discussed the possibility of continuing development with the end goal of uploading the project to Steam once we are able to take on some of the key feedback passed on to us from members of the game jam community.