Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Heartstrung from GGJ 2013 at NYU

This past weekend I had the pleasure of participating in the worldwide Global Game Jam at NYU's Game Center. This is the largest host for the GGJ in North America, consisting of over 150 participants and at least another hundred more who visited to experience the amazing results.

I visit the city frequently, so what a better way to spend my time making a game within 48 hours in the presence of like-minded individuals, all while chowing down on some of the best food around. My comfortable hotel was located by the Manhattan bridge, so each morning I got to walk through Chinatown for heavenly delicious brunch on the go: Peking duck, pork chive dumplings, Hong Kong style noodles, etc.

The theme for this year was "heartbeat", or specifically the sound of a heartbeat. I met two others, Adam and Rob, and got to work on a game eventually titled Heartstrung.





Heartstrung is a two player competitive game with a retro arcade feel. Two hearts are both metaphorically and physically tied together, while words and sentences fall to hint the struggles of their relationship. The heartbeat is represented by the world itself: a dynamic cardiogram heart monitor machine. The letters are physics objects, either collected for points, or collided to strategically nudge the other player's letters away. The experience is open to interpretation, especially the ending.

I am very satisfied with the end result. The game was nominated and won the award for "best use of theme", so getting the opportunity to play and present to an overcrowded hall on a large projected screen is an unforgettable highlight of the trip. We celebrated at a nearby pub afterwards, so I got to taste local Brooklyn beers paired with the best sandwich I have ever eaten. Whether or not this was favorite game jam, it is going to be very hard to beat...

Here is to hoping... Toronto Game Jam 2013.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Ludum Dare Port

I am pleased to announce that my Ludum Dare compo entry "Goat Mechanic" did quite well! It placed #15 overall, and #5 most fun out of the thousand entries. Graphics ranked #19, but audio understandably took #169 because I only had 15 minutes for it. I mentioned earlier that I am participating in OneGameAMonth.com, so my first out of the twelve is going to be a port for iOS and Android with additional features.



The game includes a total of 18 items and 5 levels. It was suggested that I take this to touch devices, so here it is! The sub-theme of the Ludum Dare compo was "goats", so for this mobile version I gladly removed it. The game blends elements from the Scratch Tickets app I made last year. Realistically, although it only needs one more week of development for minor features and audio, it will be released in February because of all the extra time Apple requires to approve apps.