ishiikurisu / GMTK2021

GMTK 2021 Game Jam Submission

GMTK Game Jam 2021

JOINED TOGETHER

About this jam:

• GTMK 2021 on itch.io
• Theme announcement video

Instructions

This is a TIC80 game.

Development

Data Structures

Box:

• c: box color
• x: target x position
• y: target y position
• px: physical x position
• py: physical y position

Board:

• Matrix HEIGHT * WIDTH with possible values:
  • w: wall A.K.A. solid block
  • b: box
  • nil: nothing here, move as wanted

Event:

• t: how many tics are remaining
• p: what is the next level to be triggered
• Events are currently used only to trigger next levels, so they should always return

DevLog

The theme was just announced, which means it's time to get working! So, what could my game be about?

• One game where one controller works for many characters
  • This was done before a lot of times, like Sisão and another one I forgot the name.
  • Characters may not necessarily be tied physically. Time or different controller schemes for the same character also work as well.
• Game about threads
  • They are all joined together, right? How could I make this happen though?
  • In this sense, I only think about mathematical knots, or the graphs made by carpet threads. Could these be related to puzzles though?
• A factory game about combining stuff
  • I think Biffa has already made a video on a similar thing, so I probably can't go on with that.
• Can this somehow be a card game? There probably is a way of making cards connected to each other and call this the theme...
• A puzzle game where all boxes must be tied together.
  • There could be a character pushing boxes around. Once two boxes are tied together, you have to move them together.
  • This could also be something that behaves like 2048: the boxes exist on this board and move together.
    • There could even be boxes that get separated and some that don't.
  • This feels too obvious to me though.
• What about an RPG where the effects are shared among everyone. For example: if you cause damage to one opponent, this damage is shared among everyone in the battle. The challenge then becomes how to kill your enemies without killing yourself.
  • Is this mathematically possible though? I feel like this is going to become a counting game in the end and this may not feel fun.

After one hour thinking about it, I think I will go with the following concept:

• The goal of the game is to get all boxes tied together
• Boxes always move to the same direction
• Yellow boxes get glued, blue boxes don't

Given that, I believe these are the main tasks:

• Implement basic game
• Start creating puzzles
• Design game identity
• Implement quality of life features once puzzles are complete
• Make it pop!

When it comes to the basic implementation, I believe these should be the next steps:

• Draw sample board
• Create data structure for sample level
• Implement movement for blue boxes
• Implement movement for yellow boxes
• Identify when level is complete

Now, I think I will give the game an identity and quality of life. I know when these are going to end, but I don't know how much time I will take to create enough puzzles to make this worth something. Let's see what I can do now...

First, I could pick a better theme than boxes and walls. What could it be?

• Grouping sheep
• Organizing inventory
• What else?

I think I will go with sheep anyways. This should be cute enough and I can include sheep in Honey the Cat eventually. So, the tasks should be:

• Draw sheep sprite
• Replace walls with fence
• Draw grass patches everywhere
• Implement main menu
• Implement game credits

Some ideas after this sprint:

• There could be a shepherd telling the sheep where to go depending on the player's input.
• There could be a phrase in the bottom of the screen with tips and whatnot about the level.
• The level look-and-feel could change over time to indicate progression.
• There could be a clock indicating how much time has passed since the first input. This would be nice for speedruns.

Now, let's make this game pop! After that, I should spend the rest of time creating as many puzzles as possible.

Regarding visual identity, I will go with this kinda bad joke... The game will be about Teresa the Shepherd, the owner of many sheep, including Dolly, Rosita, Pietro, and many more. We might even have Honey the Cat somewhere!

Mechanically wise, the idea is that the player is not controlling the sheep. They should feel like they are Teresa, the one who is actually controlling the sheep.

Said that, I believe the next tasks should be:

• Draw more sheep
• Draw and animate Teresa
• Draw more tiles to indicate progression
• Add sound effects:
  • Baaing
  • Bells
  • Whistling
  • "Level complete" jingle
  • Credits theme
  • Main menu theme
• Clock speed run
• Write tip text for level

I guess it's time for the hardest part now: let's make puzzles...

• Create puzzles for at least 15 minutes of gameplay
• Playtest game

Some feedback after playtesting:

• Add more levels
• Include blocks that move but don't count towards the objective
• Make more art
• Play background music during levels
• Break more expectations (that's my idea actually)
• Consider generating random levels