Jumpy Jungle, Mesa #41

Title

Inspiration

We wanted to create a fun, addictive game that was able to played in short bursts, while still taking inspiration from platformers like Mario and Donkey Kong. In addition, we wanted to pay homage to the "Memes" created by our community as unlockable characters, since, thanks to the capabilities of "software as a service", we can keep adding characters as more memes come to fruition, keeping the game fresh.

What it does

It is a simple to control game (2 keys or 2 touch buttons needed), in which the player has to keep jumping from randomly generated platforms while dodging obstacles, all the while collecting enough items (bananas) to lower the health of the main enemy and thus increase the score multiplier and speed of the game. In short, the main goal is to see how far one can run, which is why we included a High Score system.

How we built it

We built using Yoyo Games's Game Maker platform, since it allows a very fast deployment from coding all the way to cross platform publishing, seeing as to how we could code it once to run on any computer and also compile it for Android. Game Maker is usually used with pre defined "Actions" that are dragged using a GUI, but we implemented the "Code" action to be able to apply what we have learned from coding into it, allowing for fare more versatility in the development process.

Challenges we ran into

We had several challenges throughout the development process, mainly regarding time and how we could distribute it. To start with, we considered the coding aspect to be the highest priority, which is why we used Public Domain art for the project, to begin with. By the middle of the event, we had finished coding the game itself (up to this point), but we now had to brainstorm a theme and images that were wholly ours, which we took more time than expected.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

As said previously, we took some time to decide on a theme that fit the "casual" nature of the game, but we think we did a very good job in picking a jungle theme, since it is different than most endless runners yet charming. We also think we made very good time in the development process, since the coding itself was made very quickly, which really surprised us. We were also very happy to be able to show Android Users the game's prototype on the computer and offer to install that same version on their phone so that they could play and gives us their feedback, which is also something we're proud of, since we made a couple of physics changes very quickly in the feedback cycle process.

What we learned

We learned that coding a game is more complicated than it sounds, yet it is also a much more rewarding experience in a lot of aspects. On a productivity app, for example, users may feel relieved to have some work be done for them, but on a gaming app, seeing people delighted by the experience makes it that more rewarding, since enjoyment is easier to rate than stress. In addition, we learned the benefits of Cross Platform Development, since we were very happy to hear that our game could easily be published in many different platforms, including this event's sponsors (Apple iOS, Google Android, Microsoft Windows 10 UWP). Finally, we learned that organization is key. One person coding, another designing, and another receiving feedback was the perfect team for us, so we learned that having everybody doing the same thing, being redundant, is maybe very approachable not efficient.

What's next for Jumpy Jungle

We want to finish polishing the game with more sophisticated graphics, touch up the physics some more, maybe add some different items, and add more unlockable characters. Once that is done, we can publish easily to all the platforms mentioned previously to receive feedback. We are very excited to continue developing the game because we genuinely had a good time making it. Being platformer fans, we wanted to make a game we could enjoy ourselves and making it better and better is something we want to work on.