On the Clock

Level 2 Snapshot
Level 1 Snapshot

Inspiration

I was devastated when I realized that I had to scrap my original idea last-minute when my teammate bailed on me and scope-creep stopped my original idea in its tracks. Feeling the pressure of doing this project to help my family out and not wanting to quit, yet feeling so tired and miserable and really really wanting to quit and wait until the next contest, I decided to submit something anyway, even if last-minute! This project is inspired by the stress we sometimes put ourselves through over our work, life, and relationships, and the deep sleep and accompanying dreams that sometimes plague us at night as a result. We always seem to be on the clock!

What it does

"On the Clock" takes users through a dreamscape -- where they must navigate obstacles, hazards, a spooky creature or two, and each other to escape the dream!

How I built it

Everything (minus the music) was developed in the Meta Horizon World's Desktop Editor!

Challenges I ran into

Scripting with AI. The Meta AI was sometimes very helpful and other times very frustrating. The greatest challenge by far was scrapping my original idea a day or so out from the deadline and jumping on a completely different one (that means pulling a wide-eyed, caffeine-fueled all-nighter -- something I have not done since undergrad!)

Accomplishments that I am proud of

I drummed up the soundtrack fairly quickly in Soundtrap, using a variety of royalty-free loops to compose full tracks. I wanted them to help express the atmosphere of the game without being generic. I hope that I accomplished that!

What I learned

START IDEATING EARLY. Jumping into development right away only works if your idea is both fleshed-out and feasible given the submission timeline (my original idea was neither of these).

What's next for On the Clock

I'd love to add new challenging environments as well as new mechanics, and maybe some wacky cosmetics! With dreams (or nightmares), there's no shortage of ideas our minds can craft. Future environments might be based on dreams that I have!