Untitled Duck Game

Inspiration

With my continuous yearning to work within the Games Industry, and the proliferation of recent sponsorships for Games events by GameMaker, I absolutely wanted to develop at least _ something _ for the GameMaker project. Understanding that I was doing a GameJam in around half the time as an individual, I opted to remain very bare bones and simplistic in order to at least have something to offer. Inspired by my recent foray into Hollow Knight which I am exceedingly late to, I decided to make it a platformer with pixel art aesthetics due to my knack for the artform.

What it does

It is a simple 2D Pixel Platformer with 2 mechanical abilities and a cosmetic ability, which are triggered upon picking up the "Lucky Eggs" within levels. The goal is to reach the end point, the nest, in each level whilst circumnavigating any obstacles in your path.

How I built it

Horribly. Slapping together a million different components in a dire haze whilst walking a close friend of mine through a potential breakup. No I am not joking that was wild.

Challenges I ran into

I had literally never used GameMaker before so whilst I was implementing concepts and ideas (I am far more a designer and artist than anything else), I was fundamentally learning the Game Maker Language (Sort of like if C++ and Javascript had a baby) and how the engine worked. For instance I had to rapidly brainstorm the actual concept of the game, what the various assets would look like, and how to integrate the challenge into it - all of which were the easy part. The issue was then taking my ideas and figuring out how to integrate them into code, and objects, and rooms, and sprites, and sounds. Even then, I understand I have only dipped my toes into the GameMaker water - and I definitely want to try it out more.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I made.. something? If I had more time I definitely would have refined it further. Honestly I'm most satisfied that I even managed to add a Celeste style dash, or the art assets.

What I learned

Like other GameJams I have done, I really, really, really, really, like video game development and I am passionate about it like nothing else. Oh and y'know all the aforementioned "What does GameMaker even allow me to do" stuff. Also man I really love pixel art to an insane degree.