BOWLING BUT YOU ARE THE PINS
"Bowing but you are the Pins" was created as a submission for the 2023 GMTK Game Jam. I contributed as a UI programmer and artist, implimenting basic UI functionalities and creating majority of art assets for the game. The theme for this years game jam was "reversed roles", as such we created a bowling game where a bowling ball is thrown and the player is tasked with adding ramps, walls, and pins to achieve a strike. The game was well received by the community, placing top 100 in total number of reviews and top 16% best rated.
GAME CONCEPT
For this years game jam we focused primarily on creating a game that follows the theme, is simple to understand and play, and well polished in presentation. We achieved these goals by starting with a simple concept for moving pins on an alley where the ball is thrown the same each time. After the basic concept was defined, different obstacles and corresponding placeable objects were added to allow for more complex levels and challenges. Given the short period of time allotted for the game jam, a simplistic art style was chosen, a basic cell shaded aesthetic was adopted to create clean visuals with less development time needed.
Monument Kitchen - Shader and visuals reference
Polybridge Builder- Visual reference
ASSET CREATION PROCESS
Given the simplistic nature of the visuals and shaders, limited consideration and complexity was added to the models themselves. For some basic optimization, all uvs were set to use one color palette texture sheet. After exporting to unity, a basic cell shaded material was added for the final effect. Floor panels, gutters, and other pieces were created in 1 X 1 units to allow for more flexibility to level editing in unity.
LEVEL CREATION PROCESS
The level design process was meant to easily teach players the different mechanics and functionalities of the game. Given the shorter format of the game, each level increased in difficulty and complexity fairly quickly with a total of 10 levels. Earlier levels were designed with the intent of introducing a new game mechanic or concept while later stages were intentionally more ambiguous to allow players to experiment with how to clear each level