Game Jam Game: Paint Bucket Pals

[hosch]

I recently decided to take part in my very first game jam - well, I have entered several ones before, but always had doubts and never submitted my games. Not this time!

The game jam name couldn't be more fitting: I Can't Draw But Want To Make A Game (Again). The goal will be to dash into little paint droplets and deliver them back into the big paint bucket (that fell over). I already finished a simple movement mechanic and some simple gameplay. Today I added a player indicator to implement 2 player gameplay later down the line.

Tomorrow I am planning to create some more levels for the game and test out the game mechanics a bit.

[Xerra]

Good for you. I think Gamejam's are terrific for developing coding skills as they force you to think about finishing a game to a deadline and come up with novel ideas based on a theme. I keep meaning to enter a few myself but usually chicken out at 3 day deadlines and the like.

Have a crack at the next Syntax Bomb competition once you've done a few of these. Consider it a warm up exersize

[hosch]

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean by chicken out  I've seen the posts about the Syntax Bomb jam, but I was late to the party. If all goes well, I will participate in the next one.

[hosch]

Today I wrote the code to shuffle the color array (basically which colors of enemies spawn in the level). Otherwise the game became too predictable and less varied. Shuffeling an array and checking for duplicates was something I never had to do before and coding it myself was a nice exercise. Especially the nested loops can provide quite some pitfalls, but I managed to get through.

Unfortunately it took me a bit longer than expected, but I will try to add more levels to the game this afternoon.

[hosch]

Instead of adding some levels, I fiddled around with a couple of color palettes to find something pleasing. Once I found one that I liked, I started overhauling the main menu and using the new colors. I am overall pretty satisfied how it turned out.

[hosch]

Today I've created some levels and squashed some bugs. Still plenty left  Out of 7 levels I found 4 to be pretty fun. 2 are tutorial levels (and not done yet). 1 level will be discarded as it wasn't fun to play.

I've also added a bullet animation for the turrets, which looks quite alright.

I've added an options screen where players can manage the input options (which required a check, if any devices are connected or not).

9 days to go in the game jam, looks like I might actually hit the deadline on my first project!

[iWasAdam]

I really REALLY like the visual style you've got going here - good colors that feel right.

Here's a couple of potential suggestions for you:

1. the border is currently a 4x4 tile (2 on top and 1x2 on the bottom). Think about using just one of the blocks and not the 4x4. that way the characters would be that bit more prominent.

2. And you're gonna hate me for this.
I Love the graphics style, but the thing that is shouting to me is animation. What I mean is, however you are doing the graphics do another set, that are the same but different. and each frame (or 4 frames) flip between one set and the other. this would give you sort of flickering in the outlines and possibly color shifting enhancing the 'drawn' look. it would give the same effect as used in the TV show Rhubarb and Custard:

I can just see all the menu text and players with that sort of look

[Xerra]

Rhubarb and Custard!!!!!

I so remember that cartoon from when I was a kid. A while back, cough.

I'm humming the tune in my head and not thought of it in at least 30 years, lol.

[Steve Elliott]

The iconic Roobarb and Custard!   

[hosch]

I really REALLY like the visual style you've got going here - good colors that feel right.

Here's a couple of potential suggestions for you:

1. the border is currently a 4x4 tile (2 on top and 1x2 on the bottom). Think about using just one of the blocks and not the 4x4. that way the characters would be that bit more prominent.

2. And you're gonna hate me for this.
I Love the graphics style, but the thing that is shouting to me is animation. What I mean is, however you are doing the graphics do another set, that are the same but different. and each frame (or 4 frames) flip between one set and the other. this would give you sort of flickering in the outlines and possibly color shifting enhancing the 'drawn' look. it would give the same effect as used in the TV show Rhubarb and Custard:

I can just see all the menu text and players with that sort of look

Thank you for your suggestions and your feedback! Can you elaborate on 1.)? I didn't get it, but I saw your suggestions to some artist in the forums here and they were amazing.The levels feel a bit empty, but I can't really put my finger on it, why. Or let me rephrase that: it's because there is so much empty space in a single colour around the level, but I have no idea how to fill it (well... the game jam is called I Can't Draw But Want To Make A Game )

2) That's what I am going for, the character outlines are actually already flickering. It is more prominent during gameplay/moving images, though. I've attached the little 8 way fella sprite. Applying this effect to all menu text would be a nice feature, but something I most likely would add after the game jam is over. So many to do's on my list 

[iWasAdam]

there you go :

[hosch]

That's actually a pretty smart idea and, like you've said, helps to keep focus on the players. Guess I will implement those today 

[iWasAdam]

give us a quick gif/video of the gameplay and maybe we can suggest other things?

[hosch]

give us a quick gif/video of the gameplay and maybe we can suggest other things?

Sure, will do later on. I might be able to supply a playable build either today or tomorrow - depending how things turn out 

Today I was focusing on sounds so far, because a silent game isn't really fun and you don't feel all that powerful dashing around. At first I went for an 8 bit/NES style, but it didn't fit the art, so I went for a more realistic approach with swooshes and clangs and all that.

[iWasAdam]

although I've not seen the gameplay, the thing that keeps coming to mind is Robotron 2084:

That might give you some ideas about making it frantic or thoughts about enemies, obstacles, etc