Posted October 08, 2023 by PlayMedusa
#frog #pond #game jam #waterlily #jump #fly #brainstorming #time management #lily pad
Pool frog is a game made for the LUDUM DARE 54 game jam, theme being "Limited Space". I ended up making a fast and simple arcade where the goal is simply getting the highest score, beating your best by mastering jumping. Which is usually my goal at game jams: small games that can be easy to pick up and play, trying to polish them to death.
I enjoy entering game jams with Pico8, a fantasy console with harsh limitations: 128x128 pixels, 16 colors, 4 sound channels and even a limit in the amount of tokens - code, that is. So I guess that just using Pico8 to make this game satisfied the game jam theme! Still, I made a one-screen arcade where space is limited by gameplay space (you can't leave the pond) and game mechanics - you can run out of safe spots to stand on.
TIME MANAGEMENT IN A GAME JAM
I usually distribute time in the same way during 48h game jams:
So... mental and physical health FIRST. I'm here to have fun, not to torture myself.
BRAINSTORMING
Brainstorming for me is usually a mix of methods. Look for synonyms, browse related images (google and pinterest, mainly), draw mindmaps, have a look at my ideas notebook... I may also chat a bit with ChatGPT. It may surprise you!
This time, and because of a recent conversation in Mastodon, I wanted to do something related to pool mechanics - which fit the theme! What I'm not quite sure is how I came up with a frog being the one launching billiard-ball/lily pads around...
Those were the basics, but at some point I added waterlilies degrading the longer you stay on them, which ends up destroying them. Rembember the theme? Yep, so there's limited space.
Then I usually draw a mockup of characters of how the game may look.
Went with the right one, made me laugh :D
DEVELOPMENT
Most of the time was spent on pool physics (which is basically a projection of ball velocities on the tangent vector of the two balls involved in the collision), tweaking how jumps felt (gravity is increased when falling) and... procedural koi. There was no need at all for that, but I spent a few hours making those koi with five circles. I'm quite proud of them :D
Much better in movement, though.
And then of course polishing, polishing, polishing. Because my game jam games are really small, I start polishing from the very beginning. Things like:
Still, I'm missing a few things like score points floating up.
SO WHAT WENT GOOD?
Well, I was able to do all that within time limits. Yay! The game is more or less exactly what I came up with, and then some - like the fly and eating it, which was added on Sunday. If gives you a reason to jump around. And 25 points.
COME OVER HERE
WHAT WENT BAD?
Difficulty is the same during gameplay! So once you figure out jump timing and distances, it's difficult to lose. You may end up quitting. I mean, that's better than a game over because the frog got eaten, right? At least for the frog. But not for a game?
FUTURE WORK
I'm planning a post-jam version where difficulty ramps up by making koi swim faster. Will probably make waterlilies degrade faster too.
Will add floating poings, so it's easier to undestand how to score (it's explained in the main menu... but yeah, better to always tell the player what is happening)
An finally... code is prepared for two players! I didn't add a second one during the game jam but most functions expect a player. It shouldn't be difficult creating a two-player version. Not sure if it makes sense, though, but I had it in mind from the very beginning. We'll see.
THAT'S IT!
All in all I had lots of fun making this one. I hope you enjoy playing it too! Would love to read your comments. See you in the next jam!