This weekend we each participated in the Global Game Jam, where we created a game in 48 hours based around a theme; this year’s theme was “Ritual”. Our Jam Site we were part of was GameCraft at the University of Minnesota with Glitch Gaming. It was pretty intense but a lot of fun. Instead of all of us working on one game we each were on separate projects! So this week, we are going to be talking about each game we worked on.

Save Jimmy | Stephen McGregor

In this virtual reality game, you are a guardian angel. You’ve been given the goal of protecting an 8 year old named Jimmy. Jimmy is a curious (and very unlucky) fellow. He tends to run into dangerous things while on his mundane walk to the school bus. It’s up to you to protect Jimmy from the hazards he encounters on his trip.

…Or at least, that was the goal of the game we had initially proposed when the game jam’s theme was given. Turns out being a guardian angel that can blow up buildings is way more fun, so we kinda focused more or that aspect of the game instead. There’s one harmful thing in the game right now.

If you’d like to play it, you’ll need a Gear VR headset and a Samsung Galaxy S6. Credit to Ghaith, Thong, Sara, Neil, Jeramie, and Mark for working with me to finish! Couldn’t have done it without them.

You can check out the game here: http://globalgamejam.org/2016/games/save-jimmy-vr

Rocket to God | Lane Davis

In Rocket to God, you fill the role of a disgruntled worshipper, tired of being shunned by the big man upstairs. Your prayers have been unanswered, so it’s time to take things directly to the highest authority: God himself.

Rocket to God is a two-to-eight-player rocket-launching physics game. In each round, you start out by placing an interactive object (be it a boost, a balloon, a UFO, or a brick wall) somewhere in the sky. Then, players launch their rockets, attempting to steer, bounce, and blast their way into the Heavenly Kingdom above. If you’ve ever seen Ultimate Chicken Horse, you’ll feel right at home.

Our team — the Spicy Food Squad — took almost three hours to decide on an idea for our game. In the end, we finally hit on a name and concept that kept us laughing all weekend long. Huge thanks to David and Ashlee for keeping things light during the long weekend and for all the wonderful art. Thanks to longtime Fingeance QA-tester Michael for adding so much humor to the game. And thanks to Cody for steering the ship and giving us the idea that started it all.

You can check out the game here: http://globalgamejam.org/2016/games/rocket-god

Neon Ritual | Charles McGregor

Neon Ritual is 2D sidescrolling multiplayer platformer. The goal is to race around the map to various altars and perform a ritual to obtain an orb. But be careful, other players can shoot you down and steal your orb. First to 3 orbs wins!

Unlike Lane and Stephen, this one I made on my own. It was really intense making all of the assets, doing all of the programming, coming up with the design… but I feel like it was worth it! I am really proud of what I was able to accomplish within 48 hours and I think that it turned out great. It is definitely better with more people playing as it can get hectic really quick with everyone battling to gain the remaining orbs.

I plan on polishing this game up a lot in my free time and hopefully publish this someday. I think it has a lot of potential and I really like the concept. I will be periodically posting up my progress on Neon Ritual over at the Tribe Games Blog.

You can check out the game here: http://globalgamejam.org/2016/games/neon-ritual

Play/Test – Game Jam Edition

This Friday we will be head to Glitch Gaming Play/Test, but this week it is focused on the games made at the Global Game Jam. So if you are in the area you can come and play all of our games as well as others made at GameCraft. If you can’t make it be sure to check out the website and play all of the games available: http://globalgamejam.org/2016/jam-sites/gamecraft-2016/games

Let us know what you think of all of our games by leaving a comment below or drop us a message on Twitter or Facebook!