Charlie Burkey - Game Jam: Charlie, Harry and Alex Monty

This post mainly covers the whole week and a half of our Game Jam project. Our class had two simple rules; one being that the game had to have the laws of physics (Meaning that objects had to fall when dropped etc.) And that our game had to have a escape theme, whether that be from a prison or jail cell. Our group instead chose to escape from an island.

We came up with the idea that a Warden would be following the player and keeping the gameplay in suspense.

We knew that immediately our character would be a lot like Sirenhead, so I came up with a simple body type and created several heads which Harry and Alex could choose from.

My first initial designs for the game.

Here is my second more simple design for the Warden as well as some in-game effects that could have happened while encountering them.

A normal body design as well as some varied head designs for my teammates to choose from. The Watcher, Heartless (Open mouth), Bone Eye, Bone Mouth and Star-Wheel.

Some more head designs for the warden including: Mouther-Heartless-Dice Demon and Bear-Trap <------(The picked one)

As you can see, the pictures above depict our first thoughts on how the game would start as well as what the gameplay would include. Wake up on the island, discover the Warden, find the boat, find the crowbar to get the key, escape.

My first design of the Warden was "Split Head", a bit gruesome but the idea was still stretched to further future designs. My next task was during our lesson on Thursday, I sat listening to Games Designer Paul Dean and was able to take on his way of idea creation to be more flexible with my sketches. Draw some easy ones and some complex ones.

Heartless is one of my current creations from another game I'm working on (Will post some pictures on my introduction page) But Harry and Alex both chose "Bear-Trap", this version of the Warden having a bear trap for a head and being able to bite down on enemies it encounters. Harry suggested it could be like a angler fish trap, a game mechanic tricking the player to follow the lure and then meeting the Warden instead.

Here below is some island map design and some digital work too.

Digital version of Bear-trap made in Adobe Illustrator. I have also added extra designs and sizes.

One of my teammates Harry has created a 3d model of their in-game version of The Warden.

Some more shots of the Warden in blender and Unity.

For the whole of week 5, I had been challenged with writing some lore (Scripts and story writing) and Harry and Alex M would include this information in the final game. I also wrote some notes which the player will collect in-game to progress the story. The lore I have written was done on word for easy convenience but I would edit it over several days in order for the story to make sense.

My other tow teammates did not know how to build a world written world around Bear-trap (our villain of the game) But I knew I could create so many more characters which would not even be seen in the game but the reader would still feel scared.

The Omegas, (name spelt with correct symbol instead of the "o") are the government in the story and Mark is the main character. I would like to believe the person writing the notes is the either the leader of the Omegas or a scientist working there.

Some more variations and body shots of the Warden showing the skeleton and the finished Bear-Trap Head sculpt.

The lore, the story and the more detailed GDD written for the game.

Page 1 of notes the player would find in-game.

Page 2 of notes the player would find in-game.

These few notes and lore details about the game, I had originally wrote to be put in the game so the player would spend more time in the game and learn about what was happening in the story.

These sadly did not get put in the final development of the game as we had lost some files, some got corrupted and we ran out of time to put them in. I do wish to return to the game in the future and implement the notes back in since I had fun writing them and they bring a lot of tension and chills for when playing the game yourself.

These notes also talk about the potential to make more games in the series and make more monsters I have in mind for more enhanced gameplay too.

Harry's finished title of the game.

The starting screen for the game

The first thing you see in-game is the car you will escape in and your torch in your hand to find the car keys.

Some in-game pictures of the Warden chasing the player and its hit box in unity.

Finalization: This last section of the post will mainly talk about how the game was seen by the class but also how the game ended up being still a great game to playthrough especially being made in just a week with our limited knowledge at the the time.

The basic gameplay story of this title first gave the player some instructions to follow. Sadly many of the class who had played our game ignored the instructions and did not know what to do in-game. Many wondered off and got lost, some repeatedly tried to open the car, even though you need the car keys mentioned in the instructions beforehand.

The game plays out afterwards by having you reading the instructions, seeing that you will spawn next to the getaway car but cannot enter without the car keys. You will spawn also with a flashlight which works perfectly. Credit to Alex Montagu who made it with lots of effort.

You will then venture forth into the deep forest and locate the mountain hills where just opposite of the car's location you will find a lodging home/house. This lodge has no way inside but the car keys lay in front of it, this could suggest the last owner dropped them trying to escape but who from?

At this point running back to the car, the warden shall appear and start to chase you down, as he touches you, you are sent back to the lodge or the car with the keys still in hand. His long stretched arms swing as they brush against the trees beside you, you cannot jump but he can. If you make it back to the car in time, use the keys on the door, you can escape and live to tell the tell of how you survived.

The final unity file map scene and sequence in-game. The picture on the right is the last moment in the game where the player has collected the car keys and has returned to exit the game in the car.