UT 2021-2022 WINTER GAME GUILD JAM RESULTS
VOTER'S PICKS
Best Overall
SNAKEY DANCE by Creeper220 and ZukZnilu
Most Creative
SNAKEY DANCE by Creeper220 and ZukZnilu
Best Game Design
SNAKEY DANCE by Creeper220 and ZukZnilu
Best Execution/Style
OUTER SPACE by Butterbombe
ORGANISATION'S PICKS
Best Overall
SNAKEY DANCE by Creeper220 and ZukZnilu
Most Creative
DODGE IT by Sietze
Best Game Design
DODGE IT by Sietze
Best Execution/Style
OF GUS AND GOLD by Paul O'Bar / Sluggo#1692
SPECIALIST'S PICKS
Yvens R. Serpa, MSc
Lecturer / Researcher Creative Media & Games Technologies
Below are my top 3 games and their reasoning, then after that, I have a few general comments. Sorry if I'm intruding too much and giving my opinion over topics beyond what was asked of me. Feel free to ignore them, if you will :)
Big thanks to Yvens! If you wanna find out more about him, check out his website at https://dagongraphics.com/.
I think the other games are pretty nice also. Some clearly needed more time and polish to achieve a playable prototype level (something I consider once you have implemented both the main mechanic and the winning mechanic - more on that here if you are interested). Also, I noticed that most games neglected the UI/UX aspect, which is an excellent point to discuss with the students and get why that was the case (time constraint is no excuse).
A good solution to some of that that some games did was to use the game's description on the itch.io page to add extra information that could not have been implemented in time. You could also use 2D mockups of the game's screen and add them as screenshots and additional elements after the submission to help players learn the games. It was also very nice that one team tried to use Godot instead of Unity, but I would suggest holding up 3D games in Godot for when version 4.0 is out since it will finally get a more robust and stable 3D pipeline.
I was pleased to see audio (music and SFX) implemented in all games (assuming the Windows ones had sound - but from the comment section, I'm pretty sure they did). Sometimes this gets neglected in favor of other aspects of the game, mostly programming and visual art, but it is an essential part of it and helps make the entire product feel more robust. Also, most of the animations I saw in pixel art are well done and have the principles of animation well used. They are pretty juicy 😄
1st
OF GUS AND GOLD by Paul O'Bar / Sluggo#1692
It was the more polished and complete game, with nice use of the theme - as recurrent for most of the other groups - which makes the character slower. The graphics are nice, the sound design is nice, and the game is quite complete. I miss some more UX on it, such as pointers to where the enemies will show up and a better indication of your score (are different items with different values?). Good to see also that just one student did it. Congratulations.
2nd
OUTER SPACE by Butterbombe
Great use of post-processing effects with minimalist graphics to create a good and cohesive atmosphere. The game design is nice, and it has a simple, but effective difficulty curve (larger asteroids, moving enemies, etc.). It took me some time to get how the theme was used until I figured out in the end that the "more you get" is some sort of resource necessary to cause an explosion and "destroy the enemies." It was a decent spin, but maybe quite a stretch from the theme. On the other hand, I would prefer if the game was more about asteroids and other non-living elements since I prefer to produce and design non-violent games.
3rd
SNAKEY DANCE by Creeper220 and ZukZnilu
Very nice game design and great use of the game itself as a sort of tutorial. The pixel art animations are so on point! I really loved all the snake moves and how the scenario reacts to its movements. I could not listen to the soundtrack, but I'm sure it fits well. My main issue with it, and why it is not number 1 or 2, is that I cannot see how it used the theme. You could argue that "the more the snake dances, the harder it is for you," but it feels overstretched - in that sense, any bullet hell game in which [the more bullets on the screen, the worse] would fit well with the theme without any creative spin on it. In any case, good game.
Thanks for joining us and hope to see you again next year!