From Jamming Sparks to Game-Making Adventures
Amid a whirlwind semester packed with mind monotonous lectures and interminable assignments, a ray of hope, a pure and unadulterated excitement beamed through the clouds. It was none other than my first-ever game jam, courtesy of the cool cats over at Dink Studio creators of Dutch Maximus: Out Of The Toy Box!.
The jam kicked off with a bang: 48 hours of non-stop, adrenaline-pumped creativity, starting on a Friday at 5:30 PM. The theme? PUNDemonium. I mean, seriously, could it get any more bonkers and thrilling than that? My brain continually somersaulted while thinking about ingenuine possibilities.
So, let the brainstorming bonanza begin!
I teamed up with CeeJay, the ultimate game design whiz. We volleyed back and forth with zany ideas, trying to strike that sweet spot of pandemonium that fit the theme. Finally, after an epic brainstorm battle, we birthed the idea for ‘PawnDemon’! It was like lightning struck, and we were off to the races.
I jotted down our brainchild in a Techno Wizard Document that I concocted based on our wild banter. But, oh boy, the next morning, that’s when the rollercoaster really took off. We dived headfirst into the game-making madness, and here’s where the plot twist hit — yours truly decided to go full hero mode and opt for C++ over the easier Blueprint for gameplay programming. Rookie game jammer just made a sweet mistake!
The battle of codes began, and, spoiler alert, it was a fierce battleground. Collaboration turned into a maze of confusion, especially when poor CeeJay had to work some magic to turn my C++ spells into Blueprint charms and potions for further modifications. Compile time became our arch-nemesis, masticating away our precious hours.
Amidst the creative chaos, we encountered a significant challenge in dealing damage to the enemy pieces using the flames from the flamethrower setup with the Niagara particle system. Utilizing Niagara had its perks, but we discovered a downside: the FX lacked built-in collisions. Searching through the Unreal forum, I stumbled upon various recommendations on creating invisible collision boxes and spawning them towards the direction of the enemy, mimicking the flame FX.
Time constraints prevented a comprehensive implementation, so I devised a temporary fix to ensure gameplay functionality. I generated a single collision box the length of the flame blast and set up an overlap condition. Whenever the enemy intersected the box while the character was shooting, it triggered damage to the enemy. It worked as envisioned, albeit with minor, almost unnoticeable bugs. My plan involves utilizing a spawner implementation in the future to shoot out collision boxes in a shotgun-style, removing them once out of the FX flame range.
Despite this technical hiccup, we soldiered on and emerged victorious in creating the main gameplay. Well, almost. The UI was a stubborn little rascal that we just couldn’t tame in time for the submission deadline. But fear not, we cooked up a spicy video demonstration to show off what our game could be like. Talk about a plot twist in our journey!
But hey, this jam was like a crash course in the School of Hard Knocks. We leveled up big time. CeeJay and I huddled up and vowed to resurrect ‘PawnDemon’ into a full-blown game, superhero style, once our research projects stop breathing down our necks. It’s gonna be the ultimate power-up after all this academic chaos!
So, hang on to your controllers, folks! The ‘PawnDemon’ saga is just getting started, and when we finally unleash it into the gaming universe, it’s gonna be an epic quest. Stay tuned for the wild ride, the crazy chess pieces, and the epic battles because, trust me, this game is gonna be one for the hall of fame!
Special Shout-out to My Co-Creator Ceejay, an exceptionally talented game designer and Diptangshu Pandit (Max), My AI For Games course module leader, for nudging me to join this crazy adventure.
Thank you for joining me on this exhilarating journey! Your support and feedback mean the world. Feel free to drop your thoughts or suggestions in the comments below. Let’s stay connected! Reach out to me on my social media handles @officialyenum. Don’t miss out on the next chapter — subscribe for more thrilling adventures! Your 👏 will be immensely appreciated.
Your time and attention to this tale of game-making adventures are truly cherished. Stay tuned for more block buster capers coming your way! Until then, keep the excitement alive!
