Let’s continue with the second part (part 1 here) of the Global Game Jam Cologne games round up. This time I have another 3 exciting titles:
Authors: Marcus Simon Nina RSAK Stacy
8-Bit(ch) Slap Apocalypse
8-Bit(ch) Slap Apocalypse is yet another delightful surprise. The programmer Marcus Horn decided to go low-def 8bit and PORTABLE. The game was actually made for the Nintendo DS but it uses the palette and resolution of the old GameBoy. The game is fully playable as a ROM. You can also download it on a DS if you have a flash card. It is a hardcore side-scrolling brawler with cute, tiny JRPG sprites and gratuitous splatter effects. It even features a badass chopper sequence. To be honest, I have no clue how the team pulled off such a complex and rich game. Definitely check it out!
Authors: Christoph Franke, Linda Kruse
The Great Tuna Escape
The Great Tuna Escape is one of the simpler, down-to-earth games. You are controlling a tuna fish and you need to keep alive as long as possible. As far as I understand, the CGL student Linda Kruse did the simple, yet effective graphics. The programmer Christoph Franke actually had to learn Flash from scratch working on this project. I think the simpler games are much more effective at the Global Game Jam since you always need at least some time to polish the gameplay. The Great Tuna Escape is a good example of how to pull it off.
Author: Martin Wisniowski
An Accident In Paradise
An Accident In Paradise is a great example on how you can participate at the Global Game Jam even if you have little time. Martin sadly didn’t have too much time this weekend. So he did the simplest game he could think of. He was aiming at something that would take 20 minutes. It still took 8 hours but he could still squeeze it in and the result is much more effective than it might look. It’s a 1-button-game where players shoot bullets at each other. You cannot dodge but the bullets cancel each other out. By waiting a couple of seconds, each player can “charge up” their bullet. Bullets with a bigger charge absorb smaller bullets. It becomes a very quick mind-game of different strategies and counters. Something you wouldn’t expect from such a simple game.
On the other hand, An Accident In Paradise is yet another example how the iPhone is not the best environment for the Global Game Jam. The game is finished but not finished enough for the App Store. So there is no way you can play it now. Let’s hope Martin manages to get it on the App Store eventually!
That’s it for today. I will present the final 3 games tomorrow!
Thank you Krystan for the nice review of all the games.
As for the graphics of The Great Tuna Escape, Peter Bickhofe did the first graphics (big fish, tuna and environment) and I took it from there and tweaked it into a more cubistic style and for the animation.
Hopefully Christoph and me can sit down together and put in the swarm fishes and depth of water to finished it as constructed.
Greetz,
Linda