Team Game Jams

All Aboard!

Genre: Visual Novel

Role: Programmer, Environment Artist, Music

Team Size: 4

I met the lead programmer who told me about his experience with Godot and asked if we could participate in a jam together. He helped me learn how to do some basic programming, and so I updated the visual novel tool we used with custom dialogue system functionality. In addition, I made the music for the game by recording acoustic guitar and created the background art and parallax scroll systems to emulate the feeling of being on a train.

Download and Play on Itch.io

Tools: Godot, FireAlpaca, Reaper

Go With It

Genre: Dialogue/Experimental

Role: Programmer

Team Size: 6

I created this game for Global Game Jam 2024 based on the “Forrest Gump” diversifier: the player can only respond yes to dialogue prompts. But I turned it into “excited yes” and “sad yes” as responses. I received help from some others to write a long rambling story from an old man, and if you don’t say Yes in the right way he has to tell you the whole story again. Then, we used a robovoice tool from one of the Jam’s sponsors, audio recording from another participant, and another team member created a physical hardware box control to press the buttons for the game.

Download and Play from the Global Game Jam site

Tools: Unity, ReadSpeaker

Squirrel Life 2 (2023)

Genre: 2D Hero RTS

Role: Artist, Programmer

Team Size: 3

Created for District June Jam 4 based on the theme of “Formation.” I got the chance to work with the amazingly talented designer Akello Fells for this game, where he came up with an idea where you controlled allies in a real-time-strategy fashion. I decided to take advantage of the “Explorative” diversifier and did a completely new role from my usual development process. I created the character art and animation for the game in Inkscape as well as helped out with programming some of the systems. There are some aspects of the animation I struggled a lot with, but by the end I figured out a workflow that generally worked for me. I learned some harsh lessons about managing center pivots on objects, which you can definitely see in the Heron ally as it swaps directions. I also spent a lot of time on a complicated spear height visual feature that ultimately didn’t work with the overall design. I’m really proud this game is very pick-up-and-play friendly, it’s now my go-to when I want someone to try something quick that I’ve made.

One of the features I’m proudest of is how the robots split out into parts after you destroy them. It was a great moment of Juice I could do because of how I set up the vector graphics for the units as separate parts. (Basically: unparent all the sub-parts of the visuals and then apply a random force. )

Play on Itch.io

Tools: Unity, Inkscape

Lightkeeper (2023)

Genre: 3D Open World

Role: Producer, Designer, Programmer

Team Size: 5

I signed up for the Adventure Jam with one purpose: I wanted to learn how to use the Gaia open world generation tool for project D7. I was able to get the tool to eventually achieve my vision, but I bombed when it came to actually designing the open world in a fun way. The enemies are spaced too far apart, and there’s not enough visual clarity to drive the player to where they need to go. I also had a last-minute-scare on file size when it came to the terrain. (Hint: use a small cell size)

Download and Play on Itch.io

Tools: Unity, Dialogue System for Unity, Gaia

I Transform into a Werewolf in the Light of the Full Moon (2023)

Genre: 2D Adventure

Role: Producer, Writer, Designer, Programmer

Team Size: 4

This game was created for the Werewolf Jam. You play as a man who is transformed into his werewolf half and tries to make amends with how poorly he treated others as a person. I wanted to create a game where I had a chance to learn how to use the Dialogue System for Unity. I was blown away with how many features it had, and realized it was going to take me way longer than 1 jam to learn how to use it to the fullest. Fortunately, this experience gave me insight into how to get the basics up and running.

I also had a lot of fun implementing the final boss battle AI. The code was a mess, but it was a great opportunity for me to set up a multi-state AI for the boss, as well as create a very rudimentary paired animation system that interfaces with the Dialogue System.

Play on Itch.io

Tools: Unity, Dialogue System for Unity,

Water Your Flowers (2023)

Genre: 3D First-Person Time Management

Role: Designer, Programmer

Team Size: 3

Water Your Flowers is a first person time-management game, where you pick up seeds which represent things you want to do, plant them, and water them every day to see how they grow. I was the programmer and sound designer. I worked on a team with a 3D modeler and a Writer.

I’m really not proud of the convoluted text display system that I made. It was one of those features where I thought I knew what I was doing, then realized “oh no, this is overcomplicated for the problem I’m trying to solve.” In addition, it made the game hard to test.

You can find the game on the Global Game Jam website

Tools: Unity, 1BitDragon

Mecha Mining Marvelous Martian Minerals (VR) (2022)

Genre: 3D VR Simulation

Role: Producer, Designer, Programmer

Team Size: 4

For MechJam 3, I teamed up with 3 other people to create a VR game where the player has to repair and mech and go out to collect minerals.  

It’s yet another day mining minerals on Mars. Make sure your mech is ready to go, then open the mech bay door, climb into your mech, and set out collecting your daily requirement of minerals. Explore the martian landscape, locate minerals with your ore scanner and use your excavator to dig minerals out from under the ground. The environment can be treacherous, but you’re a skilled mech pilot. After you collect your daily amount, make sure you get a good night’s rest…

I worked on the programming integration for the game, using the VR Interaction Framework, which I wrote about in a paper on VR Toolkits.

Download the APK

Tools: Unity, Oculus SDK

Locust Defense (VR) (2021)

Genre: 3D VR Education Wave Defense

Role: Producer, Designer, Programmer

Team Size: 5

For the 2021 iLRNFuser Game Jam, our team created a game to align with U.N Sustainable Development goal 2: Zero Hunger. 

Natalina, a farmer from Kenya, gets an alarming phone call! A swarm of locusts are heading towards her farm. Pesticides are no option and she is alone. She must defend her crops by picking locusts, setting rubbish on fire, and building a duck army to fend them off!

As part of a team of five people, I worked on the programming integration for the game as well as the Oculus Quest hand tracking implementation.

Download the APK

Tools: Unity, Oculus SDK

Cicada Town (2021)

Genre: Visual Novel

Role: Writer, Programmer, Designer

Team Size: 3

Created as part of a team for the IGDA DC 2021 June Game Jam. I had the pleasure to work with the immensely talented Heiden who created the art and Saad Memon who created the soundscape for the game. I wrote the game story as well as implemented the visual novel using the Fungus engine.

Working with Heiden, we were able to implement bone-based animations using Unity’s 2D rigging and animation system. The game has 8 possible endings, and rewards players for each ending they reach.

You can play the game on the web at the itch.io link.

Tools: Unity, Fungus

Sole Searching (VR) (2021)

Genre: 3D VR Action

Role: Sound Designer, Programmer

Team Size: 3

Originally created for the 2021 Global Game Jam.

You run the lost and found desk at the ball, and Cinderella isn’t the only one missing her shoe. Can you get the shoes back to the nobles and make US minimum wage ($7.25) by midnight?

In a team of 3 people, I worked on the 3D models of the shoes using Oculus Medium, I recorded the music and narration for the game, performed testing, and implemented some VR programming functionality.

Download and Play

Tools: Unity, Oculus SDK, Audacity

Roll With It (2021)

Genre: 3D Physics Puzzle

Role: Sound Designer, Graphics Programmer

Team Size: 3

Created for the 8 Bits to Infinity Physics Jam

Roll With It is a physics puzzler where you must use your single switch to guide balls along a track into goal areas. You’ll often find that the switch controls multiple elements of the level at once, so you’ll have to time your presses carefully to make sure each ball ends up in the right place at the right time.

In a team of 3 people, I worked on implementing shaders with the Universal Render Pipeline and adding audio effects.

Download and Play

Tools: Unity

Unbroken (2020)

Genre: Party Multiplayer Rhythm

Role: Programmer

Team Size: 6

This game was created with a team as a part of the 2020 Global Game Jam. I set up the basic mobile phone integration system and the programming, and my team members created the art, music, and advanced phone integration.

For the 2020 Global Game Jam, I decided to use a technology called AirConsole which allows multiple people to play a game by using mobile phones as input devices. The game our team came up with was a rhythm-action game where the more people join and play the more powerful the main player’s abilities become.

Check out the game play video and my teammate’s video of the global game jam event.

Tools: Unity, AirConsole

The Ten Minute Mortgage (2019)

Genre: Text Adventure

Role: Producer, Designer, Programmer, Writer,

Team Size: 4

I created this game with a team during the 2019 Global Game Jam. I programmed the game using the Quest engine, and my team created the art and contributed to the writing.

Mortgage finance intermediaries ensure that ordinary middle-class citizens can afford to purchase a home and pay for it over the course of their lifetime, without going directly to investors who want to invest in the housing market. This dystopian text-adventure game imagines a world in which companies such as Mortage-backed Security companies, mortgage lenders, and mortgage banks don’t exist, and you have to go directly to those investors to finance your mortgage.

Play the game

Tools: Quest

Waverunner (2017)

Genre: 2D Music Platformer

Role: Programmer

Team Size: 3

I created this game with a team during the 2017 Global Game Jam. I worked on the programming, and my teammates created the sprites and background as well as the audio recordings. In this infinite runner game, the player uses a midi keyboard and has to play a correct key in time with the music to jump across platforms and make it to the end of the level.

Tools: Unity

Download and play from itch.io