Global Game Jam De-Briefing
What a weekend! We had an absolute blast at this year’s Global Game Jam, and we hope you did too! We wanted to take a moment to de-brief on the event, and share some of our thoughts and experiences with you.
The Theme
This year’s theme was “Mask”, which presented an interesting challenge for us. We decided to take a direct approach to the theme by creating a 2d game called “Maskqurade”. The unique site modifiers were as follows:
Theme Related
- No Face No Case
- A "Scooby-Doo" Reveal
- The Unreliable HUD
- Clipping Issues
- Identity Theft
Not Related
- The "Useless Button"
- Everything Is Exploding
- Health Is Currency
- Inventory Tetris
- Genre Swap
Brainstorming
We had a great brainstorming session on the first day of the jam, where we came up with a few ideas but nothing that really sparked interest, until our Co-director Logan showed us a game called “Skul: The Hero Slayer”. 
This game proposed a system in which different skulls can be equipped, providing different abilities, and you could swap them out on the fly. This was a great starting point for us, and we decided to take that concept and run with it. We wanted to differentiate ourselves from Skul by making an inventory system that was more grid-based, and we wanted to make it a roguelite to add some replayability and challenge to the game.
The Game
We ultimately decided to go with a simple concept that we could execute well in the time we had. We wanted to create a Roguelite game which involved upgrading your ‘mask’ which is shown as a grid-style inventory (to fit the ‘Inventory Tetris’ modifier). Relics are placed in the slots to empower your character. Relics are gained from defeating all enemies in ‘chest rooms’ which are randomly generated. The game is over when you die, and you keep no relics upon death, making it a true roguelite. Venturing deeper into the dungeon will yield more powerful relics, but also more difficult enemies. We wanted to create a game that was challenging, but also rewarding, and we think we achieved that with Maskqurade.
Mask Inventory
I (Luke) was responsible for the inventory tetris system, which was an absolute nightmare and cost me 2 sleepless nights. I had to create a system that could handle different shaped relics, and I had to make sure that the system was intuitive and easy to use. I also had to make sure that the system was balanced, so that players would have to make strategic decisions about which relics to equip and which ones to leave behind. I had so many issues with positioning, making slots unavailable to have interesting inventory dynamics, and just other general bugs, but eventually I got it working semi decently and I am proud of the final product. I would’ve liked to have a graphic in the background of the inventory to give more of a visual that this was a mask but I ran out of time and had to prioritize other things.
Enemy Design
Our Lead Developer (shrug) was responsible for the enemy design, and he did an amazing job. He created a variety of different enemies, each with their own unique abilities and behaviors. He also made sure that the enemies were challenging, but not unfair, and that they fit well with the overall theme of the game. We had a lot of fun designing the enemies, and we think they turned out great. He made a Slime, a Bat, and an Evil Torch. The Slime is a basic enemy that bounces around the room and tries to hit the player. The Bat flies around the room and tries to swoop down and hit the player. The Evil Torch is a stationary enemy that shoots fireballs at the player. Each enemy has its own unique behavior and attack patterns, which keeps the gameplay fresh and interesting. We also made sure to give each enemy a unique visual design, which helps to differentiate them and make them more memorable.
Level Design
Our Level Designer (also shrug) was responsible for the level design, and he did an amazing job as well. He created a variety of different rooms, and implemented a Procedural Dungeon Generation system (blog post coming soon).
Conclusion
We are all very proud of the final product, and we had a lot of fun creating it. We hope that you enjoy playing Maskqurade as much as we enjoyed making it. We also want to thank everyone who participated in the Global Game Jam, and we can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with next year!