Project Info
Dev Time: 9 Weeks
Team Size: 9 [ 4 Devs | 1 Artist | 1 Composer | 5 Actors]
Language: C++ | Blueprint
Engine: Unreal Engine [ v5.5.3]
Genre: Narrative 2D Pixel Platformer
Game Jam Theme: You are the weapon.
Jam Hosts: Pirate Software
"The Road Trip Game Jam invites you to create a game that takes place primarily during a road trip."
The Concept: Figure In The Pain
My Inspiration
Contribution: Artist, Designer, Developer
A girl disassociates from an emotional car ride home by creating an imaginary figure that parkours the city streets.
This concept was created while listening to the song Dramamine by Flawed Mangos. It is loosely based on personal familial experiences. The title is a play on words. Creating an imaginary “Figure” is how the main character distracts herself from her situation. “In the Pain” references the window "pane" and the painful nature of her environment.
Overview
As a whole, the goal of the game was to tell an engaging story in a creative way without subtracting from enjoyable and challenging gameplay. On the production side, the goal for this project was to take the feedback from my first Game Jam, and apply it. I decided to take on a leadership role as I had a specific vision for the story. Doing so would also give me more control over the timeline and flow of production. I wanted to gauge my ability to manage, and I wanted to contribute more to coding where I didn't have an opportunity to before.
The Challenge
There were many challenges for this project. Not only was I leading the team, but I was in charge of producing all art assets, and contributing to the code. It was very important to me to avoid any pitfalls from the previous project. Those being: an incomplete Game Design Document, lack of story, clunky gameplay, and rushed assets; all of which gave the prior project a rushed feeling.
The Solution
[Describe how you overcame the biggest challenges]
Creating The Game
Framework
[ Feb. 16th - Feb 22nd | 2025]
During this time I stumbled upon a Game Jam that had a core theme that aligned with a concept I had created two weeks prior, thus I took it as a sign to create the game. The first week was spent fleshing out a game design document, writing the full screenplay, building contingency plans, sourcing voice talent, and building a dev team. Once everything was in place I sent out script slides to the actors to gauge their equipment. Following that, I held meetings with the development team to discuss a path forward.
Prototyping
[ Feb. 23rd - Mar. 16th | 2025]
Here we got to work building the basic mechanics. The first two weeks of this stage [Feb 23rd - Mar. 5th] was spent conducting research on the best way to go about code implementation. We developed a good rhythm as a team and I learned to use GitHub, UE5, and Visual studio to work collaboratively with others on one project. While programming, we made use of placeholder assets to test code.
[ Describe more about Prototyping stage ] - To Be Completed at stage end.
Art Asset Creation
[ Mar. 17th - Mar. 31st | 2025]
In this stage I began to phase out the placeholder assets and add artwork that will be used in the final game. This was a great way to get more experience working with pixel art, which was still a new style for me. I also began to work on art for the menu screen, and promotional material.
[ Describe more about Prototyping stage ] - To Be Completed at stage end.
Code Clean-up
[ Mar. 17th - Mar. 31st | 2025]
[ Describe more about this stage ]
Sound Design
[ Apr. 1st - Apr. 8th ]
[ Describe more about this stage ]
Testing & Release
[ Apr. 9th - Apr. 23rd | 2025]
[ Describe more about this stage ]
What did I learn?
[ Talk about what new things you learned ]