I had another great experience at Global Game Jam Vancouver.

This time I jammed with 6 other CAPCOM employees and my friend, Michael Lee (www.soundcloud.com/pixelee), an amazing artist who provided us with exhilarating music and SFX.

The theme, "ritual," inspired us to create a twin-stick shooter where an ibex uses magical powers to protect itself from villagers trying to ritually sacrifice him. Made with Unreal using 3D models from Maya.

See the full credits below and check out the game page at www.globalgamejam.com/node/30800

My role was 3D modeling & UVs with additional responsibilities including scoping and guiding our project schedule, mentoring UE4 visual scripting, and imparting (surprisingly little) design wisdom. I photoshopped the credits and game over screens too.

Team Canvas:

Matt Church
Jim Dodge
Pietro Esposti
Andrew Nickerson

Overview:
Our goal is to create a multiplayer puzzle game in Unity3D that allows people in different places to solve a puzzle together even though they all can only see one part of the puzzle. There are three players who all see a structure composed of three coloured tetrominos, one of which they can control (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetromino). Each player also see a unique shadow cast by a light that only they can see, giving them a unique perspective on the puzzle. When the puzzle is solved, the pieces are united in a glowing consensus that spreads across the whole world (cut due to scope). The degree of communication between players is left entirely to whoever decides to participate in the game. This is in keeping with our groups discussions that centred on the idea of isolation that we drew from the GGJ 2014 Theme, and how one must take initiative to take themselves out of the conditions that create the feeling of isolation. Our hope is to develop stronger Unity3D skills, and create puzzles that can be solved.

Since players are familiar with environments that create shadow puppets, and controlling tetris blocks with arrow keys, we decided that solving a multidimensional puzzle as a team would be an adequate challenge. In Canvas, your character is a tetromino that represents a human being with its own objectives. Success, however, does not come from achieving what appears to be the goal in front of you, but from bringing everyone closer to their goals - even when you do not know them.

My role in the creation of Canvas focuses on the creation of art assets, presentation of the game space, and troubleshooting the puzzles created by various members of the team so they are functional. This project would not have been possible without Matt and Andrew's understanding of server code and repositories, or Pietro's familiarity with board games and physical prototyping. Throughout this project, I feel that every one of us contributed equally to design and felt positive about the idea that we helped cultivate. I gained a better understanding of coding for multiplayer games in Unity3D, improved my Maya skills, and thought about aspects of game design that I normally delegate to others including composition, colour palettes, and trying to create a mood using soundtracks and visual design. I definitely recommend trying a Game Jam for the atmosphere, the experience, and exposure to new perspectives and aspects of game design that are not in your current skill set.

Update: See the final product at http://globalgamejam.org/2014/games/canvas and notice that it is no longer a multiplayer game. The previously dependable server code went ballistic on the morning of submission so we adapted our design to get a submission in by the deadline. This is a common outcome of GGJ Projects but should not deter anyone from attempting them!