About
This game was made for UE4 Jam – Winter 2018, a jam lasting just over three days with the theme being “On thin ice”. My interpretation was a puzzle game which requires the player to melt ice in order to proceed. The final game had five levels with a good variety of gameplay which I was very pleased with.
The first three levels are each a slower paced puzzle where the player has to carefully manage their fuel to melt ice, heat temperature switches, and investigate the environment. Fuel is also used to heat the drone that the player controls, so if this runs out, the drone will freeze.
After the third level I felt like changing up the gameplay a bit, so the forth level became a chase sequence where the player has to evade a wall of ice while also avoiding obstacles. I had never made a chase sequence before so this was a first for me. Balancing the speed of the wall so it wasn’t too fast, but also keeping it in view was the biggest challenge.
About eight hours before the deadline I had completed the previous four levels to a state I was happy with, so I decided to use that time to make the fifth and final level into a fully functional boss fight, another first for me. I was happy with the end result and the boss fight remains one of my favourite design moments.
For the art I used a program called Aseprite that is specifically designed for creating pixel art. I find this style to have many advantages that suit my workflow. As I’m mostly focused on gameplay and mechanics it’s great to be able to create simple asset quickly, especially in situations such as this one where I have limited time.
I had asked some friends to play through to get some feedback on a few things, mainly how hard the puzzles were and the timing of the chase sequence. Over the course of the project they provided invaluable feedback and encouragement which made the whole process all the more enjoyable.
Overall I am very proud of the final product, I’ve not had to make a game in such a limited amount of time before, but despite that I think I’ve done a good job making one that is fun and enjoyable to play.
Progress & Extras
I made short update videos at the end of each day to keep a record of my progress.