Keep the Ball Rolling

Keep the Ball Rolling Title

Keep the Ball Rolling is a solo-jammed game submitted for the Extra Credits Game Jam #3 which happened from February 28, 2019 to March 4, 2019 with the theme of Cycle.

Highlights

  • Joined a game jam as a solo developer.
  • Designed and developed a simple casual endless runner game.
  • Made procedural endless corridor by using a mix of sine and cosine waves on the wall tiles to keep the level flowing smoothly.

Features

The design of the game is pretty simple: roll off the colored walls and just keep the ball rolling!

  • Use the left and right arrow keys to rotate the screen.
  • Do not hit the black walls.
  • Hit the colored walls to score points and to keep the ball rolling.

Since the theme for this game jam was Cycles, I immediately interpreted it as revolutions, rotations or spinning. With that said, those immediate ideas formed the main mechanic of the game – rotating the screen to let the ball roll. Then a secondary cycle emerged when I added progression feedback through cycling the color of the walls.

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Gameplay
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In-action screenshot
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End screen
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Design Process Notes 1
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Design Process Notes 2
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Design Process Notes 3

Gameplay
In-action screenshot
End screen
Design Process Notes 1
Design Process Notes 2
Design Process Notes 3

Learnings

Looking behind the scenes, this was actually my first solo-jammed game. And it was quite challenging because there were prior activities that I had to attend to. My time home was the only time that I was working on this project. So in my time away, I thought of this deeply and strategically planned my design goals so it would fit the limited time frame and working hours. Eventually, I settled with three foundations, which includes:

  • No heavy art.
  • An endless casual game.
  • Simple yet juicy.

Even though it lacks in the juice department, I think the finished product still satisfies most of the foundations I laid out. Nevertheless, adding juice to this would be my goal in the future. But for now, enjoy the game at its most basic form.