Earlier this month, we hosted the third annual
GMTK Game Jam, which is a game-making marathon where participants have to design, develop,
and release a game in just 48 hours. That game had to fit a theme, and this year
the theme was “only one”, which encouraged designers to make games with only one bullet,
or only one room, or only one button. The response was enormous, with well over
7,000 people joining the jam, over 2,600 games submitted before the deadline, and more than
46,000 ratings. It was more than twice as big as 2018’s jam, and - once again - the
biggest game jam on itch.io. In fact, it was so big that it temporarily
crashed the site’s servers. Which was a bit, uh, stressful, seeing as it happened
in the last few moments of submission. But with a slight time extension and some technical
help from the site’s staff, we got there in the end. And so, as ever, I want to send the jam off
by showing the 20 games that I think are most deserving of note and attention. Unfortunately
I couldn’t check out all 2,000-odd uploads, but I did play over 100 of the top-ranking
games to help find these personal favourites. So without further ado, let’s jump in to
the rundown of the best games of the GMTK Game Jam for 2019. Which is in no particular order. Lots of games in the jam went for the one
projectile idea. Like Missile Control, where you guide a bullet after its shot. Or Unloaded,
where you shoot a bullet, but then draw it back to you with a big magnet. Of the lot: Kickochet is the best one I played. So, playing as this cute little ninja, you
throw out a single shuriken per level - with the goal of hitting every red cube, and turning
them green. Once the shuriken is in play, it bounces off walls, rips through enemy turrets
and triggers explosive barrels. And your only control is to, well, as the
name suggests: kick it. Walk up close to the shuriken and click the mouse button and you
can boot the spiky projectile and alter its trajectory. I don’t know how it doesn’t
shred this dude’s foot into a million pieces, but no mind - it turns the game into a deadly,
fast-paced football match where you’re trying to keep up with your own shuriken and pinging
it off in new directions to get around corners and defeat bad guys. Helpfully, the game has a little slow-mo when
you get near the shuriken, so you can fiddle with the angles and line up the perfect shot.
This is a really fun game and could easily be expanded into a full release. Well done
to Casey “Boz” Weeks and team When you first play Project1on, you might
not get why it’s such a high ranking game in the jam. So you move a circle to a yellow
square and you win? Is that it? But then, suddenly, the goal is impossible
to reach. And you’re encouraged to hit shift to change view. And at this point, you’ll
get to see what all the fuss is about. Turns out, this isn’t some rinky dink 2D
platformer. It’s a 3D world - just, you can only move on one flat 2D plane. So in
this 3D view, you can shift the entire world about to get platforms and obstacles into
more useful positions, then flip back to 2D and complete the stage. Sometimes you’ll be bouncing back and forth
between the two views. And you don’t just pull and push the level on a single axis,
mind: but you can flip and rotate the 3D world however you like: though the controls are
a bit fiddly. But ultimately this is a terrifically clever
game with huge amounts of potential and I hope creator arthur740210 - very catchy name
- continues to work on this. One of the problems I find with tower defence
games is, after you’ve put down a few good towers, you’re pretty much set. The enemy
force can’t possibly get past your ironclad defences, and you basically just busy yourself
with upgrading your towers until the end of the round. TowerBag definitely doesn’t fall into this
trap: because you only have one tower! You plop this thing down in the path of a wave
of enemies, and then when foes start approaching from another angle, you need to lift the tower
onto your back, and walk it over to the other side of the screen. To stop you from just sitting underneath the
tower and waiting for the next chance to move, the game litters the map with collectible
coins: forcing you to juggle between picking up loot and moving your tower. And when you
have enough money, the only way to upgrade your single tower is to lift it up and physically
take it to the upgrade tile in the middle of the map You definitely do lose a certain amount of strategy
by only having one tower - but you gain so much movement and dynamism by dramatically
limiting the player’s options. So maybe, in a post jam version, the developer could see
what the game was like with two, or maybe three radically different towers. I’d like
to see how that changes things. One of the biggest revelations of the jam, I think,
is that limiting the players options can quickly turn any genre into a puzzle game. A game
where you can jump is a platformer - but a game where you can only jump once per level
immediately becomes a tricky conundrum of figuring out when and where to utilise that
sparse resource. We definitely see this in the retro dungeon
crawler Castle Demonstone, where you can only carry one item at a time. Instead of being
a mighty solider with a backpack full of swords, shields, potions, and magic spells, you have
to think carefully and logically about which item you pick up, and when. You can’t keep
a potion in your back pocket, but instead must navigate back to it when you’re hurt.
And suddenly the game becomes a stealth experience, because you don’t have room in your bag
for a weapon. It’s a clever twist on things. And for anyone
who has anxiety about overencumberance mechanics or leaving a potion until the very end of
the RPG, this game should prove a cathartic release. Making a game with only one level might seem
like an easy way to cheat the theme of this jam. But not the way developer captain_caruso
does it. In Level 1_1, you’ll play through a seemingly
simple stage as Normalboy: a capable platforming hero who can jump, dash, and swim. The stage
is easy going, but there’s clearly more to it than meets the eye Ypu next unlock Diveboy: a character who can
breath underwater, but can only stay out of the water for five seconds. Now, that same
level has a whole new feel, as you explore a secret submarine passageway that Normalboy
could never have seen. Skyboy is different again: this dude plays the level upside down,
revealing another secret route full of clouds and flying enemies. Each character has both advantages and disadvantages.
Greedyboy, for example, is very fast, but dies if you don’t constantly feed him coins.
While Dashboy can dash farther, but dies if he touches the water. A single stage becomes
a varied and challenge-filled playground, because your avatar is constantly throwing
curveballs. And because my mind often wanders to the topic
of metroidvanias, I started to envision a game where you’d need to play as different
characters to fully explore one world. And one hero could modify the environment to make
it beneficial to another: like having Normalboy open a giant waterway for Diveboy to later
come along and explore. The potential with this one is infinite. Here’s a lovely game, with a French name
I won’t even try to pronounce. Lemme just give you the English version: Peaceful afternoon
with the paintings. The game gives you super simplified versions of famous paintings, but
with the colours all mucked up. Your job is to swap the colours around, to match the real
artwork. The problem is, you can only change colours
by clicking on a coloured block, and then dragging out a selection box to envelop other
blocks. When you let go of the mouse, all of the blocks in the selection turn into the
original colour. This limitation leads to tricky challenges
where you need one colour: but it’s all the way on the other side of the painting.
so you might need to screw up a bunch of blocks to get the colour in the right place, and
then fix the mistakes later. Other times, you need to store a handy colour in a safe
space, only to retrieve it later. You can’t just swap colours randomly: you need to think
strategically about your options. The game only just fits the theme: developers
Sacha Chouery and Leo Lefebvre…what? You can’t put a V there. Uh, the devs say the game only
uses one shape: a rectangle. and that’s true! So we’ll let them get away with it
because this game is just so elegant and effortlessly clever. And like it says on the tin, it’s
a peaceful game that’s perfect for a soothing rest after trying to help hundreds of people
submit their games to a broken website. Matt Glanville didn’t know that his one
button game: Switch n Shoot, was the inspiration for this year’s theme. I didn’t know that
Matt Glanville was going to be taking part in this year’s jam. And neither of us knew that
he’d end up in the top 20, with his game Singled Out. Funny how these things work. But I had to pick this because it’s just
so much fun. You’re a sniper, trying to take out an intergalactic criminal who has
snuck into a crowd of innocent civilians. All you see is a shifting sea of faces, and
a handful of clues about the person’s appearance, like their hair style, ear shape, or hat choice.
You’ve got to try to find the person who fits this description and take them out. The
faster you find them, the more points you get. It’s a simple idea but it works really well.
It’s tense, it works great in groups, and it’s kinda funny too. My favourite touch
is the tombstone that appears if you shoot the wrong person, to really rub in the fact
that you’re a complete monster. This game won’t keep your attention for weeks, but
it’s a wonderful little timewaster for a boring afternoon. There were other ultra playable Where’s
Wally-style games in the jam, like the very cute The Orphan Sock - but Singled Out’s
tombstone gag just clinched it for me. So, there are game jam games that have the
kernel of an idea that could easily be expanded into a fully fledged game. And then there
are others that would probably never make it as a retail product: but the idea is just
super fun to explore in a 10 minute freebie. Infailtration, is one of those games. This is a hostage situation game, where you
need to shoot terrorists while avoiding the hostages. The catch is, the CCTV cameras are
on the fritz, and each one only shows a small amount of information. One camera shows your
character, another shows the baddies, a third shows the hostages, and the final camera shows
the environment. So you’ve got to flip between these cameras,
trying to build a full mental model of how the situation is laid out: before committing
to your shot. You’ve got bouncy rubber bullets that ping off walls and smash through windows,
but are you sure that the bullet is going to bounce off the wall and into a terrorist’s
face, or is it going to ricochet off in the other direction and injure a hostage? Better flip between the cameras
for a bit longer. Like I say: this probably isn’t going to
go anywhere. The set-up is as contrived as hell and the novelty wears off quick. But
I still had a lot of fun playing it, and spent way longer than I expected lining up shots
and figuring out my next move. Which all goes to prove that intense restrictions on the
player can lead to some really interesting gameplay. Intercom is a super smart game. You don’t
play as this poor blind prisoner: you play as some omnipotent observer, who can communicate
with the prisoner through an intercom. An intercom that can only play a single sound.
But with this rather limited line of communication, you can enter morse code-like communiques
to tell your prisoner pal things like yes, no, go, and jump. What I really like about this, and the thing
that really propelled it onto the list, is that the developer lets you pick the codes
yourself. Creator J.J Morgan could have easily pre-programmed the commands for you, but no:
you pick them yourself. When the prisoner asks you to choose a sequence of beeps that
means go, it’s up to you how you hammer the keyboard to create the command. And once
you’ve picked it, it’s yours for the rest of the game And this creates this wonderful juggling act
where you need to remember all of the different commands and sound them off at the right time.
One for go, then another for jump and - wait - what did i say for jump? Four short beeps,
or one long one and one short one? With even more commands it could get very complex. Sadly,
though, the game ends after only a few screens. Still, it’s a lovely idea and that simple
act of personalisation when making the beeps just gives the game so much heart and character.
I’d definitely like to see this expanded upon, just to see how manic the game gets
when you’ve got to remember an entire lexicon of beeps and boops for commanding your unlucky
prisoner. Next up is Hivemind. This is a puzzle game
where you control two characters with the same buttons, meaning if you hit left, both
the green and the blue blob will go left. This instantly conjures up tough challenges
where you’re trying to get them in sync before going through a goal, or carefully
avoiding obstacles. Your eyes will be darting back and forth between the two screens, and
you’ll have to think carefully before making any moves. This is just a well made game, and a well executed
idea, and I can say I greatly enjoyed my time with these puzzles. It feels like no matter what the jam theme
is, we’ll always get games where you shoot to move. It literally happens every year.
Maybe we should just make next year’s theme “shoot to move” and get it all out of
your systems. Still, these can be very good games, as proven by Cannon: a cute platformer
where you have to blow yourself up with an explosive cannon ball to shift about the environment. That’s a clever differentiator from the
other shoot-to-move games: just blasting out the cannon ball doesn’t make you move. It’s
when the ball bounces back and hits you that you get the necessary lift to climb up towers
and spring over gaps. This leads to really tricky moves, like blasting the ball into
the ground, so it bounces back up and hits you in mid-air to lift you up over a gap.
That one took me a few attempts. This is just a fun, well-made game that shows
how a platformer doesn’t need jumping to be fun. Come at it from a different angle
and you’ll get something that feels unlike any platformer you’ve played before. One Action Heroes, by Tapehead Games, is a
really smart bit of work. It’s a teeny tiny puzzle game, where each character only has
one ability. The red dude can only move horizontally, the blue chap can only move up and down, and
ol’ green can grab ahold of nearby friends to move along with them. It’s a simple set-up that immediately gives
way to clever conundrums. Red might be unable to reach the goal because it’s not on his
limited plane of movement, but blue can launch himself from underneath and push both heroes
into the finish. And grabby green has certainly got his advantages,
but must be used wisely else you also pick up pointless props like boxes. This game is eminently polished and could
literally be released on Steam today and no one would know this game was made in a 48 hour
period. Make more levels, please! I didn’t expect to see an effective horror
game made in just two days, but here comes Lurking in the Dark: a creepy little number
that is dripping in dark, foreboding atmosphere. the game is a step-by-step dungeon crawler,
where your flickering lamp only illuminates one tile ahead of you, meaning you must creep
around to avoid falling into spikes, and freaky monsters seemingly come out of nowhere. When you see a monster, you can use your torch
to your advantage. when it’s on, the monster runs directly to your location. when it’s
off, the monster stays still. so it’s a good idea to turn the light off, run around
some spikes, flick the torch back on - and watch the beast wander into a trap. Only, when the light’s off, you can’t
see the spikes yourself. So as you’re first exploring, you’re having to create a mental model of
the space, so when you’re being chased by an angry monster, you can safely dance past
all the hidden spikes, and then flick on the lamp and turn the tables on your oppressor. This is a really clever idea, and there’s
a huge amount of potential here for more light-based puzzles and mechanics. Well done to the creators. Another one bullet game, now. This time, we’re
facing off against an evil army of ever-expanding polygons, and the idea is to rip through their
gooey bodys, splitting them into smaller shapes and chowing down on their tasty vertices. One of the things I really like about this,
is the way it subverts the usual mechanic - as seen in God of War and Titan Souls - of
having your projectile magnetically return to you. instead, you fly towards the bullet,
which rapidly snaps you about the battlefield and this can lead to all sorts of fun strategies
like quickly darting out of danger by warping towards your bullet, or flying behind an enemy
for a flanking black stab. Another great thing about this game, by Barba
and team, is how it has a n undulating difficulty. bigger shapes are easier to hit, but harder
to fully kill. While single line shapes only take a single bullet to murder, but are extremely
tricky to actually strike. As the shapes fall apart, the game’s challenge changes in a
clever way to keeps the gameplay fresh and exciting. Nice There were a number of comedic games in the
jam, like a game where you must delete an asteroid, a game where you generate doors
and kick them into aliens, and a platformer where every texture is, uhm, my face. My favourite, though, Only One Minute Before
Restart: a game where you’re almost finished writing an important email - when an automatic
update tells you that your computer will restart in one minute. You can try to delay the update,
so you can save your work, but the computer has a few security checks to go through What happens next is a farcical series of
tests and checks, from simple passwords and maths quizzes, to full on mini-games. It’s
a really silly minute-long joke but I enjoyed it a lot and the ever-expanding absurdity
of the situations gave me the biggest laugh of the jam. Kudos to the creators. Someone asked me in the comments the other
day, how do you come up with a good paltformer mechanic, as good as something like the dash
in Celeste? Well here’s one, courtesy of the game Soulward, by Gumboot. This is a charming platformer where you can
throw out a shard and then instantly warp to its position. Throw it over
spikes, up impossible towers, past obstacles, and through enemies to make progress. There’s also a clever idea that while you’re
holding your shard, you’re invincible: but when the shard is out, you are completely
vulnerable. There’s something I like about these projectile-chucking games, that constantly
switch the feeling of play between powerfulness, and powerlessness, in a super dynamic way. Anyway. this game has a few issues where your
shard goes off the camera and you have no idea what you’re about to warp into. But aside from that, this is a really nice idea
for a platformer and could definitely fuel some smart levels, enemy encounters, and puzzles. The first level of Chicken Hike is easy. In
this game, you must draw a line to create a walkable platform for a wandering bird.
And here’s the solution. Bang. Done. But then, level two is a lot tougher. Because
we can only use one line per level. Like I said earlier, limitaitons create great puzzles. There’s just so much to like about this
game: the way it uses gravity and physics to make you think about momentum. The sketchbook
graphics. And an input that’s so simple, anyone can pick it up and play. I wish I could have gotten past this level
- ideas in the comments please - but a little more time for playtesting could create a very
smooth difficulty curve of clever conundrums to work through. Top marks. Block Steady, by Gustav Kilman, takes a moment
to get into. You see, you’re on these perilous platforms and you’ve got to bonk these enemies
to kill them: but this creates a chain reaction of explosions that rip the floor out from
beneath your feet. You’ve got to be in, well, relative safety by the time the last
block drops to see the next stage. Ultimately, you need to still be on screen
when there’s only one block. Happily, the game sports wonderfully tight controls and
a zippy lightning-quick pace, which makes it really fun to leap through enemies, bound
up walls, and jump from enemy to enemy. And, again, there’s a small puzzle element
to proceedings. You can’t just jump on foes at random, because the floor will start disappearing
beneth your feet. You need to think carefully about how what path you’ll take, which will
lead you from enemy to enemy, while also keeping a bit of security to stand on. Clever stuff. There was a number of games in the jam where
you only get one jump per level: my favourite execution of the idea was Happy Accident.
Here, you get one Celeste-style dash - which you direct by aiming the mouse - and one jump
- powered by the space bar. Between these two moves - one super analogue, the other
very digital, you’ve got to get your gooey hero to the finish line. At first, I thought the paint streaks were
just a nifty aesthetic choice. But no! They’re a handy indicator of where your last shot
went, giving you the tools you need to make slightly different trajectories. Again, there’s a real puzzle aspect to proceedings,
which causes you to pause before every shot. Overall, this submission from Cryptic Silver
Games is well worth trying. And finally, I really enjoyed the puzzle game
Buddy System, by Prodigalson Games. It’s about a pair of robots who share the same
power cell. Whichever one has the battery can move around, and can then throw the power
cell at its buddy. Who then catches it, switches on, and takes control. The two robots must
stand on their respective platforms to finish the level. That’s easy enough in the first few stages,
but then obstacles start appearing that force you to switch back and forth between the two
bots, and then start bouncing the power cell off walls to ping it around corners. There
are all sorts of clever ideas like buttons that open and shut doors and conveyer belts,
giving the game a surprisingly large number of stages for a 48 hour creation! But that’s not the point: the point is,
this is a clever puzzle game that immediately suggests all sorts of ingenious interactions
and consequences. And I could happily play this sort of smartly designed game for hours. So that’s an incredible amount of innovation
for just 20 games. But of course, there’s a lot more that I could have talked about.
So please head on over to the itch.io submission feed to see all of the games for yourself.
A link is in the description. I hope everyone had a great time with the
jam. Even if you didn’t end up in the top 20, I’m certain that you learned something
new about making games, or found someone new to collaborate with, or enjoyed chatting with
the community on Discord, or got your first taste of actually finishing and uploading
a game. And so I hope you’ll join us next year,
for GMTK Game Jam number four. I want to give a special thank you for your feedback on this year’s jam: we’ve definitely got a lot to learn and we’ll be putting your ideas into practice
in 2020. For starters, itch.io has promised that it’s got the problem under wraps, and
tells me that it now withstand any jam of any size. Next year, let’s put them to the test.
I enjoyed watching all the livestreams Mark did of the Eps. Though he was a bit meaner and unlikeable in one of the game jam streams. Also very snarky. And I'm a Brit but his snark levels were off the charts.
Still Makes amazing videos though
Level1_1 was the most interesting to me. It's fun to explore every nook and cranny of a singular space.