MY FIRST GAME JAM
Electr ‘O’ Bot is my submission to the 2025 Stack ‘O’ Jam. A week long jam that I started three days late. Some say I started late due to the BF6 open beta, but truth is I simply didn’t find out about it before that. Shoutout to my homie Eliott who gave me the tip and Isak for his invaluable feedback.
My submission received an honourable mention from the judges.
ELECTRICITY
bzzzzzzzzzzt
One of the main criteria for the jam was that the gameplay had to exceed that of the sample we were given. Due to my limited time I went with something that took advantage of the games grab mechanic as well as all the other gameplay pieces such as fans, cogs, lights and moving platforms.
Through the use of some interfaces and event dispatchers I got all the different parts to talk to each other smoothly and set to work creating some puzzles that would tie in nicely with the level design.
DESIGN THOUGHTS
Immediately I knew that my limited time would also limit the size of the map I would be able to make. So I aimed for around 10 minutes of gameplay with distinct areas that the player has to solve before proceeding. This way there is never too much searching or backtracking that can turn into frustration. I also wanted the end to loop back to the beginning again so we close the bag nicely.
Another goal I set for myself early with this level was that it should look “fun”. I wanted to emulate the feeling you get from looking at a Jak & Daxter level, where you simply want to go there because it looks fun and awesome. This would often mean creating objects where the player inherently knows what to do and simply wants to get there.
(A ramp in a racing game)
Another goal I set for myself early with this level was that it should look “fun”. I wanted to emulate the feeling you get from looking at a Jak & Daxter level, where you simply want to go there because it looks fun and awesome. This would often mean creating objects where the player inherently knows what to do and simply wants to get there.
(A ramp in a racing game)
GAME JUICE
I would drink it.
“GIVE IT SOME OOMPH!”
One of my favorite things about Unreal Engine is that I can through blueprints create the mechanics of the game without any deep knowledge of programming. I can also give simple things like doors that “game juice” that actually makes it feel good to open that door. By adding things like camera shake, cool animations, sounds, and effects. Below are some examples of me doing this in our game.
Right click to pan and Ctrl + Mousewheel to scroll
“MAKE IT NICE TO USE”
As soon as I realize that I will need to reuse or modify a blueprint several times I take the time to make it easy to do so. This was especially important in this game project since it wouldn’t just be me placing and configuring actors, but our artists as well. Below is an example of a lamp in the game that first is driven by an enumerator so that its different modes can easily be selected. Then there are other settings that relate to that mode, as previewed in the video. Creating clean and customizable blueprints like this to improve my iteration speed and quality is something I often do and enjoy doing as well!