The amazing community of GameMaker developers over on the r/GameMaker subreddit have hosted another one of their quarterly game jams called GM48. This is the 24th edition of the jam. This game jam requires developers to use GameMaker to create a game in just 48 hours, from scratch, with similar rules to the strict ‘Ludum Dare’ Compo. The theme for this GM48 was ‘One Shot’.
At the end of the 48 hours, entrants were to submit their game and vote on everyone else’s. The winners were determined by these votes and YoYo Games graciously supported the jam, once again, by providing prizes via desktop licences for Game Maker Studio 2.. You can play all of the games submitted to the game jam here, and see the results here.
This specific GM48 took place right after GameMaker Studio 2 came out and the participants were given a trail of the engine to create their game with! I have interviewed the top three games for this jam, focused on the new version of the engine, GameMaker in general, and their awesome game. This is going to be a three part series, each game with their own interview article. This specific article is on the game that placed 2nd in the jam. Let’s get into it!
Boozy Blundering
by Nik Sudan
Boozy Blundering is a narrative driven game where you must befriend other people at the bar. You only have a single shot of alcohol to help you along. You must convince them that you are a bit drunk by choosing the best option in each conversation. Each character has their own personality and will act a specific way in response to what you say. You don’t want to come off as too obnoxious or sober, as they will call you out, ending the game.
Where did you come up with the concept of talking to strangers and trying to act drunk?
“Whilst brainstorming ideas, my thoughts went back to the GMMeetup the night before at a bar in London… From there the game idea just sprang into life.
Regarding the characters, I tried to personify the types of people you’d usually meet at a bar, more specifically the types of conversation you may have. Some aspects of my own personality made it in, too!”
Being inspired by the world around you is a common thing for developers. It’s important to go outside and try and soak up ideas from the world around you. Boozy Blundering reminds players of similar situations in their own lives – it’s something that can be connected with.
Your characters in the game have a sort of vocal noise that they make – not exactly a language. This really adds to the game! What made you decide to add this little detail?
“This was a last minute thing actually! Whilst I was recording the sounds for the intro effect (slurping the shot of alcohol), I thought about adding voice effects when you’d start a new conversation. I then took this a step further and made it Banjo-Kazooie style by playing random pitched effects as they were talking, which worked!
Recording the sounds for the characters was quite an evening… I was in hysterics at points because of how ridiculous it sounded.”
How did you feel when you heard about the theme & how did you go about figuring out a concept from that theme?
“The theme was interesting. My first thoughts were ‘one shot in a gun’, but I thought that idea would be overused and so I decided to try and figure out something more unique.
I sat down with a coffee and my trusty notepad for about an hour and started to draw mind maps and character designs. From that session everything came into being. I even came up with the character traits during a treadmill session at the gym!”
Nik’s game was very different in theme to the previous game we’ve talked about; CRUNGUS 3: Mrs. CRUNGUS. Seeing all of these games with different versions of the theme is very interesting, as everyone started with the same two words to work towards. ‘One shot in a gun’ is how many games entered into this GM48 interpreted the theme – it makes sense that Nik would come up with that idea first.
This was Nik’s very first GM48! He’s done other jams in the past, like Ludum Dare, but not specifically the GM48. As it was his first time, and he placed second, I wanted to hear more about how he felt the jam went.
How does it feel to have placed on your first go at this jam?
“It feels great to have placed so highly! I didn’t think it would do this well since it was such a weird game and it’s been so long since I’ve released something. It is very encouraging though, so I hope to enter lots more game jams.”
How was participating in the gm(48)?
“The gm(48) was an excellent jam! I really enjoyed all aspects of it. The community were really helpful and encouraging at all times, and the website was very informative and slick too. It was my first weekend jam for a couple of years, so I was pretty rusty. However, I managed to finish it all with time to spare and lots of lie ins! A developer’s dream…”
What is your experience with developing using GameMaker? How did it go?
“I have been using GameMaker since 2008-ish. I used to make quick games after school, and used to share them with my friends and we’d play them at lunchtimes. Since then I’ve continued to make them as a hobby. I’ve been lucky with some becoming viral too!
Using GameMaker is a must for me when it comes to jam games as it’s so quick to get something running. I can focus on fleshing out other areas, such as art or sound, and not have to worry about getting the engine perfected.”
GameMaker is a great engine when it comes to making quick prototypes and is easy to learn how to use. It’s a great engine for game jams!
The next GM48 is January 13th, 2018. If you are interested in joining an amazing community of developers all using the GameMaker engine, I would suggest checking out this jam. It’s also a super good opportunity to make a quick game and test out new features in the GameMaker Studio 2 engine.
You can keep up with this jam by joining their subreddit, visiting the GM48 website, and by following @redditgamemaker on Twitter.
