There are a ton of game jams happening online at any point during the year. Many of these jams follow a theme and a timeframe, giving developers the challenge of creating a game within a specific jam’s restrictions. I am able to record loads of these games for each and almost every game jam. As I record them all, I pick out games that stand out to me and games I love from each individual jam. This article contains the games I love from the first Pizza Jam.
The Pizza Jam was a forty-eight-hour game jam where the prizes were a variety of pizzas! The theme for this version was ‘Movement’. I’ve played through each of the submitted games in my compilation video series and below are a few of my favorites, in a random order.
MUDE by Arhi Makkonen & Henri
MUDE is a slightly bizarre-seeming puzzle game where you control a stack of TVs, each glowing with their own symbols. In the future, no one is really sure what these TVs do, however it is known that they can switch between two different symbols each. As they stack up, moving forward on a cart, you need to match the symbols with the symbols required on the gate.
As these TVs can move up and down the stack, you must get the correct symbol to display and put it in the correct place all before getting to the gate. Once at the gate, if the TVs are correct, you should be able to pass through. As you continue on your journey, the time between gates becomes shorter, so you really need to move quickly to get everything in order.
Spectral Spelunker by Joseph Ferrari
Spectral Spelunker is a clever yet challenging platformer where you can become a ghost, whizzing around in an attempt to avoid spikes, make it across gaps and get to platforms higher above you. When you are a ghost, you can only move quickly in the direction you are pressing, gaining more speed the longer you are a ghost. You also start to almost shake — moving rapidly before you fall back into your human form.
As you bounce along the ground, you take a moment before returning to your normal self and are able to jump and walk around. You really need to learn how to control your spectral mode and time your bounces as you wait to become fully human. With so many spikes and gaps, you easily can have to restart at the beginning of the level if you aren’t careful. The level design on Spectral Spelunker is really wonderful, adding so much to this platformer.
Bowel MOOvement by Too Much Tomato
Bowel MOOvement is another tricky platformer where you play a simple cow. This cow is just trying to live a normal life, eating pizza, pooping and trying to ram into floating blobs of crystals which take you to an entire new area! You have quite the gigantic poops, blasting you off in the opposite direction. You need to use this to blast forward over gaps, higher onto platforms and into these orbs of blue gems.
Bowel MOOvement does take a lot of skill, as you have to get the exact angle on your poop to benefit from its momentum. You have a very limited number of poops — forcing you to plan out your moves and hope to get each one just right. Some levels have spikes to avoid and long gaps you almost need to fly over using the power of your poop. This is a pretty silly little game which is very fun to play.
Jet Boy by Gamible
Jet Boy is a challenging platformer where you play as a square and must make it to the end of each level. You have a jetpack with a short charge, allowing you to fly for a limited amount of time before you must hit the ground to recharge. This jetpack helps you avoid lava and red blocks, both of which will kill you instantly.
As the jetpack has very little charge, some levels have small triangles dotted around. These triangles blast you up into the air, helping you overcome more obstacles. Jet Boy is very polished, with lots of juice, subtle animations and well-designed levels to explore.
The Pizza Jam happens from time to time, so keep an eye out for the next one!
Interested in reading about more game jam highlights? Why not check out our archive?
