September 2024 challenge: “Traitor”

Murder at the Masquerade - Murder at the Masquerade: Postmortem

Posted by Tee on 2024/10/06 16:10

I originally wanted to create a puzzle game, but the "Traitor" theme kept me thinking about this idea of a strategy game where you would help people find clues while at the same time avoiding the traitor. I thought I'd give this a try, but I ran into a few major challenges.

First, it is always difficult to explain how to play a strategy game with uncommon mechanics. I seem to "learn" this lesson over and over and yet I forget it every time I see some shiny new idea I want to try out. I keep thinking that I might have time to add some light tutorial but I never have time. Second, I did not have time to implement character abilities, which I think would have added some much needed depth to the game. My original goal was to have depth coming from needing to balance between keeping the traitor at bay and finding clues, but I only had time to implement the latter, so that balance unfortunately didn't make it to the game. With strategy games like these, I spend too much time on getting the interface right (e.g. making sure that characters move correctly and don't overlap), so they're not the best types of games for a time-constrained setting. The complexity also makes it difficult to create a bug-free game.

Ultimately, not one of my best, but I still like the final result. I'm also satisfied with how it visually looked. I wish I had a little more time to experiment with the idea properly, but I enjoyed the process of designing it even if I didn't have time to implement all the features I wanted. I really need to aim for simpler games so I have more time to build them out, though it's hard to say what will give me inspiration.

Thanks for playing my game! Congratulations to the winners and see you next time!

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TRAITOR BOT 9000 (TB9) - It's parallax layers, but different

Posted by DR0ID on 2024/09/24 19:00

Here a quick explanation how the pseudo 3D effect in the game works using only 2D rendering.
pseudo3D explained

Parallax planes, but different
1. early development, everything flat, only lines and squares
2. first attempt to draw in pseudo 3D, didn't look great
3. second attempt, much better looking, how?
4. it's done using layers, e.g. guard consists of 7 layers
5. also the console, door opener and treasure are rendered with layers: 3 layers were enough
6. walls need a different technique: pygame-ce has no method to draw textured polygons. So the walls are drawn line by line, each adjusted in place and length
7. showing the layers of the robots.
The layers are displaced like a parallax layer, but in front instead of behind the main layer as usual.

Here some screenshot how it looks in the game:

screenshots of the game

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Farmers Betrayal most Fowl - 7-Day Diary Summary

Posted by Phantasma on 2024/09/22 19:44

I didn't get around to adding a diary update this time around, but it’s time I make up for it.

Day 1:

- Nothing much happened on the first day. Just brainstorming ideas on how I can make a game that fits into the theme. There were some cool and funny ideas, nothing too concrete.

Day 2:

-shortly after I woke up, I thought of a funny chicken themed game that fits well with the theme. It immediately became my favorite idea worth sticking with to the very end. Worked on creating a Game Design Document to layout what I need to do to accomplish this as well as a development timeline.

Day 3-5:

- Coding and framework begins. I explicit made it so I focus solely on gameplay mechanics before even considering adding textures/sprites. This surprisingly took the longest to achieve simply because of the movement mechanics I wanted to implement. I was also struggling significantly on collision detection between the player and all the other objects.

Day 6:

-This is where finishing this project is going to cost me sleep....big time. Once I was satisfied with how the player moves and solved the issues with collisions it was time for level design.

Update: Almost forgot to mention this but my CPU overheated and shut off my PC mid game dev. Extreme worry sets in and had to check what's causing it. Turns out I'm overdue for new thermal paste on my CPU. Got that fixed rather quickly. My PC is fine since. Imagine not finishing a game jam because your PC died on you...

Day 7:

-After finishing the level design, I realized that I have a minimally viable product that I could submit now. From here on out I was trying to implement all the sprite art and background as much as I could before the time is up. I was never able to get sound and music implemented. Plus, the lack of sleep between day 6-7 has got me physically and mentally drained.

24-hour upload time:

- Game is packaged and ready to go. I'm considering sharing my Game Design Document which details the development process as well as a timeline of every task I've completed or not completed.

Best wishes to everyone who stuck out to the end. I look forward to playing your games soon!


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Dish Deception - I DID IT

Posted by heybelia on 2024/09/22 09:57


I HAVE DONE IT!
I BECAME THE GREATEST COOK!
Not by learning how to cook better, but by SABOTAGING my friends and colleagues!
I have spiced their soups, I have salted their ice-creams, I have burned their steaks into ash, swept up under the kitchen tiles.
Noone suspected a thing!
They were too occupied with blaming their own lack of skill. Little did they know, their greatest adversary was me, all along.
So long suckers!

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TRAITOR BOT 9000 (TB9) - Game uploaded

Posted by Cosmologicon on 2024/09/21 23:43

Download TRAITOR BOT 9000

Let us know if you have any difficulty running it, thanks.

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Knight's Honor - Send bugs here please

Posted by speedlimit35 on 2024/09/21 23:32

If you have any problems or found any bugs, you can leave a message here. I hope you like the game!

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??? - Unable to Finish Entry

Posted by python_lord on 2024/09/21 21:00

Unfortunately I will be unable to finish my entry in time.  This is due to multiple factors that I foresaw being a potential obstacle from the beginning.  Other than work getting especially busy this week, my game engine Loxoc is still in development versions and because of this I have prioritized bug fixing and polishing the engine over everything else during the jam.  Nevertheless I am glad to have been able to participate in PyWeek38.  This game jam has helped me discover many bugs with my engine and flesh out engine features from a new perspective.  As the first ever actual attempt at making a game with my engine, I am happy with how it performed despite the obstacles that came along the way.  In many ways it performed better than I expected it to.  I am excited to continue development on my engine and hope by next time PyWeek comes around I will be better prepared with a more robust version of my engine that wont require during-the-jam maintenance.

TLDR: I prioritized bug-fixing and further engine development based on the requirements of my game.  Because of this I ran out of time to finish my entry.  I'll be more prepared next time.

After I got the bugs Ironed out I was able to throw together some of the game systems I had implemented into a test scene.  Here's a GIF of that scene:

Test Scene

I will keep developing this game idea as a way to test my engine.  Good luck in your entries everyone!

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Knight of Betrayal - Finished in time!

Posted by JustAnotherCode on 2024/09/21 16:06

Got to finish in time I'm so happy! If you find any issues let me know on discord: n_0_

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Brain Bug - Game Complete

Posted by mit-mit on 2024/09/21 11:39

Done! Hope you enjoy! Please post any issues here or catch me on discord!

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Knight of Betrayal - Finished the map with Tiled!

Posted by JustAnotherCode on 2024/09/20 15:05

first time using tiled and it's pretty awesome ngl

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