Global Game Jam 2011 and Genos Logos

Genos Logos, not to be confused with Genius Loci which is a different story altogether, is our first game for Global Game Jam 2011. It's WP7 game about digital liferorms that move around, eat and breed until the species becomes extinct. A different species is generated in each game, varying in looks, in the sounds they make, and AI attributes such as speed or perception range. The species also evolves as the game progresses. Player's goal is to keep the species alive as long as possible as the conditions grow worse, but he or she also has the option to end their story prematurely.

Second project, The Last, can be found on our GGJ site, here. Both projects were created in a team of five, with Joni Paasikivi and Samuli Raninenaccompanying the core TJR. Though we brainstormed the ideas together and everybody contributed to both games, I ended up pretty much programming the Genos Logos. In addition to the simple tasks of basic movement and so forth, most of the programming was AI related, plus the randomly generated "genome" for looks and other attributes. Antti programmed everything sound related, though, and Teemu helped us along the way.

Though we had to leave out some features we planned in Genos Logos and The Last ended up as a card game instead of WP7 application, making two games in 48 hours (we even managed to get some sleep) is still quite an achievement.

Gameplay video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2LM0pnfIOM

More mobile: "Jump Game" (working title)

With any luck, Jump Game, as we call it at the moment, will become our second commercial title for WP7 in a week or two. The game is about a furry creature that the player bounces around by creating platforms, making the critter collect items and avoid enemies. Sounds very abstract, I know, but the game is very playable and easy to approach.

The idea is a result of an intense brainstorming session, and has developed quite a bit since we first came up with it. The core gameplay has remained the same, though. This time around Teemu made the code structure and we had an graphic artist from outside the team, so I was mostly occupied with various bits of coding like the menus and particle effects, plus design, some minor graphics editing and the familiar job of coordinating the rest of the team.

Break the Aliens! Now available in WP7 Marketplace near you

Break the Aliens! is an action game for Windows Phone 7, with retro graphics and awesome music. It's sort of a combination of two early games, Space Invaders and Breakout. Made with XNA and C#. It's also the first commercial game project that I've produced from start to finish with the rest of the team. The production started early into our practice period at Kajak Games, in August 2010, and was finished about a month later. I was pretty much the only person working in the project for the first two weeks though, while Teemu and Antti were still busy with Genius Loci. Break the Aliens! is based on a prototype I made for Kajak 3D classes earlier.

This project taught me a lot, as I took many roles: I made the basic code structure (with some advice from Teemu, our Lead Programmer), lots and lots of other coding including the simple particle effects, much of the graphics, and most of the game design. For most of the time I also worked as a coordinator for the team, appointing tasks, keeping people up-to-date on things and so on.

The awesome chip tune music in the game is by Multifaros, who kindly granted a permission to use three of his songs in the game.

Though the sales haven't been exactly booming (we blame bad marketing), Break the Aliens! is a milestone for me and the rest of TJR.

YouTube trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coxFSP9hPxs

And a longer, less edited gameplay video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGoE3pAkv6c

World of Kajak 3D: Genius Loci

Image © Mika Karkinen

Genius Loci is a 3D mobile game project for iOS and Maemo, currently on hold. We started working on it during our summer studies in June 2010 under Mika Karkinen, lead designer and graphic artist of the project. Genius Loci is made with Kajak 3D, which is a multiplatform game engine developed in Kajaani university of Applied Sciences.

All the programming in this project is done in C++. Personally I got some valuable rehearsing and experience with the language itself, namely programming an A* pathfinder and AI in general. Other than programming, I did the level design for the game. Me and other TJR guys also discussed some other design aspects with the lead designer that ended up in the game.

More info/news to follow!