TL DR; try the result (up down left right space and B)

Hi Everybody!

I participated in the /r/gamemaker 48 hour Game Jam this weekend. I did not finish my submission in time, and there are still many rough edges on my game, but overall the experience was fun and challenging!

The Idea

The theme was Parallel Worlds. I decided to make a shoot 'em up with a small twist: you press a button to enter the "negative dimension". In the "negative dimension", the things that would normally damage you, like obstacles, enemy ships, and enemy bullets, heal you instead. Of course, you return to the primary universe after a short time.

I'm sure this game mechanic has been done before, but I couldn't place the game in which I had seen it.

The Result

I had to narrow the scope of what I had wanted to make considerably after I used up most of the first 12 hours trying to figure out whether or not I was going to be competing as part of a team and doing random music.

It ended up being only one level, just shy of three minutes. I tweaked and tweaked and tweaked the first 2 minutes, but had just a couple of hours to put in the last minute of play, including the boss. Due to this, there is no ending to the game. Next time I should focus on the beginning and end, and spend less time on the middle third.

The music ended up being the best part of the game (surprise!), but I kind of messed it up by rushing the voice-overs that happen at particular points in the level. Here it is without my distorted commentary.

In Summary

For a first game jam ever, first time using Game Maker, and only the 3rd or 4th game I've ever produced, this was a pretty good result! I learned a lot, and I think I will be a better asset to myself and any future game development team as a result.

Lastly, I had fun. And isn't that the whole point? :D