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Hi everyone! I'm a 36-year-old currently pursuing game dev as a side hobby. I'm most interested in growing my skills with Unity 2D programming and game design. I also play piano and have dabbled with FL Studio, so I'm planning to work on my composing skills as well.

I recently completed the My First Game Jam 2021 and helped a team with creating a 2D top-down shooter in Unity called Pixel Commando (https://zrunner.itch.io/), and I wanted to join this jam to continue to build some momentum towards eventually creating commercial games as a fun side hustle.

I'm excited to start my next project and meet some more devs - I'm hoping to not have to work solo, so please reach out if you think I could help your team! I would ideally like to join a team with at least another programmer, an artist, and a music/sfx person. I would prefer to work with 18+ jammers, but good luck to all the kiddos as well!

You can either reply here or send me a message in Discord (ZRunner#6726) if you're interested in having me on board.

Thanks!

Great start with developing some of the core gameplay mechanics with a top-down shooter! Our team made one as well and I was new to the genre, so I was on a similar learning curve with the player tracking the mouse, enemy AI and aiming, etc. If you want to continue developing it, feel free to check out our game and see if there are any features you'd like to adapt and add to yours. If so, send me a message and I'd be happy to share tips, code, etc. :)

Just finished my run with a score of 188. Very unique aesthetic, chains had a wide range of attack which felt good, and music inspired by Toby Fox? A team after my own heart. My biggest issue is that the combat sequences ended too quickly and I wanted to keep vibin' to that awesome battle music. :)

Great job with this project, I really enjoyed myself! 

Hilarious and absurd, I loved this! xD The win and lose screens were equally entertaining, and the sound effects really went a long way! I'm definitely sending this game to my cat-loving mom.

Also, I've noticed you leaving lots of comments on other people's games (I guess we have similar tastes?), and I just wanted to thank you for engaging with the community and helping provide feedback. This has been a great jam to be a part of, and your entry definitely brought me some joy. :)

Really enjoyed this concept! I haven't seen too many interactive MadLibs experiences, and you guys added enough diversity of options to lead to some really entertaining sentence constructions. Kudos to the design, art style, and execution - you guys should be proud. :)

Congrats on having made and submitted your first game! The music fit the gameplay and art style quite well, and I enjoyed the explosion animations. Having the enemies drop health pick-ups or weapon upgrades would be a natural next step if you wanted to continue to flesh out this idea. :)

Very nice job bringing all of these assets together into an enjoyable gameplay experience! Wonderful aesthetics, pleasing animations, and engaging bullet patterns - congrats on the submission!

Hi Nexus, nice gameplay idea for a top-down shooter to continually drive up the amount of frenetic action! I also really enjoyed controlling a slime to get a nice break from the "hero" archetype. You did a nice job bringing these assets together into a cohesive whole and it was an enjoyable experience - congrats on the submission!

Congrats on a really well-executed puzzle platformer idea! This game feels fun to move around in, and I think speedrunners would get a kick out of an expanded version of this. The locks have a generous hitbox when you interact with them which really helps keep the gameplay smooth - I could see this being a pitfall of other games of this type but you nailed it! One detail that added a great touch was the character's movement sound panning in my headset - added a great deal of immersion! Definitely a "WRITE THAT DOWN!!" moment. =D

Hi Lakunero, I thought this was a really great entry - I was quite impressed with the amount of art assets, animations, music, enemy AI,  and boss design that you were able to implement all on your own with your first game! Also, the addition of a timer adds replayability and shows you are thinking of different types of players in your game design process. Overall great work!

Great job! Nice art style, fun bullet patterns and shield mechanics to keep the player on their toes, and the music fit the aesthetic very well! If you decide to work on it any further, I'd love to see a lives or checkpoint system so that the second phase of the fight can be attempted more easily.

Hi Starshine, congrats on your submission! I really resonated with your in-game messages, similarly having a full time job and big dreams of games I'd like to try and start making. I'm very happy that Matt convinced you to see the project through to completion. I was watching a GDC talk the other day where the overall message was "Real artists SHIP!" So many people sit around and *think* about making games, but you actually entered the arena, found an appropriate scope, and created something you can call your own, as well as built a host of skills that you can continue growing from here.

You've shown that you can create a cohesive aesthetic, where the art style, music, and theme of the game all gel together well. So keep going, and best of luck in your future projects!

Hi kigyo, excellent job on the game! I'm a sucker for this style of anime eyes and have had fun trying to sketch a few myself, so that's what caught my attention. =D Great animation on those eyes as well!

The music created a lovely ambience that fit the scene perfectly, and I very much enjoyed the intellectual and philosophical style of writing. Fourth wall breaks are wonderful and they worked with this theme very well. Congratulations on an superb submission!