Jetpack Joe and the Tiny Worlds

2012, March 31st

Screenshot from "Jetpack Joe and the Tiny Worlds"

Ludum Dare is a 48-hour game development competition (or a 72-hour game development "jam"). The 23rd annual competition's theme, "Tiny Worlds," was open to any interpretation that the creators desired. My team (which consisted of myself, TJ, and Dane) participated in the game jam event and developed "Jetpack Joe and the Tiny Worlds," a top-down 2D space game. The player attempts to get to the finish line by using orbital dynamics and a jetpack to slingshot themselves around planets, while avoiding colliding with any of them.

We used C++ with a combination of legacy OpenGL and SFML, with a simple text-based level parser. I was responsible for music, some game design, and cooking. We all learned a lot; mostly that we have no idea how to compile for windows, so it only runs on linux with OpenGL and SFML installed. You can check out the tumblr that we updated during the event, but be warned - it gets a little crazy near the end, due to lack of sleep.