Tweet Tweet Jam 3

20th November 2019
Last week I participated in a game jam themed around one of my favourite types of games to develop, tweet carts. As with Tweet Tweet Jam 2 the challenge was to create a game in only 560 characters so that they would fit into two tweets. Since I ended up creating two entries earlier this year for the previous jam, it seemed only fitting to create three for this one!

Super Archery Bros First up is Super Archery Bros., a game played against an AI where the player fires projectiles trying to hit the other person on the opposite hill.

A throwback to many archery flash games I played as a kid, the exact trajectory and power of their shot is hidden from the player to encourage learning the games mechanics by trial and error. The AI on the other hand fires randomly is the direction of the player with varying success rates. Some games result in the AI landing the first shot they fire, other times the player has a good minute or so to fire back.
The implication of the name, which I didn't consider at the time, is that these two figures are related and have some sort of family quarrel which can only be resolved by heading up the top of two opposing hills and attempting to eliminate the other. Perhaps there's something left in a will which both have a claim over but fail to agree on, maybe an heirloom they both desire, we may never know. Play Super Archery Bros. and view full source code on itch.io

Pico 8 Mini Golf The second game I entered into the jam is a procedurally generated golf game appropriately named Pico 8 Mini Golf.

I've had a desire to create a small golf game ever since seeing Paul Nicholas' crazy golf game on castle.games. There was something so charming about the simple selection of colours that made made it so effortlessly beautiful, I just had to try it for myself.

One thing I'm quite happy with is the colour change for the number of shots the player has taken at the top of the screen. Writing a series of statements and displaying "PAR" or "BIRDIE" would've been a serious investment in characters for little payoff. This alternative solution still provides the player with feedback on their performance whilst also keeping character count to a minimum. Play Pico 8 Mini Golf and view full source code on itch.io

Ski Tree My final entry is one of my favourite games I've ever put together and it very nearly didn't materialise.

On the final day of the jam I knew I had one more game to make, but nothing was springing to mind. It was only when I saw Alexandre Rousseau post a gif of their entry Jammerboard and twitter that inspiration struck. Could I make a set of skis with forward and backward slashes? Could I also make a good looking set of trees with the ASCII characters available in Pico 8?

The result is one of my simplest but most replayable arcade games to date even featuring a high score stored locally in a spare section of Pico 8's local memory. Sadly Ski Tree does not the yeti from the similarly named Skifree but it's still something I'm very proud of and keep coming back to play even after the jam had been concluded. Play Ski Tree and view full source code on itch.io

Thanks for reading! I highly recommend checking out the other entries from Tweet Tweet Jam 3 and if possible, join me for next jam!

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