Excavate various rocks across the galaxy and bring them back to your lab for testing. In your lab, you have to perform various tests to see what kinds of rocks you found - and how they could be used. Problem is, you don't know too much about rocks just yet... but that's where the "Geology" textbook comes in!
Roles - Project Manager, Lead Programmer
Screenshots
Breakdown
Made for the 9/22 RPI Game Jam, with the theme
"Terra Incognita"
Igneous Is Bliss is pretty simple in concept, but it's one of my favorite game jam projects for just how over-the-top it is.
The game itself comes packaged with a textbook, filled with real rock facts, completely made up information, and incoherent ramblings. But you need the info in this book to properly identify the different types of rocks.
In a way, it's a un-educational game, and I love it.
The book creates a hybrid form of play, where you have to flip between this book you were given and the game screen in order to have any success.
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As a manager, game jams are always really interesting challenges. You have to plan things carefully, but you're condensing all development into a 48 hour sprint - which can be pretty difficult. But I really enjoy this kind of challenge - honestly, I'd consider it something incredibly important for all managers to practice. In a game jam, with that tight time limit, managing dependencies becomes even more important, and you can't really afford to mess up.
Also, if your team is pulling all-nighters to have something playable, you know you've messed up somewhere. That's just a little motto I hold for the jams I participate in.