Double Jam Disaster

Is disaster too hard a word? 

Probably. 

Did I stretch myself too thin? 

Definitely. 

I'd just finished participating in a double jam attempt and felt ok about my submission. It was enough to get a proof of concept done for an idea I've been sitting on for a while. (That game is Minor, Miner, Ol' Timer which was created in one week for the "Transformation" Winter Flowjam 2022 and the "History of your Country" Historically Accurate Game Jam V and involves lobbing a baby down a mineshaft... you know... for historical accuracy).

A week later the 3-hour Trijam 153 and the Mini Jam 98 (a three day jam) fell on the same weekend. The theme for both was "Empty" and the game needed to be somewhat rogue-like (or lite depending on your definition). A 3 hour challenge is rough especially with no immediate idea, but I decided to give it a try over a weekend. 

My first attempt failed miserably. It was a pseudo-3D driving game like Atari's Night Driver or Turbo. Very primitive. The best part about it was the original soundtrack made by baconcat008. But the game itself went no where (Ignore the game and check out the soundtrack here). 

I needed to stick with what I knew I could do in 3 hours so I started fresh. My only other idea had been a Weezer lyric running through my head about "In your place and empty space" or something like that. And as I sung it to myself I thought "Oh yeah! The Undone Sweater Song. That's about a party. Maybe I'll make a game about picking up the empties after a party and i'll do an 8-bit cover of the Sweater Song for the soundtrack. Fun!

Except!!! The lyric about the "empty space" isn't in Undone Sweater Song about a party. It's from the song "The World has Turned and Left Me Here" which is a fine song, but is NOT about a party. 

It was too late to turn back, and my flimsy concept now made no sense whatsoever. But, I liked the weird yard full of garden gnomes and dog shit and red cups and beer cans and the classic parents in a station wagon pulling up and busting you for having a party.  Instead of spending 3 hour's on it, I ended up spending the better part of a week. It's dumb, but it's fun and I like my 8-bit Weezer cover. I wonder what other Weezer songs could be made into games? Post your ideas below and maybe I'll make one of them into reality. 

Oh! And the whole point of this post was to announce that the mobile controls have been updated and should work better now. Give them a try! 

(If you're too young to remember the blue album  please educate yourself) 

Thanks for playing this (or any) of my games. Let me know what you think and give it a like or a share or a comment. 

Cheers! 

todorrobot