A friend and former colleague of mine, Zeya asked in the group chat last week if anyone was interested in entering a multiplayer Jackbox Game Jam. As I haven’t done a lot of hands on multiplayer work, I thought it would be a good learning opportunity, and so I said sure, why not. It was just the two of us working over 4 days, but I think the game we created was cute, extensible and a good look into multiplayer design problems and solutions. The PurrNet library and their excellent documentation made getting started really easy. This is technically my first game jam, although I’ve participated in many hackathons. (Which are just workplace game jams, aren’t they?) And it’s also my first WebGL project using Unity. I was glad to try it out here, because I’ll probably be using it for my Love/Hate project soon. We’ve posted the game on Jamzo and Itch.io so check it out! A minimum of 2 players are required to play, but 3-6 is ideal.
In the game, you take turns playing as either a ghost or a mystic interpreter. The ghosts operate a Ouija board that only contains emojis, while the Interpreter must select the correct message they are trying to convey from a selection of words and decoys. The ghosts all operate the planchette (that’s the moving bit you place on top of the Ouija board) together with their combined input dictating the direction it moves in.
Of course 4 days is no time at all, especially with between work and other obligations, so there is plenty of room for improvement.
- More phrases would be an easy addition. There are about 20 in the game to start.
- Additional balancing to make sure all players have the same opportunity to get the top score. (Turns are scored per word so longer phrases mean a higher score is possible.)
- Multiple emoji sets could ensure more phrases were possible without overcrowding the board.
- And giving the ghosts score during the interpreter’s turn to motivate them to give truthful messages instead of depending on our players’ good will alone.
I’m proud of what we made and I hope you check it out! -> Jamzo | Itch.io