Percussive Maintenance
Summary
Percussive maintenance was my team’s submission for global game jam 2020, an annual 48 hour game making challenge. The theme for 2020 was “repair” so my team decided to create a 3d puzzle game in which player’s fix a malfunctioning tv by smacking it. Players must locate the specific area that they need to hit by observing the hot-cold meter in the top right corner that indicates how close their last hit was to their objective. If the TV is hit in the incorrect position too many times, the TV breaks.
Within the 4-person team, I was responsible for designing and coding elements of the puzzle mechanics, designing and implementing all of the UI and visual feedback, designing the environment, misc.
As with any game jam, the primary challenge was the time restriction. It was important that our ideation process was efficient and that the premise we chose had a small enough scope to be achievable. My strategy in approaching this challenge was to create a simple ruleset and then quickly transition to tutorializing and creating feedback for the player through particle effects, ui, sound, and visuals with the intent of creating the most visually inviting game possible.
I love participating in game jams because I always learn something new, they give me an excuse to spend time collaborating with new teammates and meeting other developers, and challenge me to approach game design and development differently than I normally would.
