Cat Detector Tampere is a cute point and click puzzle game, where you get to find 100 unique cats hidden through a stylistic 2d visualization of Tampere. These cats come in many different shapes and forms, and some of the even interact with the environment!
We didn’t have the idea for the project for the initial pitching, but we quickly came up for it afterwards and we always had something new to show during presentation. The style and gameplay are inspired by both the “Travelling cats” puzzle game series and “Where is waldo”.
With achievements you can unlock high resolution stickers from some of the cats you find that you can decorate your title screen, however you like!
A wizard whose spellbook pages were stolen has to fight their way through obstacles and enemies in an enchanted forest to get the pages back. WizWood is a top-down shooter inspired by the arcade classic Gauntlet.
The idea In the very beginning, we liked the idea of a top-down game and all the artists agreed to work on a fantasy theme. Gauntlet was a natural reference and a good starting point to develop our own game. However, there were things we wanted to change about Gauntlet. We did not like how the controls felt in the original game, and we thought it would be cool to turn the usual dungeon crawling into a more open-space world, which would also allow the main character to use a wider set of abilities.
The idea of progression in the game through the acquisition of spell pages was almost immediate, and so were the main character design and most enemies. We also liked the idea of having three levels with clearly distinct environment and we started working towards that goal.
The Process The initial progress was quite slow as we did not have a clear idea of what the main mechanics would look like. The feedback we received was very useful and helped us understand in which direction we wanted to move.
Once we had the complete set of spells for the main character, it became easier to develop the game further by calibrating the enemies and designing the levels.
The work was mostly done individually at home but we had a weekly meeting to gather ideas and opinions and to help each other. Both programmers and artists had some major individual areas to focus on but everyone helped here and there whenever needed.
Seven is a magical number, and guess what? That’s the exact count of members in our elemental group! You’d think seven introverted game nerds would spend these four months being all shy and introverted. But lo and behold – we did manage to create something magnificent AND magical! We present to you…
Magic Mayhem
Magic Mayhem is a heart-pounding, spell-slinging top-down shooting game packed with wizarding goodness. Drawing inspiration from the classic top-down shooter Time Pilot, we set out to create a gaming masterpiece!
In Magic Mayhem, you step into the robes of Aurelius, an ancient and wise wizard standing tall against the chaos and destruction threatening his world. Brace yourselves – Aurelius’ closest allies, the royal spirits of the elemental realms, have mysteriously cut off communication and unleashed their armies on the material plane. Yep, they’ve gone rogue, and it’s up to you to uncover the truth behind their betrayal!
Aurelius is badass – but so are the bosses!
Get ready to dive into a world of magical art and sound as you journey with Aurelius, a master of magic who’s about to level up in badassery! Throughout his quest, he unlocks a vast array of new and thrilling spells. Each magical ability not only boosts his power but also arms him to face even more menacing foes.
Trailer music: Borgar by Alexander Nakarada (www.creatorchords.com) Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
For those who’ve been with us since the beginning, there’s a wicked surprise waiting at the end of the four original levels! And if you’re new to Magic Mayhem, brace yourself for a few attempts—trust us, it’s worth it!
Ready to harness the elemental forces and dive into the ultimate battle between good and evil?
Dive into the twisted charm of Gho-Bomb, a Bomberman-inspired game where cuteness meets chaos! Unleash mayhem with portals, and beware – fallen players become mischievous ghosts, haunting the living. Gho-Bomb is a quirky, strategic adventure where gory surprises and ghostly shenanigans await. Ready for a cute-yet-gory challenge? Bomb away in Gho-Bomb!
The idea
Our team embarked on a creative journey to craft a unique gaming experience. Picture a 3/4 top-down and a 32×32 pixel art universe that breathes life into a cute yet gory take on classic Bomberman-style gameplay.
Right from the start, our vision was clear – we aimed to seamlessly blend cuteness and horror. How did we achieve this? By infusing the game with cute visuals and a soothing pastel color palette, only to unleash progressively more gore as the game unfolds.
Our game boasts its own set of quirks: portals and the transformation of fallen players into mischievous ghosts capable of minor sabotaging. These twists add layers of strategic depth and unexpected surprises to the gameplay.
Gho-Bomb is designed for multiplayer fun, supporting up to four players locally using keypads and controllers. It’s not just a game; it’s a social experience where friends can gather, collaborate, and compete in the charmingly twisted world we’ve created.
The development process
To get a clearer picture of the project as a whole at the beginning, we created a mind map in Miro. The mind map visualized how the art and code came together, what assets were needed, and what the architecture and wireframe of the game would be like.
Programming
We started building the base game quickly after deciding on the game we set out to emulate in our project. After our team had come up with ideas for our game, to make it unique from other Bomberman-type games, we already had a solid base to build upon.
Pre-pre-pre-alpha version 0.0.0.1
We, our team’s two programmers, worked together for the majority of the project. We would meet up at school to code together. This way we knew about each other’s progress and it was easier to help and share work. In the end we accomplished what we wanted and we finished everything on time.
Arts
We delegated the creation of visual assets in such a way that it was easy for each artist to define their role. We had individual artists assigned to create the UI assets and character animations, for example. Each team member would keep track of their doing using Trello and Excel. This helped us to visualize the progress we were making.
We had weekly meetings where we would discuss the current state of the game and what were the main objectives of the week both on an individual and group level. Most of the meetings started off with a playtesting session. Our progress throughout the autumn semester was consistent. Cool!
Project dash was intended to be a game with some of the basic mechanics from the game boulder dash, while introducing new mechanics such as enemies, explosives, and throwables projectiles. Unfortunately, the development of the game was severely hindered by coding difficulties and multiple team members’ lack of participation and communication. These issues resulted in a barely functional game with many intended/already made art assets and mechanics unimplemented. I would love to provide a playable build but the promised final build hasn’t been completed.
In Pet Lab you get to be in the shoes of a scientist creating all sorts of creatures. How long can you keep them alive?
Name your pet, clean after it, play with it.. And don’t forget too feed it!
Game idea:
Our team came up with the idea to make Tamagotchi like game, instead of adapting a classic game from a list. Since all of us were friends of horror we decided to use that as a twist. Just like in Tamagotchi, the idea from the very beginning was “Can you keep your pet alive?”.
Our initial idea included a full fledged story unfolding before the player, as things slowly turned more and more horrific. However our time limit constrained us and the idea got scrapped in favor of a more arcade style gameplay loop in the end.
We wanted the player to get attached to their pet and think we have been semi successful in our goal despite some planned features missing. The art really helped in bringing them to life.
Process:
For the first 1.5 months of development, we struggled with a lack of clear scope and look of the game. After some feedback, we started to organize our development better, and clearly define the game, and narrow the scope down. The game did change a bit from this re-imagined definition, but not much. We did necessary changes alongside development, and changed ideas that weren’t working.
Our organizing took a form of a meeting twice a week, where we defined what we want to do before the next meeting, and what we had managed to do since the previous meeting. Some meetings had other topics too like discussing the direction of the game.
We did most of our developing at home individually. This was possible because our meetings were done face to face, with clearly defined tasks to be done. All questions and unclear things were cleared during these meetings.
Download and try out the game here:
Link to the game use password “PetLabEarlyAccess” in order to access the page and download the game.
Jumpnaut is a game about taking back your job from the evil hands of AI. This job you ask? A construction worker of a massive space elevator ofcourse.
One beautiful August day, our team (Teuhon Rakennusyhtiö oy) came about the idea from a list of classic games. A Donkey Kong/JumpKing mesh. At first, it was thought to be more JumpKing heavy, but later we thought “It’s not very fun now, innit?” So we switched gears and focused more on a fun platforming game rather than a rage game. Unlike the original Donkey Kong, the players of Jumpnaut could pick up items, throw them and even catch them in midair! The game could also be played with friends. So long as there were USB sockets free, there would be a way to fit another friend into the game.
The development started off with a swift playable demo right off the bat (Just a bunch of jumping squares but hey, a start is a start.) After this, development stagnated a little. Team communication was lacking so the plan became less clear. Time was passing by.
After a serious meeting, our team smacked some sense into one another and started working harder, as time was running out
Eventually with some sisu and quick wit, we finished the project. Some features were cut but most stayed intact for the final release.
JUMPNAUT!
You can download the game from the following link:
Our initial plan was to make an Ultimate Chicken Horse like party game but later on the development we ditched build mode and racing aspect and made it more like Duck Game type multiplayer chaos. Players pick up weapons from pedestals and shoot each other until the last player is alive or it is a draw.
Our sources of inspiration were Ultimate Chicken Horse and Duck Game.
Development:
At the start of the project, we had multiple meetings in which we discussed what we want to do and what we need to do in order to achieve our goals. We made a trello board, where we put a to-do list for both programmers and artists. We planned our weeks and separated the work into smaller bits.
Artists could have used trello more, and updated the board more actively, so that other team members could have been up to date on what’s going on.
The biggest challenge was summer break and the motivation of the people. There were also different things happening in peoples’ lives that affected the project. The project should have been more simple so we could get the better final product.
You find yourself trapped in the old metro tunnels of Soviet Kouvola… and as if your situation doesn’t seem bad enough already, you quickly find out that you’re not alone. The infected citizens of Kouvola are coming for you, and you need to escape while you still can! So load up your Shotbat™ and smash your way into freedom! Or you might never see daylight ever again…
The idea
early shotbat concept
Everything started with our idea for a cool weapon design that would be a combination of a baseball bat and a shotgun, so you could use it for both hitting and shooting the enemies. We wanted to make a dark game with a realistic style, and were inspired by games like Metro, Fallout and Wolfenstein. We wanted the environment to be like metro tunnels and dark underground environments like sewers and maintenance rooms, and were also heavily inspired by old Soviet architecture and themes. We wanted the player character to be a strong female character with some attitude, and for the enemies we wanted to make something resembling zombies, with the idea being that they were maybe infected by something. And of course we quickly decided that the game should be taking place in Kouvola.
high-poly skinny zombie model
The process
We started by working on basic building blocks for the environment and the enemy models, as well as experimenting with some blood and gore effects. We also had the camera and basic movement set up very quickly, as well as the night vision and grenade mechanics. The enemy models were created by having three different body types (skinny, muscular and fat), all of which were given shape keys that can be used to add variation to the enemy body types and proportions. Later we started building the level and adding the combat mechanics and hand animations for the player, as well as adding some sound effects and implementing different enemy types. Most of the work was done in bursts, and the whole game was finalized in the last few days before the presentation, by building a bigger level with more content, adding sound effects, tweaking the animations, adding particle effects and just polishing everything. We plan to continue working on this game more in the future, but after the final crunch, the game is already in a decent place.
In the spring season of Games Academy, our team Secret Cyborgs took to the skies and created the game Celestial Quest.
This term we wanted to make a simple game since our team was quite small (2 programmers, 1 artist). We were inspired by platformer games, such as Crash Bandicoot and Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers. Celestial Quest turned out to be a space-themed, platformer game where the player has to clear different levels, while collecting crystals and avoid different obstacles (enemies, traps etc.). We wanted to give the game a mystical feel and look in a rather minimalistic style. Inspiration for the art came especially from Hollow Knight and Ori and the Will of the Wisp.
Development process
Programming:
Since our team was quite small we focused on implementing the most basic features to the game, such as:
Character movement & jumping (with double jump)
Camera that follows the player
Enemies (two different kinds)
Collectables (items for points and HP)
Teleporter (for entering and exiting levels)
At least three unlockable levels
We started by making a list of the things that we wanted to implement and then divided the work between our two programmers. However, we felt at some point that the game was lacking a bit and decided that we wanted to add some traps and a moving platform as well.
The final result is not perfect, but we learned a lot from this projectand we were able to implement most of the things that we wanted.
Art:
The process for the art started with some moodboards and concepts, for the character as well as the general look of the levels.
First concept art:
Once implemented in 3D, the first character design turned out to be quite difficult for the time we had, for example due to the animation of the cloak that would have been necessary. So the character was redesigned. The enemy characters were designed matching to the simplistic style.
The UI came shortly after the characters were done, as well as some environmental art (temple) and the collectibles. Unfortunately not everything was implemented in the game. We managed to get the health bar into the game, but not the bar for collectibles. We also planned to have some textures for the ground and the collectibles, but after several issues with exporting the textures, we decided to only keep the textures for the crystals. Lastly we added sounds to the game.
