GlobalGameJam2024

So, this should work as a Devlog for the Global Game Jam 2024

First, some disclaimers:

• One man army here
  • At irst I had a group, but out of nowhere all of them dropped out, so here I am
• That's my first experience drawing and animating
  • I tried to do my best, its decent but deffinetly not pretty

Game Idea

The Jam theme was "Make Me Laugh". After reflecting on the theme and the orgainzation video for a while, I've remembered of a story of a famous court jester, Triboulet. Triboulet was a famous court jester in France back in the XV Century. His most famous story tells that one day, he slapped the kings butt as a joke. The king wasn't happy with the joke, and sentenced him to death. However, he decided to give him a chance, as his apologies must be more offensive than the previous joke. He quicly responded "Sorry your majesty, I've mistaken you for the Queen". The Queen was out of bounds, due to his response, Triboulet was again facing a death penalty. As a merciful act, due to his years of service, the King gave Triboulet the power to choose how he wanted to die. The Jester then responded "Well your Majesy, for the sake of Saint Nitouche and Saint Pansard, patrons of insanity, I choose to die of old age". The King laughed and found the response quite funny, he then decided to just ban him from the court rather than kill him.

Inspired by Triboulet story, I thougth about a game where a court jester must make the king laugh to avoid being killed. The Jester will have some utensils, such as, juggling balls, bombs and banana peels. He can try to defeat the king by throwing things at him, however, the best way to do it its to make him laugh, once he reaches a certain level of fun, he will receive more damage and will be easier to defeat.

Game Resume

So, I'll describe everything I thought would be great for the game, the ideal, what I wanted it to be. A intial cut scene, telling Triboulet most famous story, a introduction to the game. Than, triboulet will have to face the King and make him laugh ino order to stay alive. From his hands(at first a thought about a sack) i will randomly spawn different objects that he coul either throw at the King, or use them to make him laugh. For example, he could throw a dynamite at the King, decreasing his health bar, or he can keep it and let it explode in his hands. This way he might get damage, but will increase the Laugh-O-Meter of the King. But why increase the Laugh-O-Meter? Because reaching a certain level of fun, the King will no longer move and receive more damage for a short period of time. So what stands out from this game it's the idea of the Laug-O-Meter, where you should decide wheter throw or receive the damage expecting to make the King Laugh hard.

Game Result

I could only implement the most basic things, such as the King and Jester movements, the health bar, the randomness of the objects. I couldn't implement the Laugh-O-Meter and everything related to him, only his visual.

What's Lacking

• Laugh-O-Meter
  • Make the king stop moving, laugh hard and take more damage for a few seconds
  • Animate the Jester for taking damage, increase the Laugh-O-Meter in the process
• Make it prettier

Final Considerations

• The result is far away from the previous idea. A lot wasn't implemented. I'll list them as issues and someday I or someone may implement those mechanics.
• It's bad, but for a one man army developing his first game without following tutorials for every step, it's funny and functional enough
• It works. Despite everything bad I said above, it works. Im kinda proud cause that's something I've started and finished all on my own, searching and learning some things from scratch