Robots Hate Rain

"The angry cloud hates industrialization. Get as many points as you can..." I made this game as a warm-up to get back in to games development and to learn GDScript after finishing my year of university. The theme for the jam was 'The Rain'.

The game was made in Godot with GDScript.

Formula

At this point, I had already solidified my formula for creating and releasing games for game jams which involves the following:

• Limited colours: I made a shader which changes the colours on screen to any custom colour I want. This is because it's easy to draw with less colours and it always ends up looking unique. it also means that I can add palettes as unlocks to add easy progression to the game without having to do much extra work.

• Gameplay formula: I would make an endless arcade game, usually about dodging bullets, and then add 3 different enemy types which served unique purposes. The game then gets harder as you go along.

• Web export: Making your game work in web means people will actually play it during a game jam!

Gameplay Overview

As mentioned, the game is an arcade shmup. You play as an 'angry cloud' and have to get as much score as you can. Giving different weights of score to different actions means that the player has a priority for how they play.

In this case, their top priority is flower matching, where spawning enemies will be assigned a random flower, and defeating two enemies with the same flower gives health as well as score. The second priority is defeating enemies, which also rewards a fair amount of score and keeps the player more safe from harm. Finally, every second gives the player a small amount of health. Each of these methods of gaining points also grants the player a more tangeable benefit as it always leads them to surviving longer.

These gave the game a high skill ceiling and there's something for all ranges of players to strive for when playing, keeping the game engaging.