Tetrungeon - GTMK Game Jam 2021

Like I did 5 minutes ago on my 2016 LD submission, I want to keep procrastinating my CV by writing about old submissions. This one is more recent, but I still like to think about it.

Programmer Art will be the death of me I think. My biggest issue with this game comes from my inability to make a game with a colour scheme that isn't genuinely horrendous in a stressful 48-hour period of time, what a weakness!! So I will try to look past that and talk about the actual design from here on (though the sounds are still very nice in my opinion):

This game fits the theme super well - and I think that as a core set of mechanics it works great, you can tell I was really interested in the idea of "versatile verbs" Mark introduced in one of his videos: mechanics which serve many functions. The bash was something I was very proud of, having offensive and defensive functions - as well as movement risk/reward from the recoil of hitting walls and enemies. With some number tweaking and adjustment to player control, the bash could provide lots of micro-decisions to make during playtime about its utilization. Perhaps adding breakable walls/boxes which restrict players also?

The compromise of Tetris was something that I disliked at the time of submission - probably because of it being simpler than the initial idea of a jigsaw dungeon crawler. But now, I only look back at this design choice fondly and think that it is also a great case of versatile verbs, using health as a doubly-important resource to provide more options for tiles as well as just not dying. Bugs aside I think that the idea here works really well, and still had fun with it booting it back up just now.

Regarding improvements, putting aside aesthetics, I would rework player control to be a bit faster and make collision with walls clearer to stop it from feeling as clunky. Then, tweak the bash mechanic so that it feels fun in an isolated room with an enemy or two and some destructible objects like crates.

I'd then add the function of turning enemy bullets friendly after a bash, like a parry hurting enemies. This is because later in the game, bashing projectiles becomes pointless with the upped firing rate of the turrets, and it is more viable to just dodge them. Giving them offensive capabilities would be an improvement in my opinion.

Also, I am unsure if this is implemented already, but letting player movement increase with the speed of the room scroll, AS WELL AS the speed of bashes. Reducing the bash cooldown later in the game allows players, who have by then gained a certain familiarity with the mechanic, to really put it to use in higher-octane situations that require more reflexive and reactive gameplay. High-level Tetris is all about "the flow state" and being able to clear lines almost instinctively. I think that with some clear colouring choices (make all enemies some shade of red, including bullets, keep the player blue or something, etc) and keeping movement free and possible to manage at higher speeds, we could achieve something similar with this game.

If I was to work on this game again, id remake it from the ground up. I could likely get something decent prototyped in GMS within a week or two, and tweak it over the course of several months if needed. It is a very short and simple game so I'd hope it not to take that long either. We will see.

If anybody reads this, thank you!! And I hope u found it interesting,

Liam :)