GameCamp Summer 2019: Lost Station

August 1, 2019

Team Lost Vacation

Eetu Pälsynaho: Programmer
Juuso Toivanen: Artist
Petri Virtanen: Artist
Antti Peltola: UI & Effect designer

Lost Station

 

Lost Station is retro quality from Lost Vacation

Lost Station is a retro-style 2D-platformer where you play as a mysterious space boy (or girl, no one knows) sent to explore a long-lost space station. The goal of the game is to complete all eight levels filled with mutant tardigrades – or die trying.

The game features floaty, free-form movement, designed to let the player tackle challenges in multiple ways. You can jump high with moon gravity, fly around with your jet-pack, and kill enemies with your butt-stomp. The levels are a sci-fi-themed wild ride, with plenty of verticality and wide jumps to conquer.

Development

The idea for the game came early for us. We made earlier a proto game named ‘Moon Mario‘ and decided to make an amazing game out of it. We obviously wanted to do something bigger, so by the time the second month of GameCamp rolled around, we were able to do eight levels and were really happy about it.

During the development, we faced a few problems with the engine and scripting. We don’t know if we did some things wrong or were just plain unlucky, but in some cases even the senior students couldn’t help us. We also faced some problems with implementing the audio. That is the reason for the sounds not being that vivid.

GameCamp Summer 2019: Cyber ‘up

Team OmegaOof

Toni Vänttinen – Programmer
Jimi Savola – Programmer and Sounds/music
Lauri Laiho – Artist
Juhani  Nevala – Artist

 

Cyber ‘up

Game idea

The idea was to make a side scrolling beat em up game with cyberpunk theme that had some rpg mechanics. The player has punch, heavy punch and a block to use and in the second level if the player has enough money the player can upgrade his fist. The player progresses through two exciting levels to win the game.

Development

The scope of the game was originally bigger with more enemies, upgrades and weapons. However as the development progressed, we had to narrow down our ideas and make decisions on what were the most important elements and ideas we wanted to keep. In the end we kept only one of the weapons as a permanent upgrade as rest of the initial ideas didn’t fit the theme or we deemed them as low priority features to add. The core gameplay we wanted was achieved nonetheless.

 

Design

We wanted to make the game look as cyberpunk as possible with synthwave music and neon lighting. Making the lighting work in the game was hard, but we got it to work in the end and we think the lighting makes the game stand out. Artstyle used was pixel art because both artists were familiar with it and pixel art is cool.

 

Controls:

WASD – Movement
Left mouse – Punch
Right mouse – Heavy Punch
Space – Block
E – Interact

 

Download link: Itch.io

GameCamp Summer 2019: Ancestral Recall

Team Makkaraperunat

Sami Sipari – Programmer
Santeri Sivula – Programmer
Ville Heikkinen – Artist
Toni Mutanen – Artist

 

Ancestral Recall

 

Ancestral Recall was supposed to be an adventure game where the player would fight against monsters, solve puzzles and do reaction based feats to progress in the game. The player would also gain the attributes from his previous playthroughs (the characters ancestors). But due to problems with development the it was decided to simplify the game into a turn based combat game, where you and the enemy decide three moves that will be executed simultaneously. The point of the game is to clear maps with a boss at the end of each map. Defeating the boss gives you an ability related to the boss (Not implemented because of development issues).

 

Battles are pretty much rock-paper-scissors

GameCamp Summer 2019: Crystal Grove TD

Team NoEi

Mikko Mustasaari – Programming & Art
Miko Husari – Art
Saku Tynjälä – Programming

 

Crystal Grove TD

Game Idea

Crystal Grove is pretty much basic tower defence game where you have to survive against waves of enemies and keep your health over 0. Instead of building certain type of towers player has to randomize tower abilities using slot machine mechanic. Each roll in slot machine costs coins and player can lock wheels in hope to get desired type of ability in tower but each wheel locking costs player more coins.

 

Towers boasting slot machine mechanics.

 

Game has 2 phases attack and build. Player can build and roll tower attributes in build phase and enemies comes only in attack phase when player launches wave. Enemies come in almost same pattern in every wave, but every game has its enemy pattern and game area randomized.

 

Bug trying to get past the defences.

Development

 

Our team wanted to make some kind of game in which where player can build things and we came up with idea to make tower defence. We didn’t want to make same kind of tower defence like most of them are, so we came up with a twist to randomize tower types and game area. The idea of attacking insects was in our minds from the beginning and that idea refined visual style of game environment.

 

Download link: Itch.io

 

Games Academy Autumn 2018/Spring 2019: Stabby Crabby

Stabby Crabby

Kooma Interactive

Kimmo Heinonen: Project Lead, 3D Artist
Kalle Vikström: Lead Artist, UI & Effect Designer
Jerri Ahonen: Programmer, 3D Artist
Suvi Kemppainen: Programmer

The (Crab) Meat of It

Stabby Crabby is a 3D survival arena shooter/”knifer”. The goal of the game is to survive as long as possible.

You play as a knife-wielding, gun-toting crab fighting against waves of mutated enemies on a trash-filled tropical island. You can slice enemies with a knife by pressing the left mouse button and shoot by pressing the right mouse button.

The main menu.

Slicing is fast but dangerous in close quarters, shooting gives you an edge by killing several enemies at once but bullets are sparse. Take your chances by diving into an oncoming enemy hoard to pick up an elusive bullet, shoot your way out or use the recoil to fly through the air to safety. Or just hack-and-slash all the way through!

Development

The idea for the game came from the viral video of a real-life crab wielding a knife. The game quickly became a fun, quirky version of Devil Daggers with cartoony graphics. We wanted to keep the two different attacks and the waves of enemies spawned from bigger enemies as well as the survival aspect.

Originally we wanted to include a “power stab” super attack and high scores but ended up tabling them for now due to time constraints and unexpected delays. The latter being code for both programmers having surgery during development and being overly optimistic about recovery times. This also pushed the project from autumn to spring.

Screenshot of gameplay.

During development we played around with the idea of having a stamina bar so that the player cannot attack the enemies all the time. It ended up making the game less fun so it was taken out. There were also ideas for many more enemies with different attack behaviours. There was even a 3D model ready for another fearsome foe, but we opted to stick to the two we had for the final version instead of finishing something in a hurry.

The final game ended up a fun bout of slashing, shooting and dodging a hoard of zombie toasts spewed out by angry toasters. The core mechanics and enemy spawn system in place, the world of Stabby Crabby can be easily expanded in the future.

The game has not yet been released.

Games Academy Spring 2019 – Hey Hoy Houley Mouley

BY TEAM WONDERFUL

Team Members

Lauri Rantala – Programming

Mika Yli-Pentti – Programming

Julia Lammi – Art

Miska Koivulehto – Art

 

Game Idea
Hey Hoy Houley Mouley is a multiplayer arena brawler for 2 to 4 players. Players can battle on four different maps, where they try to push each other off the stage. If a player is hurt enough, their character will get stunned for a while and that’s when they can be easily shoved off the stage. Before each match players get to choose how many points are needed for the victory.

The game has three different weapons to choose from, in addition to unarmed attack, which is also a valid option for the most brawliest players. In a game of four people someone has to be unarmed. Each weapon has different stats, the spear for example has the longest range but does less damage and knockback. Sword does the most damage, but not as much knockback as the shield, which does the most knockback. It’s a Rock-Paper-Scissors sort of a  situation.

Development
We got to our initial game idea pretty quickly. We had other ideas also, but this one stood out the most, and everyone felt like they could work with this kind of project. Our scope wasn’t too big, so we got mostly everything we wanted done by the deadline – except for environmental hazards. More game modes that would have fitted our vision of the game could have been made. Some of the art was left out of the game: e.g. character textures, due to one team member getting sick and unable to send the texture files.

Visual Design
Our graphical style was pretty clear from the beginning. We wanted to make somewhat simple and playful game, with lowpoly characters and levels. We had to plan our character designs so, that they could use same skeleton and animations, but managed to get them to look different enough from each other’s.

Programming
First we thought of creating a fully physics-based game with active ragdoll characters, but through some setbacks and lost time we opted for the middle ground. The characters now switch between animated and ragdolled states when they get stunned or killed. The scope for this project was just right to allow us to learn new stuff, but also have a finished product by the end of the semester.

Download the game!

Games Academy Spring 2019 – All That’s Left

Anthony Vanoostendorp – Project Manager, Artist
Teemu Niskanen – Lead Artist
Nikolai Jonasson – Artist
Vi Viro – Artist
Teijo Lukkarinen – Lead Programmer
Sami Sipari – Programmer
Ville Heikkinen – Programmer
Santeri Sivula – Programmer

Additional help: 

Pauli Ondruska – Audio

About the Game

 

All That’s Left is a level-based puzzle-adventure 3D game. You take control of Corious, a space-wandering tinkerer looking for signs of life, until his spaceship crashes on a deserted shattered world. The core game loop consists of platforming as well as solving puzzles using little robots called minibots, which Corious discovers on the first level. The player is able to send out minibots at any time and take full control of them. The goal of the game is to reach the end of each level in order to pick up a new spaceship part to repair it.

Development


The idea for the game was already decided during the winter break. We took great inspiration from Clank’s side missions in the game Ratchet & Clank. We used the holidays and the first weeks to do some benchmarking and find more inspirations for the game. Initially the minibots were going to be automated, non-controllable robots that would walk in a straight line before encountering an object to interact with. We later realized our game was nothing but a walking simulator and that the game wasn’t that much fun. With the help of a teacher of ours, we decided to make the minibots controllable as well and this decision really added a whole new level of depth and layer for the core game loop. After this decision was made, development was much more swift when compared to the first month of just pure prototyping.

Minibots

The minibots have three unique abilites; hacking, bombing and bouncing.
Below are gifs showcasing these abilities.


Hacking allows the minibot to hack consoles. These consoles can activate moving platforms, open doors, deactivate traps etc. The hacking ability is essential when it comes to solving puzzles, so put on your thinking cap and asses the puzzle in hand carefully.


Bombing does exactly what you might think it does. Make the minibot explode itself in order to kill pesky enemies such as frogs and scorpions. But watch out, the frogs can be unpredictable at times, so be ready to bomb them at a short notice.


Bouncing is a fundamental ability when it comes to traversing and platforming. Have a good grip of your joystick, since there will be some tight and precise platforming puzzles that will truly test your skills.

Game Contents

The game includes:
– Several control and volume options
– Save feature
– Intro Cutscene
– 8 levels
– End Scene with credits

We truly hope you enjoy this game project of ours. It is a culmination of 4 months of hard work.

Controls

This game is playable with keyboard & mouse as well as Xbox 360 controllers.

Move Character – WASD / Left Stick
Move Camera – Mouse / Right Stick
Jump – Spacebar / A
Zoom – Mouse Scroll / Triggers, Bumpers
Send out minibot – LMB / X
Hack – E / X
Bomb – RMB / B
Bounce – LMB / Y

Download the Game!

Itch.io: https://instance-games.itch.io/allthatsleft
Discord Store: COMING SOON!

Games Academy Spring 2019 – Goblin Gold Rush

Goblin Gold Rush is a goblin-themed cartoony local versus arcade game for PC. The idea of the game is to collect as much gold as possible, all the while making sure your friends get as little. All is fair in gold and goblins, and stealing from your friends is more than recommendable… However, the environment might get in your way! The dungeon you’re stealing from is booby trapped, and flamethrowers, spike traps, gas and other dangers might slow you down.

The game can be played locally on PC with either keyboard or Xbox One controllers and it can be played with up to four players.

Team Tiera

Iida Kontkanen – Artist (color grading, level assets, etc. )

Marko Halin – Coder (Hazards, power-ups, menus, etc. )

Johannes Isoaho – Coder ( Round logic, player movement, etc. )

Sini Lehtovirta – Artist (animations, character design, etc. )

Mikael Vanninen – SFX, music

Development

We came up with the idea for the game on the first day of the project and ended up sticking with it for the whole of the project. We wanted to make something new and different when compared to our earlier game, Actias Luna.

Level in development

Our work flow was pretty steady, but we ran into some problems during development. Our character model seemed to be deadset on not working, but we thankfully fixed it with the help of fellow students, We also had some problems with texturing, but we ended up deciding to go with a minimalist shader for the final game. Whatever problems came our way, we ended up overcoming them as a team.

The game itself game together towards the last few weeks of the project. We’re aiming to release the game on itch.io towards the middle of June, with release on PC.

Reference sheet for Goblo the Goblin

Mechanics

The idea is that the player needs to pick up as much gold and valuables as possible and take them back to their chest. Players can attack each other with their mallets, which causes the other player to drop all the gold they’re carrying, and thus other players can steal from you. Hazards and buffs spawn around the stage. Hazards can cause you to drop all their gold, and buffs can speed you up and shield you from damage.

Controller

Joystick – Move

A – Attack

Keyboard

WASD/keys – move

Space/0 – Attack

Download

Goblin Gold Rush v0.5 (Google Drive) 

Itch.io release coming up in Summer!

Games Academy 2019 – Runaway Bacon

RUNAWAY BACON – team Tsuit-tsait games

Download the Free version of Runaway Bacon now from Itch.io »

In this fast paced local multiplayer, you battle against other players to see who is the one to escape the Slaughterhouse. Push and pull your friends in the grid based levels and see who will be crowned the king.

Development

The development began in mid January of 2019. The goal was to make a very simple game with a fun basic mechanic. Our target quickly became to create something like Crossy Roads with our own twist. With a team of couple vegetarians and tend to go a bit political, we then came up with the idea of pigs escaping a slaughterhouse.

The core mechanic is clear, 1-4 players trying to survive while shoving others to their doom. The levels are grid based and very easy to understand and play. We made various changes throughout the process, adding features like respawn and throwing.

Design

We wanted to make something that would contrast the brutal basic idea of the game. We wanted Runaway Bacon to be as cute and welcoming as possible, just to throw a curveball with the violent effects and deaths of the pigs.

Runaway bacon was one of the Bit1 national student game competition finalists in 2019.

TEAM

Jarno Lahtinen, Rene Schwarts, Venla Kähkönen, Juhani Nevala, Isabel Pohjanen and Anna Haaraoja

Visit our website for updates and further info about us:
https://tsuittsaitgames.wordpress.com/games/

Games Academy Spring 2019 – Treasure hunters: Cancri crew

Made by Team Relic

Johannes Kurula – Project manager, lead graphic artist

Milla Ranki – Graphic artist

Jaakko Panula – Lead coder

Leia Laaksonen – Coder

The vision of the game

In cold winter after many brainstorming iterations our team created a vision of a game where a player would be a treasure hunter who wants to find cosmic antique treasures inside a giant spaceship with huge vaults guarded by a variety of robots, the only part of this mythical and forgotten civilization that is in operational. In addition, we wanted to add the final challenge to the end of the level. So for this gig, the departure required much more than a cool hat, revolver and whip…

Development

We had a lot of ideas for the game. Which we would had wanted to implement to our game. However, these ideas had to be divided into two camps. ”Must have” and ”Nice to have”. The ideas that went to the latest camp were bonus ideas to complement the game if time was enough to make them. Adding a new element to the game always also increases the amount of thinking and planning in the game process, so that the new part can work with other parts of the game as a whole.

Design

The graphical style of the game is clear, low-polygon and hexagonal in shape. In terms of the colors in the game world, we strive to emphasize the visibility of objects and action when playing in levels.

In coding, we strive to create a functional and vibrant game world where player can influence the game world and encounter challenging enemy characters.

The game will be launched in Itch.io in the summer and can be downloaded from there.