1/28/2024

We were prompted to create a game for the 2024 ICT game jam. This year's theme was "Make Me Laugh." 

I teamed up with Callum Roberts (calciumrobber) and Isaac Tigulia (Peguinpablo17) for the game jam. Our initial idea was to make a game where a comedian was telling bad jokes on the stage. The player would throw items at the comedian until the time ran out. The objective of the game was to score the highest amount possible. 

After coming up with the idea, we began to work. I found free assets from kenney.nl and QuixelBridge. Isaac recruited voice actors to play three different comedians. He recorded Young Choe (Robot Comedian), CJ Marsh (Zombie Comedian), and Sela Tucker (Mustache Comedian) performing various amounts of jokes. 

Once we had assets and audio, we began assembling everything in Unreal Engine 5. Callum began to program the spawning mechanics for both the throwable items and the comedians. They also programmed the physics on the throwable objects and the targets spawning with the comedians. Callum additionally programmed the comedians disappearing after a certain amount of hits and the throwables exploding into sparks after they have been destroyed. 

Between work and other events, Isaac and I were leaving trying our best to stay and assist with the programming. Isaac began to edit the recorded audio, while I attempted to make a main menu. 

We had some issues with our GitHub merging our files. It began creating errors within the Unreal Engine files. Eventually, we had to make a new repository  and merge the levels between Callum and I. We resumed our work from there. 

When we tested the game, we noticed that the throwable items were difficult to throw. They almost felt "sticky." The objects didn't move at a realistic pace compared to real-world physics. After much trial and error, we all decided it would be better to switch to the shootable gun that the VR Template in Unreal Engine provided. Callum changed the bullets shooting out of the gun into tomatoes that were found from kenney.nl. 

The main menu didn't end up working. Once we got it set up in the level, the input controls didn't work. We installed the plugins and loaded them into Unreal Engine. However, none of the input commands were compatible with the node that we were instructed to use. Eventually, we decided to give up on the main menu and proceed with the game as it was. After this, we decided to call it a day. 

We came back the next morning, and when we went to test the game, many problems arose. As the game loaded in, our hands in the VR level were rotated at an unnatural angle. When we attempted to pick up the gun, it was also angled unnaturally. In order to aim straight on, the player would have to bend their hand backwards. As Callum investigated this issue, Isaac and I started building the level. 

When the level was built, we added sound into the game. We put the voice lines and matched them to a specific comedian. When we were trying to record gameplay footage, the tomatoes began phasing through the targets. They weren't being recognized as "bullets," so the targets could not be destroyed. 

Finally, our time to work on the game was over. We attempted to package the project to upload to itch.io, but we were immediately met with a packaging error. After many failed attempts, we understood that we would not be able to package the project. 

We plan to return to this game on a later date to fix all of the issues we encountered.