GMTK 2025 Game Jam & Forgotten Paths

My second ever game jam was the GMTK 2025 Game Jam. I was excited to participate again and apply what I had learned from the previous jam.

One of the main goals I had for this jam was to create a more polished and complete game. I wanted to take the lessons I learned from the Kenny Jam and apply them to this new project.

I worked with the same friend as before, and together, I think we achieved this goal. We had a distinct art style, a unique idea, and a plan.

One of the main things that we did different this game was we built a bunch of the quality of life stuff first. This included a settings menu, level select, and other key features that we were missing last time.

Overall, I think this approach paid off. We were able to create a way more polished and complete game. I think this approach also led us to have more time to think about and decide how we wanted to actually implement the core idea as well.

One main difference between this jam and the previous one was this one was ranked and scored. We actually ended up doing extremely well! For enjoyment in particular, we placed within the top 6% of all entries. That is 583rd place out of over 9,500 games submitted. Getting this result felt amazing, especially considering that this is only the second game we've made.

Ultimately, I've had a blast during these two game jams. I'm not too sure when I'm going to have time for another one. My last semester at James Madison University is coming up, and my schedule is going to get pretty busy. Regardless, I'm looking forward to it, and thanks for reading! (and hopefully playing!)

The theme of this jam was "loop". The idea we had was to define a set of movement and have it loop. Quite simple, but it led to some really fun and challenging puzzles! One of the reasons it gets difficult is due to the addition of a "rotation".

My partner and I made this game in Godot, just like the last one. We wanted to build upon our previous experience and create something even better.

We've recieved some consistent feedback about certain things, in particular, which way the player is facing under the hood is not exactly represented that well on the screen. These are things we want to improve in future updates.

If you're stuck at all and want to just get past the level, there is a hints/solution key on the itch.io page.

If you make it all the way to the end, you're greeted by a final cutscene that ties everything together.

You can play the game here or on the Project Page. Give it a try!