Magister Ludorum gamification

A gamejam is a game design contest in which participants create a game in a short time, usually within a specific thema or specific restrictions. The goal is to take on a creative challenge, to experiment and getting out of you comfort zone to create and release something in a short timeframe. I like to participate in jams to hone my skills and for the sheer fun of it.

De ‘One room’ jam

The “One Room” gamejam required all games to fit into the “One Room” theme. After some thinking and early prototyping, I settled for a game with my own daughter as main inspiration: protect a sleeping little girl from nightmares using her favorite toys as protection. Of course, my daughters favorite plushie was going to be the main star of the game…

Game concept

The game cycles between two phases: day and night. During the day you can add new toys to the room and put them in a strategic place. During the night, nightmares enter through the windows and try to invade the sleeping girl’s dreams. Fortunately the girl is protected by her toys. (Unicorns shooting pink laserbeams!) A succesful night rewards happiness that can be spent on extra toys or upgrades of existing ones. The most important goal for me for this entry was nailing the cute atmosphere of the girls room and the contrast with the evil nightmares. The gameplay loop is complete, but I would like to spend some time adding more depth to it in the future.

Gameplay screenshots:

Play the game:

The game is free to play right inside your browser. Just click on the capsule image below: