It’s been a moment since I took last part in a game jam, so I figured I’d start the year by entering the Brackeys Game Jam 2024.1 as part of a small team.
This time the theme was “What’s Behind The Door?”, so we developed a sinister gameshow ingeniously called “What’s Behind The Door?”, which eventually placed 119th (and 19th for audio) out of 792 entries.
Overview
The player sits behind three buttons looking at a stage on which our AI host, N.O.A.H, ceremoniously invites the player to guess which of three doors has a specific object behind it.
The primary game loop is therefore pretty simple:
- Receive a prompt
- Hear three sounds
- Select the correct one and get 100 points
But in true ‘Whose Line’ style, the points mean nothing and, in reality, your choices direct you towards one of three hidden paths.
Walkthrough
Under the hood, the game has two parts: a core path of eight rounds followed by three pathway-specific sections depending on player choices.
By default, players will end up on the red path unless they pick both green/blue options and enter the corresponding green/blue sequence on round 7.
Core Path
| Round | Door 1 | Door 2 | Door 3 | Alternative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | +100 | |
| 1 | 0 | +100 | 0 | |
| 2 | +100 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | 0 | +100 | 0 | |
| 4 | +100 | +100 | +100 | |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 | +100 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | +100 | +100 | +100 | Sequence: 32113 Sequence: 22132 |
Red Path (Bad Ending)
| Round | Door 1 | Door 2 | Door 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | +100 | +100 | +100 |
| 9 | +100 | +100 | +100 |
| 10 | +100 | +100 | +100 |
Playing the gameshow as a gameshow, will result in the red/bad ending in which it is ultimately revealed that:
Click to View Ending Spoilers
You are trapped and eventually end up behind one of the doors.Green Path (Good Ending)
| Round | Door 1 | Door 2 | Door 3 | Alternative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | +100 | +100 | +100 | Do Nothing |
| 9 | +100 | +100 | 0 |
Saving the two trapped contestants (by selecting their doors) will unlock the green path. Failures on the green path lead to the red/bad ending.
This is the most dialogue heavy path and essentially involves:
Click to View Ending Spoilers
Disabling N.O.A.H and re-taking control of the ship.Blue Path (Secret Ending)
Accessing the secret ending essentially requires insider knowledge and is essentially an inside joke for the developers.
Click to View Ending Spoilers
The spirit of TV detective Columbo overpowers N.O.A.H and takes control of the ship.Results
After two weeks of voting, we ended up with the following rankings:
| Criteria | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Theme | #18 | 4.250 |
| Audio | #19 | 3.964 |
| Overall | #119 | 3.485 |
| Fun | #166 | 3.339 |
| Innovation | #177 | 3.179 |
| Game Design | #232 | 3.196 |
| Graphics | #345 | 2.982 |
Coming 19th out of 792 entries for audio is awesome and is definitely due to some great voice acting by Sam & Alex’s, who respectively voiced N.O.A.H and the saved guy.