Theme: Expansion
Wildcards: Autumnal, Single Location, Limited Palette
I submitted Leaf Burner:

• 🎮 Play it on: itch.io
• 💻 Source code: GitHub

Game description: Collect as many leaves as you can and toss them into the burning barrels on both sides. Avoid enemy attacks and keep the fire fed. The leaves never stop falling, and the burning never ends. Speed boosts drop every 30 seconds to help you keep up.

This was my first game jam, which I used as a crash course in Godot continuing education. A week of coding, not enough time for sound design, and my daughter graciously stepped in to do the art.

For the uninitiated, a game jam is basically a hackathon, but for games. As I write this, we’re in the voting phase. There were 165 entries. Yes, 165 finished games, all competing for… absolutely nothing. No prizes, no cash, just bragging rights and maybe an upvote. Imagine a web hackathon with that many polished projects and zero rewards or job offers. Yeah, me neither.

It was fun. I learned, I shipped something playable, and I got a front-row seat to just how crowded, and competitive, the indie game scene really is.

“I don’t know the difference between fighting and having fun, and I’ve taken too many hits to learn.” – Coming out of mosh retirement 3