Chicken and Egg Escape
Jan 20–30, 2022
Role: Game Designer and Programmer
In this 2D puzzle-platformer, chicken and egg must work together to escape the barn! Switch between two characters, using their traits in tandem to move forward. The chicken has limited stamina, and the egg will crack if thrown too many times, so plan your moves carefully.
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This game was made for the Global Game Jam 2022.
The theme of the game jam was Duality, and we quickly settled on a lighthearted chicken-and-egg motif. After brainstorming potential mechanics, we decided to keep our concept simple as our time was quite limited.
The chicken can double jump when it's not carrying the egg.
Once we had collectively designed the game's mechanics, my task was the programming. Most of this amounted to movement and controls, and I'm pleased with how these turned out. The chicken is quite floaty as you might expect for a feathered beast. The egg accelerates slowly, which feels right given its irregular shape.
Chicken and egg help each other out by toggling switches.
Areas of Growth
Tutorials need lots of attention
We had some fun UI popups for tutorials in this game, but there were still rough edges. For one, there's a splitting path in the tutorial that might confuse players, especially because an inaccessible nest is dangled right in front of them. It's an unintentional red herring. Also, some mechanics may be unclear, such as needing to bring the chicken and egg together to heal at a nest. A little text would go a long way here.
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Everything needs feedback
In hindsight, some elements of gameplay are unclear due to missing or inconsistent feedback. When the egg is sufficiently damaged, the chicken refuses to throw it, but this relationship is only signaled to the player once (and this signal is easy to miss). Furthermore, the chicken's jump UI does not always update properly upon recharging at a nest.
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Other Improvements
Treat nests as checkpoints
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Currently the player can only reset to the beginning of the game, which is very frustrating and could cause players to quit.
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Camera controls
Given that the player aims and throws the egg with the mouse, I think panning the screen somewhat with the mouse would have been a nice touch. It would give the player a more active ability to look around, which can add an inves tigative element to puzzles.
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Swimming lessons
Sometimes, the egg was unable to exit water. I fixed this after the jam, since it could make progress impossible and force the player to restart.
Egg purgatory
Egg lifejacket
Credits
Tristan Durocher
Noah MacDonald
Aaron Scott
Game Designer, Programmer
Game Designer, Artist
Game/Level Designer, Audio Integration