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The theme of the GMTK Game Jam 2024 was 'Built to Scale'. We started brainstorming ideas by looking at various games, such as Patrick's Parabox and Superliminal. However, it was while thinking back to one of the chapters in There is no game that I had an idea: what if the user interface (UI) could directly interact with the game world?

After pitching this concept to our three programmers and getting their approval, we decided to focus on manipulating the game's stat bars by scaling them and integrating them into the core gameplay mechanics.

We explored different ways to position the various bars to make the gameplay engaging. Should they be placed horizontally? Vertically?

We also had to think about how to convey to the player how to interact with the bars (whether to move them or scale them) without overwhelming them with too much information.

We also defined how these bars would interact with the game world. Should each bar have a specific effect on enemies, such as burning them? Given the limited time, we ultimately focused on a single mechanic: the bars act as obstacles, blocking enemies, projectiles, and even the player.

We also experimented with different designs to help players intuitively understand the purpose of each bar while ensuring our 2D artist could create coherent and fitting sprites.

We also quickly defined the visual style we wanted for the character, enemies, and environment so that our 3D artists could start working on them as early as possible.

We drew a lot of inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Tunic, particularly in terms of the art style, atmosphere, and camera perspective.

Out of 7,600 games, here are the scores we achieved in the different categories.