Bugged II
I made this game for the 2025 gamedev.tv Game Jam.
My first attempt at making a game for this jam was about insects to match the theme this year – Tiny Living. This game was called Bugged and ironically I ran in to a lot of problems with graphical bugs, which I later resolved, but time was running out and I had to accept I didn’t have time left to make that game properly.
Fortunately, the situation gave me an interesting idea for a game I could make in the remaining time. Bugged II is a platform game where you play as a character called Code Monkey and go inside the binary code of a computer program. It gave me the chance to make a good platform level without using lots of assets which I didn’t have time to make. The main thing is to make a fun game and to learn new coding and unity skills, not to use lots of assets.
You can play the game at Bugged II benjaminHardy84 (itch.io)
Using very few assets
With limited time I focused on making Code Monkey and Bug as good as possible (within the limits of my drawing skills!), and I used an image of 1’s and 0’s that I repeated throughout the game in different colours to make the platforms.
The entire game is made from four images.
While this game has the least assets of any I’ve made, I think it’s the best I’ve made so far because it’s the most fun to play.
Level design
Introducing the game world and characters is important. I want a level that draws you in and tells a story, so I made Code Monkey the only asset in colour at the beginning of the game because I want people to notice him immediately. He also spawns a bit above the platform and falls down, further emphasising him.
I made the initial code all white and level, but as you progress it quickly becomes uneven, there’s gaps, spinning sections and it changes colour. The intention is it becomes a more interesting environment as you play to encourage people to keep playing.
The story is also important – I want to show there’s more problems with the code as you progress through the level.
Right now you can take all the time you want to play the game, but the concept is for it to be a fast paced game. I’d like to update the game to have a wall of 1’s and 0’s advancing on the player from behind so you have to move through the level at some minimum pace.
The spinning platforms are novel – at any rate I’ve never seen them before in a game – and were easy to duplicate throughout the level with the speed and direction and entry/exit points changed to vary the challenges, so they helped me make an interesting level using assets I’d already created.
I placed the bugs in somewhat tricky locations, many of them either near the entry/exit points of the spinning code, or the end of platforms. Code Monkey can jump pretty high though, and can be directed as he falls, so players have some control where he lands, which makes jumping more engaging than if he just jumped and goes through a pre-defined arc with a set landing point. I want to minimise if not totally eliminate ‘dead time’ where there’s nothing the player can be doing other than watching.
I had to think about and experiment quite a bit with how zoomed in the camera is. I decided to create a challenge where you can’t see the other side of the spinning platforms and just have to figure things out once you’re on them. This feels more exciting and immediate that just sitting there waiting for the right moment to make the challenge easy. This too eliminates time when the player is doing nothing.
Character design
They’re basically doodles, but I wanted them to have personality. I animated Code Monkey to have a moving tail and hand to give an excited look and made him tilt in the direction the player is running to make him look like he’s in a hurry. Animating him in some way was important I think as it ensures there’s always something moving on the screen.
This in a hurry look should work well with the addition of a moving wall of 1’s and 0’s.