Lights Out! Global Game Jam 2011@Barcelona

Just a short update to talk a little about 'Lights Out!', the game me and three other brave souls developed during last weekend's Global Game Jam, in Barcelona.

This year's theme was 'Extinction'. Not wanting to make a game about killing species or races, we opted for a game about the extinction of light. Initially, the idea was to begin each level in a room/maze with all lights on, and the player had to turn off all the lights, memorizing the maze layout and then find the exit in almost total darkness. But Unity started doing funny things when more than 4 lights where on the scene, so we had to go the opposite way: find your way to the exit in a pitch black maze, with a very limited amount of light time. To position yourself, the player leaves a green trail, so you know where you come from, like a visual representation of short term memory.

We managed to program a mini-'2D' tile engine to build the levels, and even squeezed some amazing AI (in just two days!): on later levels, there's enemies wandering around, which will chase after you if you fall inside their field of view (the red and orange lines)...unless you turn off the light! 

I would like to thank the rest of the team: Oriol Forcat (great levels!), Sergi Lázaro (great music man!) and Esteban Gallardo (great AI!), for the nice time, fun and laughs we had making this. I definitely look forward to work again with them, and of course count me in next year's Game Jam!

Please visit the official game profile, where you can download the game either for Mac OS or Windows, and even the full source code (including assets). I dare you to find the exit in Level 7! :P

(PS: this  video is not of the final version, there's some little enhancements in the one you can download, like a tip on how to reach each level's exit, more sound fx, etc.)