c.a.l.e.b.

c.a.l.e.b. (Canine Aid Locale Exploration Bot) is a submission to the 2021 GMTK Game Jam – theme “Joined Together.” It is a puzzle platformer where the player character can split in two and rejoin. I worked as primary artist and gameplay programmer on a team of three.

Play on itch.io

The original concept for c.a.l.e.b. itself originated during a class at Wesleyan University – Computational Media: Videogame Development (IDEA350.) One of my team members and I collaborated on an original character designed to communicate a unique video game mechanic. c.a.l.e.b. 1.0 grappled across metal walls and ceilings with magnetic hands, separating and rejoining to navigate difficult terrain.

With a weekend to program, I simplified the design and mechanics of c.a.l.e.b., honing in on the character’s most unique attribute: the ability to control each half separately. I ended up with a roly-poly character controller with a satisfying magnetic pop and snap. Governing c.a.l.e.b.’s transformations is a ScriptableObject-based state machine that I refined and reused in the much more complex Thirsty Bird.

To augment the minimal visuals, I paired the game’s crunchy lo-res rendering with a flipbook-style squigglevision postprocessing effect. In conjunction with its lax approach to puzzle-solving, the game’s visual style is scrappy and loose.

The game placed in the top 5% of submissions.