The gm(48):Only One Level was a 48 hour jam where developers needed to make a game using Game Maker. The theme of this jam was “Only One Level”. There were many games entered in this jam, I recorded all of them in my video compilation series. Below are some of my favorites, in a random order.

CubeTwist is a rather challenging platformer where you need to collect 4 little black circles to win. As you move around the level, spikes dot the walls. If you run into these spikes you have to restart from the beginning point. You must carefully wall jump around and make it to the black circles around you. There are also colored dots in the level which will change the environment. Sometimes this is a good thing - allowing you to make it to dots you couldn’t get to before. Other times, it might lead you to death, or discovering new things that might also kill you, such as orbs dropping from the ceiling. There are many black dots, far more than needed, but it will still be quite the challenge to get them all!

LEVEL is another challenging game. This time, you fight off ghosts and rats in a house that is breaking down! You are inside a large, multi story building. Each level of the building is packed with monsters but there is no door to move between them. Instead, you have a limited amount of time before the floor below you or the roof above you crumbles. This in turn drops the monsters on top of you, or drops you on top of them. You must fight off these monsters by melee attacking, which has a small cooldown, or by shooting your gun. Your gun does have limited ammo, but sometimes ammo and health packs can be found in the building. Once you have leveled the building and destroyed all the monsters, you can exit the bottom door and move onto a bigger tower! These buildings are crumbling fast, so be quick about destroying all of the monsters with them!

Hoag’s Voyage is an action shoot em’ up that makes you defend yourself while building a ship in an attempt to fly away from this hostile planet. Aliens are not happy with you crash landing on their planet. Your ship is damaged, so you are currently unable to leave the planet. Luckily for you, aliens drop gems when they die. These gems can be used to rebuild your ship. As you are rebuilding it, more aliens will pop up and shoot you, so you must be quickly putting in new pieces of your ship while fighting for your life. Once you have made your new ship, with hauls and lasers in place to your liking, you are able to fly into outer space. The game does not end here - you can fight off aliens from the sky! If you build your ship well, you will be able to survive for quite some time in outer space.

Glucose Overdose is a rage-inducing platformer that has you moving around super challenging levels trying to hit a green button. Each level is increasingly challenging - adding spikes, bottomless pits, blocks that bounce you, and disappearing platforms to your path. You must get to the green button as fast as you can, avoiding all of these dangers. Your character is able to charge up - shrinking your huge head to jump higher and run faster, however if you do this for too long, your head will explode. While you play, a timer ticks at the bottom of the screen showing how much time it takes you to pass each level. See how far you can make it before rage quitting this game.

TAPELEVEL has you moving around a huge level with a tape measure and spirit level! You, a white cube, are close to the exit of this level, but it is just out of reach. You must explore the level to find a way to get to this exit. There are little stone checkpoints here and there that you can use to guide you around. If you die after lighting up a checkpoint you will respawn there. Soon, you will find your tape measure which works as a grappling hook in this game. There is also a spirit level which tilts the world as you move. You can use these tools together to travel greater distances around the level. The tape measure will allow you to go through red marked off areas by aiming the end of tip of the tape measure to the checkpoint. You will teleport there if you hit the red area but the tape measure hits the checkpoint. The spirit level allows you to go diagonally or to see more of the world. This game relies a lot on timing, so make sure you think your moves through before acting. There are also small powerups that allow you to jump more often either for a limited amount of time or permanently depending on their color. Can you make it to the end?

IU5TITIA has you trying to make it back and forth from an ever-changing platform. The game tells you that you are a part of its experiment. As such, it changes the level every time you make it across to a flag. As you pass each level, the game seems to get more angry at you - finding you to be annoying and saying that you aren’t meant to last that long. You must push on as the game becomes increasingly difficult. The simple walk across the platform is soon replaced with a large pit, falling letters, and spiked blocks. You must do your best to continue - both passing the level and challenging the game. Whoever is doing the experiment seems to want you to fail. Prove that you can last and see what happens to this narrator.

Level 2 Not Found has you playing (and breaking) a few retro classics. In this game, you start off playing level 1 of space invaders. It seems quite normal, everything working as expected, that is until you complete it. Then an error appears telling you level 2 is not found. The game soon decides to talk to you - informing you that it will look for level 2, but until then, play a breakout clone. Much like the customer service you would receive on a phone, while you are playing the person helping you will continue to update you on the situation. E.g. Telling you it’s looking for the level and that it should be around here somewhere. Once you finish the breakout clone, things don’t go as they normally would. Your ball turns red and destroys the framing around the game, escaping out. The game soon corrects this and moves you onto frogger, but now that you have had a taste of breaking the game, you must continue to do that after completing the base game. You are able to destroy each next game you come in contact with, all while listening to the game tell you not to.

Floor 62 is a murder mystery game that has you playing detective to the late, rich Mr. Jerry Corpus. He was murdered in the hotel room he was living in. There are 6 suspects; his wife, a maid, a cook, a hotel receptionist, and two of his friends. You must collect evidence from the hotel floor he lived in, then question the suspects using the evidence and some important questions. These suspects each have a cracking point, where they will give you more sensitive information and hints to help you solve the case. You must present them with evidence that you have found to increase this cracking value. If you reach the characters cracking point, they will admit what they really know and their sprite will change slightly. You need to be careful with the evidence you present the suspects, as if it is not relevant to them, it may decrease how close they were to cracking. There are many, many endings to this game - some suspects will ask you to arrest other suspects for example, which will change the ending. It is up to you to solve this murder!

#GM48 #CubeTwist #Level #HoagsVoyagen #GlucoseOverdose #TAPELEVEL #IU5TITIA #Level2NotFound #Floor62