WEBVTT 00:00:00.350 --> 00:00:05.970 Earlier this month, viewers like you were part of another record-breaking, server-smashing, 00:00:05.970 --> 00:00:07.109 game-making marathon. 00:00:07.109 --> 00:00:11.870 I'm talking, of course, about the GMTK Game Jam for 2021. 00:00:11.870 --> 00:00:17.370 More than 21,000 people signed up to take part, and they managed to bash together more 00:00:17.370 --> 00:00:19.780 than 5,800 games. 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:23.789 Making it, once again, the biggest jam we've ever held. 00:00:23.789 --> 00:00:28.910 As per usual, participants were challenged to design their game around a theme - and this year 00:00:28.910 --> 00:00:31.160 it was "Joined Together". 00:00:31.160 --> 00:00:37.190 And so we saw a load of games where objects were combined and connected and tied to one another. 00:00:37.190 --> 00:00:38.789 Sometimes literally, sometimes not. 00:00:38.789 --> 00:00:42.050 Now, while I'd love to play every single game… 00:00:42.050 --> 00:00:44.760 I don't have a couple months to spare. 00:00:44.760 --> 00:00:52.891 So I crowdsourced it: players left over 150,000 ratings, which left me with the top 100 games 00:00:52.891 --> 00:00:53.891 to play. 00:00:53.891 --> 00:00:59.999 And I have to say - the quality this year was incredible, with so many creative, inventive, 00:00:59.999 --> 00:01:01.859 engaging, and enjoyable games. 00:01:01.859 --> 00:01:06.280 But, I can only choose 20 as my absolute favourites. 00:01:06.280 --> 00:01:12.860 So, without further ado - and in no particular order - these are the best games of the GMTK 00:01:12.860 --> 00:01:17.090 Game Jam for 2021. 00:01:17.090 --> 00:01:21.479 Every jam, a game comes along that kinda just blows my mind a little bit. 00:01:21.479 --> 00:01:25.610 This time, that honour goes to Rift Shift. 00:01:25.610 --> 00:01:30.799 This is a platform game with two little windows that you can pick up and move about. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:35.890 And, basically, anything that appears in one window will also appear in the other. 00:01:35.890 --> 00:01:40.439 And so to get your tiny wizard to the flag, you'll need to place one window in the gap 00:01:40.439 --> 00:01:45.630 in front of him, and use the other window to sample a bit of background with some steps. 00:01:45.630 --> 00:01:47.590 Now, you've got a route to the exit. 00:01:47.590 --> 00:01:48.880 It's awfully clever. 00:01:48.880 --> 00:01:53.799 There are also great puzzles that come from moving the rift over the character, phasing 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:58.829 in stuff like doors and pressure-sensitive buttons - before phasing them back out again. 00:01:58.829 --> 00:02:03.560 And later levels introduce turrets that can be blocked by creative use of the windows. 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:08.960 This game is part platformer, part selection tool from Photoshop, and all around amazing. 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:11.670 Give it a go. 00:02:11.670 --> 00:02:16.000 This year we saw a whole bunch of puzzlers where boxes join together when you 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:17.000 touch them. 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:20.100 I count at least five in the top 100. 00:02:20.100 --> 00:02:24.080 My favourite of the bunch, though, was Sleepy Blocks. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:29.770 This is a game where you control a smiley-faced square in a grid-based world of snoozing friends. 00:02:29.770 --> 00:02:34.750 If you enter an adjacent tile, the sleepy cubes wake up and join with you to create 00:02:34.750 --> 00:02:36.300 a brand new shape. 00:02:36.300 --> 00:02:40.940 And so, thus begins a bunch of puzzles about carefully picking up new polygons in order 00:02:40.940 --> 00:02:42.390 to reach the exit. 00:02:42.390 --> 00:02:45.290 It's about picking the right path and choosing the correct order. 00:02:45.290 --> 00:02:50.410 But then a new mechanic is introduced: cracked floor tiles that can turn into deadly pits, 00:02:50.410 --> 00:02:51.890 and must be carefully avoided. 00:02:51.890 --> 00:02:56.620 But then, there are puzzles where you want to use the pits, in order to split your shape. 00:02:56.620 --> 00:03:01.600 This game has a great understanding of puzzle design and was simply a joy to play. 00:03:01.600 --> 00:03:05.400 Okay, let me pick one more game about joining together blocks. 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:07.710 Just because this one is very different. 00:03:07.710 --> 00:03:09.310 It's called Puzzle Sigma. 00:03:09.310 --> 00:03:13.230 The idea for this one is that you play as a mathematical symbol - starting as a plus 00:03:13.230 --> 00:03:17.430 sign - and you can attach yourself to big chunky number blocks. 00:03:17.430 --> 00:03:22.230 If you get a number on the left and right, your body becomes a mathematical equation 00:03:22.230 --> 00:03:25.370 and the answer can be used to unlock doors. 00:03:25.370 --> 00:03:30.770 So pick up a 1 and a 3, and you'll be able to unlock the door marked 4. 00:03:30.770 --> 00:03:35.020 It's alarmingly clever and deserves endless points for making a game about maths that's 00:03:35.020 --> 00:03:36.940 actually enjoyable. 00:03:36.940 --> 00:03:41.470 Things get real complicated when you start playing with numbers bigger than 9, and multiple 00:03:41.470 --> 00:03:45.460 symbols, and puzzles where you get different answers as you rotate around. 00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:47.510 And at that point, I started to panic. 00:03:47.510 --> 00:03:51.650 But if you've got a better nose for numbers than me, I think you'll really enjoy this 00:03:51.650 --> 00:03:53.090 game. 00:03:53.090 --> 00:03:57.460 If letters are more your thing, though, check out Factori. 00:03:57.460 --> 00:04:03.120 Essentially an entire Zachtronics game made in 48 hours, Factori is a problem-solving 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:09.100 puzzler with one raw material - the letter I - and about 26 different products - the 00:04:09.100 --> 00:04:10.380 rest of the alphabet. 00:04:10.380 --> 00:04:17.070 You see, if you bend, rotate, flip, and combine the letter I - using these colourful machines 00:04:17.070 --> 00:04:20.730 on the right over here - it's possible to spit out any other letter. 00:04:20.730 --> 00:04:25.150 And so the game is as much about building an efficient factory floor as it is about 00:04:25.150 --> 00:04:27.500 thinking creatively about shapes. 00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:28.940 How do you make a G? 00:04:28.940 --> 00:04:34.970 I guess that's a bent I, a normal I, and a rotated I… yeah, got it! 00:04:34.970 --> 00:04:40.060 I can't give it full points for originality - anyone who's played SpaceChem or Opus Magnum 00:04:40.060 --> 00:04:42.680 will recognise the core concept immediately. 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:48.670 But it's done with such alarming proficiency that it really does deserve a nod. 00:04:48.670 --> 00:04:53.910 We saw a fair few arena battlers in the jam - that's always a smart way to make the most 00:04:53.910 --> 00:04:55.740 out of the short time limit. 00:04:55.740 --> 00:04:59.300 One that really worked for me was Ghostel. 00:04:59.300 --> 00:05:02.130 This is, ultimately, a pretty simple game. 00:05:02.130 --> 00:05:06.480 You control two different ghostbusting geezers at the same time - and as long as they're 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:11.290 close enough to one another, a big deadly laser beam arcs between their guns. 00:05:11.290 --> 00:05:16.600 Now, anything caught in the middle will be vaporised - leading to a fun and frantic twin-stick 00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:22.240 arena shooter where you fight ghosts, cursed furniture, and, uh, the Windows logo. 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:26.010 Play it in singleplayer and it's a game that will test your coordination. 00:05:26.010 --> 00:05:29.040 Play it with a friend and it's a game that will test your relationship. 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:36.560 I'd like to have seen a few more twists on the idea, but it's a great start for a game. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:41.570 Another arena battler I dug was the very innovative Grappling Scarf. 00:05:41.570 --> 00:05:46.840 In this one you play as a square with a rather long white scarf, while trails behind you 00:05:46.840 --> 00:05:48.610 like the body in Snake. 00:05:48.610 --> 00:05:52.060 You can use this as a massive shield to wrap it around the base in the middle of the screen 00:05:52.060 --> 00:05:54.800 - and protect it from incoming bullets. 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:59.710 But look at the end of the scarf: it's got a hook, which can be used to pick up bombs. 00:05:59.710 --> 00:06:04.720 Now you can drag them away from your base, and hit space to split your scarf in half. 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:08.470 Now you can go off and do more work while you wait for the bomb to blow up. 00:06:08.470 --> 00:06:13.020 Later, however, you'll want to go back to your discarded scarf and pick it back up - because 00:06:13.020 --> 00:06:18.500 every time you disconnect a bit of your body, you become shorter and less effective as a shield. 00:06:18.500 --> 00:06:23.090 It's a weird, but wholly original game where you're having to constantly put out fires, 00:06:23.090 --> 00:06:28.590 make small sacrifices for long-term gain, and ebb and flow between bodies that are big 00:06:28.590 --> 00:06:29.590 and small. 00:06:29.590 --> 00:06:31.350 Safe to say, I liked it. 00:06:33.220 --> 00:06:38.450 Here's a theme I wasn't expecting in the jam: using a hook-shot to pull bits of a level, 00:06:38.450 --> 00:06:40.340 to rearrange the play space. 00:06:40.340 --> 00:06:43.919 Like the very polished puzzle platformer Whale Eater. 00:06:43.919 --> 00:06:46.260 My pick, though, is Phasing Puller. 00:06:46.260 --> 00:06:52.040 And that comes from a very small restriction on your powers - that happens to change everything. 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:56.640 Your hookshot only works when it goes through one object - that's what powers it to latch 00:06:56.640 --> 00:06:58.570 onto something and drag it back. 00:06:58.570 --> 00:07:00.850 Otherwise, it don't work. 00:07:00.850 --> 00:07:06.120 This leads to a number of clever and thoughtful levels about moving blocks for jumping on, 00:07:06.120 --> 00:07:08.440 and powered up energy cells for puzzle solving. 00:07:08.440 --> 00:07:13.940 I also liked the minimalist art style: if you've only got 48 hours to make graphics, 00:07:13.940 --> 00:07:19.110 limit your colour palette to create a cohesive style in no time at all. 00:07:19.110 --> 00:07:23.450 Technology is all about joining things together, whether that's using different dongles to 00:07:23.450 --> 00:07:28.050 connect up a laptop, chairing multiple Zoom meetings at once, or physically connecting 00:07:28.050 --> 00:07:29.880 phone calls using a switchboard. 00:07:29.880 --> 00:07:35.540 In fact, there we two switchboard-based games in the top 100, and while I dug the narrative 00:07:35.540 --> 00:07:41.320 thread throughout Hello, Operator, my pick of the pair was Telephone Trouble. 00:07:41.320 --> 00:07:46.760 The idea is the same: use wires to make a connection between caller and recipient. 00:07:46.760 --> 00:07:51.100 But this one's way more manic: you've got five cables to play with. 00:07:51.100 --> 00:07:54.750 Phone calls pile up like orders in an Overcooked restaurant. 00:07:54.750 --> 00:07:58.650 You'll be frantically checking the phone book to find people's calling codes. 00:07:58.650 --> 00:08:02.560 And - every now and again - someone will need the hospital and you'll have to drop everything 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:04.180 to answer their emergency. 00:08:04.180 --> 00:08:08.810 It's a rapid fire, high score-chasing arcade gem with gorgeous graphics. 00:08:08.810 --> 00:08:11.030 Give it a play. 00:08:11.030 --> 00:08:16.350 Another common element in this jam's top 100 was constellations - such as the stunning 00:08:16.350 --> 00:08:19.610 and relaxing photography gem, Star Snap. 00:08:19.610 --> 00:08:24.940 But one game just outdid it for me: it's called Peaceful Evening Among the Stars. 00:08:24.940 --> 00:08:29.150 It's a puzzle game, about connecting up stars to make constellations. 00:08:29.150 --> 00:08:33.110 You can only drag a certain distance away from a bright colourful star, so you'll need 00:08:33.110 --> 00:08:37.019 to use other, smaller stars as stepping stones. 00:08:37.019 --> 00:08:41.059 Things soon get more complex when different coloured stars are introduced, forcing you 00:08:41.059 --> 00:08:44.819 to get clever about overlapping and circumnavigating other stars. 00:08:44.819 --> 00:08:46.910 I feel like I've said stars a lot. 00:08:46.910 --> 00:08:51.240 Anyway, it's just a polished, professional, and eminently playable game. 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:55.300 Basically, when I've got to rush through 100 games to get the results out for a bunch of 00:08:55.300 --> 00:08:59.920 impatient game jammers… well if I end up playing one game all the way to the end… 00:08:59.920 --> 00:09:02.610 I think I can safely say I liked it. 00:09:02.610 --> 00:09:07.029 There's always a pixel art puzzle platformer or two in the top 100. 00:09:07.029 --> 00:09:10.110 This year, one of my favourites was I Gacha Head. 00:09:10.110 --> 00:09:13.790 It's got nothing to do with loot boxes or micro-transactions, thankfully. 00:09:13.790 --> 00:09:18.810 Instead, it's an adorable game about a tiny man and his giant hat. 00:09:18.810 --> 00:09:23.459 The hat gives you the extra height needed to grab keys - but it also makes you too towering 00:09:23.459 --> 00:09:25.040 to squeeze through tight gaps. 00:09:25.040 --> 00:09:30.369 So, soon enough, you'll need to use a low ceiling to knock your hat clean off - returning 00:09:30.369 --> 00:09:32.399 you to a smaller size. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:35.819 And then, once you've done what you need to do, it's back to the hat. 00:09:35.819 --> 00:09:39.829 It's a charming game, packed with puzzles and even bonus puzzles - I'd be keen to see 00:09:39.829 --> 00:09:43.139 where the creators could take this with even more time. 00:09:43.696 --> 00:09:49.499 Okay. This one almost makes me reconsider the rule that there's no max team size. 00:09:49.499 --> 00:09:51.649 It's called Static Cling. 00:09:51.649 --> 00:09:56.500 It's a Nitrome-esque platformer where you play as a ball of pulsing energy who always 00:09:56.500 --> 00:09:58.500 starts on a plug head. 00:09:58.500 --> 00:10:02.220 Now you've got to make your way to the socket, but you're very limited in the way you can 00:10:02.220 --> 00:10:03.220 travel. 00:10:03.220 --> 00:10:07.949 Like, you can stretch out into the world but only so far because you're joined together 00:10:07.949 --> 00:10:09.510 with a power source. 00:10:09.510 --> 00:10:14.040 If you link to a bulb, though, you can travel through the wires and pop out on the other 00:10:14.040 --> 00:10:15.040 side. 00:10:15.040 --> 00:10:19.759 Later, you'll be able to use yourself to power on machines like big chunky doors. 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:23.980 And also transfer yourself into little robots for more freeform movement. 00:10:23.980 --> 00:10:28.589 This leads to a metric butt tonne of clever puzzles and set-ups. 00:10:28.589 --> 00:10:33.420 Look, you could buy this game on the Switch eShop and not even know it was made in a weekend. 00:10:33.420 --> 00:10:38.129 The huge team at Team Bugulon is clearly a game-making monster. 00:10:38.129 --> 00:10:40.259 Well done. 00:10:40.259 --> 00:10:46.399 Squeaking in at overall rating position 100 is Tether n' Feather. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:48.179 Or should that be squawking in? 00:10:48.179 --> 00:10:51.990 This is a parrot-themed platformer with a big difference. 00:10:51.990 --> 00:10:57.940 To get over gaps, you need to do a big jump as one parrot - and then switch to the second. 00:10:57.940 --> 00:11:04.319 Now, parrot number two can use their buddy as a grapple point to do a big, looping, arcing 00:11:04.319 --> 00:11:08.679 swing before rocketing out the other side and - hopefully - onto dry land. 00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:13.740 Later, you'll get golden feathers that let you do more jumps and swaps in mid-air, leading 00:11:13.740 --> 00:11:18.059 to frantic back-and-forth chains as you leap from parrot to parrot. 00:11:18.059 --> 00:11:21.740 Now, don't get me wrong - it's a little tricky to get used to. 00:11:21.740 --> 00:11:25.160 But once you get the rhythm right, you'll be soaring towards the goal in a game that 00:11:25.160 --> 00:11:28.407 mixes fast-pace thrills with strategic placement. 00:11:28.407 --> 00:11:31.068 Good stuff. 00:11:31.990 --> 00:11:34.879 Next up is Mrs. Modifier. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:40.009 This is an arcade adventure - on a cabinet with not enough buttons for all the actions 00:11:40.009 --> 00:11:41.009 you need. 00:11:41.009 --> 00:11:47.199 I mean, left, right, and jump won't really cut it when you also need to climb, air dash, 00:11:47.199 --> 00:11:49.829 crouch, and drop through platforms. 00:11:49.829 --> 00:11:54.679 So, you can open up the arcade machine and rewire the controls for yourself. 00:11:54.679 --> 00:12:00.100 Like, make going to the right also perform an air-dash, or have going to the left do 00:12:00.100 --> 00:12:03.149 double duty as fall through platforms. 00:12:03.149 --> 00:12:08.131 It seems like a clever sight gag of a game, but it's actually a clever puzzler where you 00:12:08.131 --> 00:12:12.560 need to assess the screen ahead of you and make decisions about how you can assign all 00:12:12.560 --> 00:12:15.410 the necessary actions without breaking things. 00:12:15.410 --> 00:12:20.989 I really enjoyed this, and it took a very different twist on the theme. 00:12:20.989 --> 00:12:26.129 One of the most popular themes for the top 100 was games where different bits of the 00:12:26.129 --> 00:12:30.839 world can be jumbled up and joined together in unique combinationas. 00:12:30.839 --> 00:12:35.489 Including a mini minotaur maze, and a clever mix between Minit and Carto. 00:12:35.489 --> 00:12:41.519 But my pick of the bunch has got to be the micro Metroidvania, Octo and the Pocket Dimensions. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:47.079 In this one, you find new rooms as big floating floppy disks - and can then return to a massive 00:12:47.079 --> 00:12:52.079 central computer, to rearrange the maze of room tiles to make further progress. 00:12:52.079 --> 00:12:56.399 Very cool - though, we've seen similar stuff in previous jams. 00:12:56.399 --> 00:13:01.050 What I loved, though, was the clever ways that developer IceburgLettuce built on the 00:13:01.050 --> 00:13:02.050 idea. 00:13:02.050 --> 00:13:06.220 For example, there are keys to pick up, but they disappear when you use the computer - so 00:13:06.220 --> 00:13:10.689 you'll need to ensure that the key room is en route to the corresponding door. 00:13:10.689 --> 00:13:15.399 And even smarter, one room has a big bouncy trampoline which can spring you out of one 00:13:15.399 --> 00:13:20.759 room - and then over obstacles in another - so plopping down rooms can have ramifications 00:13:20.759 --> 00:13:23.160 that spill out beyond their walls. 00:13:23.160 --> 00:13:24.160 Ah! 00:13:24.160 --> 00:13:28.350 It's basically like that dungeon from Skyward Sword, if Skyward Sword was on the Game Boy. 00:13:28.350 --> 00:13:33.079 And if you've watched my channel at all, you'll understand why I couldn't resist this game's 00:13:33.079 --> 00:13:35.660 charms. 00:13:35.660 --> 00:13:38.949 Next up is Space Scrap Shuffle. 00:13:38.949 --> 00:13:43.589 It's not the most attractive game in the jam, but looks can be deceiving. 00:13:43.589 --> 00:13:48.149 In this one, you ram your spaceship into floating bits and pieces to add them to your every-growing 00:13:48.149 --> 00:13:51.069 Frankenstein's Monsters of a battle cruiser. 00:13:51.069 --> 00:13:55.089 Like turrets for fire power, and bulkheads for shields. 00:13:55.089 --> 00:13:59.379 And now you can chase down enemies and blow them up - but you'll want to be careful as 00:13:59.379 --> 00:14:03.059 any leftover Lego pieces can be added to your own ship. 00:14:03.059 --> 00:14:07.299 So you'll want to play carefully - only destroying the command module, but leaving the turrets 00:14:07.299 --> 00:14:08.299 unharmed. 00:14:08.299 --> 00:14:13.730 Luckily, the game's got a generous tactical pause system for precision decisions. 00:14:13.730 --> 00:14:17.960 Another cool idea is that you can jettison bits of your own body and blow them up, in 00:14:17.960 --> 00:14:20.249 order to get health for other modules. 00:14:20.249 --> 00:14:23.069 There's a lot of decision making in this one. 00:14:23.069 --> 00:14:28.120 There's a load more you could do with this game - and it suffers the same balance problem every 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:32.100 game of this ilk has: it's too easy to become utterly overpowered. 00:14:32.100 --> 00:14:37.529 But it's a great base for a smashing jam entry. 00:14:37.529 --> 00:14:41.019 Here's a really neat game with a lot of potential for growth. 00:14:41.019 --> 00:14:42.949 It's called Threadbound. 00:14:42.949 --> 00:14:45.369 It starts out as a simple platformer. 00:14:45.369 --> 00:14:47.049 Move, jump, push. 00:14:47.049 --> 00:14:52.809 But then something special happens: you can open an overlay above the gameplay, and here 00:14:52.809 --> 00:14:56.649 you can create a green thread between multiple objects. 00:14:56.649 --> 00:15:01.029 And now, when you interact with one - the other one changes too. 00:15:01.029 --> 00:15:05.820 Thread two boxes together, and you can now move both just by pushing one of them. 00:15:05.820 --> 00:15:10.439 Eventually you'll be able to choose whether to thread your needle through the object's 00:15:10.439 --> 00:15:15.639 X or Y axis, allowing for either horizontal or vertical movement. 00:15:15.639 --> 00:15:19.619 A platform that goes up, when you push a box to the side. 00:15:19.619 --> 00:15:24.410 This led to one of the best individual puzzles I saw in the jam - though, to spoil it would 00:15:24.410 --> 00:15:25.410 be a shame. 00:15:25.410 --> 00:15:27.089 So I'll leave you to play it for yourself. 00:15:27.089 --> 00:15:31.129 Ultimately, there's so much more this game could do: it feels like a cheeky teaser for 00:15:31.129 --> 00:15:35.879 the next must-play puzzle game. 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:39.709 Threadbound wasn't the only game to tinker with tapestry. 00:15:39.709 --> 00:15:45.959 Like the tricky climbing game Utterly Threadful, or my next pick: Loop. 00:15:45.959 --> 00:15:51.619 In a world of sentient buttons and fluffballs, your tiny needlework hero must plop down a 00:15:51.619 --> 00:15:56.309 cotton reel and then encircle a bunch of objects in a big loop of thread. 00:15:56.309 --> 00:16:00.509 You don't want to capture just any old stuff in your circle: you're given a recipe - some 00:16:00.509 --> 00:16:05.209 fluff, some fabric, and some buttons to make a teddy bear - and so must only pick the right 00:16:05.209 --> 00:16:06.209 objects. 00:16:06.209 --> 00:16:08.220 And I think that's really sweet! 00:16:08.220 --> 00:16:12.319 This could have been yet another sci-fi shooter about rounding up aliens and robots in order 00:16:12.319 --> 00:16:13.360 to destroy them. 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:16.250 But instead it's about making toys and clothes. 00:16:16.250 --> 00:16:20.300 A pertinent reminder to think outside the box when it comes to aesthetics and not land 00:16:20.300 --> 00:16:22.980 on the obvious first choice. 00:16:22.980 --> 00:16:28.920 I love how a game jam can produce games that are basically just a funny joke. 00:16:28.920 --> 00:16:33.299 They probably wouldn't work as a full, paid-for release: but as a one-off freebie made in 00:16:33.299 --> 00:16:37.799 a weekend, you can get away with turning your game into a gag. 00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:40.670 And that includes Tongue-Tied. 00:16:40.670 --> 00:16:44.699 This is a silly game about a girl who has licked an icy pole in the winter, and her 00:16:44.699 --> 00:16:46.540 tongue has gotten stuck. 00:16:46.540 --> 00:16:51.519 That means you can only move a small distance away - but if you pick up these balls of energy, 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:53.649 your tongue gets longer. 00:16:53.649 --> 00:16:57.540 And so in order to escape this nightmare you need to keep increasing the length of your 00:16:57.540 --> 00:17:01.569 tongue, carefully wrapping it around walls and thinking about distance. 00:17:01.569 --> 00:17:06.480 This lets you get further and further away from the pole - and hopefully, towards freedom. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:11.620 The final punchline is well worth seeing. 00:17:11.620 --> 00:17:14.189 Next up, this is Ball to the Wall. 00:17:14.189 --> 00:17:17.389 This is a frantic football-style rampage of a game. 00:17:17.389 --> 00:17:21.490 You're joined together with a massive pink ball that makes it awfully hard to get anywhere 00:17:21.490 --> 00:17:22.490 fast. 00:17:22.490 --> 00:17:27.500 But, if you stand behind it you can give the ball a big kick - and use it to smash through 00:17:27.500 --> 00:17:29.400 enemies and walls alike. 00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:33.500 This does fling you forward, so you'll need to be quick on your toes to reposition yourself 00:17:33.500 --> 00:17:34.860 for the next kick. 00:17:34.860 --> 00:17:40.179 Or, to use your ball as a shield as it does double duty as a way of deflecting bullets. 00:17:40.179 --> 00:17:44.519 This is a fun game, with a lot of charm. 00:17:44.519 --> 00:17:48.429 And finally, this is SparkLink. 00:17:48.429 --> 00:17:53.889 This game is all about controlling two characters with completely different rules, options, 00:17:53.889 --> 00:17:56.040 and even input methods. 00:17:56.040 --> 00:18:01.700 The spark is controlled with the mouse, and can basically go anywhere your cursor can. 00:18:01.700 --> 00:18:07.700 The robot is controlled with the keyboard, is more concerned with gravity and ground, 00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:12.169 and only works when it's joined together with the spark. 00:18:12.169 --> 00:18:17.620 And so we get a bunch of really cool puzzles where you need to think critically and carefully 00:18:17.620 --> 00:18:22.999 about how these two very different characters are going to move in order to get to the goal 00:18:22.999 --> 00:18:26.769 - and help, but not hinder each other. 00:18:26.769 --> 00:18:32.019 This is a polished and very smart game - go check it out. 00:18:32.019 --> 00:18:36.350 Okay, I wanted to leave you with some honourable mentions! 00:18:36.350 --> 00:18:42.450 Though, I should state that every game in the top 100 was amazing and well worth playing. 00:18:42.450 --> 00:18:45.480 These are just a few games I wanted to highlight. 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:51.559 Horse Divorce is a barmy Sokoban puzzler about a two headed horse who must find its other 00:18:51.559 --> 00:18:54.039 head for a smooch. 00:18:54.039 --> 00:19:00.190 UI Warrior is an inventive game about using bits of the interface as platforms: it almost 00:19:00.190 --> 00:19:04.050 made the video, but I think we have enough puzzle platformers in here. 00:19:04.050 --> 00:19:09.470 Holosaur and Twominator are two games about using your past self to solve puzzles, but 00:19:09.470 --> 00:19:13.289 unfortunately I highlighted something similar in the past. 00:19:13.289 --> 00:19:18.309 And Top & Tom is a brilliant twist on the endless runner genre - with a really mean 00:19:18.309 --> 00:19:19.740 difficulty curve. 00:19:19.740 --> 00:19:22.429 So there we have it. 00:19:22.429 --> 00:19:30.039 You can browse all 5,800 games over on itch.io - and you can also now see the public's rankings 00:19:30.039 --> 00:19:31.889 for all the games. 00:19:31.889 --> 00:19:37.570 Thank you so much to everyone who took part in the jam, or just rated some games, or chatted 00:19:37.570 --> 00:19:40.549 with us on Discord, or watched my streams. 00:19:40.549 --> 00:19:45.130 Thanks to my mods on Discord and YouTube, and to everyone who made our awesome team 00:19:45.130 --> 00:19:46.320 finder app. 00:19:46.320 --> 00:19:48.390 And thanks to my Patrons, as always. 00:19:48.390 --> 00:19:51.539 The jam will, of course, be back in 2022. 00:19:51.539 --> 00:19:56.350 So subscribe to the channel to receive the date announcement… sometime next year. 00:19:56.350 --> 00:19:57.679 Thanks for watching. 00:19:57.679 --> 00:20:01.480 If you like what you just saw and want to show your support for the jam, please check 00:20:01.480 --> 00:20:03.999 out this quick YouTube ad break.