Suitcase Sins

Airport meets the pearly gates

The jam theme was "Low Battery" and the deadline was seven days. Our idea put together two images that have nothing to do with each other at first glance: airport security screening and entering heaven.

What came out is an arcade game about quick judgements. The player stands in first person at a checkpoint between clouds and flames. The belongings of the newly arrived lie in front of them, the scanner sits next to it.

How it plays

Objects can be picked up and turned in your hand to look at them from every side. A board on the wall lists what does not get through. Waving the wrong thing past or turning away something harmless shows up in the score. A gauge at the top shifts from green to red and sets the pace. The title screen keeps the best runs.

The game lives off its tempo. You have just enough time to look properly, and never enough to be sure.

Small, but finished

We deliberately did not want the biggest possible game, but one that was mechanically thought through and actually playable on day seven. Of those two goals the second is the harder one.

What I did

In a team of three I handled visual design and 3D modelling. The look was meant to feel hand drawn and slightly crooked so that the absurdity of the situation plays along instead of working against it. Darian K. led the team and did the programming, Moritz L. sound and art design.

Seven days of sorting

A jam forces decisions you would otherwise gather arguments about for weeks. Whatever is not standing by Friday does not exist. That pressure separates the essential from the rest remarkably reliably.