Devlog #1 - Gamedev.js Game Jam 2025 Submission Review

Overview

Here’s a late update about my game submission for Gamedev.js Game Jam 2025! Before we begin, the game is available on Itch.io, check it out! PS: Please remember to read the description for the controls!

Game Jam Theme - Balance

This year’s theme for the game jame was “Balance”. Generally, my purpose for joining game jam is to test some of gameplay mechanics ideas. This would give me a rough idea of whether it is worth continuing developing on the game. For this year’s theme, some of the ideas I had were…

1. Deliverying stuff on a shaky platform with physics based movement - unbalance platform type of game
2. Replicating the Frantic Architect - stacking type of game
3. A fighter game where you can switch your attack (absorb health on attack / use health to enhance attack) - something along the line of balancing your health
4. Building bridges for endless stream of creatures that cross the valley - something along the line of balancing bridge resources and choosing with creature to cross first

Ultimately, I went with the 4th option, with the following refined idea

Endless Stream of little creatures (let’s call them tiny blobs) that wants to get to the opposite end of the cliff, players build bridges using random coloured planks for them to cross to the opposite.

The caveat is that the blobs can only hop on to planks of the same color as them. If the colour is not right, the blob will block the path and delay the progress.

ChatGPT response: It’s a clever resource management + spatial puzzle + timing game. Balance plank placement, color matching, traffic flow, limited resources.

I don’t think this fits the theme perfectly, but I like the game play idea. So let’s do it!

---

Development Progress

Here are some development clips I recorded during my progress check-ins…

Check Point 1

Following this Grid Placement System in Unity tutorial by Sunny Valley Studio, I managed to create the bridge building system.

Check Point 2

One of the cool features I wanted to implement was automatically destroying blocks that are no longer connected to the anchor. I spent quite a bit of time trying to optimize this system, but in the end, the most reliable solution was a simple brute-force Breadth-First Search (BFS) algorithm. It runs every few seconds to detect and remove any “unconnected” blocks.

Final Version

Due to time constraints, I wasn’t able to capture the rest of my progress—but here’s a preview of the final version of the game at 1.25x speed!

---

Results & Thoughts & What’s Next?

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I wasn’t able to fully realize my original vision and had to submit a simplified version of the game. Still, out of 416 entries, Blob Bridge ranked 158th, with a 3.4/5 gameplay rating — which I’m genuinely proud of, especially since gameplay was my main focus.

The results really motivated me to continue working on Blob Bridge, and I’m now planning to publish a full version of the game on mobile platforms. Stay tuned for updates!