Tankblade - First Game Jam!

#gamedev #javascript #currying #pixijs

"Ghouls! Frickin ghouls everywhere, just my luck!
Well, I best hop in this here spinning-top, blade-encrusted tank and start slashy smashin'."

PLAY THE GAME!
Source

Development

This game was built entirely by myself from scratch for LOWREZJAM 2019 in a week, including all music, physics, graphics* etc and is completely open source!

This is my very first Game Jam submission and was a brilliant challenge - to build a game with a true resolution of 64x64 - forcing my coding to improve and encouraging a fast-and-loose development style fitting with a jam so as to, you know, actually complete a side-project for once!

The renderer itself is Pixi.js (a library underneath Phaser), which I can't claim to have built ^_-

What I learnt

Game dev isn't my profession, but holy heck is a great way to improve skills! Utilising functional programming junk like currying that might not normally enter typical daily thought patterns. I highly recommend it, and especially in the context of a jam - working to that 'good enough' mentality all the while.

Top comments (3)

Pro Seo • Jan 24 • Edited

Tankblade’s first Game Jam entry is a great example of how constraints (like a 64x64 resolution) can spark creativity and rapid learning, similar to how Wikipedia describes game jams as time-limited events that encourage experimentation and skill growth.
Building everything from scratch—music, physics, graphics—while using tools like Pixi.js and functional programming techniques shows how jams push developers to adopt “good enough” solutions and improve fast.
For players, having a smooth, optimized game experience is key, whether it’s a jam-made tank slasher or a casual block blast puzzle game that runs best on stable performance.