Jack O’Bash is a fast-paced hack-and-slash action game that contains bullet heaven/hell-like elements such as automated attacks and weapon upgrades. Players start the game by using their wooden bat to attack enemies with, but over time they’ll gain access to a suite of other weapons and skills overtime, allowing them to kill enemies in a gameplay loop showcasing high energy and quick action.
The aim of the game is for players to battle through hordes of enemies to defeat all bosses and as many enemies as possible before time runs out. Each game is run under a time limit and acts as their health system, so every time the player survives a set interval, more enemies spawn in which forces them to use more tactics to defeat them before time runs out. Killing certain boss enemies rewards players with a choice of a new weapon, in exchange of a random chance of that enemy appearing in the next pool of regular enemies. The more enemies the player kills, the more time they have remaining, which rewards players that enact consecutive attacks more consistently.
Jack'O'Bash was a group project made in 2023. I had the privilege of serving as the lead programmer.
One of the key lessons I learned was how to better scope my work. Even though I thought I had accounted for the worst-case scenario, I still ended up overestimating what I could realistically achieve under those conditions. This ties into another important lesson: understanding my own work-life balance and recognizing what I can take on without risking burnout.