By Belladonna Bennett
It’s now time to announce our winners for the Unity and Godot category of the Polar Opposites game jam. We have had so many exciting entries this year, from physics bending puzzle platformers built in MakeCode Arcade, to exploring dual-worlds with our judge’s choice winners. None of this would be possible without our incredible senseis. Great job, Senseis!
First Place: Fluxbound – Tor Park from Tyler, TX
‘Fluxbound’ is an iso-metric puzzle game in which the player must guide a cube towards its goal. What starts off as a very simple task quickly becomes complicated when a second cube is introduced – only this one moves in the opposite direction to the first. The level can only be completed if both cubes are in their respective goals.
Guest judge Eden Trujillo (Blizzard Entertainment, Narrative Designer) comments, “Animation was SO SMOOTH and I loved the music.”
And from Marc Straight (80HD Games, Creative Director and Audio Designer), “Extremely good neuro plasticity game!”
We asked Tor how Code Ninjas impacted him as a programmer and he said “Working as a Code Sensei has dramatically increased my confidence in my programming skills and sharpened my debugging skills to a new level.”
Congratulations Tor Park on winning first place! Now… Can I get a hint for level 7?
Second Place: Bolf: A Golfoxing Game – Aidan Denommee from Burlington, ON
Everybody knows how to play golf, right? You drive on down to the green, select your clubs, whip out your boxing gloves… No? We don’t do boxing gloves? Well in ‘Bolf: A Golfoxing Game’ we do! Head on down to the range and show that ball what-for in this chaotic golfing beat ’em up. As Aidan puts it, “Golf and boxing combined at last – it’s Bolf, baby!”
Marc certainly enjoyed it, saying, “It’s insane that this hasn’t been made into a game already.”
And Eden agrees! “This is an absolutely fantastic concept, I would love to see more! The sound effects were appropriately hectic—I felt like an agent of chaos and enjoyed every second.”
When asked how Code Ninjas has impacted them as a programmer, Aidan said, “Realizing that I have valuable knowledge to impart on tomorrow’s programmers built up my own confidence as one immensely. Were I not surrounded by Senseis and Ninjas with big ambitions I’d only be dreaming of making games.”
Congratulations on second place, Aidan! What’s next, Chessball? Mixed Martial Bowling?
Third Place: Magnetic Poles – Ricky Luo from Markham, ON
‘Magnetic Poles’ is a tricky 2D platformer that sees the player navigate through the North and South poles to save the world from splitting apart. Switching between the characters ‘North’ and ‘South’ the player must use their powers of magnetism to avoid deadly lasers and reach the end of each level.
As Eden said, “Talking to the other magnets for tutorial advice felt really good and fun. I liked the design of both magnets and the implementation of the mechanics.”
And on how Code Ninjas impacted them as a programmer, Ricky said, “Code Ninjas exposed me to many more unique cases which helped broaden my horizons when it comes to game development. It helped me become better at debugging issues, implementing different kinds of solutions for any given problem and it helped me in terms of creativity as I work with many students and other Code Senseis and have seen their works and ideas too. I think the diversity that I have been exposed to helped me grasp a better understanding of how different kinds of gamers behave and what they look for in games and I’ve tried to apply my understanding the best I can, to my games.”
Congratulations on third place, Ricky!
Before we go, we have one more game to highlight. The runner-up in the Unity and Godot category!
Runner up: Polar Fight – Brian Loewe from Irvine-Northwood, CA
If you’ve ever wondered who would win in a snowball fight between a polar bear and a penguin, well you and a friend can finally get an answer in ‘Polar Fight’, a multiplayer globe-spanning snowball fight. Take it in turns to reposition, then hurl a snowball across the world. The first to score three points wins!
Great work, Brian!
That’s a wrap on the Polar Opposites Game Jam! Once again we’d like to express a huge congratulations to our Game Jam winners. These jams would not be possible without the incredible work of our Senseis and of course a big thank you to our guest judges Eden Trujillo and Marc Straight. See you in the next round!
