Power to the People! (2025)

Overview
Power to the People! was my entry into Kenney Jam 2025. A game jam taking place over two days with the theme of 'Power'. The main stipulation of the jam, was that the only assets that could be used were the packs made available by Kenney and Kay Lousberg. My interpretation of the theme went down the route of a minimalistic city-builder akin to SimCity, with a primary focus on managing the power the player has available while still meeting all the needs of the population.

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Project Design Goals

Create a small game and submit it to the game jam within the alloted timeframe, that could be clearly seen to be an interpretation of the theme.

minimalistic city-builder with an emphasis on using power as a resource.

Manage population happiness by taking into account what amenties were necessary while considering the impact of their placement relative to other buildings.

A dynamic placement system for buildings that takes previously placed buildings into account.

Modular notifications that dynamically scale based on the content to be displayed.

My Role
As this was a solo project, I took on all roles as necessary. Thanks to all the visual assets being provided this was primarily involved the roles of design and programming. Once I had a concept for the game, I began to prototype each of the systems that would be required, iterating on them as I went in order to ensure that they fit both the theme and with one another. The bulk of the work was spent creating systems that managed the population, their happiness or mood, and how placing down buildings would affect all these systems. This also including balancing these systems wherever possible.

What Did I Learn?
As with any short game jam, quick decision making was essential to ensure that the project was completed on time. I took many of the skills I had developed in similar projects and optimised them in order to streamline both gameplay and workflow, something that allowed for the jam to go smoothly. A core design was locked in early and aside from small iterations and changes in key areas, was largely stuck to through the course of the development.

Assets Used

Models: Kenney - All-In-One Pack

Models: Kay Lousberg - City Builder Pack

Sounds: Pixabay