THE GAME

Jam is an HTML5 video game based on a popular, music-oriented, TV show of the same name on Ontario, Canada's TFO channel. The game is a mix between classic arcade mechanics with high scores, leaderboards, combos, bonuses, multipliers and a simple music creation and sharing system that allows players to combine multiple instrument sounds and loops with variations of intensity to create a song that can be shared to and replayed by friends and the public. The game features 10 playable levels and music genres, 5 unique instruments by genre and 3 intensity variation for each of those.

I was lead programmer on the project, in charge of selecting the right technology to build it with (in this case PhaserJS), programming all that game's mechanics, architecture and website related features (scoreboards, contest and account registration, social sharing, song history, profile, etc). In short, I was in charge of creating an asset pipeline, integrating the said assets into the game as efficiently as possible and programming all the systems including gameplay, sound, level editing and serialization, procedural animations & visuals effects, networking, UI, etc.

All of these come to life with Björn Feldmann's vibrant artwork and animation and Jean-Olivier Bégin's quirky and fun takes on music genres tropes.

THE RECEPTION

The game launched in late 2014 with a contest that would have the best players on the leaderboards earn a chance to win a guitar and an amplifier. The game was well received and a lucky (and skilled!) player was drawn out of the top 10 players on the leaderboards at the time. In 2015, the project was nominated for the "Convergence - Best Youth Product" category at the Numix awards and sadly did not win but as a result, two more levels requested by TFO and were added for the players to enjoy in the summer of 2015.

In late 2015, I gave a technical talk about the making of this game at two local programming and independent game events respectively in Montreal. Namely at the monthly "Javascript Montreal" and "Mount Royal Game Society" meetups. 

For more info about the talks:

http://www.meetup.com/js-montreal/events/221211434/

https://www.facebook.com/events/455435201295197/

http://slides.com/osmanzeki/using-phaser-to-build-a-music-game

As for the game, it can still be played online on Jam's website.

THE TEAM

Game Design

Project Management

Art Direction

Music Composition

Programming