Bubble Buddy

Hey Buddies! This is a WIP, this was for 2 game jams since the timelines coincided and we could make the game's theme work for each other! We don't know if this disqualifies us but we had fun making it so here you go!

V1 was made in 32 hours for the Global Game Jam 2025 with the theme of "Bubbles" and then we continued working on it for the rest of the following week to expand on it to submit to Pirate Software - Game Jam 16 with the theme of "You are the weapon"
We aimed to make a bubble game where you play as the weapon!

Bubble Buddy is a humorous take on a action hero-esque bullet hell where the player darts through enemies as a bubble person scouring for bubbles, every time you shoot you become smaller and every time you collect a bubble you become bigger. The bigger you are the slower you get and the smaller you are the more vulnerable you are. Bubbles here replenish health and count as bullets as you are a weapon who kills enemies by shooting parts of yourself at them!

Game Design Presentation (WIP): Link

Game Design Google Doc (WIP): Link

Shoot to Scale to Speed!

The buddy’s health, mass, and bubbles (ammo) are all connected! Every bullet shot makes you smaller and weaker, but at the same time, the smaller you are, the faster you move. Similarly, the more bubbles (ammo) you collect, the more health you gain, but you also become slower.

Bubbles and Cracks!

Around the arena are set points which are called the Cracks. These cracks spawn bubbles which the player can collect. The bubbles spawning has an interval duration between each spawn forcing the player to rotate between all the cracks and keep moving to collect NEW bubbles!

Enemies: Pufferbish and SwordFeesh!

Pufferbish is an enemy which functions more like a trap than an enemy. This lil guy runs at the player and when the player is within proximity/range it charges up and goes boom.

SwordFeesh is a fun enemy that forces the player to dodge and retaliate. It functions by chasing the enemy, once the player enters the proximity/range, swordfeesh does a charge-up animation and then dash in a straight line. The player can get out of the way and dodge it which stuns the enemy briefly before it turns around and chases the player again and repeats the attack!