Highlights from Game Off 2020

Game Off is our annual month-long game jam. This year’s theme was “moonshot,” and there were more than 500 tre-moon-dous submissions! 🌛

Here are some of the top-rated games as voted on by the developers themselves.

A Trip to the Moon

^{By @namra-gamedev}

“Outstanding art and very enjoyable experience! A beautiful tribute to Le Voyage dans la Lune.“

► Play (Linux, macOS, Windows) · View source (Unity, C#)

A trip to the moon is a story-driven platformer inspired by “Un voyage dans la Lune.”

Paralunar

^{By @Remruts}
“A-ma-zing. I’ve had a ton of fun, everything is spot on: graphics, animation, audio, level design, writing.. it’s a real gem.” – @Akien

► Play (Linux, Web, Windows) · View source (Godot, GDScript)

Paralunar is a 2D shooting game set inside a haunted castle on the Moon. Shoot, float, dash, and bounce around in low gravity while exorcising ghosts and other vengeful spirits!

Launch Party

^{By @jeremycryan and @superduperpacman42}

“What an amazing idea for a game! I am absolutely stunned at the creativity. I lost a lot of time tonight just tinkering with my commands, and talking to another random player trying the game out.” – @diego-escalante

► Play (Windows) · View source (Pygame, Python)

Launch Party is a multiplayer ship-programming game played via Twitch stream. Write some code, send it as a comment, and watch your ship take off! Everyone is racing to be the first to land on the moon.

Moonkind

^{By @PierreVandermaesen and @alessandraurso}
“Incredible job! This is a complete game in every sense. I love the concept, the interface, and the graphics.” – @never-k

► Play (Web, Windows) · View source (Unity, C#)

In Moonkind, you are mankind’s last hope. Keeping the last-surviving humans alive will require determination, ingenuity, and strong management.

Catapult, cat space program

^{By @Deep-Fold}

“Amazing entry, had so much fun with it! The atmosphere, gameplay, and graphics really tied it together.” – @plasmastarfish

► Play (Linux, macOS, Web, Windows) · View source (Godot, GDScript)

As the name suggests, Catapult is a game about catapulting a cat to the moon. Simple. Fun!

Pack

^{By @MrBundles}
“A really fantastic submission. Reminds me of other “programming” games like SHENZHEN I/O or Human Resource Machine.” – @manicmoleman

► Play (Web) · View source (Godot, GDScript)

You are preparing for an upcoming rocket launch, and you have the most important job of all… Packing Boxes. This is a fun physics-based puzzle game with some interesting mechanics.

Macro • Pool

^{By @HealliesGames}
“This is an amazing pool game! I love how you created so many different effects. The art and music are absolutely enamoring too.” – @DakotaHall

► Play (Web) · View source (Phaser, JavaScript)

It’s pool, but with planets! Throw the moon as a cue ball and send planets into black hole. Exploit planets’ effects to score the maximum possible score.

Moon Liberator

^{By @LeHaine}

“This was a really fun one! The visual effects for firing the gun (overcharged or regular) makes it really fun to use.” – @dsmith111

► Play (Web) · View source (Heaps, Haxe)

You are a normal person that does normal things, that some how got held prisoner in some sort of science facility, where you have a strong desire to escape. Find your way out using a weapon that harnesses the power of the moon to blast your way through scientists, guards, mutants, and other enemies in order to see day light again.

MonMon

^{By @DakotaHall, @YasmeenLec, and @atheniann}

“This game is utterly gorgeous, both visually and aurally, but you knew that already.” – @perey

► Play (Web, Windows) · View source (Unity, C#)

Embark on a journey alongside MonMon in a perilous world plagued by beasts that wreak havoc in the realm. You are tasked with bringing peace to the poor inhabitants of the land in exchange for special abilities that derive their force straight from the moon.

Ogi

^{By @DefaultV,, @miguelines, @spacenerdy, Jannick Drews, and Indigaya}

“The beautiful artstyle and positive message of the narrative is fantastic.” – @biomatrix1-15

► Play (Web, Windows) · View source (Godot, GDScript)

Humans decided that the ego that came with greed and treasure was too much to bear, and thus sent their treasured belongings to space. Unknowingly, they sent it straight towards a world of small, innocent white bears—imposing on them a great, otherworldly force that they are unused to …

Stardust Lingers

^{By @Zelveri, @rk-exxec, and Bruno Almeida}

“Excellent work for a game jam. The story was compelling and moody, and the art and audio work were fantastic.” – @plasmastarfish

► Play (Linux, macOS, Web, Windows) · View source (Unity, C#)

When Mira arrives back at the cabin now abandoned, searching for clues among memories and manuscripts, she finds an unexpected friend in the form of a bunny with a fuzzy black coat. After speaking to it about her troubles, she realizes that it isn’t just the bunny who has been listening…

Scrap Out

^{By @sabacu}

“Amazing game, lovely art and music. The movement and dialogs look really polished.” – @kotzi

► Play (Web) · View source (Godot, GDScript)

You are a small self-conscious vacuum cleaner and wake up in the middle of a big scrapyard. If you want to get out of it alive, you will have to face many challenges and think about the time to risk or play safely.

Strings of Light

^{By @LeBodro}

“I loved the soothing music that was integral to the gameplay, watching the notes create stars in its path upward.” – @biomatrix1-15

► Play (Android, Web, Windows) · View source (Unity, C#)

This game is about our own personal moonshots; those small steps that ultimately lead to success, as long as we dare take them.

Bloodmoon

^{By @LiveOVErdrive}

“Wow, this was a blast! Really polished, loved the voice acting and character models.” – @smokecastles

► Play (macOS, Windows) · View source (Godot, GDScrpt)

Bloodmoon is an early-90s, DOS-era-inspired, first-person, action adventure.

Starcrossed & Moonshot

^{By @inc-b}

“Wow, amazing gem, really loved the music and sound design, the mechanics of trading are simple but interesting, and the hand painted cats are totally <3” – @xPheRe

► Play (Linux, macOS, Web, Windows) · View source (Unity, C#)

Saturn is a long way from Earth and you could only afford a ticket for one. The love of your life stayed behind. The distance is unbearable so you must buy a ticket for them to join you!

Shoot the Moon

^{By @davidfig}

“Polished, clever, difficult, and with a surprisingly compelling story. (It’s certainly kept me going “one more level!” longer than the puzzle alone would have.) Nicely done!” – @perey

► Play (Web) · View source (PixiJS, JavaScript)

You landed a job as a destruction sequence manager. Your job: find the proper sequence to fire the Moonerator laser to destroy the moons. Find the perfect sequence for each moon!

Moonarchists

^{By @renato-grottesi}

► Play (Linux, macOS, Web, Windows) · View source (Godot, GDScript)

Shoot mini-moons at other planets to push them to their doom and be the last celestial body in orbit!

Abbadon

^{By @ruinthread-games}

“The mechanic and technicality you shown just blew me away.  I love the instruction panel, tutorial check-boxes and the concept behind it.” – @rumbledot

► Play (Linux, macOS, Windows) · View source (Godot, GDScript)

The old world is dead. But the Terrabot fleet is awaiting your orders. Let them mine, build and fight such that they may settle in their new home.

Stairway to the Moon

^{By @KhaledSakr}

“Great game with innovative and creative theme interpretation!” –@StasLyakhotskyy

► Play (Web) · View source (JavaScript)

The only way to go is up, and to the right in this fun little roguelike.

Scent of Aurora

^{By @anttihaavikko}

“Wow, what an incredibly well polished game. To have made this in one month is a moonshot achievement 😉” – @ColorPallete

► Play (Linux, macOS, Web, Windows) · View source (Unity, C#)

A classic love story between Selene and Aurora that you’ll like if you like games like Stick Fight and anything by Bennett Foddy.

Moon and Shot

^{By @sh1ft15}

“I love the spell mechanic, definitely unique. You have made a great foundation for a mix of mmorpg and a “smash tv” game like. Very interesting!” – @jvalen

► Play (Web, Windows) · View source (Unity, C#)

A magical game about structuring and casting spells.

That’s just a sampling of the games. You can view all of the submissions on itch.io—filter by operating system, or view all the games that you can play in the browser or on mobile.

There’s something for everybody: pool games with planetary twists, fast-paced, technotastic, arcade runners, tower defense games, and challenging and addicting gravity puzzle games, to name a few.

There are also great games that wouldn’t feel out of place at the next alt.ctrl.party—an amazing but challenging eight-player moonracer game controlled with two buttons, as well as an addictive rocket flying game controlled with just A + D keys.

In addition to playing these games, you can also view the source and experiment with them. Based on a hunch, I have a feeling you can search for gravity in the source in almost all of these games and have fun with halving or inverting that value. 🤣

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who took part: for playing, rating, and leaving feedback on all of the entries. Also, a  special shout-out for those who helped in the forums and Discord. That’s what makes this annual game jam so special. <3

What game(s) did you most enjoy? Let us know on Twitter with the hashtag #GitHubGameOff. Screenshots, GIF, and videos of your gameplay are encouraged!

GAME OVER

Written by

Lee Reilly

@leereilly

Developer / Marketing / Community at GitHub. Twitter: https://twitter.com/leereilly.