Building a Game about being a Bad Referee! GMTK 2023

We participated in the 2023 GMTK Game Jam, where we had 48 hours to make a game under the theme "Roles Reversed". We made a game about being a corrupt soccer referee, where you play as the ref to mess with the soccer players to affect the match's outcome. We used TypeScript and the Excalibur game engine.
The game, Bad Ref, on Itch:
bluelemming.itch.io/bad-ref
Code on GitHub:
github.com/mattjennings/bad-r...
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Written version of this video:
www.coopmode.dev/articles/bad...
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Matt: / mattjennings44
Glenn: / glennlabarre
Drew: / drewconley13

[@GMTK]

Thanks for taking part!

[@DrewConley]

Can’t wait for next year!

[@thecastiel69]

Thanks for making it open source, people can learn a lot from this

[@gryzlaw]

This was one of the most original ideas I've seen so far. Well done!

[@DrewConley]

Thank you! There were so many great entries

[@michaelcorrao8465]

Very cool! I actually found myself trying to score a goal as the Ref after a few minutes lol. Played it like a faster Haxball

[@Crockist]

Something about running up to the ball as it's almost in the goal and kicking it in, then tooting the whistle AS THE REFEREE is really entertaining and got a good chuckle out of me.

[@ErikOnarheim]

It plays so nice! I'm really impressed at the level of quality and polish done in 48 hours! Also the ice cream truck is hilarious!

[@UnderArea51]

This link to game also shows the - behind the scene photos of the practical model sets that were photographed - like the Matrix film's action scenes LOL!

[@anawan]

Wow, such a beautiful entry, you totally nailed it! Didn't know of the Excalibur game engine, thank you a lot for the source code, will definitely look into it.

[@kenbrunson4575]

Did you ever play the online 3D board game - "Get the Glass!" The promotional "Drink Milk" campaign? There's KZbin videos floating around of it's gameplay. Reminds me of the clay nation-look for Zelda game.

[@DrewConley]

Never seen it, but I'll check it out!

[@Skeffles]

Love the art for the football players! Reminds me a little bit of Kickabout League from Funorb.

[@Masda.X]

Really nicely done sir👍

[@yukogan]

Very cool and beautiful! Could you maybe do a video about how you learned pixel art? 😊

[@ZDashGD]

At the begining I got the same Idea, but then I change, it's good to see that someone did it !

[@Waffletigercat]

Seems like a really fun idea.

[@robjfulton]

Let’s jammmmmmmmm🎉

[@draloalo]

Nice game. But next time you should flip the "grass stripes" to be vertical, as it will help the referee to make the right (or in this case) wrong off-side calls :D

[@CanadianBoyArt]

Thank you so much for sharing source code.

[@dungeonmasterdave1617]

Would be funny if the players could get more and more mad until they start acting out. The goal could be to get them to act out so bad to can red card them.

[@DrewConley]

That’s what we were thinking, too! 😂

[@dungeonmasterdave1617]

@@DrewConley also being able to bump the goalposts would have been kind of fun to if you can time it right you could temporarily knock the goalposts a few yards up or down. 😁

[@nemila4904]

Man this soo good

[@DrewConley]

Thank you 😄

[@christopherrodax2901]

Im surprised how similar your game is to the one that we made. Ours is called Referee Misery and has the same concept, though, because it was our first time programming a unity game, it is by far not as polished or anything as yours. I mean, we don't even have sound effects 😂. Still, it is nice to see that we were not the only one thinking in this direction. We also went with the reputation mechanic and you are a poor referee that tries to make his money with sports betting.

[@SwagBudder]

Football*

[@DrewConley]

Fair enough

[@mattjennings44]

🕶️⚽️

[@Lightfulsyn]

Has anyone said you kinda look like Jerma

[@TheAmazingMinty]

Good game and all but DISCORD BRIGHT MODE???

[@DrewConley]

I knowww, I’m the worst

[@manojtgn]

r u using discord in light theme 🤯

[@DrewConley]

Unapologetically!

[@PuerinTheHunter]

A game based on real life! 😂

[@DrewConley]

Exactly! 😂

[@morrisonkey202]

Want to be on my game jams team? I'm looking to get into game design and hope to get involved in any upcoming online game jams. About me: I'm a UX designer and ex-software developer. I've participated in web Hackathons and similar competitions in NYC, LA, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Kuala Lumpur. I have worked on games for marketing for large companies (Chevrolet and Eaton) and also created my own 4-level 2D game back in 2014 which I was asked to demo at the NYC Games Forum at Microsoft Headquarters. This would be my first game jam so I'd love to join with someone that has experience. Also, I am a rusty coder so I'd love to have some strong developers on the project. Let's team up and find some jams to win!