$20,000 bonus 13kb mini game development leads to "craze": the mini re-enactment version of Quake makes players crazy

In recent years, 13kb mini games have gradually been favored by developers and players. Recently, independent developer Dominic Szablewski created a 13kb JavaScript version of "Thor's Hammer" mini-replica game, which has aroused heated discussion among the game circles.

It is reported that the 13kb "Thor's Hammer" replica game is based on JavaScript scripting language. The JavaScript scripting language is characterized by its simple and compact design. It can respond to user input without going through a Web server. The JavaScript scripting language does not depend on the operating system and only needs the support of the browser.

[ Since the program written in the JavaScript scripting language can be used on any machine (provided that the browser on the machine supports the JavaScript scripting language), and JavaScript has been supported by most browsers, so Dominic Szablewski developed This 13kb version of "Thor’s Hammer" mini game also supports browser experience. 】

In the mini-game of "Thor's Hammer", users can explore locations, collect cartridges, find new weapons, and destroy enemies. There is no line of sight in the game, so the player must navigate through the position of the gun in the center of the screen.

It is reported that the first version of Quake was released on PC in July 1996. Subsequently, the game appeared on Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64 consoles, and received PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on August 19 this year. Reissue version of.

Currently, players can find the re-released version on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S.

JS13kGames: Challenge to major productions such as 3A games

Compared with large-scale, high-development-cost 3A games, 13kb mini-games are lighter in weight, much lower in development costs, and the creation cycle will be shortened accordingly. Therefore, the development of 13kb mini-games has become more and more popular in recent years, so that foreign countries have also specially created a competition for this purpose-JS13kGames.

JS13kGames event link:
https://js13kgames.com/

JS13kGames is an HTML5 game development competition founded by Andrzej Mazur, the founder of the independent game studio Enclave Games, to challenge large-scale games. The eighth edition has just been held in 2020.

The winners of the event will receive more than $20,000 in prize money, and all participants will receive a free t-shirt as a souvenir.

The entries were selected by Mazur and some celebrities in the industry. Including YouTuber and indie game author Jupiter Hadley, 40 game creator Christer Kaitila, GitHub developer Lee Reilly, Codibility engineering director Tomasz Wesolowski, Jscrambler co-founder Pedro Fortuna, and Pablo Farías Navarro, the game developer and founder of Zenva, will also join the judging team.

At present, independent developer Dominic Szablewski has released the 13kb JavaScript version of "Thor’s Hammer" mini-engraved game project as part of participating in the Js13KGames competition to create interactive entertainment for participants in the competition.

Participating in JS13kGames events need to comply with some rules :

(1) Code and game resources should be less than or equal to 13Kb. The .zip package of the contestant should contain the index.html file, which should be usable in the browser after decompression.

(2) There must be 2 sources: the first source is minimized and compressed to fit the 13kb limit, and the second source is hosted on GitHub in a readable form with descriptive variable names and comments for others to learn .

(3) Any form of libraries, images or data, including Google fonts, etc., is not allowed to be carried on the server. If third-party libraries can be reduced to the total limit of 13kb, they can be used.

(4) The contestant's game must be new and at least be able to run offline in Firefox and Chrome.

(It is worth noting that the above are the 2017 competition rules, and the annual competition may be updated according to the participating games)

The 2017 JS13kGames event was not as difficult as the previous games, but everyone is also committed to cool code and creativity. Participants can choose to participate in pixelated graphics games as in previous years, but most developers choose a more challenging difficulty. According to the rules, the participating games are also kept within 13kb.

If you are also interested in js13kgames, indie games, javascript, html5, jams, etc., it is recommended that you carefully check the terms of the competition and the code of the entries every year, because they may be the source of new ideas for your work.

Portal:
https://js13kgames.com