The challenge

BankRupt is a two-player third-person game presented at the Winter 2023 WonderJam. The theme of the jam was “You are not the main character,” and our three constraints were “score“, “every man for himself“, and “I want my share.” Our team consisted of six people. Our goal was to win by creating an online multiplayer game using Epic Games services in just 48 hours.

Our approach

       To begin, choosing the engine and technologies was very quick because the team had trained in advance on Unreal Engine and the multiplayer services provided by Epic Games and Steam.

       Once the jam’s theme was announced, our team held a meeting around a table with paper and pencils to brainstorm a simple yet fun game concept. The guiding principle was to strike a balance between a reasonable game scope (in terms of features) and the feasibility of creating a multiplayer game in just two days. Half an hour later, we came up with the idea of a heist game where we are not the robbers. This idea was approved by all team members, and we immediately shifted to discussions about organization and task distribution. Throughout the jam, we communicated continuously via Discord and in person.

       What made our team strong was our ability to work independently while always being aware of who was doing what at any given time. This allowed us to move forward efficiently without unnecessary conversations. All important game decisions were approved in micro-meetings (lasting 3 to 10 minutes) with the entire group. Other information was validated only by the relevant part of the team (graphics, level design, networking, etc.) to avoid disrupting the momentum of those not involved in the decision-making.

For the BankRupt project, my tasks were:

The WonderJam was an opportunity for me to learn how to persevere and methodically debug an issue. Here’s the story: During the night from Friday to Saturday, our networking stopped working because we had forgotten to remove a configuration line during our migration from Steam's online services to Epic Games' online services. It took me 7 hours to realize this because the game didn’t provide any explicit error messages.I had to comb through the game logs, engine logs, 20 builds, and repeatedly review the entire game pipeline. In the end, I managed to identify the error, and I’m proud that I didn’t give up!
C'est ma petite tête sur cette photo
- Lucas
A bit of context…

       You’re just an intern… yes, that’s right, you’re not the main character in this heist! You’re helping Pablo, a notorious Italian criminal who is using you to bring him the items he needs to open the vault. But beware, it won’t be easy because Pablo doesn’t trust you—he’s hired two interns! Each item you need to retrieve is unique in the bank, so you have to be the fastest to find it and deliver it to him. If you’re not the first to find it, don’t panic—you can always smack the other intern to make them drop the item they’re holding. The more items you bring to Pablo, the larger your share of the final loot grows. Speaking of loot, once you’ve completed all of Pablo’s requests, the vault will open, and you’ll have 1 minute to deliver as many valuable items as possible to the getaway van!

       If you don’t make it back to the van before time runs out or fail to help Pablo before the clock hits zero, you’ll end up in jail. So, make sure you secure a spot in the van, even if it’s at the expense of the other intern! *evil laugh*

How to play?

       Playing is simple. Start by logging into your Epic Games account. Then, one player hosts a game and sets the session name and its characteristics. Once that’s done, the other players just need to join the session by clicking the “join” button in the menu. They should then see the host’s session.

Keyboard controls:
  • Move: WASD
  • Hit: Left Click
  • Pick up/Drop an object: F
Controller controls:
  • Move: Left Joystick
  • Hit: A
  • Pick up/Drop an object: X, Y, or B
Play Video
Game Presentation Video
Play Video
Winter 2023 WonderJam Vlog

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