Global Game Jam 2026: The Mask of Imaginations

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A cover image for The Mask of Imaginations. It shows the title over a screenshot from the game, showing a little girl and a nightmare shadow monster.


Behind your imagination's mask, wonder awaits. And cookies. 🍪


tl;dr: I made a game with friends for Global Game Jam 2026. In this game, you are a girl who wakes up in the middle of the night, and goes on an epic quest for a magnificent cookie. You collect masks of make-believe, and vanquish many scary monsters along the way.





The jam

The theme of the jam was "Mask".

We made this game for Global Game Jam 2026 in 48 hours.

We made all the design, code, art, and sounds--and there's a lot of each!

Screenshots

An animated GIF of a gameplay recording. Shows a girl jump jumping between platforms and collecting a pirate mask which transform her into a pirate with a parrot and sword.
Avast! With the pirate mask, you swing a sword, and get a lift from your parrot!

An animated GIF of a gameplay recording. Shows a cowboy jumping between platforms, shooting, and dodging a ghost.
Reach for the sky! With the cowboy mask, you can shoot enemies from afar!

An animated GIF of a gameplay recording. Shows a wizard conjuring giant falling spikes of ice.
Abracadabra! With the wizard mask, you drop ice spikes--great for crushing foes and well as climbing on!

An animated GIF of a gameplay recording. Shows a tyrannosaurus rex chomping through enemies.
Rawr! With the dinosaur mask, you can eat anything in your way!

Animated pixel art of a creepy monster hand that emerges from the ground, a scary nightmare shadow monster that also rises from the ground, and a pirate with a parrot.
This game is packed with hand-crafted animations.

Retrospective

The main concept of the game is a mask-swapping mechanic. When you switch masks, you turn into a completely different player, with different movement and abilities.

To support this, we made separate animations, attack logic, musical themes, and sound effects for each different mask! (There are six masks!)

  • I did this jam with my friends Alden and Ray.
  • Our only real issue was the classic problem of scope.
    • We planned (and made) too many:
      • pixel-art sprites and animations
      • enemy behaviors
      • player abilities
      • music themes
      • sound effects
    • We didn't have enough time for level design; which feels usually true, but it was definitely worse this time.
    • Everything would have fit perfectly in a 72-hour jam!
  • But it all ended up turning into a pretty fun and immersive game!
  • Also, I added a palette-swap mechanic, so when you switch masks, we swap out the color palette across the level, as though your perspective changes with the mask.
    • I think this turned out really nicely!
    • But again, I spent too much time on this. Mostly on deciding on the colors in the first place!
  • This is definitely the most art and animations I've made for a jam.
  • All of the player abilities and enemies feel great.
  • The sounds are so amazing and immersive!
  • There's some REALLY good music in here!
    • Like, really good. Way over-the-top for our little game. It's so much fun.
  • Our overall concept is not really an innovative take on the theme, but it's a lot of fun, and well-executed!

No AI was used in the making of this game, except for the "Mask of Imaginations" title art.

🎉 Cheers!


This is a simple icon representing my sabbatical.


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