Finished Game — Grape Juice Robot
Game Summary
Grape Juice Robot features a boy named Tilson and his robot friend who has a fatal juice addiction. Unfortunately, Tilson gives his robot friend juice and this causes a deathly malfunction. The robot friend has been disassembled and his parts have been scattered around a realm with slime creatures, goblins, and chickens. Tilson must explore the realm and find his robot friend’s remains to rebuild him.
Juice Box
Tilson uses the same juice box that killed his robot friend as a weapon. With the deadly droplets of juice, Tilson uses his juice box to fend off slimes and goblins.
Enemies
Slimes
They may be fun to watch as they bounce around, and look rather harmless, however, they are a little more interesting than you think. Just like the ghosts in Pac-man, there are a few slime variants that make each one behave differently.
Green: High jump, moderate speed
Blue: High speed, Moderate jump
Red: Light speed
White: Jumping into the stratosphere
Goblins
The goblins carry a variety of items that can be thrown at you. These items are mostly junk, however, players BEWARE because goblins can throw explosive bombs that do quite some damage!
Players also have the ability to shoot junk items in mid-air.
Junk Items:
They all take a different form yet in Grape Juice Robot, a rock does the same damage as an apple, cat, grape, etc.
Chickens
Chickens are absolutely harmless and novel, yet they add so much to the game.
Explore what you can do with chickens — ask questions such as:
- Can they be abolished? If so… HOW?
- Do they talk?
- How many chickens exist in the game?
Be creative and enjoy a game with chickens!
Obstacles
Lasers
They don’t kill you immediately but they can definitely kill Tilson, lasers are quite the challenge when they appear in a series.
Lasers may also act as a barrier when slimes/bombs/junk try to deal damage. This is also true for juice droplets.
Acidic Slime Pools
The pools of acidic slime are quite deadly and can be detrimental when there are no platforms nearby. Despite so, once you have landed in a pool, there’s still a chance to survive— jump out.
Crates
Crates can be beneficial when there are multiple enemies bunched together. Slimes must jump over crates to hit you, and goblins cannot pass the crates.
Tilson however, is tall enough where he can fire juice droplets from behind the crate.
The Story
Unfortunately, because this game was made during a game jam, we did not have enough time to have a coherent ending. The original idea was to have Tilson collect and rebuild his robot friend, however, due to his fatal juice addiction, he reverts back to his juice-loathing self and only seeks self-destruction.
The game currently loops as described, however, there isn’t a solid narrative to show the devasted Tilson as well as the rush of frustration.
Global Game Jam
The theme of the 2021 Global Game Jam was “Lost and Found.” The core message behind Grape Juice Robot was replacement. Things that once had great use, performed excellently, and looked awesome will eventually wear out. When people lose these things, there might be a feeling of “ nothing will ever match up to the one I had before”. As much as I want to believe this, this isn’t always the case.
Personally, I always had a favorite toothbrush that I just couldn’t throw away. It was battery-operated, had nice bristles, and a large minion was printed on the front. One day after coming back from camping, I forgot to bring it home and I wanted it back so bad. Fortunately for me, I realized how gross and worn out it was and not to mention very unhygienic! Bottom line is, sometimes losing things and being forced to replace them is actually a great thing and can even lead to new favorites.
Check It Out!
I usually only write about games, however this time there is one to play as well! Feel free to play Grape Juice Robot.
**note: I was not a programmer on this project, however, I wanted to write about this amazing game that I was part of.
Global Game Jam:
Download Link:
Game Credits:
Programmers: Tom Tiisler, Dawson Kelly, Thomas Almbanis, Darren Mai, Benjamin Barbeau
Art Design: Benjamin Barbeau, Veronica Yung
Music: Benjamin Barbeau
Project Manager: Veronica Yung