Bad Ideas Game Jam 2026: Core systems in place

Hello again,

Time moves fast, doesn’t it? It has almost been a week already, and I feel we’ve gotten nowhere on this game. Jokes aside, these last few days have actually seen some good progress.

The Observers

We have gotten the two core enemy types down. At the moment they are blocks, but the functionality is there.

• Scientists: They move in random patterns.
• Guards: They move along set paths.

The Lethality: Both act the same way—if you are observed, you die.

Environmental Systems

I’ve also created a door system with connected devices. These can be configured in lots of fun ways and serve to make the levels more intricate by having:

• One-way passages.
• Locked doors.
• Strategic runbacks.

We have also done some small things, adding simple title screens and death screens. Both are still in the works in terms of design, but the functionality is there; if the manager emits a game over, the screen triggers and the game pauses.

Multibody Play

Another larger feature, which was finished right before this update, is multibody play. Certain mechanics to be formally introduced further down require the ability to have multiple player instances that you swap between.

This was somewhat of a pain in the backside to do, largely because of the single-body nature of the existing infrastructure. But it has now been implemented and works as intended:

• Players can swap between bodies, which cycles the active index.
• This mechanic touches on a set of quantum principles, though we are keeping the specifics under wraps for now.
• Only the active body is currently moveable and able to interact with the world.

Looking Ahead

The vision for the project seems possible within the timeframe, but it might not be as polished as we had hoped for. We are focusing on making sure the “observation” loop feels fair and tense.

Stay hidden. Stay unobserved.