Project Overview
Suck It Up is a fast-paced isometric action game built in a 48-hour Global Game Jam at SCAD Savannah, where it won Best in Show. As one of two leads, I developed core gameplay systems, managed scope, and oversaw Perforce.
After six weeks of polish, we represented SCAD in the Georgia Game Developers Association Best in Georgia contest, defeating multiple schools to win. You play a fired office worker who absorbs coworkers’ insults into tiered speech bubbles and fires them back, balancing risk and timing across each floor. A fully playable Steam demo is live, and Next Fest June 2025 approval has us primed for a mobile-friendly release.
Suck it Up Trailer
Suck it Up Poster
Suck it Up Steam Page
What was "Game Jam Suck it Up"
Starting in summer 2024, Gavin Graves and I kicked off our Global Game Jam prep by assembling a balanced 14-person team, with half majoring in game design and half from other disciplines, and defining every critical role in advance. We sketched our timeline and team rosters on whiteboards and then digitized them in Miro with clear milestones: an MVP deliverable, a “First 5” playable slice, dedicated timelines and tasks for each subteam, and scheduled build checkpoints.
To stay agile during the 48-hour jam in January 2025, we introduced "Fun Checks" every 6 hours which were mini playtests for non-engine members to surface strengths and guide our focus early on. Although the jam officially spans 48 hours, we scoped all core deliverables into a 38-hour window and reserved a ten-hour buffer for iteration and polish. By following this plan closely, we hit nearly every milestone on time, kept our scope tight, and set the stage for a winning build.
Original Whiteboard Timelines
Digitized Timeline
Once the theme “Bubble” was revealed at the start of the 48-hour jam, we kicked off a two-hour group ideation session to brainstorm every possible direction. After that, each subteam broke off for an hour to flesh out their own plans, and we nailed the timing exactly as intended.
From the get-go, we agreed we did not want anything generic. We steered clear of soap bubbles and similar ideas, which naturally guided us toward speech bubbles as our core mechanic. Over those two hours we threw around quite a few concepts, and by the end of the session we all shared a clear vision for what we wanted to create.
Original Character Turnaround
First Logo Design
Early Gameplay Screenshot
Around the 30-hour mark, we hit a critical moment: our assets were in place and the tech was online, but the game still felt incohesive. That’s when an early decision paid off. Three animation students on our team had been working on our trailer storyboards and composited shots alongside development, giving us polished visual references to aim for.
We quickly realized this and put those images onto the TV and asked, “How do we make our game look like this?” The answer came quickly. By switching all materials to an unlit shader and spending 15-20 minutes on a simple outline effect, we matched our concept art style and instantly gave the game a cohesive, striking look that transformed its overall feel.
Trailer Composited Shot
Gameplay Toward the End of Gamejam
Intro Cinematic
Gameplay Action Shot
At the 48-hour mark we hit submit on our final build and stood back, proud of what we had accomplished. Two days of nonstop collaboration, iteration, and creativity had culminated in a complete, playable game that exceeded our own expectations.
A picture of the team right after we submitted our final build and trailer for game jam.
After taking our team photo, we headed to the showcase to watch the other competitors’ presentations. Moments later, Suck It Up was named Best in Show.
Team picture right after we won "Best in Show"
The team on stage after we won Game Jam
Best in Georgia
Georgia Game Developers Association Logo
Game Jam was just the beginning for Suck It Up. Through the Georgia Game Developers Association competition, our SCAD Savannah site earned the right to send one team to represent the state. Over the next six weeks we met weekly with an industry mentor to refine our design, address technical challenges, and prepare for a professional pitch.
During that period we focused on elevating our core concept, polishing gameplay mechanics, and incorporating playtest feedback. By the end of the competition we were expected to deliver a version of Suck It Up that was feature complete and ready for marketing and publication. This process sharpened our scope, strengthened our production pipeline, and positioned us to share the game with a wider audience.
Onboarding to Agile
Before diving into major development we made onboarding the entire team onto agile our top priority, because our six-week deadline left no room for misalignment.
We began with an all-hands workshop on teaching agile fundamentals and one-week sprints, covering sprint planning, backlog refinement, daily stand ups, sprint reviews and retrospectives.
Although a few members were already familiar with the process, these sessions ensured everyone could break work into user stories, estimate tasks and stay synchronized each week. Once the team understood agile we moved into development confident that our workflow would keep us on track.
One of our weekly burndown charts
It was at that point where ideation could start to happen and we could really start trying to figure out what made our game so fun and how we could make it better.
Original Projectile Ideation pitch by Riley McMillan, Greta Thomas, and Kat Farley
Final projectile concepts
Multi-Input Support
Multi-input support was something we really wanted during the game jam but never had time to implement. We knew that twin-stick controller controls would feel awesome in this game, so adding controller support was one of our first post-jam changes and it immediately enhanced the experience. That update also led us to develop a controller-only aim assist system and a dynamic camera that responds to joystick input, similar to games like Enter the Gungeon.
Events and Livestreams
Throughout the project we were featured multiple times on GGDA livestreams and at in-person events. These showcases highlighted our progress at key milestones over the six weeks so that judges could see how far we had come.
Livestream where we were announced as the winners:
https://youtu.be/KQlkjvz2x6A
Winning Best in Georgia, and What's Next?
Team Picture with our Industry Mentor Michael Revit (Blue Shirt)
Team Picture right after they announced us as winners
Although the competition has concluded, we are already planning ahead. We have secured a spot in Steam Next Fest and are working toward a full Steam release of Suck It Up this summer.