Polygon Strife
GMTK Game Jam 2023 · Browser
Polygon Strife is a browser game jam project (GMTK 2023) where the player acts against an auto-playing survivor-like character by managing enemy pressure. My main contribution was systems design and balancing.
Project context
- Status: Released build (iteration continued for eight months after the jam)
- Platform: Browser
- Genre: Strategy / Meta / Jam
- Engine: Unity
- Team context: Small jam team; 178 commits between July 2023 and March 2024
- Link: itch.io page
My role and responsibilities
- Helped define and structure the reverse-role core loop
- Designed in-run progression and escalation logic
- Balanced pacing, pressure, and decision clarity
- Tuned difficulty progression under jam time constraints, then kept iterating after the jam to a released build
Design focus
The design problem was making the reversed role understandable in minutes, while keeping it strategically interesting.
Core questions I worked through:
- What choices should the player make each moment?
- How does pressure build without becoming noise?
- How do we keep outcomes readable and fair?
Systems and balancing notes
Because this structure depends on pacing more than raw mechanical complexity, tuning mattered as much as concept. I focused on:
- readable spawning choices
- controlled escalation
- clear feedback for success and failure
- avoiding chaotic states that remove agency
Outcome and lessons
Polygon Strife was systems work on a short timeline: I made the balancing calls and kept the progression in mind while under jam pressure.
Main lessons:
- unusual concepts need immediate rule clarity
- pressure curves must be deliberate, not accidental
- even jam-scale systems benefit from explicit progression thinking
