COWBOY COOTS
An action-adventure rhythm game built for the Ludwig Game Jam 2023. Coots gets trapped in an alternate Wild West dimension after some museum mischief goes sideways — players dodge and weave through a three-stage onslaught of encounters to reunite with Ludwig. Fast-paced top-down action with a Reflex time-slowdown mechanic, pixel art visuals, and a full original soundtrack.
// GAMEPLAY_VIDEO
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<iframe class="yt-embed" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YOUR_ID"
title="Cowboy Coots gameplay" frameborder="0"
allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"
allowfullscreen></iframe>
// KEY_RESPONSIBILITIES
Sole programmer on the project in UE5. Built the WASD movement system, the Reflex mechanic — a time-slowdown ability triggered by spacebar for precision dodging — and the three-stage encounter loop. Also handled QA across the full build, catching edge cases under the jam's compressed timeline.
Designed the encounter structure and difficulty curve across the three stages, and shaped the rhythm-action gameplay loop alongside the art and music direction from the team. The Reflex mechanic was a core design decision — giving players an active tool to manage the game's pace rather than purely reacting to it.
[ADD YOUR TEXT HERE — how the team coordinated during the jam, the timeline, what shipped vs. what got cut, and what the submission process looked like. What was the biggest technical or design challenge you solved under the deadline?]
// TEAM — POINT LINK FORCE
// SCREENSHOT_LOG
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