This game was created for the Black and White Jam #0.(9). Over the course of a week the goal was to create a game based around the theme of "Death is a New Beginning". An additional restriction was that you may only use two colors in your game (be it black and white, or any two other tones).

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Our team came up with the idea that we want to make a game that starts out very difficult, but with each death and subsequent attempt it becomes easier. This would happen through a combination of the player character becoming statistically stronger, as well as the player becoming more experienced with the games mechanics.

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The type of game we settled on was a shoot-em-up/bullet hell/SHMUP. "Death is a New Beginning" gave us the idea to theme our game around mushrooms, who through their parasitic capabilities are able to have lives beyond death. This led to the mechanic of upon death the player mushroom spreading their spores and creating new mushrooms that will act as backup during their next run. These extra shrooms (which we called Shroomies) act as both a backup artillery that fill the screen with more bullets to cover the player, as well as extra hits. Thus, with each death the player can deal more damage as well as sponge more damage themselves. Points accumulated throughout the run can also be spent on upgrading your Shroomies damage output and rate of fire.

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I worked on the art and animation, as well as on the enemy design. I was responsible for designing enemy appearances, movement and firing patterns, and indicators for when they will perform their actions. Due to the jam restrictions, everything was done in a 1-bit black and white style. This meant having to make sure that everything going on on-screen was clear from just the shapes and two-color contrast alone. Enemy expressions and movements are exaggerated so that they catch the players attention and suggest that they are about to fire. Enemy bullets are colored white, this way they match the enemies, and the player knows to avoid anything colored white on-screen.

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Shroomies ended up placing 1st in gameplay and theming and 2nd overall in the game jam.

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In March 2023, Shroomies had the honor of being presented at the GDC'23 New York Pavilion as a part of the Mayor's Office Booth, being shown as an example of current CUNY student works to promote the city's in-the-works gaming pathways education program.

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In April 2023, Shroomies was accepted into RPI GameFest, where it was tabled alongside several other student games from schools across New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. At the awards ceremony, out of 50+ entries, Shroomies won the Grand Prize for Best Student game and a $1,000 award.

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