Welcome
I have been making games for fun with friends and family at game jams and hackathons for nearly 10 years. Almost all these games were made in 48 to 72 hours. There are two game jams a year that I like to attend:
- The Global Game Jam in the spring (in Salt Lake) and
- The Utah Indie Game Jam in the fall (at the UVU business center).
Below you will find the list of all the games I’ve made over the years in reverse chronological order.
Bubble Racer
My 12 year old daughter and I made this game for the 2025 Global Game Jam.
Results
- Results: https://globalgamejam.org/group/11797/games
Team:
- Molly Worthington - thought of the idea, currated all the art work and sounds, choose all the colors, designed the race track
- Jon Worthington - I did the programming and helped molly when she got stuck
Developer Notes:
- The theme for this game jame was “Bubbles”.
- Molly wanted thought it would be fun to create a racecar game where you collected bubbles to buy better race cars.
- Your first car doesn’t go very fast and is hard to control, but as you earn bubbles you can unlock better and faster cars.
- I found that this runs okay on phones, so added touch controls
- This was the first time I had used wheel collider physics in unity
Github Repo
- https://github.com/worthingtonjg/BubbleRacer
Play the game
- https://mollydolly236.itch.io/bubble-racer
Murder at Hines Mansion
This isn’t a game jam game, but rather a murder mystery party game based on clue. For my wife’s 50th birthday we rented the Hines Mansion in Provo and had a dinner party where we played this game. We turned out all the lights and had puzzles and games scattered throughout the mansion that you had to solve to find clues.
Developer Notes:
- Each clue was a QR code you could scan to collect the clue
- You could also trade clues by scanning each others QR codes
- The app managed your clue sheet and hand automatically
- The website is quite elaborate and has a backstory for the dinner party
- We uploaded actual pictures of the guests
- Overall it was a great success
Github Repo
- https://github.com/worthingtonjg/Hines2025
Website
- https://worthingtonjg.github.io/Hines2025/
Royal Remedy
We made this game together with my son Nathan Worthington and my friend Jim Byer at the 2024 Utah Indie Game Jam.
Results
- We didn’t win any prizes, but did have fun making the game.
- Results: https://itch.io/jam/utah-indie-game-jam-2024
Team:
- Nathan Worthington - Created all the art work, wrote the code for selecting the the bottles, and maded fixes to the solution algorithm
- Jon Worthington - Programmed the Solution Log and created the Dialogs - tied it all together
- Jim Byer - Programmed the main game loop
Developer Notes:
- The theme of this game jam was “Double Agent”
- The game we created is based on the old game of “Mastermind”, you have a set number of turns to guess the sequence of colors.
- Each time you make a guess you find out how many colors are right and how many are in the right place.
- In Royal Remedy you play as the royal alchemist tasked with brewing the antidote to save the kings life - if you don’t then are you the “Double Agent”?
- The artwork for the desk and the shelves is interesting because nathan actually created 3d models and then just rendered it in 2d which gives it a really cool effect.
- The game is fun and the dialog is witty. If we had more time we would have had a character representing the king each time he tried a cure.
Github Repo
- https://github.com/worthingtonjg/RoyalRemedy
Play the game
- https://cypherjw.itch.io/royal-remedy
Tales of Halia
My 12 year old daughter and I made this game for the 2024 Utah Indie Game Jam in 72 hours.
Results
- We won the prize for most educational. It also ranked 3rd in popularity for peoples choice
- Results: https://itch.io/jam/utah-indie-game-jam-2024
Team:
- Jon Worthington - Programming and Teaching
- Molly Worthington - Created the Music with BeepBox, Wired up all the animations and animation controllers, Helped create prefabs, Designed all the levels
Developer Notes:
- This was my 12 year old daughters first game jam.
- All the art work is free from the Unity asset store
- During the jam I taught her to wire up the animations, the animation controllers, and about prefabs
- I wrote all the code and she designed all the levels
- This worked out so well, I have used this same set of code to teach a game design class
Github Repo
- https://github.com/worthingtonjg/TalesOfHalia
Play the game
- https://mollydolly236.itch.io/tale-of-halia
The Labyrinth of Isolation ~ TriJam #191 (October 2022)
This game was made in under 3 hours for TriJam #191. Can you escape the Labyrinth of Isolation?
Results
- Out of 25 entries, we got 10th overall and 6th for Gameplay.
- Results: https://itch.io/jam/trijam-191/results
Team:
- Jon Worthington - Game Design / Art / Programming
- Ryan Worthington - Music Arrangement / Sound Effect
Developer Notes:
- This is my first 3-hour game jam - normally attend 48-hour jams.
- The labyrinth is dynamically generated each game, but the algorithm is very simplistic. I randomly place four different tiles in a 10x10 grid (some tiles are less likely to get picked than others - specifically dead ends and intersections are used the least).
- It was a fun challenge to plan and build a game in such a short time frame. It was challenging to think of an idea that was small enough that it could be accomplished in the short timeframe.
- I kept the art really simple to save time, just used colored cubes.
- I also spent very little time on the UI because I was running out of time.
Github Repo
Play the game
Spaceship Repair Simulator - Utah Indie Game Jam 2022
Spaceship Repair Simulator is a game that was made in 48 hours at the 2022 Utah Indie Game Jam.
The theme of the jam was “Reconnect”.
This is a two-player / split screen game, where you race to grab parts to repair and endless line of ships. Each part you find must be “reconnected” to the ship by “re-wiring” the part into the ship.
But some parts are easier than others, are you up for the challenge?
Team
- Jon Worthington ~ Programming
- Ryan Worthington ~ Sound Effects, Level Design, Testing
Results
- Out of 23 entries, we got 6th overall
- We got the prize for “Best Gameplay”
- Audience Choice: https://itch.io/jam/utah-indie-game-jam-2022/results
- Awards: https://itch.io/jam/utah-indie-game-jam-2022
Github Repo
Play the Game
Shape Factory - 2022 Global Game Jam
Shape Factory is an exciting 2 player (split screen) factory matching game. Grab a friend and have fun racing to match all your shapes first!
Rules
- Shapes placed on the main conveyor belt must match the color or shape of the currently displayed shape above.
- If it doesn’t match, you’ll get a penalty, and more shapes will be added to your count.
- The shape and color you must match with will update and change to the shape or color of any valid shapes entered in.
- If none of your shapes match, you can go to the button at the top of your play area and press it to generate a new, random shape (but this will increase your block count, so use it wisely).
- The first player to match all of their shapes wins!
Controls
- Blue Player/Left Player: WASD keys to move Space Bar to pick up/put down blocks, and push buttons
- Red Player/Right Player: Arrow keys to move Zero (on Num Pad) to pick up/put down blocks, and push buttons
Developer Notes
- This was Andrea’s first game jam, but she did a great job with the level design and art work. The game turned out looking really nice!
- This is a 2 player / split screen game only. It would be nice to create some AI so you could play against the computer.
- The theme of the game jam was Duality, our idea, was to be able to flip shapes over on the conveyor belt to turn them into sabotages, but we ran out of time and didn’t get that implemented.
Contributors (left to right)
- Jim Byer (Programming)
- Jon Worthington (Programming)
- Andrea Blake (Art and Level Design)
Global Game Jam 2022 Page
Github Repo
Play the game
Dr Strange - 2021 Utah Indie Game Jam Entry
The theme for this 48 hour game jam was “Reincarnation”. Meet Dr. Strange! He is a crazy scientist obsessed with discovering the secret to reincarnation at all costs.
Developer Notes
- What made this game jam more challenging was that both Nathan and Ryan had to work most of Saturday, so had less time to help.
- Also Jim Byer decided not to help us much, but did add his own mini-game, which we included in the menu.
- We had a new team member this year (Nicholas Terry) and had to learn to work as a team with someone we hadn’t worked with before.
Contributors
- Nathan: Level Design and Animation Rigging
- Ryan: Level Design, Animation Rigging, Sounds and Music
- Me: I worked on the Cut Scenes, Story, Navmesh AI and Programming, Ship Flying mini-game, UI, Particle Effects
- Nick: Character Controller, Interactables, Modeling
- Jim: Shooter mini-game
- Most the artwork was free from the asset store
Result
- We won the award for Best Narrative.
Github Repo
Play the game
Drift Racer - 2020 Global Game Jam
In this 48 hour game jam, the theme was “Repair”.
In Drift Racer choose from 8+ ships and race against your friends in this face paced and fun race game. Collect parts to repair and upgrade your ship!
Developer Notes
- Ryan did all the pixel art!
- The glow effect shaders came from the asset store
- The levels and powerups were designed by Nathan
- I did the programming
Contributors
- Me, Nathan and Ryan
Global Game Jam Link
Github Repo
Play the game
Love Potion - 2019 Utah Indie Game Jam
A love potion goes terribly wrong turning you into a monster - can you find the ingredients to turn yourself handsome enough and marry the princess?
This is an action adventure game based on the 48 hour game jam theme:
“You Are What You Eat”.
Play as love struck Jim whose only goal is to woo the princess Cindy, but takes a wrong turn on the way to love and ends up battling a host of monsters to make himself handsome enough to marry his true love.
Developer Notes
- We where able to create a game that has 5 levels, 5 different enemies, and 5 different players.
- Ryan learned how to use Gaia to generate the terrian
- Ryan also learned how setup animation controllers
- Ryan did all the voice overs and sounds for the enemies
- Nathan did modeling and helped with the level design
- I did all the cutscenes, and programming
Result
- Won Best Narrative
- AND Best Use of Tech!
Gameplay Video
Download Link
The Space Guardian - 2019 Global Game Jam
In this VR game for the 48 hour game jam that had the theme: “What home means to you”, you are the Space Guardian, who is defending earth from aliens, while the humans escape to find a new home among the stars.
Developer Notes
- Virtual Reality targeting Microsoft Mixed Reality Headsets
Contributors
- Me, Jim Byer, Nathan and Ryan
Global Game Jam Link
Github Link
Global Game Jam 2018 - Tran (A Tron Spoof)
The theme of this 48 hour game jam was “Transmission”. Being computer nerds, we decided to make a movie inspired entry based on Tron. We took movie clips directly from both the 1982 version of the movie and the 2010 version of the movie and integrated them into our game to introduce each of our levels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron
Controls:
- Player 1: AWSD (QE)
- Playser2: JKIL (OU)
Developer Notes
- The effect of the movie clips makes the game seem more polished than it really is.
- Also we used some really cool glow effects in all the levels that I feel really added a good look and feel to the game.
- The free assets we used were: MK Glow Free, Sprite Glow, Kino Bloom, Fungus, Cyber Soldier
Contributors
- Programming - Jon Worthington (me) and Jim Byer
- Modeling & Texturing - Nathan Worthington (17 years old)
- Level Design - Ryan Worthington (12 years old)
- Music - Tony Spencer
- Sounds - Cameron Byer
Tron is copyrighted by Disney and used without permission in this Spoof / Fan Art.
Global Game Jam Link
Game Play Video Link
Github Repo
Play the game (WebGL)
- https://worthingtonjg.github.io/tran-ggj2018/
- Note: Not everything works in the WebGL build, and I haven’t taken the time to fix the problems. The game runs better when built as an .Exe (but for those who want to try it here is a link).
Crazy Pacifist Quote Generator - Utah Indie Game Jam 2017
The theme of this 48 hour game jam was “Pacifist”. This was one of three entries that we submitted.
It started out as just a distraction to keep me awake the 2nd night, but turned into my final entry. Mainly because I had more fun making it than I had making what was our primary entry.
Watch very poorly 2D render - ed talking heads say not-so-random quotes that are sometimes from famous pacificsts.
Developer Notes
- Won Left Field Award
- Crazy Minnow - Salsa 2D helped me make the lip sync work
Contribitors
- Programming and Design: Jon Worthington
Links
Pacifist of War - Utah Indie Game Jam 2017
The theme of this 48 hour game jam was “Pacifist”. This was one of three entries that we submitted. This game was my 17 year old son’s idea. He did everything you see visually in the game. I helped with the programming.
A war has broken out across the United States. When you refuse to fight you are captured as a prisoner of war. Can you escape while still holding on to your humanity?
Developer Notes
- We used ray tracing for the stealth mechanic
- Nathan came up with all the visuals and the idea
- I just helped with the programming and technical aspects of the game
Contribitors
- Level Design: Nathan Worthington
- Lighting/Fx: Nathan Worthington
- Programming: Jon Worthington
Links
Penguin Pacifist - Utah Indie Game Jam 2017
The theme of this 48 hour game jam was “Pacifist”. This was one of three entries that we submitted.
As the worlds only penguin pacifist you must slide the blocks in order to keep the penguins from falling off the platforms.
Help the penguins move from one side of the screen to the other.
Some blocks slide vertically, some horizontally and some not at all.
Either pay prove you are the best Penguin Pacifist!
Developer Notes
- Penguin: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/100397
- iTween: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/84
- TextMeshPro: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/84126
Contribitors
- Programming: Jon Worthington
- Level Design: Nathan Worthington and Ryan Worthington
- Music: Ryan Worthington
Links
Global Game Jam 2017 - Laugh Kingdom
The theme of this 48 hour game jam was “Waves”. My 12 year old son at the time, wanted to make a game that had jokes in it. So we decided that since sounds are waves, we would make a game where you collect jokes.
Laugh Kingdom is a LAN network multiplayer game written in Unity using Unity networking.
Players are racing against each other to collect the most jokes and fill their joke meter. The king has a terrible temper, and the only thing that will cheer him up is the most notable type of WAVE ~ the sound wave. All his peasants must collect jokes and funny insults to compete to become his court jester. The losers will be fed to the lions.
Gameplay Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLil2ExB2pU
Multiplayer data tracked on the server:
- Players: Name, Transform, Animation state
- Global state: winner Messages from the client to the server:
- NetworkTransform: automatically sends player transform to the server
- NetworkAnimator: sends the players animation state to the server (mechanim state)
- FoundLaugh: when a player finds a laugh that player’s laugh count is updated on the server
- CheckWin: when a player arrives at castle with all his laughs collected Messages from server to client:
- Every client gets transform and animation state for every player sent to it from the server
- OnLaughCountChanged - sent to every player on every client when their laugh count changes
- OnWinnerChanged - sent to every player on every client when a winner is set Things we aren’t syncing:
- Monster transform and animations - Each client has it’s own copy
Team Members
- Ryan Worthington - Jokes, Music, Ideas
- Adin Gates - Modeling (Remote)
- Nathan Worthington - Level Creation, Design, Modeling
- Jon Worthington (me) - Programming
- Jim Byer - Programming
- James Batchelor - Dialog and Storyline (Remote)
Free Unity Store Assets Used:
- Mountain Skybox: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/52251
- Stone and Brick Textures: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/25764
- Low Poly Rocks: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/43486
- Monsters: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/77703
- Animated Knight: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/24471
- King and Guards: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/18098
- Campfire Pack: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/11256
- Barrows and Wagons: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/33411
- Unity Network Lobby: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/41836
Gam Jam Site
Github Repo
Holelens Zombies - 2016 Utah Indie Game Jam 2016
You must battle the zombies to protect our dimension from the infection in the hidden world.
Developer Notes
- We won Audience Choice Award (1st of 15)
- We used mixamo to create the 3d models
- Salsa lip sync for the character facial acting
- We used the Hololens toolkit and Unity3d to develop for the hololens
Youtube Video
Download link
Smooch That Fish
2D platformer, play as a penguin collecting popsicles and avoiding enemies as you platform across diverse levels to reach your fishy friend.
Developer Notes
- My 10 year old son used Unity to create this 2D Platformer
- Won Award for Most Educational
Github Link
Play Game
AttackBots - 2016 Global Game Jam
Also created at the 2016 Global Game Jam with the Relic them is Attack Bots!
Developer Notes
- I took my 10 year old son to the 2016 Global Game Jam and this is the game we made together.
- Prior to the game jam I spent some time putting together a library of modular pieces: such as halls, intersections, tees, etc.
- I let my 10 year old practice making levels with these pieces prior to the game jam.
- I also created all the scripting and prefabs for the enemies and the player.
- This allowed Ryan to use the designer during the game jam to create a level using these modular pieces and prefabs.
Github Link
Play Game
Relic Hunter - 2016 Global Game Jam
The theme of this 48 hour game jam was “Ritual”. The millenial rejuvination ritual has commenced. You are in charge of restoring our planet’s power. To do that you must gather the relics that will recharge the planet’s core. Each relic you collect will further your ship’s power, and allow you to access deeper recesses of the labrynth.
Developer Notes
- My two sons and a couple of my friends from work made this game.
- Going into the Game Jam we had decided before hand to make a Descent like clone
- We did all the level building in blender, all the ships 3d modeling in this game is ours.
- I did the programming
Global Game Jam Link
GitHub Link
Download Link
- Unavailable
Virtual Band - 2016 Microsoft Build Hackathon
Running on a treadmill is not nearly as enjoyable as running outside. But due to weather and time constraints sometimes that is our only choice. We were inspired by this to create an app that allows you to run through a level of your choice using just your treadmill, a tablet and your Microsoft Band.
Developer Notes
- Built at the 2016 Microsoft Hackathon
- The MS Band API could not be referenced directly by Unity therefore was written in the UWP layer and used messaging to communication with Unity.
- We had a great time at the Hackathon
Youtube Video
Download Link
- Not available
Survive Oblivion - 2015 Utah Indie Game Jam
The theme for this 48 hour game jam was “What do we do now”.
The year is 2000 AO (After Oblivion). An alien race far superior in technology has assaulted earth. You are the team leader of an elite stealth element called G.S.O.C.1 and your survival depends on keeping your presence a SECRET!
Developer Notes
- We got voted by our peers 3rd place overall, which was awesome.
- We did the 2d artwork ourselves (you can tell - it’s pretty bad)
- Nathan did all the modeling for the 3d art work (which is actually pretty good).
- The textures we got from the asset store.
- All the camera work and programming was me
Itch.io Link
Github Link
Play the Game
Book of Mormon Adventure - 2015 LDS Tech Game Contest
This is for the 2015 LDS Tech app and game contest. We built a total of 4 games in 2 weeks using Unity.
Developer Notes
- Worked with a co-worker to develop 4 games
- Spent about 2 weeks on this
Download Link
- Not available
No Escape - Global Game Jam 2015
You wake up locked in a prison cell. You are plagued with repeated out of body like visions that allow you to leave your cell and explore the prison. Can you escape the prison, or is it only in your mind? The main character in this game is mentally ill. It explores the mind of a mentally ill person and how they struggle to function in society.
Developer Notes
- This was the first game jam that my son Nathan (15 years old at the time) participated in
- He did the modeling for the entire environment
- I did the programming, and lighting
- Most the other art work was free from the asset store
Github Link
Global Game Jam Link
Play the game
Mana Mania - 2014 LDS Tech Game Contest Entry
Manna Mania is a fun adventure game loosely based on events in the Old Testament. It is good family fun for kids of any age. Help Moses save the Israelites by collecting Manna, finding his serpent staff and hiding Idols! Manna Mania is many hours of good clean fun. Best of all it is Free!
Developer Notes
- This was my first game using Unity
- Me and two co-workers developed this game in 2 weeks for the 2014 LDS Tech contest
- We won honorable mention
Download Link
Cube Genuis - 2013 Windows Store App
Amaze your friends and family by learning to solve the cube. You can compete against other players worldwide to see who can solve the cube the fastest and in the fewest moves. This app is the only FREE cube app in the Windows Store that lets you actually solve the cube. Become a Cube Genius today!
Developer Notes
- I developed this with a co-worker
- This was our first attempt at 3D game
- We released on both Windows 8 and Windows Phone
Statistics
- This has been downloaded over 100,000 times
Download Link
Sudoku Slider - 2013 Windows Store App
Sudoku meets slider puzzle! Playing of the success of SudokuWin8, this is a challenging new twist on Sudoku that you are sure to enjoy. Sudoku Slider combines traditional Sudoku with a slider puzzle. The space with the Chomper is an empty space. Slide the surrounding number tiles into the empty space. When a number is in the correct spot it will turn yellow. When all the numbers are yellow you win!
Developer Notes
- Was low hanging fruit since I already had the sudoku code base
- Used Azure for leaderboard
Statistics
- This has been downloaded over 4000 times.
Download Link
SudokuWin8 - 2013 Windows Store App
Developer Notes
- I like Sudoku, so decided to write my own
- Turns out Sudoku puzzles can generated by shuffling other puzzles
- When I translated this into 20+ languages, I started getting a lot of downloads
- I only spent like a day writing this
Statistics
- This has been downloaded over 285,000+ times
Download Link
Psychic Cards - 2012 Windows Store App
Developer Notes
- After coming back from the Microsoft Build Conference, I was still messing around with the new UI features, and wrote this.
- My daughter at the time liked card tricks, so I thought it would be fun to write something she would enjoy.
Statistics
- This game has been downloaded 3000+ times from the Microsoft Store
Download Link
Jungle Chess - 2012 Microsoft Hackathon Entry
Developer Notes
- At the Microsoft Build Conference in 2012, we attended a Hackathon during where we had 24 hours to build something using the new Metro UI that Microsoft had recently released for Windows 8.
- If I recall correctly, we won $500 for taking 2nd place in our category.
- I remember there were 4 of us working on this, all co-workers at the time.
Metro Squares - 2012 Windows Store App
This was my first game that I published in the windows store. The funny thing is, these first few games, aren’t really using any sort of game framework at all but just the Metro Xaml UI that came out with Windows 8.
Developer Notes
- My kids liked this game, and I wanted to make something they would enjoy.
- I wrote it to experiment with how the new windows metro UI worked
- I also wanted to try the publishing process in the new Windows store for Windows 8.
- I was on my way to Microsoft Build Conference and was entering a Hackathon that I wanted to prepare for it.
Statistics
- This has been downloaded over 8000 times in the windows store.
Download Link
Alien Invasion - 2010 First Game Project With 10 year old Son Nathan
See the Wonders of the World while shooting missles at the Alien Invaders.
Developer Notes
- Made with my 10 year old son Nathan
- This was his first experience with game programming
- I think we had just watched the Independence Day movie and he wanted to learn programming
- We made the game with Adobe Flash, because at the time Flash was being used to make games.
Download Link
- Not available