The eleventh annual js13kGames coding competition, challenging participants to create games in 13kB or less of JavaScript in a month based on a theme, just wrapped up. A total of 167 games were submitted this year featuring all sorts of FPSs, platformers, PvP, puzzle games, and more—something for everyone.
The theme of this year’s competition was DEATH and I’ve been just dying to share the winning entries with you. Here are the top ten thirteen as rated and reviewed by players and judges. You’ll be making a grave mistake if you don’t play any of these!
Dante
Amazing amount of 3D gameplay going on here for just 13k! Easy to play and figure out what to do. Loved that the death/restart flow is nice and fast. Good job, one of the most playable games I’ve played!
Dying Dreams
It is incredible the level of polish in this game, from the loading screen, the graphics, fx, gameplay… It’s super fun to play, very tricky puzzles.
Norman the Necromancer
The graphics are incredible: the sprites are so well drawn, with interesting variety! the gameplay is really good, satisfying and tactical, and it even has cool boss battles! What an awesome game. So impressive!
Soul Jumper
Clever idea and it feels like a complete minigame. It has the music and sounds, great artistic design, and clear but challenging gameplay mechanics. Very good.
The Neatness
Really clever puzzler that really bends the mind. Because of the free-form drawing, solutions become very dynamic and therefore more puzzling.
Charon Jr.
Great multiplayer game. I love the colorful graphics, fun weapons, the use of speech synthesis for match commentary.
13
Great multiplayer game. I love the colorful graphics, fun weapons, the use of speech synthesis for match commentary.
Soul Surf
Great game ! Visually the game looks stunning for a gamejam, you can feel an identity coming from the game, the old-school retro look is really well done and the sound design compliments that.
Infernal Throne
Wow! amazingly polished, so smooth. I love the procedural physic-y animations like the web wobbling when you hit it. This game has everything! Coyote time, upgrades, levers, cool puzzles and amazing graphics. Fantastic work.
DEAD AGAIN
Really cool game. The art style is amazing, the gameplay is fluid and polished. And the music fits nicely. I also liked the line of sight mechanic, made the game more eerie, as you dont know whats around each corner.
Tindeath
Love the idea! It reminds of Papers Please. The explanation of the players’ mistakes is a great addition to learn the mechanics of the game.
The Raising Fighting Spirits
Nicely done card game that feels fully featured with sounds, music, progression, and a simple goal.
Enchanted Dungeon
Ooooo loving the arcade gamer vibe here – it’s great. Having high scores is a great way to encourage players to keep playing and fits nicely with the arcade theme. That and the chiptune music is great, and the sound effects all help with the vibe of this game.
Well, that’s the top thirteen from this year’s js13kGames. There are over one hundred more to play over on the js13kGames website. Find a good one? Share it on social media with #JS13K.
Huge thank you and congratulations to @end3r and all of the js13kGames participants, judges, and sponsors for another fantastic competition. See you all again next year!
Pst! Game Off, the month-long game jam for coders of all skills levels and languages kicks off on November 1. You can as many kilobytes and whatever languages you like! It’s the perfect excuse for a weekend project, building your first game, and/or checking out a new game engine or programming language. Join now!
