teeny-tinyware Spring 2026: The teeniest tinyware Yet

Hi! My name is Andrew Khov, a 4th year Math-CS major, and I'm the current Events Director and Treasurer for VGDC. This quarter, I participated in the final game jam that I'll be doing for the club! Before I depart this earth like the fossil that I am to become, I wanted to talk a bit about some games that came out of that same jam.

The developers of Frogolf showcasing their game.

This is the second time we've ever run teeny-tinyware, our 24-hour game jam. This time, we ran it during week 4—not even midterms could stop us! It was really cool to see how many more participants we had this time around, reaching around 51 attendees.

In fall, we gave participants the constraint of making a game that only utilizes two buttons for its inputs. This time, we asked them to only use numbered keys. Given the ergonomics of the controls, this was quite a difficult challenge.

All attendees present at the end of teeny-tinyware.

With the expectation of a microscopically scoped experience, it's safe to say that many of the games made during it achieved the core gameplay loops they desired—without any more hesitation, let's talk about a few games made for this quarter's teeny-tinyware!

Catestrophic Crowuldron's title and main game screen.

Catestrophic Crowuldron is the winner of this game jam's player choice award, and it was well deserved! This two player competitive strategy game centers a crow and a cat, competing to see who can make the best potion. This game is so unbelievably polished, with so many cute animations—the art style is also incredibly sick!

Players are presented with a randomized ingredient list and must create the potions that pop up in the middle. To add more player agency, the developers of this game included the ability to add ingredients to your opponent's cauldron, making them drink an "evil" potion instead. The dynamic between quick on the controls, sabotaging your opponent, and identifying what exact potion you're making is super fun and memorable!

Created by two long time friends within VGDC, it was incredible to see how well they worked together to make this game in only 24 hours. They were able to dedicate so much time to polishing the gameplay and aesthetics, making for one of the most impressive games to come out of our jams.

Horsepower's cover art and gameplay.

Horsepower is a goofy but beautiful 2-player game that tests your cooperative timing and rhythm. Each player gets 4 number keys to press and must try to hit their respective keys in perfect synchronization to win this horse race! All sound effects in this game were made acapella, giving it a unique and silly auditory identity. It's challenging to get in sync with your partner, but there's a special humor to seeing the horse fall…there's so much silliness in this game that it's hard to be frustrated at.

This game was made by a team of only three developers, who, in their very Red Bull-fueled states of mind, managed to create something hilariously fun; it's very worth wrangling up a friend and giving it a try.

Hotel Inferno's opening cutscene and gameplay.

Made by a development team of 4, Hotel Inferno's art style and design is incredible; using the number keys as symbols of the 9 circles of hell was a stroke of pure ingenious from the developers. Similar to the game Papers, Please, you sort people based on descriptions provided as you try to match them to the appropriate circle of hell to face eternal damnation. You know, fun stuff!

There are so many fun easter eggs and references to VGDC and our club's history, all of which is really well-drawn. This game took my personal vote for how well it used the theme and turned out, so of course I strongly recommend it!

Made by a development team of 3, Miku's Memories took the idea of Five Nights at Freddy's to the max! My team had a similar idea: using the numbered keys to choose which camera to control just makes sense. The goal of the game is to tap one of the number keys to a rhythm restoring Miku's memories through dance.

For a game made in 24 hours, the team was able to achieve an incredibly effective creepiness with their sound design—the auditory buildup to the jumpscares is immaculate, and the aesthetic really nailed the combination of Vocaloid and FNAF.

In NEST, your goal is to use your phone to tell your wife where to go and escape from an encroaching monster. Forced to communicate directions on nothing more than the number pad on a flip phone, you need to be constantly alert for this one!

Made by a team of 3, I give incredible props to the art style and general aesthetics of this game; it has a very retro and grungy look, similar to Buckshot Roulette. Using the number pad as the main control of a flip phone is such a cool idea, even more so for making it bind to the letters rather than just numbers! The charm is immaculate; to get the sprites for the hand, one of the developers took at least ten different pictures of his hand, substituting a phone for a toilet paper roll.

The developers of Catestrophic Crowuldron laughing at their deconstructed trophy.

Thanks to everyone who came to teeny-tinyware and helped make the event such a fun experience. As my last game jam with VGDC, I couldn't have asked for a better crowd; I've had a lot of fun serving this club and its community for the past three years. Please continue to keep an eye out for future blog posts!