Game Off 2023: The Year of Scale
GitHub’s annual Game Off jam returned with a theme that invited big ideas: "Scale." Over one month, 632 games were submitted, each interpreting the prompt in its own way—from body-stacking brawls to galaxy-hopping platformers. Below are the top 10 entries as voted by the community.
Glory to SCALE
Built with Godot and C#, Glory to SCALE drops you into a dystopian society run by a totalitarian state. As a resident, you’re watched by omnipresent surveillance and the Ministry of Truth; your task is to find the cracks in the facade by turning your gaze back on the watchers themselves.
Absolutely LOVE the atmosphere, the music, the art style!
Arithmometer
Arithmometer blends deck-building and card-based combat with arcade pacing. A Unity/C# title, it offers four modes built around a single deck, with new cards and abilities unlocking as you push for a spot on the online leaderboard.
I loved how weird and unbalanced this game is. The characters look cute, there is a lot of variety in terms of mini-games and cards. The theme is very well incorporated into the game.
Grapple Pack
Escape an underground complex in this Godot/GDScript platformer. The Grapple Pack—a backpack fused with a grappling hook—is your only tool for swinging past obstacles and outrunning whatever is chasing you.
What a blast! One of the most polished games I've played in this jam. Loved the art and funny voice acting!
Scale Travel – Infinite scaling…
This Unity/C# platformer takes you from microscopic origins to interplanetary proportions. It’s a puzzle-heavy run that also rewards speedrunners with tight level design across its shifting scales.
Oh my freaking lord, this is by far my favorite so far! Simple but beautiful graphics/shaders, and with the sound, it's stupidly immersive.
The Scales of Judgement
Construct 3 powers this frantic shoot-’em-up set across all nine circles of hell. Your exit strategy involves stacking fallen demons to climb higher—but as their bodies pile up, the titular Scales of Judgment sink, adding a weight-based balancing act to every encounter.
Really fun game with some interesting mechanics! The mixing of genres here is unique and the graphics just look incredibly clean.
Merlin: Scale of the Magic
A Metroidvania from the Godot/GDScript corner, Merlin: Scale of the Magic follows the wizard through an ancient castle to hunt down a vampire. Expect the genre’s usual mix of exploration, gated progression, and boss encounters in a medieval package.
Just put it on Steam already you animals. Incredible pixel art all around but particularly for Merlin, wonderful chiptune remix score, good level design with signposting for the player, excellent intro cinematic to set the stakes, I could probably go on.
Sputnika Game
This Unity/C# entry reworks the Suika formula with a cosmic spin. As the little satellite Sputnik, you combine planets to grow toward becoming the Sun—using drag-and-drop controls to shoot them into place while dodging game-ending bubbles.
Great take on this classic type of game, a perfect fit for the theme. Nicely done!
Squirveillance
Set in a 90s alternate timeline, Squirveillance casts you as a squirrel cop reviewing CCTV footage to identify suspects. Made with Unity/C#, it leans on photo analysis and zoom controls, with a nutty sidekick assisting in your investigations.
Oh my gosh this game is so polished and elaborate with everything...full narrative, stylish art, brilliant audio, intriguing mechanic. It truly amazed me and drew me in for its entirety!!
A Waltz in SPACE
Pilot a spaceship through galaxies in A Waltz in SPACE, a Unity/C# game where gravity is your primary mechanic. You’ll ride planetary pull, collect energy orbs, and chart careful courses through what the devs describe as a serene, waltz-infused universe.
Excellent fun, had me playing it late into the night trying to slingshot to just the right trajectory on the later levels.
Tower of Cat-astrophe
This Unity/C# physics puzzler asks a critical question: how tall a tower can you stack with a pile of oddball cats? All while a mischievous cat cannon tries to knock the whole thing down, and a guide named the Purrfessor offers tips. The Cat-alogue logs every feline you find.
Adorable and fun. I thought I found an exploit by building a bridge of sick cats from one side to another. I was wrong and it collapsed on me leading to my demise. Great Work!
Beyond the winners
The jam’s full results are live on itch.io, and with only a month of development time, the breadth of ideas is worth browsing for anyone curious about what developers can pull together under deadline pressure.
