GGJ 2026: Day 1 — The Pitch
Kicking off Global Game Jam 2026 with an ambitious idea: pinball meets roguelike boss rush. What could go wrong?
It’s Global Game Jam time again! This year I’m jamming in Singapore with a small team, and we’ve landed on an idea that’s either brilliant or completely insane.
The Theme
This year’s theme is… well, I won’t spoil it here for anyone reading this before the jam ends. But let’s just say it pushed us toward thinking about repetition with variation.
Our Pitch
Pinball Roguelite Boss Rush
The elevator pitch: What if each boss in a boss rush game was a pinball table? You fight by literally playing pinball against them, hitting weak points, dodging attacks, and managing your limited supply of balls.
Between bosses, you choose roguelike upgrades — multiball, magnetic flippers, explosive balls, etc.
Why I’m Excited
I’ve been obsessed with games that remix familiar mechanics lately. Balatro took poker and made it a roguelike. Vampire Survivors took shoot-em-ups and made them idle games.
What if we could do that with pinball?
Pinball has this amazing physicality to it, but traditional pinball machines are isolated experiences. By adding boss health bars, attack patterns, and roguelike progression, we might be able to make it feel like actual combat.
Why I’m Terrified
Physics.
Pinball physics are notoriously hard to get right. The ball needs to feel weighty but responsive. Flippers need that satisfying “thwack.” And everything needs to be deterministic enough that players feel in control.
We have 48 hours.
Day 1 Progress
- ✅ Concept locked
- ✅ Basic Unity project set up
- ✅ Rough flipper controls (they feel terrible, but they exist)
- 🚧 Ball physics (currently feels like a balloon in zero gravity)
Tomorrow’s goal: Make the ball feel like a ball.
Following along? Check back for more devlog posts, or follow the project page for the full case study once we ship.