Princess Panic: A game jam game made in 4 days

I created Princess Panic for the 2026 GMTK Game Jam, an annual game-development competition. This year’s theme was “Countdown,” and I wanted to build a small, polished adventure around it.

You must guide a princess through a dark castle—but an unseen countdown of heartbeats repeatedly transforms her into a monster. When that happens, you must dodge her attacks, collect humanity orbs, and survive until the curse releases her.

I focused heavily on designing and scoping the game appropriately for the short development window. Keeping the central loop simple allowed me to reach a playable state quickly and spend more time refining the visuals, atmosphere, feedback, and overall player experience.