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A Story of Sacrifice and Courage

Borrowed Light

Delve into the struggles of being a moth who’s trying to save a firefly colony, doesn’t like the light, and finds out that more fireflies have died off due to artificial light pollution.

Game Overview

Release Date: September 2026

Development Status: Game Jam

Development Time: 2 Weeks

Team Size: 1

JernJam 2026 Theme: Unlikely Hero

Delve into the struggles of being a moth who’s trying to save a firefly colony, doesn’t like the light, and finds out that more fireflies have died off due to artificial light pollution. Fly through the meadow and into the city, collecting bioluminescent light while resisting the pull of artificial light and dodging debris. The bats are out and everything seems to keep you from helping the fireflies. Deliver Biolume materials to the firefly colony and become the hero of the meadow.

I originally started this game with the intention of working on it daily for 2 weeks. Into the last weekend before submission, I had barely the movement and art done. I spent the entire weekend pulling together my animations, assets, and level progression. I basically built the game over the weekend, and I had a BLAST! I started a game back in April for another game jam, but my heart wasn’t in it, and by the time I started real progress on that game, I was going to need to refactor all the character code to make persistent stats. This game was different; I felt a drive to get it done.

Borrowed Light is a small story about selfless acts to help others. It tells a story of sacrifice and courage. This bite-sized game jam entry is designed to be an emotional tale where you learn that light disrupts moth’s flying patterns, artificial light is polluting nature in negative ways, and the world is much bigger than our bubble we call life.

When it comes down to it, Borrowed Light was a good challenge for me to make a procedural game with a story. I hope you enjoy!

Credits

A Game for the JernJam2026 Game Jam

Average Game Studio

A Game By TheAverageGoob

Pixabay Royalty Free Music

  • Quiet Night by MusicWord
  • Night Harp and Crickets for Deep Sleep by Shorts_by_PazuzuStudi
By me a coffee

Controls

  • WASD: Fly Around
  • Left Click/Space: Boost Up
  • ESC: Pause Game
  • Collect Biolume and deliver it to the firefly colony.
  • Dodge debris, fleeing fireflies, artificial (false) light, and avoid bats!

Post-mortem Notes

I wish I had spent the entire 2 weeks working on this game. There was a lot more level and world-building I wanted to make happen. It’s possible that I take this game a little further and develop it into what I imagined at the beginning of the jam. However, I feel like everything went great! I created my GDD and stuck to the plan. I spent way too much time on art compared to development. For a jam, mechanics matter a little more. I would work on the fun aspect of the game and try to make the moment-to-moment interactions more meaningful. I think the best feedback that I’ve gotten so far is “DANG BATS!” from almost everyone who’s played. I love that I could make something that seems so simple give a reaction that’s memorable. That’s the goal with my games, and that makes me happy!

Development Screenshots

Publisher

Average Game Studio

Game Design Doc

View

Game Engine

Godot 4.7

Genre

Arcade, Platformer

Type

Game Jam

Platform

Windows