The Paw Bandit is a top-down logic game about thievery made in couple days on ScoreSpace Game Jam!

The Paw Bandit is a fast-paced 2D stealth and strategy game created in just a few days for the ScoreSpace Game Jam. The idea was to make a short but engaging experience about a thief breaking into a museum full of treasures, guards, and security systems. The player has a limited amount of time to steal a valuable item and escape before being caught — but how they do it is entirely up to them.

The game combines stealth mechanics, quick movement, and environmental interaction to create tension and replayability. Players can sneak behind guards, disable cameras, or hide inside boxes until the danger passes. Every run feels different thanks to randomized guard paths and time-based scoring.

Gameplay and Features
The player’s goal is to move through each room of the museum, steal the target item, and escape before the timer runs out. Along the way, there are multiple ways to interact with the environment:

• Hide inside boxes to avoid guards.
  
  

• Use lights and switches to distract or trap enemies.
  
  

• Dodge rotating security guard angled view and plan your movement carefully.
  
  

• Beat your best time by memorizing patterns and perfecting your route!
  
  

The balance between speed and stealth became the core of the gameplay loop. You can choose to rush the mission or play patiently — both can lead to victory if executed well.

Development Process
This project was built in just a few days during the game jam, and it quickly became one of the most enjoyable projects our team worked on. The map design took us a long time, as we wanted to make each section feel natural, logical, and full of tension. We brainstormed a lot of fun mechanics, such as box hiding, item stealing animations, and multiple escape routes, though some ideas had to be cut due to the short deadline, only 42 hours.

After the jam, we cleaned up the project, fixed several AI bugs, and polished the controls and lighting system. It was a great learning experience in level design, optimization, and coordination in a team under time pressure.

My Contributions 
I worked as both coder and game designer, focusing on the following data models and scripts:

• Implementing player controls, movement, and hiding mechanics.
  
  

• Programming AI behavior for guards and camera systems.
  
  

• Integrating interactive elements like switches and boxes to hide in.
  
  

• Designing the overall game loop and balancing timing and scoring.
  
  

• Assisting in map layout and gameplay flow to keep the experience fast and fun.
  
  

I also contributed ideas for player feedback, animations, and how to make each mechanic readable and rewarding, as well as building the full game file.

Team Credits

• Alice (luten) – Artist (itch.io)

• Juno – Coder, Project Manager, Team Leader (itch.io)

• Vasily (cxwig) – Coder, Game Designer (itch.io)

• Kyo Sama – Artist (in spirit)

Reflection
Although we didn’t have enough time to fully complete every feature we planned, The Paw Bandit turned into a fun, replayable stealth experience with a lot of charm and personality. It taught us the importance of teamwork, time management, and keeping scope realistic during a jam.

You can also check out the project’s source and development process on GitHub to see how we structured the systems and managed iterations - this was a project that truly made game development feel exciting from start to finish.
https://github.com/cxwig/SpeedJam-1

The Paw Bandit

Play on Itch.io https://cxwig.itch.io/thepawbandit