a picture of my face!
John Busse

Independent projects

This page showcases my independent projects

OGRE Solar System Demo

A simple render of our solar system built through July 2025.

Animation of the solar system built in OGRE

This game was built in OGRE through C++, the source code is publicly available on GitHub.

Tools Used

OGRE 14.3.4
C++
GitHub

Scooped! Match-ine Malfunction

A tile-matching puzzle game made in June 2025 for the two-day 44th Mini Jame Gam. The jam's theme was "Malfunction" with "Ice Cream" as a required special object. The project was ranked 3rd overall in the competition.

Still image of Scooped! final release

This game was built in Godot 4.4.1, and is playable on itch.io through the link below. The source code is publicly available on GitHub.

Tools Used

Godot 4.4.1
GDScript
GitHub

Project Rook (Final Title TBD)

A tower defense game built in Godot 4 currently in early pre-alpha.

Work in progress game animation

We are working toward a browser-playable demo hosted on itch.io. Updates are posted regularly on my bluesky account.

Tools Used

Godot 4.3
GDScript
GitHub

Super Tsunami Surfer

Made for the 9-day 2024 Pixel Game Jam hosted by SanForge Studio with "Aqua" as the theme. My team decided to make a vertical shooter/endless runner game about aliens dropping meteors into Earth's oceans to surf on a wave of destruction through a major city.

Project Image

The game was built in Godot 3, and is playable on itch.io through the link below. The source code is publicly available on GitHub.

Tools Used

Godot 3.5.3
GDScript
GitHub

OpenGL Solar System

A personal project to re-learn OpenGL programming I started in August 2023. The source code is hosted on GitHub.

Project Image

Tools Used

C++
GLFW
CMake
Assimp
Magick++
TinyXML2

Cozy Cabin Conundrum

Made for the 48-hour 2022 Winter MelonJam hosted by the Cupertino Game Dev Club. The theme for the jam was "Cozy" and my team made a survival game where the player explores a cabin looking for pieces of a mega quilt while maintaining their Hunger, Warmth, and Energy.

Project Image

The game was built in Unity, and is playable on itch.io through the link below.

Tools Used

Unity
C#
Plastic SCM