User:Nosekkensington/sandbox

Watch Me Jump is an indie adventure game developed and published by Jeremy Gable. The story centers around Audra Bee Mills, a WNBA all-star who has to deal with a potential career-ending scandal as she is about to become the highest paid women's basketball in the world.

Watch Me Jump was developed almost entirely by Gable using GameMaker Studio, and is adapted from his play of the same name. It was released for Windows and OS X on April 19, 2018, and for iOS and Android on July 11, 2018. The game was nominated for an Independent Games Festival Award for Excellence in Narrative.

Gameplay
The game is told almost entirely through a branching narrative, the choices of which move the plot forward. There are a few scenes where the player can control Audra's movement, letting her explore the environment. However, most of the interaction with the game is deciding between two choices within the game's dialogue.

Plot
The game's story is divided into four quarters. The prologue of the game shows Audra Bee Mills, who plays for the Minnesota Lynx, flirting with a sports bar hostess at a hotel bar in Indianapolis.

The first quarter cuts to six months later, when news of Audra's affair with the hostess has been made public the night before the first playoff game of the season. This happens as Audra is about to take a deal to leave the Lynx and play full-time for a women's basketball team in Yekaterinburg, making her the highest paid women's basketball player in the world. The scandal deepens into a leaked video of an assault, and with the help of her agent, Audra tries to figure out how to keep from getting suspended.

Development and Release
Watch Me Jump was developed by Jeremy Gable over the course of a year. He released a demo of the game on Steam for Windows and OS X on August 31, 2017. Apart from the dialogue engine, Gable created the game independently, including the artwork, programming, and music.

Gable released the game on Windows and OS X on April 19, 2018,. He ported the game to iOS and Android, adapting the game for touch controls, releasing the mobile version of the game on July 11, 2018.

Reception
Watch Me Jump received mixed reviews. Casey Scheld from GamersHeroes noted that "Watch Me Jump has got an interesting story, but it may be better suited as a stage play than a video game. Its brief length and rough presentation both hold the game back, which is unfortunate with a tale as solid as this one," while Robert Gammon from GameSpew wrote that "There is lack of real gameplay and the dynamics of the story, which would be amazing to see acted out on the stagae, don't have the same effect when displayed in pixel art. The climaxes of the narrative, which should have been exciting, feel rather underwhelming in this medium."

However, Sin Vega from Rock, Paper, Shotgun called it a pick of the week in the Unknown Pleasures column, stating that "I don't get anywhere close to finishing even the great interactive fiction I play/read for this. But I'd be damned if I was going to quit out of Watch Me Jump before it ended." Vega later named it one of the best Unknown Pleasures of 2018, calling it "what games could be now. That's how hard it struck me."

Accolades
The game was later nominated for the Independent Games Festival's Excellence in Narrative Award.