Bend-jo

Bend-jo is a short Unity puzzle game built in 96 hours for GMTK Jam 2025. Its magic banjo folds levels into loops, turning the route to each exit into a spatial problem with a wonderfully silly instrument at the center.

What is Bend-jo?

The conceit is delightfully literal: play a banjo, bend space, and make disconnected pieces of a level meet. Bend-jo packages that rule into a compact browser game, with a Windows download available for anyone who prefers a local build. Its jam page reports a third-place creativity finish among thousands of entries, while the creator's post-jam update tightened player movement and closed an unintended shortcut in level seven. That is a lot of dimensional mischief for four days of development.

What you can do there

• Fold puzzle levels into connected loops
• Guide the character through altered space
• Play in a browser or download the Windows build

Why we picked it

The banjo is not a mascot pasted onto an ordinary grid puzzle; it is the excuse for the geometry to misbehave. The idea reads quickly, feels specific to this game, and earned a top-three creativity rank in the official jam results.

How to get the most from it

Open the game page in a desktop browser and choose Run jam game, or use the name-your-own-price Windows download. When a route seems impossible, work backward from the destination and think about which edges should become neighbors after a fold.

Good to know

The game page lists HTML5 and Windows builds, credited banjo audio, and a short-game tag. Live controls, sound options, save behavior, mobile support, accessibility, and build parity were not tested. Its frame policy means the destination should open directly on itch.io rather than inside Site Stumble's embedded viewer.

Who made it, and when?

Squishy Turtle Games is the credited creator or organization. The earliest supported launch date we found is August 3, 2025. A documented update was recorded August 8, 2025.