Time Thief

Time Thief is a game made in 4 days by a single developer for the GTMK 2026 game jam.

Theme: Countdown

Description:

Time is our greatest enemy. It never stops, never slows down, and always leaves us with less than we had before. Empires rise, machines evolve, and everything eventually gets left behind.

But you refuse to let time win.

As a technologically enhanced pirate fighting against a world advancing faster than you can keep up, your only way to stay powered on is to destroy the machines standing in your path. Every enemy you defeat buys you a few more precious seconds. Every mistake brings you closer to shutting down for good.

Steal back the time that was taken from you, push through increasingly dangerous mechanical defenses, and prove that even time itself can be fought.

Time Thief is a fast-paced 2D side-scrolling action platformer where you control a technologically advanced pirate racing against the clock.

Your goal is simple: defeat every enemy before time runs out.

Taking damage removes time from your countdown, while defeating enemies and successfully parrying their attacks adds precious seconds back to the timer. Fight aggressively, time your parries carefully, navigate dangerous machinery, and keep moving, because every second matters. 

Time Thief is intentionally difficult, but can be beat with a little bit of focus. There are 5 levels in total. Learn the enemies, parry their attacks and you are sure to succeed.

Controls:

A,D - movement

Space - jump / double jump

Left click / J - attack

Right click / K - parry

Escape - Pause 

Assets:

Since I'm primarily a programmer, I had to use ready made assets to finish this game

Tech pirate - https://kbpixelart.itch.io/tech-pirate-enemy

Enemies - https://kbpixelart.itch.io/steampunk-bot-enemy-pack-v2, https://kbpixelart.itch.io/steampunk-bot-enemy-pack

Skies - https://free-game-assets.itch.io/free-sky-with-clouds-background-pixel-art-set

Levels - https://atomicrealm.itch.io/industrial-tileset

Music - https://shononoki.itch.io/bullet-hell-music-pack

SFX - https://nsfrl.itch.io/retro-combat-sound-effects

Font - https://kottke.org/plus/type/silkscreen

Pause menu UI - https://finnmercury.itch.io/steampunk-gui

Jump particle - https://frostwindz.itch.io/pixel-art-vfx-smoke-dust-free-version