LudumData

Life! by cwilloughby

[raw]
made by cwilloughby for LD26 (COMPO)
Life!
A LD26 and April #1GAM minimalist rhythm life simulator.

Back of the box:
Take on the role of John Albertson.
Guide him through life's ebb and flow.
Will he end up happy?
Overweight?
Divorced?
You and your keyboard decide.

Theme:
Minimalism
Minimalist art
Minimalist audio
Minimalist elements
Minimalist controls
Minimalist life

Backstory:
You are John Albertson
Age 23
You just started a new job.
You have a girlfriend.
You are in reasonable shape.
You have a little money.
But you aren't really happy.
Yet.

Tutorial:
In life, you must choose to be happy...
Opportunities trickle to the left...
Press a key to act at the decision point.
In life, you are faced with many decisions...
Needs and value dictate the answer...
Simply ignore those which are unnecessary.
In life, you must make decisions quickly...
Act efficiently to maximize happiness.

Controls:
A/S/D/F - Perform action
Space - Start/continue

Libraries used:
Unity 3.5
SmoothMoves - 2d within Unity
Photoshop - arts
iNudge - music
Drumcircle - music
Bfxr - sounds

Content used:
Free 8bit font

Links:
LD26 In - http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/04/21/im-all-in-my-ld48-entry-will-be-my-april-1gam/
LD26 Announce - http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/04/26/ld26-life-min-max-your-way-to-happiness/
LD26 Status - http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2013/04/28/life-my-rhythm-based-life-simulator-nearly-finished/
Web (Unity) http://www.chriswilloughby.net/life-april-1gam-ld26/
Source http://www.chriswilloughby.net/LudumDare/LifeSource.zip
Trailer http://www.youtube.com/embed/4qW5nhM_9qo
Original URL https://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-26/?action=preview&uid=18255

Ratings

Coolness 92% 2
Overall 3.49 251
Audio 3.06 340
Fun 3.16 395
Graphics 2.76 758
Humor 3.06 160
Innovation 3.70 148
Mood 3.23 274
Theme 3.73 371

Feedback

Sgt Squirrelly
29. Apr 2013 · 04:00 UTC
Cool idea, about as minimal as a life sim can get, good work!
vegard1992
29. Apr 2013 · 04:57 UTC
nice game. very polished imo
Test User
29. Apr 2013 · 05:02 UTC
I like how it went with the theme for the idea. And I like the bio's at the end of each level. Do the note things on there go with the music as a rule?
voxel
29. Apr 2013 · 05:04 UTC
Combine life sim and rhythm game? The critics said it couldn't be done, but then cwilloughby got a perfect rhythm combo and blew all of their minds
gabehollombe
29. Apr 2013 · 05:08 UTC
Woo! This was really fun. I like the performance-meets-narrative aspect, and the ability to 'bank up' points in one column to let me ignore it as things get hectic. Nice gameplay, simple, and fun. Great job.
thristhart
29. Apr 2013 · 05:11 UTC
I really wanted to love this, but a rhythm game lives and dies by the music and unfortunately the music here was only okay. On the plus side, if you take this after LD and give it some really good music, it'd be awesome!

Only other complaint I have is that it took me a while to realize that it wasn't possible to hit two at the same time. Somehow I didn't understand that as a "decision point". No idea how to go about improving that, but there ya go.

Otherwise, a really innovative concept that I'd love to see you expand upon!
Kortuga98
29. Apr 2013 · 05:16 UTC
Nice work! Cool concept and good implementation of the theme.
Parabol
29. Apr 2013 · 05:24 UTC
Love it, very interesting concept. First time I've ever seen a rythm game mixed with a life sim. Nice simple tunes too :)
🎤 cwilloughby
29. Apr 2013 · 05:25 UTC
Thanks for the awesome comments everyone!

@thristhart - yeah. The music is definitely a sore spot for me. I used iNudge and did my best to pull it together, I would have loved to integrate it better with the mechanic and have better tunes, but I'm happy with where I landed given my skill and the time.
zatyka
29. Apr 2013 · 05:43 UTC
Nice blend of 2 very different genres. The movement wasn't smooth (possibly because I'm playing on a macbook air), so it was difficult to time everything. I'm going to have that little song stuck in my head for the next hour.
deathray
29. Apr 2013 · 05:55 UTC
I enjoyed the concept and the narrative was good.
Ludipe
29. Apr 2013 · 16:30 UTC
Nice work, the concept is very original.
cadin
29. Apr 2013 · 16:33 UTC
Neat idea, I like it. I liked the audio and the little bios at the end of each level. I found it really difficult to read any of the event text since I was focusing on the thing falling on the left. The tutorial texts also went by a little fast. It took me a couple of plays through to understand what they were trying to tell me.

Nice work on this!
gilmore606
30. Apr 2013 · 03:06 UTC
Nice! This is the only rhythm game I've seen. Really curious how you were syncing game stuff to the audio track, did you just use a song of known BPM and timers?
🎤 cwilloughby
30. Apr 2013 · 04:59 UTC
@gilmore606 - you nailed it. I made the audio, so I knew the timing. Just played with timing until it 'lined' up.
ThreeUp
30. Apr 2013 · 05:35 UTC
struggled with hitting two keys at the same time, but otherwise it was pretty well done and a clever theme
Masadow
30. Apr 2013 · 13:47 UTC
Great great great ! I didn't even think about such a mix ! Absolutely fantastic !
AaronMackayBurns
30. Apr 2013 · 16:20 UTC
Love the concept and a fun gameplay!
rodrigomotta
01. May 2013 · 02:31 UTC
Oh man, o love the audio and the text. Amazing. Thank you to play and rate my game. o/
LizEngland
01. May 2013 · 03:27 UTC
Hey, you did a really nice job with this. Still minimalist, but also pretty fully featured. And nice use of the gameplay as a metaphor for life.
Leginar
01. May 2013 · 07:11 UTC
I loved how you lost the ability to keep your health up over time. A very original little game. :)
Rialgar
01. May 2013 · 21:22 UTC
I like it very much, it fits the theme perfectly. Only two little things could be improved I think:

I had no time to read the events on the right, maybe display them after each level, so the player has time to read them

I am not quite sure if the music and the opportunities were in sync, sometimes they seemed a little off, but as I said, I am not sure about that
Dark Acre Jack
02. May 2013 · 07:39 UTC
Great mashup here, excellent work for 48 hours.
dremelofdeath
03. May 2013 · 06:30 UTC
interesting take on a rhythm game; I really like the status messages after each level
ceMelusine
03. May 2013 · 06:48 UTC
I really like the graphics and mechanics. Love the whole "banality" as gameplay thing.
KEFIR
03. May 2013 · 09:48 UTC
Nice work. I like this concept and realisation!
r3d5
04. May 2013 · 04:43 UTC
Ah, took me a while to figure out the keys have to be pressed as the dot hits the line.

Maybe having the line pulsate to the beat would grab the attention more?
🎤 cwilloughby
04. May 2013 · 07:32 UTC
Thanks for the feedback guys!

@r3d5 - totally agree, that just fell off the list :(
tankete
04. May 2013 · 08:15 UTC
I enjoyed it. Unique. It was a nice break from all the platformers :)

I did have problems anytime there were two items occurring simultaneously. Maybe it was my fat fingers, but I swear I hit them both at the same time yet it never registered.

I died at 53 :(
🎤 cwilloughby
04. May 2013 · 08:47 UTC
Hey tankete - that's intended but not messaged well. When there are two options, you have to choose one. I need to work on my message delivery. :)
EggDestroyer
04. May 2013 · 10:03 UTC
Can you hit two keys at the same time ? It seems I can't. Some problems about feedbacks (brightness, when to hit the keys), but the idea is great and the experience is overall enjoyable. :)
Orni
04. May 2013 · 10:20 UTC
brilliant concept - reminded me of 'alter ego'

I loved your game, made me think about my life decisions in a different kind of way

well done
Madball
04. May 2013 · 13:07 UTC
I liked the narration. The idea seems like a good add-on to rhythm games. However you should tell what does color of notes mean. Also, the timing wasn't perfect.
madlee
04. May 2013 · 18:23 UTC
Very cool, although I found it difficult to read the text on the right while dealing with the falling objects on the left. I didn't really get when I was supposed to hit them and when I was supposed to skip them. It was fun though, great job!
LPGhatguy
05. May 2013 · 00:11 UTC
I like this. A lot.
loxo
05. May 2013 · 18:42 UTC
Interesting simulation. Simple graphics and game mechanics. But I can only concentrate on the buttons or on the text.
terrivellmann
06. May 2013 · 13:41 UTC
Nice, interesting concept.
Spiridios
07. May 2013 · 04:42 UTC
Wow, neat idea for a rhythm game. Had fun playing it.
DkCub23
07. May 2013 · 21:43 UTC
Super simple. Quite addicting, too. I played four or five games. Good game
AlexFili
08. May 2013 · 17:23 UTC
This is great. It's like a mix between Guitar Hero and Alter Ego. It's a bit unclear what you're meant to do at first but I like the idea of choice and juggling life's problems.
avidgamerNino
10. May 2013 · 22:28 UTC
This game is awesome, I just love that "asdf"/gutiar hero mechanic. I wanted to his the two whites when they crossed at the same time. Am i only allowed to hit one at a time when it crosses the line. Great Job!
GaTechGrad
11. May 2013 · 20:08 UTC
Neat life simulator. Now if real life was as simple as pressing the correct home row key. I really liked the music as well.
Sylvain.p
15. May 2013 · 17:58 UTC
Strange concept, cans you make an easytype version? :-)
Xanjos
15. May 2013 · 22:28 UTC
Really interesting cross between a rhythm game and a life sim. Took a while to realise that I couldn't hit more than 1 note at the same time and the narrative on the right was excellent.
Zccc
16. May 2013 · 16:18 UTC
I loved it, very artistic :)
paulmcgg
18. May 2013 · 12:28 UTC
Nice concept, I liked being forced to sacrifice one over an another. I seemed to keep getting similar choices though (ie: mostly hearts). Some two frame animations illustrating actions while you play might be really nice. Little bios were neat.
Misael.K
19. May 2013 · 20:45 UTC
A good balanced game with a nice take on the theme. Simple and fun!
WiseGAMER
20. May 2013 · 22:06 UTC
Nice game, loved it :)