Simulator for average people by Dorkus64

[raw]
made by Dorkus64 for LD 41 (JAM)

This game is supposed to be a combination of games like the sims and survival games. you defend against spoon monsters. there is an in game tutorial and the game is for windows only. Made with gamemaker studio 2. Have fun!

ps. music is a little loud

Ratings

Given 5🗳️ 5🗨️

Feedback

Bamboy
25. Apr 2018 · 06:43 UTC
I was very confused, even after reading the tutorial screen. A little bit of feedback with audio or visual when the user clicks on something will help a lot with that, especially on the monsters!!!

Money seemed useless?

Also the executables just had the default "Made with gamemaker" name. Presentation is everything.
🎤 Dorkus64
25. Apr 2018 · 18:50 UTC
@bamboy
Thanks for the feedback! I will definitely consider these things next ludum dare! This is my third game ever and I’m always looking to improve! Thanks again!
Autumnotopia
27. Apr 2018 · 02:42 UTC
I notice you exported this from GameMaker as an installable exe, if you click the drop down box you can actually export it as a standalone exe. This makes it so people don't have to install the game and can just play it immediately after downloading it - a minor adjustment that makes it a lot more approachable :)

I like your concept, and you did manage to implement a lot of stuff. As bamboy mentioned, I think that a lot of the 'issues' were mainly just presentation stuff. The graphics were a little rough (understandably), but if there were maybe little text prompts in addition, as reminders, it would help. Combine that with minor audio queues and other fix ups (making it so you can restart without restarting the whole application) and I think it'd help things a lot
🎤 Dorkus64
27. Apr 2018 · 02:51 UTC
@autumnotopia thanks! I was planning to do a c++, in the console, text adventure game, but switched to gms2 at the last minute. I completely agree that I shouldn’t have made it an installer, and I’m glad you made me aware of this! All the feedback is wonderful! Thanks!
minibobbo
27. Apr 2018 · 03:09 UTC
I have the same problem. I can run a standalone executable on my machine but I can't run the installation package. I'd like to play and rate. You can still export it again and attach it here so more people can play it. Porting to other platforms is allowed after the jam ends, and I think this would count.
Dovakla
27. Apr 2018 · 04:02 UTC
This is overall a very unsettling experience. The music and sort of gross creepy animations work really well together. It does seem to get unbeatable at the end though. Does money do anything?
🎤 Dorkus64
27. Apr 2018 · 22:30 UTC
@Dovakla though it does get hard at the end, it is beatable. I managed to do it twice, though it took me a while. Using an appliance spends money, and when you run out, you can’t use any more appliances. I should have made it give you less, but it is possible to run out of money.
LuckyFeathers
13. May 2018 · 05:04 UTC
First of all, your art is the epitome of programmer art. It's just like I made it myself! :D

The mechanics is fine. You have a working game here with the basic features. What you need is a little bit of polish, and the game would be so much better! A game like this is actually fairly intuititive, and shouldn't need a tutorial. Yet, I got confused, even though I read the tutorial.

For example, my first playthrough I didn't understand what to do with the monster, and I ended up dying. When I restarted and read the tutorial again I understood I had to click on him. This could have been solved if you simply had sounds when clicking. One sound for moving to an appliance, one sound if you try to move but are unable because of the monster, and one sound for clicking on the monster. That would make the player understand if a button click is registered successfully or if he needs to click somewhere else. If you also had two songs playing, one if the monster is there and one if he's not, then you suddenly don't even need a tutorial.

By the way, the installation is a bit annoying. I've never used GameMaker before, but are you sure there's no way I can play the game without having to install it first?

Either way, I like the core gameplay here, and I'm looking forward to your next game. Good luck! :)
🎤 Dorkus64
23. May 2018 · 19:00 UTC
@LuckyFeathers thanks for the feedback! Everything you said will be applied when I work on my next game!