The Pursuit of Profit by jcroisant

[raw]
made by jcroisant for LD 43 (JAM)

ATTENTION: If you experience flickering, please try using Firefox.

Postmortem: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/the-pursuit-of-profit/postmortem-the-pursuit-of-profit

Intro

You have invented a marvelous machine which converts human lives directly into cold, hard cash. There's just one problem: once it starts, it won't stop! How much profit can you extract before your creation (and your conscience) catches up with you?

title_screen.png

screenshot.png

Keyboard Controls

  • Run: Left and Right arrows
  • Jump: Up arrow
  • Throw: Space

Changelog

  • [2 hours after jam end] Fixed button on title screen not being clickable. (This had a documented workaround of pressing space instead of clicking.)

Ratings

Overall 720th 3.182⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Fun 858th 2.75⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 822th 2.767⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Theme 519th 3.467⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 229th 4.043⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Audio 412th 3.213⭐ 49🧑‍⚖️
Humor 504th 2.875⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Mood 328th 3.553⭐ 49🧑‍⚖️
Given 33🗳️ 27🗨️

Feedback

ghost-in-the-toast
04. Dec 2018 · 05:11 UTC
WebGL and Windows version didn't work for me. Don't know if anyone else is having this problem :(
Subsage
04. Dec 2018 · 05:26 UTC
Game just flickers :( I can't play :(
treegemmer
04. Dec 2018 · 05:27 UTC
Get in there you darn babies!
kambing
04. Dec 2018 · 05:34 UTC
The gamefeel looks amazing, it makes me want to understand the lore of the world. However I don't get the gameplay. Are we supposed to just throw babies into the robot's mouth? What does that do other than increasing the dollar amount? And there's no continues after 4 platforms?
konomizure
04. Dec 2018 · 06:08 UTC
the webgl version is also not working for me, the game flickers and i could click in "commence" a secound time even when the button was not there anymore, just the instructions of how to play. It starts a music, but after the music the screen just flickers.
Besides that, i can't download the game, but i really liked the art and the mood that it gives.
🎤 jcroisant
04. Dec 2018 · 06:10 UTC
@kambing Yes, you've got it! Sacrifice the babies to earn as much money as you can, until your creation catches up with you and there's no where else to run. There are a few different endings depending on your actions! :wink:
🎤 jcroisant
04. Dec 2018 · 06:55 UTC
Anyone who is seeing flickering, please try using Firefox. It seems to be broken in Chrome. I will try to fix it tomorrow.
jk5000
04. Dec 2018 · 10:18 UTC
A very well made LD game, with an amazing atmosphere.
Purrseus
04. Dec 2018 · 17:59 UTC
Gameplay is basic, but functional. What makes this game good is the atmosphere! It all feels good, even without character animation. It creates a world I'd like to explore!

Also, I want to compliment on your font selection. To must of us fonts are more of an afterthought. You nailed the atmosphere even before I saw anything from the game, just because you took the time to find some *truly* fitting fonts. Nice job!
arkinrev
05. Dec 2018 · 05:02 UTC
The atmosphere was outstanding. I installed firefox just for this game. The audio was great, and you really stuck to the ambiance. The only troubles I ran into was some strange throws every once in a while, and I was able to stand on the mouth of the machine for a bit and rack up the money. Great entry!
Mortifix
05. Dec 2018 · 05:04 UTC
I like how this game functions and would have liked to see more levels! Very fun!
Ninnec
05. Dec 2018 · 06:01 UTC
I really like the game, graphics, and music.
FireSlash
05. Dec 2018 · 07:32 UTC
A+ in the mood department. I'm loving what you've done here!

That said, the actual game part felt a bit unsatisfying. Throwing babies into the thing's mouth is tricky as there aren't any real aiming controls that I could see. They also tend to just sit in front of his jaws instead of going in, and when they pile up, the physics engine has a Physics Moment and just shoots babies off at a zillion miles an hour.

The ending also left me wanting.

This is one I'd love to see developed more post-compo. You've got a lot of really promising looking set pieces, but I think the idea needs to bake a bit longer.
thunderkerrigan
05. Dec 2018 · 07:37 UTC
Nice one :smiley: . Pretty simple but well executed. cool graphics and takes on the theme ! Good Job!
great-bobleny
05. Dec 2018 · 07:39 UTC
I keep getting an "index out of bounds" error, so I couldn't play. :(

Windows 7 64bit, i5-32100m 2.5Ghz, Geforce 610m / Intel HD Graphics 4000, 6GB RAM, 63.0.3.


exception thrown: RuntimeError: index out of bounds,@https://v6p9d9t4.ssl.hwcdn.net/html/1171310/index.js line 92 > WebAssembly.instantiate:wasm-function[585]:0x3234e

Odd...
Serge Nanovsky
05. Dec 2018 · 08:22 UTC
A bit too short, but otherwise an outstanding job! :)
Gao Ming
05. Dec 2018 · 08:51 UTC
Sorry.html5 wouldn’t run at all. Not sure why.Picture has been shining!
🎤 jcroisant
05. Dec 2018 · 09:04 UTC
@fireslash Thank you for the thoughtful critique! I had many gameplay ideas I hoped to implement, which would have made it more interesting and reinforced the message. Unfortunately, under the pressure of a game jam... sacrifices must be made. :laughing:
CaptainCorgistan
05. Dec 2018 · 10:10 UTC
So retrowave wich i think is good! Nice job!
kloscunha
05. Dec 2018 · 10:24 UTC
The visuals are very nice. I think the concept could use some work, though. I know we're pressing for time in a game jam, but it's too direct for a title like this. A little more subtlety would go a long way.
dunin
05. Dec 2018 · 17:59 UTC
Nice mood, but a bit slow for be really fun!

(maybe it could be more punchy if babies were thrown on space down and not on release and if the robot was going faster...)
Lex
06. Dec 2018 · 01:27 UTC
No sound or music playing on Firefox for me.
ProdigalSon
06. Dec 2018 · 19:25 UTC
Ummm...wow...what did those babies do to you! lol
The graphics sell it and I don't think I like throwing babies into the iron giant - lol :P
Shito
08. Dec 2018 · 00:40 UTC
A very dark and extremely capitalistic approach which fits the theme of the game jam very well. :) I enjoyed playing it, although I felt like a pig while throwing the babies. The graphics are very unique and fitting. The music supports the dark mood of the game perfectly.
gamebuilder
08. Dec 2018 · 01:00 UTC
I was intrigued by your postmortem and decided to give your game a try. I think you've done a very good job with artwork and sound. I agree that the game-play leaves a lot of room for improvement, but even so, I enjoyed tossing babies into the gigantic jaws of the robot (as sad as that sounds). For one person with only three days with an unfamiliar tool, you've accomplished a lot, and I think you should give yourself more credit.
Dizzy
08. Dec 2018 · 02:54 UTC
A like your artstyle! Great entry!
Zariel
14. Dec 2018 · 01:30 UTC
Nice! Beautiful graphics, and it's a good platform game.
Preside
17. Dec 2018 · 01:07 UTC
Awesome style! Great job!
Denzil Gomes
19. Dec 2018 · 23:02 UTC
Very nice art style, found the jump was used more to line up the baby shots lol Well done, was hoping it was longer
coatline
20. Dec 2018 · 15:25 UTC
Cool art style! It wasn't too easy not too hard. One thing I recommend is make it faster as it goes on. Overall, good job.
honey
22. Dec 2018 · 18:02 UTC
The artstyle is great, well picked colour palette, well drawn, well thought out characters, very nice overall Metropolis feel! The gameplay on the other hand is bit on the weaker side, the monster ate babies left on the floor behind his head, jumping felt weird. Also was the level randomly generated? I ended on the gap that I think is impossible to jump over. But most importantly - I think you are unnecesarilly pushing that "social commentary" stuff too hard. I think that you should think more about implementing that social commentary to game mechanics so players will notice and percieve it on their own. Having it as subheader of your game steals most of its magic. I think that for example this one https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/43/santas-list have strong social commentary without needing to be that explicit about it. Subtle is better, let your player translate your game on his own :)
ludipe
28. Dec 2018 · 14:59 UTC
Cool take on the theme. Loved the artstyle. I think the whole thing would improve with a faster pace. Also, the robot physics created some weird graphical glitches, but I was still able to finish it. Congrats! :-)