Quest for Normalcy by CaptainDreamcast

[raw]
made by CaptainDreamcast for LD 39 (COMPO)

normalcy_header2.PNG

Rhythm game for Web, Sega Dreamcast and Windows.

Help Super Mega Ultra Combo Man become a normal, upstanding citizen! Punch a lot of people to help him lose his power! ~~Power as in personal ability, not electricity and stuff. Gotcha there.~~

A touching tale about being yourself, unless you can't reach the end of the game. In that case, it's just kinda sad.

Play it in your browser or download it for the Sega Dreamcast on itch (or download it for Windows, but why would you).

Controls/Burning instructions/Running instructions are also found on itch.

Ratings

Overall 606th 2.674⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Fun 573th 2.581⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 558th 2.5⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Theme 612th 2.628⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 565th 2.488⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Audio 479th 2.122⭐ 43🧑‍⚖️
Humor 37th 3.786⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Mood 491th 2.564⭐ 41🧑‍⚖️
Given 41🗳️ 39🗨️

Feedback

nikrt
31. Jul 2017 · 12:22 UTC
I like the concept, but there is some room for improvement. Firstly, the death animation could have been better, instead of just bones and gores flying around. There could have been a change in the environment or something like that, right now the game feels kind of constrained. But other than that, this concept is one of its kind. And I especially like the transition animation from SUCM to SCUM :D.
AdroitConceptions
31. Jul 2017 · 12:24 UTC
I didn't really get the point of the game. I didn't like the 'attack' your admirers part seemed. Also there doesn't seem to be a loosing condition. I let my guy get hugged over and over and his energy bar didn't seem to go down.
litill
31. Jul 2017 · 12:25 UTC
Fun premise! A penalty for hitting the wrong buttons would help make it a bit more difficult, as it is possible to spam all buttons atm.
fazz
31. Jul 2017 · 15:21 UTC
Must admit I suck pretty hard at reaction games. Top marks for humour. The intro made me chuckle!
gonutz
31. Jul 2017 · 17:01 UTC
Unfortunately I cannot run this 64 bit exe on my 32 bit machine, could you add another build?
gonutz
31. Jul 2017 · 17:08 UTC
Nevermind, the web version is finally done loading, I thought my browser was having problems.

Anyway, the game itself has very nice graphics. I really like the hand-drawn art for its style. It would have been great if the background was hand-drawn as well. The blatant difference does not create a coherent world here.

The gameplay is actually a bit boring, but then this kind of game - hitting a specific button at a specific time - is not my favorite kind of game.

There were some issues with the font and is it right that in the intro there is no music but just one loud drum? Could be a bug as well.

Overall you did a very good job for a 48 hour competition! :-)
gonutz
31. Jul 2017 · 17:08 UTC
Oh - and the story does not make sense but I am sure that was intentional ;-)
Sun-Wukong
31. Jul 2017 · 18:57 UTC
Hello aggy daggy, fun little game you have here. I really wanted to see ending but it is too hard for me alas.
phantomcorps
01. Aug 2017 · 05:08 UTC
Ay this is pretty good!
Intro made me gigle a little, good job!
Jesper Fyhr Knudsen
01. Aug 2017 · 09:34 UTC
Fun intro and interesting game. Sort of a simplified version of The Typing of the Dead. I'm not sure there is a losing condition though?
Mik3
01. Aug 2017 · 09:47 UTC
This was like a dance simulator game but not shit. I really liked the use of the LD theme, max rating from me in that particular category. A worthy compo entry.
Drury
01. Aug 2017 · 10:08 UTC
Nice game, I like how you slowly devolve, which is both hilarious and functional, as each "phase" serves as a checkpoint.

My only gripe is that the music was a bit boring for a rhytm game. It fit the mood but I'm not even sure it had anything to do with the timings.
cnoble
01. Aug 2017 · 12:01 UTC
I really enjoyed the humor and the concept thrown together to fit the theme! I had a goofy grin on my face playing it. I will agree with a couple of other comments though, I did try and advance, but I also wanted to see what would happen if I let them through to admire me, but I did not see any noticeable reaction. Overall a good concept and writing style! :)
filippy
01. Aug 2017 · 13:49 UTC
The art was super nice, and I did like the over the top death animation. Is there no fail state? I just left it open for a couple of minutes without pressing any keys and it just kept going
Vivoubos
01. Aug 2017 · 16:56 UTC
Very funny intro, but the boom boom during the intro is just horrible.

The music is better after ^^

And the effect haha, with the mouth, there are the best sound :p
Nice work on this, it make me laugh
diptoman
01. Aug 2017 · 17:38 UTC
I like the humor in this! Its a pretty simple quick time event game. That said, the choice of music is horrible.
Toulou
01. Aug 2017 · 20:02 UTC
This is exactly the kind of weird game I love. Aside from the annoying music this is a great game, really funny and challenging. One of my favorite so far !
ijona
01. Aug 2017 · 23:54 UTC
Lol, unfortunately I wasn't able to enjoy all the funny details because I was too deeply involved into getting normal! At the end, it was very hard, and I didn't succeed. Goodbye, normality!
Baby Dino Herd
02. Aug 2017 · 01:08 UTC
I really like this take on the theme, and you definitely were able to capture the mood you were going for. Agree with @filippy that eventually it seemed like I wasn't making further progress.
rijnswand
02. Aug 2017 · 03:26 UTC
Felt like some weird guitar hero, but with punching people instead. I was so fixated watching the bar at first that didn't notice some of the character's appearance changes.
stoffe
02. Aug 2017 · 15:11 UTC
I failed to get past the suit form, I wanted to be metal!

Fun sound effects that you made with your mouth, also nice programmer art. The music was not very fitting.
Game could be improved by having some kind of rythm music, so that you time your punches to it.
GanbareGamesKyle
02. Aug 2017 · 20:49 UTC
Mama always said if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.
JCMonkey
03. Aug 2017 · 05:41 UTC
LOL this game!!
grandtheftmarmot
03. Aug 2017 · 22:27 UTC
This is kind of what some of my nightmares look and sound like. This was hysterical, horrifying, and super fun. Great job!
Dariusa
05. Aug 2017 · 12:33 UTC
Music is terrible, and couldn't beat the game... But liked the death animation
silkworm_sweatshop
06. Aug 2017 · 11:12 UTC
I've seen a few games now about superheros losing their power, it's an interesting take and the intro was pretty funny. Sadly this game suffers from a common oversight in these types of games in that there is no punishment for just spamming all buttons repeatedly. That music track with just the bass drum in the beginning/end of the game also hurt my brain a bit. I don't own a dreamcast but I'm amused you made a port to it :P.
Estebe
06. Aug 2017 · 20:39 UTC
I like rythm-games and yours has the timing down well!
Though there's no penalty for hitting wrong buttons or a losing-condition.

I didn't mind the graphics but the music got a little annoying.
The flavor text was kinda funny in some parts.

Give it a bit of polish and some repercussions. You'll have a fine game!
CliffracerX
09. Aug 2017 · 23:31 UTC
Didn't really feel like this take on "failing superhero" worked, didn't enjoy the gameplay, and the audio was...mind-numbing.

Oh boy. Here we go.

First: Pick one set of buttons or the other. Rhythm games DO NOT WORK with this many buttons, CERTAINLY not without some lead-in time. Thumper has this down; you are only ever using combinations of your movement keys (either WASD or arrows depending on personal preference) and the spacebar, ESPECIALLY in the early game.

Secondly: Include auditory feedback; make it punchy and satisfying, not..."powgh" and "heeh". I know this is supposed to be funny (and in any other game genre, those might work), but...they just don't work here. This ties hand-in-hand with music, too; that droning baseline in the background combined with the main SFX were enough to make me mute my browser and put on the music I'd been working on for my own entry.

Thirdly: Better checkpoints are critical; I snapped and quit the game after the ~5th time the hero got hugged in the businessman->basement-dweller phase because the phase was entirely too long and too unforgiving.

Finally: Don't do...whatever you're doing with the wobbly animation. That was an eyesore. Just...Don't.

With some serious redesign (maybe taking the idea and rebuilding from scratch, if need-be), this might work alright, but as it stands right now...it's the first entry I've given a 1/5 Overall on. I'm sorry.