LudumData

The Time of Our Lives by tddawson

[raw]
made by tddawson for LD 38 (COMPO)

Screen Shot 2017-04-23 at 6.55.26 PM.png

Long time, no see! Aaron, right? Oh. Sorry, Mike. Well, it's... uh... good to see you again. Um. I gotta run.

Concept

Interacting with long-lost acquaintances can be difficult but rewarding. In The Time of Our Lives, you'll run across acquaintances you vaguely remember from your High School yearbook. The start screen will show you your first two acquaintances, and a new one will be added after each level. The right interactions will create friendships and help you climb the social ladder. Wave, fist-bump, and hug your way to the top.

However, interacting with strangers or breaking social norms could cause a crushing blow to your social life. How high can you rise before it dies completely?

Play

(I just learned about hosting games on Itch.io, so please check it out there!) Play Online on Itch.io

CONTROLS

Arrow Keys — Move

Z — Wave — Wave at acquaintances when you have eye contact to become friends.

X — Fist-bump — Fist-bump friends when you have eye contact and are an appropriate distance away to become BFFs.

C — Hug — Hug BFFs when you have eye contact and are an appropriate distance away.

Source Code

Bitbucket.

Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/the-time-of-our-lives

Ratings

Overall 284th 3.292⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Fun 306th 3.083⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 103th 3.652⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 263th 3.417⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 479th 2.5⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Humor 80th 3.435⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Mood 355th 2.87⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Given 25🗳️ 28🗨️

Feedback

Richard Michael Smith
07. May 2017 · 23:20 UTC
For such a simple idea - this is actually quite difficult! Just like real life! I think this is a great idea for a game - reflecting how complicated social life (in all ages) can be. As you said - it's a shame you ran out of time for audio but despite that I think what you've accomplished here is excellent.
shuandang
09. May 2017 · 19:04 UTC
Wow! I love the humor, but I'm so bad at socializing with these guys! There's no way I can remember all my acquaintances for those fist bumps :P. Theres a lot going on in this game, it was rather fun!
Mathiouza
09. May 2017 · 19:51 UTC
That's pretty difficult ! x)

Good idea though ! The theme is well respected and I did not expect to see this kind of game with this theme. Congrats !

It lacks sounds though, and maybe a crescent difficulty. That could be discouraging if the game is too hard at our first test of the game. Think about that next time ;)

So keep coding and don't give up if you want to continue this one, there's potential in it :)
🎤 tddawson
15. May 2017 · 02:42 UTC
Thanks for your feedback! I haven't decided what I want to do with this one post-Compo, but either way I will take that to heart the next time I participate in Ludum Dare!
stuntddude
15. May 2017 · 07:02 UTC
I didn't really understand the mechanics at first, but was able to figure them out quickly enough. Adding a bit of text saying "New Acquantance:" or some such when the new acquaintance's picture comes up might make it more clear what's happening, as would keeping it on screen for a bit longer. I suck at memory games, but I still had fun with this, especially laughing at my obituary after I died of social isolation. Good sense of humor and tongue-in-cheek social commentary in one... I like it!
Scriptorum
15. May 2017 · 17:13 UTC
I had trouble getting past the second rung, which is about as far as I get in real life. :grin:

The thing about a memory game is some things are easy to remember (symbols of familiar objects, places, distinct and unique patterns), and everything else is work. For me, memorizing color sets is work, especially with the large number of gradations possible. To reduce the difficulty. maybe add face variety, symbols and patterns on the shirts, and distinctions in height, girth, and stride.

If you make eye contact long enough with an acquaintance, it'd be nice if they showed recognition of you, sort of a trade off of time versus assistance. I'd also like some way to yell at someone to get them to turn around. Or throw rocks at them...

The obit afterward is hilarious. I like that you got in different styles of greeting.
Stevie Bushman
16. May 2017 · 00:14 UTC
Thanks for such a unique game!
glitchy-pixel
16. May 2017 · 02:17 UTC
A very interesting game. It is actually very difficult! And also, being social is not my best trait, so this was hard, trying to remember all those people, and your current status with them.

I would have maybe appreciated more unique traits, other than colour... and maybe a way to help you out that "maybe" he remembers you... Heck, I can image actually someone coming to you waving and hugging and you are like "oh, what am I supposed to do with this guy, like give you a time to try to guess and fail at least once before trying again... or maybe be able t get past everything if you are polite enough, without even knowing the guy/gal (like in real life).

I see a really nice potential game here. Good work!
omarshehata
16. May 2017 · 02:41 UTC
I absolutely love that you made a game about the anxieties of social connection, and the obituary for a lost social life is so great! Definitely a 5/5 for humor here :D

I think a lot of the little details were very nice, like the "eye contact" stare. I think one thing that made it a little frustrating was having to keep in mind who all my friends were (which sounds bad to say out loud). At first I didn't even know that I had to memorize who my friends were. I think having a pause menu that can bring up who you're friends with so far would be nice, so you still get the fun mechanic of having to juggle all that in your head but it feels a little fair being able to look it up.
Anubhav Kashyap
16. May 2017 · 14:08 UTC
I gave it innovativeness 5 stars because it's simplicity baffles me. I am actually jealous! Nice game, anyways!
Good luck!

Rate me https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/survival-game
GoZz
16. May 2017 · 21:16 UTC
Hey buddy,

Simple but fuckin' effective... and HARD ! This game is really fun I really appreciated to play. That time when you have to remember so many people that you are pressing the wrong key and they deny you.... I felt so lonely...

Great game buddy ! Graphic are quite simple the overall it's super effective ! :p
jnr
18. May 2017 · 01:30 UTC
Hey! Really fun after you get the hang of it hahaha I always forget who are my friends and end up waving at strangers... (pretty much like my normal life). Laughed a lot with the news paper when you lose. Nice game!
midup
18. May 2017 · 01:54 UTC
Very interesting game, It is very simple and fun! good job!
Odefus
18. May 2017 · 08:43 UTC
Much like in real life I kept making eye contact with and hugging strangers. Having a social life is hard.
madalaski
18. May 2017 · 13:27 UTC
As someone who very often struggles with this kinds of stuff, I highly appreciate it being in games form =). Well done!
spelos
18. May 2017 · 13:28 UTC
The gameplay is actually pretty smooth. It controlled really well, it was very understandable when an action is supposed to be performed. The only thing I could ask for is the ability to remap the keys since, in my country, the [Z] key is not next to X and C.

Other than that, good job, really fun game.
benjamin
18. May 2017 · 13:40 UTC
Very innovative gameplay. A bit difficult to learn especially because color are probably not enough to memorize people. Some girls and additional haircuts would have help. Funny to see how I first tried to only rely on a single friend because I had too much problem remembering about other folks... :)
🎤 tddawson
19. May 2017 · 03:45 UTC
Huge thanks to everyone who helped double my # of ratings overnight and an even bigger thanks for all the awesome feedback. I would have loved to add other distinguishing features but I ran out of time. It also would have been fun to explore relationships between gender. It's definitely meant to be a little hard and frustrating, but I like some of the ideas about how to make it more forgiving or provide little cues. Great ideas! I'm glad the concept at least resonated with a lot of people :)

I've tried to go through and play all of your games, but I'm afraid I only have access to a Mac and web games.

Thanks again for making this a great first Ludum Dare experience!
highlyinteractive
19. May 2017 · 18:24 UTC
I found this game impossible to use!

...Until I realised you can move with the arrow keys :rolling_eyes:

I like the scoring system - very funny. Simple, but well made.