BoilerMan by Wekaj

[raw]
made by Wekaj for LD 42 (COMPO)

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The most essential part of the steam engine, yes, it is the Boiler and his BoilerMan. Using his four arms the BoilerMan can operate all wheels and buttons that are necessary in the functioning of the Boiler, and then the Boiler can create the Steam. The BoilerMan can also grow all necessary Plants using the seeds and the available wheels and buttons, and the Plants can be fed to the Boiler when required to make the Boilers flame correct. But !!WARNING!! the BoilerMan must always make sure to keep the fire fed using the Bellows wheel, and most importantly the BoilerMan cannot let his workshop become crowded too much. To help with this, the BoilerMans best friend is the SootyBall. The BoilerMan must always have his SootyBall friends, and must always create more, because they fall into the Boilers flame often.

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Operations: * Click the mouse button to perform all operations. * One operation is to click a wheel or button. The BoilerMans closest free hand will begin standard operation procedure (SOP.) * Another operation is to click an item. The BoilerMans closest free hand will attach to the item and commence next stage of item usage (NSoIU.)

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!!WARNING!!2 SootyBall plants need space to grow and otherwise will become ferocious!!

Ratings

Overall 299th 3.469⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Fun 439th 3.106⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 47th 3.939⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Theme 374th 3.545⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 47th 4.118⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Audio 91th 3.625⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Humor 261th 2.65⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 111th 3.531⭐ 34🧑‍⚖️
Given 36🗳️ 40🗨️

Feedback

4thwallstudios
13. Aug 2018 · 00:48 UTC
Love your art style and references! Kinda confusing on how to play
spudboy
13. Aug 2018 · 03:22 UTC
Yeah it's real confusing figuring out how to play this.
bovandenberg
13. Aug 2018 · 10:14 UTC
the graphigs are soo good i like it and this deserves more ratings.10/10
Wolfrug
13. Aug 2018 · 11:25 UTC
So confusing :D But clearly a lot of effort and love was put into this, and clearly someone should have made a That Guy With The Many Arms From Spirited Away-game a long time ago :D
Dries Vuylsteke
13. Aug 2018 · 11:50 UTC
Art style, sound and mood are all really good. It was a bit confusing to figure out how to play so a tutorial wouln't hurt the game.

Over all I enjoyed this a lot!
Ilseroth
13. Aug 2018 · 12:29 UTC
Gunna have to agree with most, while was able to persist, I feel like there's a jump in logic that you made that I'm not coming along with so I don't really get what I'm doing.
Noah J
13. Aug 2018 · 12:30 UTC
Art style is strong ! Pretty weird but I kinda liked it that way :D
machrom
13. Aug 2018 · 12:46 UTC
Confusing at first, since i didn't realize the drawings in the main menu were how to do things. Though, it would be more helpful to have them somewhere in game.

Lovely game otherwise, art, sound, everything fits! :)
JSMCAG
13. Aug 2018 · 12:54 UTC
Oh man, taking inspiration from Spirited Away was an awesome idea! :thumbsup: I love it!
Unfortunately, I have no idea how to actually play the game - it's pretty confusing, and the in-game help doesn't actually help much at all...

Still, I'm in love with the idea! :blush:
MrSerp
14. Aug 2018 · 02:34 UTC
Art style and mood are great, I'll admit, I was drawn in by the Spirited Away inspiration. It is a bit confusing at first, but this entry definitely has a lot of merits going for it overall!
frostByte4k
14. Aug 2018 · 02:39 UTC
amazing you made the game I never knew I needed. It was fun to figure out how to play. Favorite game so far.
zchangvx
14. Aug 2018 · 04:01 UTC
This became really engaging once I figured out how to play. Some in-game directions would go a long way, though figuring stuff out was pretty fun too. I'd love to see a more complex version of this
JimmyC
14. Aug 2018 · 04:02 UTC
The art style is really cool!
But it's very confusing at first,maybe adding a guide can help.
🎤 Wekaj
14. Aug 2018 · 04:23 UTC
Thank you for all the feedback so far! I agree that the game is quite vague and confusing, I realised I wouldn't have enough time to make a good tutorial so I decided to play into the idea that it is up to the player to figure out what to do. I just added somewhat cryptic instructions to the menu and made the starting difficulty quite low so that you have plenty of time to fiddle around with the available tools. Probably not the best idea for a Ludum Dare game, better tutorialisation would have been ideal.

@wolfrug Haha, thanks. It's about time right.

@jsmcag @mrserp Thanks! I do love Spirited Away's style.

@frostbyte4k @zchangvx I'm glad you enjoyed working out how to play, that makes me happy!
frostByte4k
14. Aug 2018 · 04:28 UTC
@wekaj yeah I love this game great job. I do wish the difficulty wouldn't accelerate so quickly because I enjoy the crafting side.
Edit: also keep the cryptic tutorial I think it adds to the charm of the game and evokes the feeling of discovery.
Dongle
14. Aug 2018 · 04:46 UTC
I agree with @frostbyte4k figuring out the game is half the fun. It also really adds to whimsical nature of the game.
Mathiouza
14. Aug 2018 · 13:30 UTC
Cool game ! I agree with the guys who posted comments here ^^ It is quite relaxing but the difficulty increase too quickly and I enjoyed the non really clear instruction on the titlescreen ^^ Great job ^^

Keep coding :)
Joshua W
14. Aug 2018 · 20:22 UTC
I had a great time playing this game. Granted, it is confusing and the demands of the boiler are merciless, but I feel that some of the confusion is fitting. I always felt curious of the life of the boilerman from the movie. What exactly are all those weird candy like crystals he throws around? I thought this game gave me some closure :D
🎤 Wekaj
14. Aug 2018 · 22:49 UTC
@frostbyte4k @dongle @mathiouza @joshua-w Thank you! Yeah, the difficulty could definitely do with some tuning. I am considering extending the game a bit and making a separate, more polished version. If I do, I will definitely take that into account. I'm glad you appreciate the cryptic-ness and figuring out the game, I will still try to include some aspect of that if I do go on with the more polished version.
frostByte4k
14. Aug 2018 · 23:01 UTC
yay let me know when you finish it i'd love to play it.
🎤 Wekaj
14. Aug 2018 · 23:10 UTC
@frostbyte4k Haha, will do!
happyhour
15. Aug 2018 · 01:19 UTC
This is my favorite one I've run into so far. The cryptic nature of the directions made it hard to pick up initially, but it was enjoyable once it clicked. This kind of constant franticness and upkeep is the type of stress I enjoy!
Naemis
15. Aug 2018 · 02:37 UTC
Very pretty game for what you've had to make in 48 hours. Although, it's a bit confusing and the difficulty is a bit hard, I thought it was really neat being a whole Spirited Away reference. Nice job!
incinious
15. Aug 2018 · 05:15 UTC
Very cool concept and nice artstyle. The instructions were a bit too tricky to figure out imo. Overall a great game!
Himadri Sekhar Mahanta
15. Aug 2018 · 08:11 UTC
I like the art style. It's a nice homage to Spirited Away. The instructions though, I'd consider them a mini-game in itself. If you wish to develop it further, maybe you could introduce some kind of hint for struggling players. Overall, good job.
Zariel
17. Aug 2018 · 18:45 UTC
Very cool, interesting concept of inspiring in the kamaji of Spirited Away and within the theme
Sengi
18. Aug 2018 · 09:51 UTC
I love the mood, it's kinda lonely and dark (despite being in the dark room ha-ha). Also the title sells me, BoilerMan, cmon, that’s just great) Character remind me Kamaji from Spirited Away. Nice entry, keep it up)
rexpeppers
19. Aug 2018 · 17:30 UTC
Aw I can't play windows games, but would love to see a playthrough.
frostByte4k
05. Sep 2018 · 08:45 UTC
This was my favorite game, I thought for sure it was top 100! Great job though.