Basil Price: Mint Investigator by minibobbo

[raw]
made by minibobbo for LD 44 (JAM)

A Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney inspired investigation story. Play as Basil Price who is an investigator who works at the mint. Track down counterfeiters and collect clues. Solve (simple) puzzles by confronting suspects with the clues you've collected.

dialog.gif

Played entirely with the mouse.

Ratings

Given 81🗳️ 101🗨️

Feedback

sylvie
01. May 2019 · 01:22 UTC
Cute and funny little game. The music is fantastic!
JediNeeson
01. May 2019 · 01:24 UTC
Great art and music!
Norris Eldridge
01. May 2019 · 01:30 UTC
Nice work and sweet 4th wall breakage, gotta say though, the music sounds like it belongs in a... well a different kind of entertainment... but overall well done :)
Lone_Wolf
01. May 2019 · 01:36 UTC
Nice work. I had a lot of fun. Detective games are one of my favorites. +1
DrumGadget_433
01. May 2019 · 01:39 UTC
I'm impressed all that you guys were able to put together! That's quite a bit of art, music, and programming to do in 72 hours, congrats! The tunes were absolutely jammin', and I enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek humor (including the obligatory nod to the theme, haha).

I've never played Ace Attorney, but I've always had a soft spot for point and clicks. This definitely scratched that itch. Nice work!
🎤 minibobbo
01. May 2019 · 01:46 UTC
@sylvie Thanks! The music was put together by @jamesolivermusic and he did a great job. He described it as JazzFunk and I think it turned out awesome!

@jedineeson Thanks! I normally do pixel art so this was a nice change. Took much longer than I had thought (which is why some of the rooms are awfully bare!)

@norris-eldridge I'm a bog fan of a good 4th wall breakage.

@lone-wolf I like detective games also. This was fun to put together!

@drumgadget-433 This was a little tricky because I switched game engines to Phaser for this jam and I got bit by a couple problems that more familiarity with the engine would have avoided. I would highly recommend the Ace Attorney games! They have the first three on Steam now and they are well worth the playthough!
JediNeeson
01. May 2019 · 02:12 UTC
@minibobbo It's a pleasure! I would love to get you comments on our game my friend.
gelisam
01. May 2019 · 03:09 UTC
Haha, you found a really good way to turn a bad situation (running out of time) into a good situation (even more fourth wall humour)!
WTG
01. May 2019 · 08:10 UTC
I had Peter Griffin moment when Penny said "Your Life is Currency" - I was like "Ahh (s)he said It!!" :laughing: Great work on the art, lots of variety! Nice work :thumbsup:
paul59
01. May 2019 · 08:17 UTC
Good fun and nice touches of humour. noticed a couple of typos (I think one was 'handly' instead of handy, can't recall the other sorry).
Cubicode
01. May 2019 · 11:51 UTC
Very nice.

I especially like the music and the links to LD44.

Good job.
Sam Machell
01. May 2019 · 11:54 UTC
This has been my fav game so far! It's all so polished and coherent and fun! 5 stars all round!
Ashtrail
01. May 2019 · 12:30 UTC
Really enjoyable game !

The music is awesome, the 4th wall breaking is done very well and the game was really funny.

I guess it could do with a bit more polish (like most jam games and normal with the time restriction). There wasn't really any "painful" points during the game so I don't have much more feedback to give.

Nice job, you guys can be proud of yourselves !

edit: (I forgot to thank you for making a web build, you have my gratitude as a mac user)
Rancoud
01. May 2019 · 15:33 UTC
I like the humor and the fourth wall breaking
trozen
01. May 2019 · 15:37 UTC
Alright this game was hilarious.

Things I liked:
* The writing was super great and weirdly meta.
* The clue's design was really well thought out! I had no trouble knowing what to do next or what clue to select in a conversation
* The music was top notch, it really added to the game's atmosphere.

Things I would change:
* More content!
* Super nitpick, but provide more contrast between the persons name and what they are saying in the conversation box.
josehzz
01. May 2019 · 16:38 UTC
The story was quite engaging nicely done.
Weine
01. May 2019 · 16:50 UTC
Cool! Engaging story, short but funny dialogue, fitting graphics and music, but maybe a bit too easy to win.
Goomboo
01. May 2019 · 19:49 UTC
The game is really cool ! The story was short and engaging, and the music was truly amazing.
You didn't have to break the fourth wall so many times though hahaha
dodormeur
01. May 2019 · 20:13 UTC
Really cool game !
The art and especially the music were really incredible, they are really good for a jam game !
The only downside is that the game is very short and not hard, but the art and the humor completely make up for it :)
Poffle
01. May 2019 · 20:34 UTC
I really enjoyed this! Funny throughout and all the 4th wall breaks made me laugh. Good fun. When's the next case out?

Oh, and the music was awesome!
XMPTEd
01. May 2019 · 20:58 UTC
Nice job on this one - enjoyed the nods to Ace Attorney, and the dialog was good. Feel it needs some stronger art to carry it if it were to become a further developed game. And even though it makes for some jokes, it's not a great hit on "use of theme" for me ;) Played through and had good fun :)
PixScope
01. May 2019 · 22:06 UTC
I love it !
🎤 minibobbo
01. May 2019 · 22:10 UTC
@gelisam Honestly the stupid running out of time placeholder dialog is probably funnier than what I was planning on writing...

@wtg The last couple LDs I've made a stupid theme connection and most people didn't get it. This time I decided to spell it out :)

@paul59 Not surprising there are typos. Don't tell anyone, but some of the dialog I added right before submission and other than verifying that it was valid JSON I didn't even see it in the game until after I published... :hushed:

@cubicode @jamesolivermusic did a great job on the music. I did all the coding to the Persona 5 soundtrack and I know that was an inspiration to him as well.

@sam-machell That is very kind of you! Thanks!

@ashtrail I made one game a few years ago for a Ludum Dare that was Windows only and the grief I got from you Mac users made me swear to only release HTML5 games from then on :smiley:

@rancoud For me personally, funny is easier than good. The tighter the time constraint, the more I go for funny.

@trozen I'm already working on more content. And cleaning up a lot of the art. The environments especially need a lot of work and didn't get nearly the attention they need. The UI also is ugly, but it was fast to make and I never got around to changing it, so I'm just glad that it is readable at all.

@josehzz The surprise twist ending at the end is that there was absolutely no surprises or twists to the ending. I'm glad it was engaging :smile:

@weine I learned a number of LDs ago that short and easy is better than long and hard for the jams. Glad you enjoyed it!

@dodormeur Short and funny was the plan. Easy came along for the ride because clever but fair puzzles are hard and time consuming :smiley: The post jam version will be add some additional puzzles and difficulty.

@poffle What you played is actually only the first half of the first case... Maybe post jam will have additional things (like maybe even a title screen? :flushed:)

@xmpted You are completely right on the art front. I'm not much of a cartoonist and I think the rooms in particular need a lot of work. Some of this was a learning process and discovering a distinct style for the characters, so here's hoping that I'm up for a better release! Thanks for the comments!
koalaura
01. May 2019 · 22:14 UTC
Made me laugh a lot! The music was amazing. The jokes about lack of content totally made up for any lack of content there might have been!
Caveman54
02. May 2019 · 01:50 UTC
Great game! Very impressive! I enjoyed this game a lot despite the fact that it has almost no connection to game as Penny points out. I enjoyed this game a lot.
GastricSparrow
02. May 2019 · 03:16 UTC
Detective games are my favourite! I really felt like playing more of this storyline. You did a great job in the short time you had. Congrats!
reheated
02. May 2019 · 13:41 UTC
Overall: Humorous, I enjoyed it!

Fun: I had fun. It's mostly straightforward, although I did get caught not searching for enough clues at one point.

Innovation: I've seen games like this before but I don't think I've seen a clue system like this in an LD game. Pretty impressive to get it done!

Theme: Fine by me!

Graphics: Very nice.

Audio: Great music. Light on the sound effects.

Humor: Good! I laughed out loud at the ending screen. If I'm being picky, I think that the fourth-wall breaking jokes came too thick and fast early on.

Mood: Good, humourous detective game mood.

(Edit: just got why he's called Basil)
seizethedia
02. May 2019 · 18:03 UTC
Laughed out loud several times throughout. That puzzle at the docks I imagined was amazing, 10/10. Cracked the case after going back to the warehouse twice to find the right evidence haha. The art could use a little work to highlight some of the clickable areas and items better, overall fine work. Brought me back to Ace Attorney days.
Allas
02. May 2019 · 18:22 UTC
Fun little story, the whimsical music fit the game nicely. Would love to see the game expanded.
Raziyya
02. May 2019 · 18:43 UTC
Fantastic game. Loved the music and the humor. Can't we to see more from you.
SomeFarang
03. May 2019 · 00:00 UTC
Great job guys. It was pretty funny and well put together. No complaints from me
Twenty5Clocks
03. May 2019 · 00:01 UTC
Fun story. I liked the graphics. Nice job. I really like the tie in with the theme. Made me laugh out loud.
RaineTheGlutton
03. May 2019 · 03:15 UTC
Having never played a Phoenix Wright game, I am now interested in Phoenix Wright games after playing this. Great job for only 72 hours!

Thanks for rating our game!
Flying Dog Fish
03. May 2019 · 11:46 UTC
A very pretty and fun detective game. I just feel you really overdid the "breaking the third wall" routine. It ceased to be funny after a couple of times.
gurkan96
03. May 2019 · 11:47 UTC
Great job with working in all that fourth wall breaking in to the game!!
Duke
03. May 2019 · 16:58 UTC
I kinda dig this :) Interesting concept, first time seeing something like this here. I really enjoyed the lighthearted dialoge, even when you broke the fourth wall more often than necessary. The art could use some polish, there were strange artifacts around the characters for example. The music was great, especially the song on the phone location. Really nice. Thanks for sharing this!
siimer
03. May 2019 · 20:50 UTC
The gameplay was engaging and the music was really catchy. I liked it :)
🎤 minibobbo
03. May 2019 · 21:53 UTC
@koalaura The jokes about lack of content were probably better than the actual content would have been...

@caveman54 Continuing my downward theme trend...
![theme.png](///raw/b17/z/24826.png)

@gastricsparrow I have a problem where instead of creating content I spend time building tools to help me create content. Plus, detective game content is hard. So watch this space for more content at some point.

@reheated Towards the end of the compo I realized I wasn't going to have time to make the content I wanted. So I went to all those places and put fourth wall breaking jokes. It wasn't later until I played thought it a couple times that I realized they were all at the beginning...

Why do you think he is called Basil? (There is a reason, but I figured that it would be too obscure for anyone to get...)

@seizethedia I spent many a long hour in Ace Attorney walking around during the investigation sections wondering where the single &#$%& thing I missed clicking on was. So I feel your pain. I'll try to make them more apparent next time, maybe with the same heavy outline the characters got.

@allas I'm committed to at least finishing the case. It is about half done now. There might be more since we are enjoying making these :)

@raziyya You are very kind. You could go play Wingman! https://minibobbo.itch.io/wingman

@somefarang Your comment gets no complaints from me!

@twenty5clocks The past few games have all been stupid play on words instead of actually using the theme. This is no exception :)

@rainetheglutton The Phoenix Wright games are awesome. https://store.steampowered.com/app/787480/Phoenix_Wright_Ace_Attorney_Trilogy__123/ You can get the trilogy on Steam. IT is $30 for the first 3 games but it goes on sale pretty often. Or if you have a DS you can get the originals.

@flying-dog-fish Deadpool has been milking the break-the-fourth-wall thing since 1991. I'm just getting started. (I'm kidding. I agree with you. But jokes are quicker than actual content so...)

@gurkan96 Thanks. Is your user name about pickles?

@duke Our pleasure. Thanks for playing!

@siimer I think this is some of @jamesolivermusic's best work yet.
reheated
04. May 2019 · 00:40 UTC
@minibobbo Because he works in a mint! Presumably the CEO's name is Rosemary, etc.
GastricSparrow
04. May 2019 · 04:09 UTC
@minibobbo The tool instead of content issue is one I struggle with as well! IIRC I wasn't even running a game loop until there was half a day left... But it's just so fun to make tools!
🎤 minibobbo
04. May 2019 · 04:20 UTC
@reheated Wow! You are... incorrect, but that is much better than my idea! I wish I'd thought of that instead and named all the characters after spices!

Actually, the real reason his name is Basil is because originally he was going to be a play on words for Phoenix Wright. So he was going to be Basilisk Wrong, but I quickly realized that was dumb. And not the funny dumb. But the name Basil stuck.
OhFiddleDiddle
04. May 2019 · 11:27 UTC
First of all, I absolutely loved the audio! It was great, it really pulled together the mood of the game.
Secondly, the writing was pretty funny, and to the point.
Obviously with any of these games more would be better, but what you had was great.
Well done, keep up the great work. :D
falak
04. May 2019 · 13:23 UTC
It's quite nice AA expierience. Good job!
luckfishlai
05. May 2019 · 00:00 UTC
funny game, charming art & sound, I enjoyed it. Thanks for making it :-)
plexsoup
05. May 2019 · 00:14 UTC
Great, fun game. Pretty easy to win, but a lot more interesting and interactive than your standard visual novel. I liked those fourth wall breaks. Made me think it was a realitypunk universe like bandersnatch. Maybe explore that further (assuming you like realitypunk)?