Wow. This game kind of just makes me sad.

Very well-made though.

nice arts! Can i find it also on indiexpo?

love the end

Really liked it, the game idea is very nice and it's well executed. Congrat's!
Good thing you added the hint in the football screen that helped me finish the game!

Great game and message!

Sorry for the late answer, but our daily routine got us again. :wink:

@jeremy-ryan It wasn't our intention to depress you, the key message of the game is supposed to be positiv and encouraging. :wink:

@ghostandshell Now you can! https://www.indiexpo.net/de/games/daily-routine

@hosomy17 Thank you!

@axoona Thank you for your feedback, we are happy to see that it seems many of you were able to finish the game!
We weren't sure if it was either too hard or too easy for a Ludum Dare game. :smile:

@andyman404 Glad you liked it!

Really nice art, great game, had trouble finding the password at first :) I would have enjoyed watching a more concrete football game, but I guess that wasn't really the message ;)

@tombuston Thank you for your feedback! We actually had a more realistic football game implemented, using Unitys physic engine. But we had to cut it out due to some bugs that caused the players to be unable to score a goal sometimes. :smile:

Cool game :) i quit at first but i gave it another try and it was worth it! good message.

@robbware Thank you! Yeah, we are actually starting to realise that the risk for people just to quit after the first or second day without getting to the end maybe a bit too high. Altough it is intended for people to take the time and think outside of the box. :wink:

I am sorry I didn't give your game more of a chance during the stream. I just played it again and this time I actually got the ending! That was a great ending! Winning the game involves not mindlessly playing the game like I did like a dummy in my stream!

Hey there, congrats on the game.
The thing I liked the most is that aimlessly trying to get a highscore, instead of stopping and observing, is a really good metaphor to live the same daily routine, instead of living. don't know if that was intentional or not, but I felt like you nailed the gameplay to give the final message.
The art is really good and the game was a nice experience.

@drazil100 Yes it did not went so well for us in the stream. But you wouldn't believe how grateful we are that you gave it a second chance! It is not easy for a game to let people discover the "twist" themselves and on the other hand deal with the fact that people don't have that much time to play a single ludum dare submission. :sweat_smile:

@xmatos Thank you for your feedback, we are glad you liked it that much!
That was intended, actually their are many little things build into the gamplay as well as the graphics to support the message. We don't want to tell exactly which because we want people to find it out for themselves. :wink:

This made me want to eat cereal. Now I've seen a good game and crave for cereal.

This game is ridiculously fun for something so simple, great idea and very dry in its humour. Really well done this is brilliant!

This is really clever, and the twist is not that hard to find, the hard part is realizing there's a twist to find in the first place.

I liked this game I guess puzzle a lot, I feel the first step towards escaping is sufficiently evident, and the others come naturally after that. Not much else to comment, graphics were well put together, tough pushing for a more stylized aesthetic might have been a good idea imo.

The football section got quite a laugh out of me to be frank, so good job on that, and I always like uplifting little vignettes so all in all you get A+

I love the game, the message and the way it's realized. Took me a moment to figure out what's going on too, which made it all the more powerful. :soccer:

Not much to say, except congratulations on a very well realized game with a great take on the theme.

Not really got it from the 1st time! Nice game, nice twist to the topic.

The graphics are incredible ! I also liked the gameplay, although maybe every action shouldn't take as long, if you expect the player to stay for several days... Maybe add some music, too ?

Great work :)

Feel free to check out our game : https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/bubblenaut
Have a nice day :)

@king-kujito Next time every comment gets a box of cereal. :wink:

@kcreanor Thank you! We are glad you enjoyed the humor.

@philomory Yes, we realised that this is the most "risky" part of the whole idea, because if you dont realise it, you just find yourself in a mostly boring loop, although that is kind of the idea.

@firewill Thank you for your kind feedback! Nice to see that we could make you smile. :smile:

@for-science Thank you! That is exactly what we wanted to achieve!

@tn7111 Thanks! We are glad you gave it a second chance!

@thefunattic Yeah we really wanted to add some music, but you know... time.. :smile:
We will take the time to check your game out!

Awesome visuals, great ending and an interesting take on the theme as well. Though the whole thing was sorta ruined for me by the comments talking about the fact that there's an ending.

I ate 9.13670 cereals per second! At least I'm good at something. Will you send me more cereals? :smile:

Great art style, fun mini-games and nice "plot twist" at the end - when I figured out what (not) to do. Thanks for the experience!

This game is really cool. Took me a while to realize what was happening but that just made the ending even better.

really cool game , great art and idea , i had a lot of fun . Great Game and Good Job !
(sorry for my bad english)


and @samurai-spark thank you for your feedback my game :D

Love the graphics but the game is a bit repetiti~ ahaha, just kidding, it's cool! I would like to have more achievements there, but aren't we all? Nice idea.

4.97 cereals per seconds. 32 mails answered. Football god.
Your game is like my life, but with better graphics.

Cool idea, I liked the concept a lot, and it's well executed.

Congrats!

I am really glad I took the time to finish this, I really enjoyed this game a lot. Reminds me of something Molleindustria would put out. Very well done!

Nice art and innovative mini-games, nice job!

I wish I could say that I finished the game without help from these comments - but that feels like a lie that doesn't deserve telling when I've just witnessed a great social commentary like this one. To be honest, though, I figured out part of the puzzle totally by accident! I suppose that was intentional?

Great graphics, I wished there was a little more sound, but that's probably because making music and audio is my favorite part of LD. Really great idea, kept small and tidy. Perfect LD game.

@daniel-alhadeff, @querk, @camilo, @sheep42, @dj-pale Thank you all for your awesome feedback!

@baconinvader Yeah, we could do a spoiler warning for the comments, but that would be a spoiler in it self. :wink:

@m-1 You sir are amazing! We didn't even knew that was possible and this got us thinking, see the newest blog post!

@demyhallar We would have liked to add more to the game, but Ludum Dare.. you know what we mean. :smile:

@cameron-seebach Yes that's how someone is supposed to discover it! Music is definitely somthing that we would have loved to implement and something which would really added to the experience.

Ha! Very cool (in an existentially disturbing kind of way).

Really amazing work with the graphics for 72 hours. I'm going to echo the comment above that I would have loved some BGM too. I think that could have really pushed home the grimly comedic message (well, at least that was MY takeaway).

Keep up the good work!

it took me until day 7, but I beat it! great work. this is an excellent art game and I will definitely show it to people as an example of game mechanics as metaphor. keep it up!

Fantastic artwork, and unique game-play. Didn't have the patience to get all the way to the end. Really enjoyed the concept overall. Good submission.

Feel free to check out and Feedback
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/sling-ship-search-for-a-small-world

Great work, really enjoyed this! Now I want cereal too >>

Nice idea, quite good graphics, a game which thinks out of canvas, I liked it ☺

This game gave me an existential crisis... Very well put together, I enjoyed myself.

Good job. Really love the expression change on the cup. Quit my job on day 3 lol...

- Good job i just got 7.12 cerials per second my net just got broken and i was unabe to play at day 4
- according to the game theme this game is very well suited
Overall i like it

I like this game a lot.
Realy cool twist on the small world theme, and one of the favorite games, I played so far.
Great Job!!!

Art is (very) nice. Gameplay is (very) ~bulp ~bulp addicting, <s>booo</s> cheer!

Nice game! I almost quit after I saw the bowl for the third time and thought well I won't spam this button like an idiot for this time. And then I realized that this wasn't an infinite loop. The end was really cool! Great Job, one of the best games so far.

Feel free to try our own game here:
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/42-mikronikus
It would be nice if you left some feedback!

I love the way it conveys the theme!
I haven't realized what this game was about before I scored -400 in the football minigame with a 'FANTASTIC'... These details are great!

Is there something I'm missing? I've entered the obvious password in various different ways and it never seems to work. I'm playing the Windows version in case that matters.

@badram, @quoclon, @epicsoft, @dgspitzer, @sagarpatel25700, @kabalatrance, @jaytord, @ikigaiseitetsu Thanks you guys for all the feedback we really appreciate it! :smile:

@simonhutchinson Thank you! And yes if we decide to do a post jam version there will be some BGM!

@crazi456 We added a little competition for people who are in need of some cereal after playing the game. :wink:

@quoclon This is exactly how we wanted it to play out! And yes we will be happy to check out your game!

@veralos If there would be a messaging feature on the site we would tell it to you, but we do not want to do this in the comments section. Also we could not reproduce this. If anyone else encounters this please tell us in the comments!

Wow, i like your spine on the theme. Great and nice message. The puzzle design are good and good use.
Maybe make more sounds and music.
So i will make (and continue) my dream make: some games :) and work in game industrie !!

If you want try my game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/world-en-abyme-1

I enjoyed eating the cereal.

This game made me laugh. A lot. Too much.
Unfortunately not much replay value...

The visuals were great and I really liked the concept behind it. I agree that perhaps a little more sound would have really rounded it off nicely. Well done!

The concept fit the theme quite nicely.
Good combination of humor and melancholy in a way.
I tried very hard and probably broke my finger
but 10 cps is above my skill level :(
Still had a fun time!

Muesli, muesli mjam mjam mjam! :D

Very nice idea, great art, cool SFX. After day 2 though it gets boring, just like real life.

It turns out I was just trying the wrong password. Anyway, let's get to the actual feedback:

Very nice game! The graphics all look fantastic and the sounds work well enough. Some more sounds and music couldn't hurt, though. The use of the theme is quite clever, especially the secret message that comes along with it. Some parts of the game are pretty amusing - I especially enjoy the representation of the sports game. There could be more daily activities and the activities could be more interesting (the cereal part in particular is pretty dull) but I guess the boring repetition is arguably part of the point.

I struggled to see what the game was about, so the end had a really nice impact :) At day 3, I decided to not eat my cereal anymore, to kill myself as my life was so boring haha ^^ Then I found how exit my loop.

I love the message and this kind of game, that ask you to escape what the game tells you to do, so, nicely executed.
Illustrations are smooth!

Great idea! I love the twist and your view on the theme.

Now I need some cereals (or chocolate :chocolate_bar:)

Very nice game, it had a really nice twist that I was not expecting. The graphics looked good, maybe you should have added music and more audio. At first I almost closed the game without noticing that there is more to it. I like the ending message, its something that we all should try to remember. Thank you for this game, rating all these games has been more fun than I expected.

Nice experience with a message. I really liked it, even though the sound was a bit sparse.

Really loved your game. Great concept and message. Well done!

Please, check out my game https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/the-microns

**Spoiler** heavy, then again, so are the other comments :wink:

As a wise movie-computer once said: *"Strange game. The only way to win is not to play."* :computer:

What I really like about this entry is how it slowly ramps up the hints. I'm pretty sure, for instance, the book was not on the floor of the TV-room on Day 1. Also after a while *all* the mails tell you the password. And why would the cereal sub-game just *end* like that when the others tell you you're still doing great? Very subtle :smile:

Anyway, unlike the others I'm not *sure* music would've been right in this instance. The silence seems to fit the mood of the game. You'd need *very specific* music to get the message across, IMHO. Or maybe multiple pieces that share the same notes, but get more depressing or slower each day.

This is way more fun than my actual life. Managed 9.52 CPS, which is close to my personal best IRL.

The game looks great, and the games all work properly and are fun, even if simplistic.

After reading other comments I replayed the game and found some additional depth that I hadn't noticed the first time, which was very refreshing.

I was tempted to auto-hotkey clicks to reach even more than 10 CPS, but hey, it's Ludum Dare, not hacking championship.

Other than giving a good old carpal tunnel syndrome, the game itself is fun to play, and the graphics are very clean and great.

Well done.

This was a really well realised Ludum Dare entry with a lovely message attached to it.. Well done! :thinking: Hmm, I think I might go see how many CPS I can do in real life! :spoon:

The game is fun to play and i really love the message behind it. If you play it one more time you do notice the little changes and details which shows the effort of details and love you put into this game. One of the most creative content in LD#38. Keep going on!

@ibispi, @awesomealliterationalliance, @grena, @arcticmattekar, @rodrigo-denubila, @kaisean-games @ice-t Thanks to all you guys for the amazing comments and feedback!

@heinrix, @ratking Thank you and yes audio is definetly something we want to improve for the next LD we take part in.

@lepatryckduffy That is exactly what we wanted to say! We wish you only the best for your upcoming game development career!

@pogo, @rabbittortoise We are glad you guys gave it a second play! :smile:

@remco Thank you for the kind words and for noticing so much about the game! All hints get stronger over the days in one way or the other, the problem right now is that players tend to quit after Day 2 if they did not noticed anything up to this point. We actually thought excatly the same regarding BGM, that is why we only wanted to implement it when there is some time left. It definetly would have to be very subtle kind of music.

@veralos Happy to hear you got the right password after all and thank you so much for taking the time to try it a second time!

@samusoidal We did not intend to have a great replay value, once you reached the ending scene. It should be a unique onetime experience. :wink:

@redpanda Yes, our problem is that so many people seem to quit after day 2, without noticing the hints. Although we did not want them to be too obvious and rather have player find them by themselves.

@drestuff We would love to hear about that score! :smile:

Played until Day 9, couldn't figure out the password (maybe I'm just dumb), but what I played seemed to building up to a great ending. All the subtle hints of change and all the events that would happen really brought in the mood. Nice work!

Really nice game, except it is not really not my cup of tea. I just played to the end of day 2. Not sure if it was going to change the longer you play but it would be cool if it was. For the cereal, i was able to get 11 point something but i will admit that i cheated and used a macro, sorry. Anyways it is a great game. Congratulations!

Its a fun game! The graphics and the sound are really good ^^
Its a bit repetitive, it will be great a little change during the days like more dificult or something.
Anyway i like the game a lot ^^

Awesome game! Love the ending! I got super happy when i figured out the shutdown password!

Ludum Dare, such indie.
Yo mamma.
10/10

Game is polished and thought out, and the take on the theme is very interesting indeed. I wondered if something like this would come up ;)

Implementing multiple mechanics was a very nice touch, and quite a bit of work I'd assume, bonus points for that :) Humour is spot on, all the little references and everyday bullshit, great job here.

I can't really suggest much to improve here - more variety would actually defeat the purpose, make the player feel less stranded. As much as I would like to give some constructive criticism, the truth is it's good as it is.

Great job, cheers!

It took me a while, but I finally became an Ice Hokey player! :D

At first I was just doing everything the game told me to do, and as people were talking about an "ending" I didn't quit. Eventually there was an arrow pointing at the book, then I realised what was happening and finished the game quickly afterwards.

I don't know if that was intentional, but the cereals can be cleared on the first day, the job only on the second (as far as I could see), and the TV only on the third. If I didn't miss any hints, maybe you should have allowed the player to complete everything Day 1 (without devining the keys and passwords out of thin air, that is).

By the way, the CPS metric shows the player's highest CPS score of all days, but it doesn't say that. It gives the impression that it is the current day's CPS. Not that it matters much, though, because of the goal of the game being something else.

Overall, good and creative job! And thank you, @samurai-spark, for rating my Little Scout! :)

Ok, I loved this one really much!! xD I was so excited when I finished it! xD Love it!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtDFcSHoLz4

Hey guys! Really nice game - great graphics and message. I really wish there was music, it could have really added to the game, and the clicking minigames themselves weren't that fun (but I think that was kinda the point because I realised that you weren't supposed to keep playing them over and over haha). I'm glad I didn't quit after the first couple of days (I was tempted to), because the message was great and the path to win was very creative:) Good job! :smile:

A fun little game with a great ending. Well done.

Game end is very cool! And art either! Great job!

Interesting ending. Really nice take on the theme there. Took me some time to understand the clues (especially the email one, which gets hidden behind other emails), but it was a really nice way to break convention. The art is also pretty nice.

If you keep working on it, I'd suggest adding a few more minigames and clues, in order to break to the player the idea that they should "stop playing the minigames". I think the fact that there are only three games and three clues makes the player repeat the routine too many times without thinking too much... then again, that may as well have been your intention.

Short but sweet. Good job!

Congratulations on finishing your first jam! You've done a really good job! I'm sure most of my comments will have been covered by others already, but that's just evidence of how effective you've been at "community involvement", if you will. Leaving quality comments on others' work and developing creative promotional campaigns (free cereal?!) have worked really well, and that's really important, even if it isn't something you're rated on.

Loved all the little details, the art, and the hint progression. Agree with those who have said that keeping the number of mini-games/sections low helps communicate the sense of stagnation that the player needs to break out of. Definitely agree with your comment that our games came from a similar origin! You did a great job with it!

Perhaps to make the game a little more difficult to beat, the "clicker" aspect could use more interactivity, and the exponential growth of numbers common in that genre. I have a feeling it would play nicely with your message as well. Good entry!

Cool game, graphics is good and the message is clear. The gameplay is of course is a little subdued since it doesn't seem to be the focus. What I find most interesting about it is that you can only answer "polite" or "very polite". I find it interesting because the game is talking about the theme of being in some kind of prison which is just living ones life. Do you feel that it's essential to not show negative emotions in society or in email conversations, or even in messages like these? I think it's good to be encouraging, but if it feels like being negative is never an option, and the positivty is just duty, I would find it suffocating as well. I think the answer to the guy in the games problem would be to do something else, try a different breakfast, maybe stay off the computer or respond more like he actually feels, watch something else than football, or do something different and new. It's a clever take on the theme too.

Wow - extremely creative game and had me smiling (maybe not every day?) haha! Like the above commenter, it would be interesting if we could choose to take ourselves on a negative path, or maybe a mirror game with a pessimistic view? That said, I would probably choose the "polite" answers anyway, but it would be a different idea! I have to say, the graphics are stunning and you've done an amazing job. I did not get out of the loop but am impressed at those who did ;) I can see myself coming back and re-playing to do that though. A++!

I really like your take on the theme. Alas, I could could only reach 6 cereal per second. I'm not the cereal-eating madwoman I thought I was.

I liked the little details in the background and then finding out those little details would help me escape my loop! It's a nice twist that I imagine must have been difficult to get the right amount of subtley vs noticeable especially within the timeframe but I think you did a great job.

Everything feels nice and polished, but like a few others have said a wee bit of music would have rounded the thing off nicely. Or perhaps conversely have a little music start playing when you start figuring out how to break your loop... I'm just typing off the top of my head though.

Lovely job overall! :D

Wow! Amazing game! I think it's perfect- for me, the lack of music added to the monotony. Clever and powerful. Def one of the best crafted and complete games of the jam. I'll take your advice! Thanks for this experience, and congratulations!

Almost there, just gotta buy a new finger splint. Then I'll top 10.

Lovely graphics, interesting game. I included it in my Ludum Dare 38 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKbr96NdjUs