Becky's very very Small and TOTALLY not mundane World by pmarincak
You're Becky. You started a new job. It's pretty simple. And totally NOT mundane.
Game Jam Stuff
Short blurb about the jam. Feel free to skip.
This is my second game jam, and second time doing LDJam. I'm quite pleased with how this entry turned out, so I hope everyone enjoys it. As per usual, I decided to be insane and learn an entire engine during the jam: it was my first time using GameMaker.
Just to explain the take on the theme in case anyone misses it: Becky works so much that her entire world is her job. It's a very very small world. Only her, the coffee, a computer and some staplers. :( Outside of that, taking the theme literally, the original size of all the assets (and the game) is a tiny 189x125.
I wanted to also try out using a different pixel style, palette, and using a palette restriction.
Everything was created during the jam, except for the music/sounds, which was provided by others. (Thank ♥)
Credits
- PROGRAMMING, GAME DESIGN, WRITING, ART, ANYTHING NOT SOUND: https://twitter.com/paigemarincak
- SNAZZY THEME MUSIC: https://twitter.com/abrasounds
- SFX:
- http://freesound.org/people/themusicalnomad/sounds/253886/
- http://freesound.org/people/pgi/sounds/212601/
- http://freesound.org/people/stereostory/sounds/351757/
- http://freesound.org/people/djtiii/sounds/218826/
- http://freesound.org/people/yottasounds/sounds/380145/
- http://freesound.org/people/KorgMS2000B/sounds/54406/
- http://freesound.org/people/LloydEvans09/sounds/185828/
- SPECIAL THANKS: https://twitter.com/ciemarincak for giving me the office idea
Links
- TWITTER: https://twitter.com/paigemarincak
- DOWNLOAD: https://atemly-games.itch.io/becky
- PLATFORMS: Windows, Web
Technical Stuff
- ENGINE: GameMaker
- ART: Pyxel Edit
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/beckys-very-very-small-and-totally-not-mundane-world |
Ratings
| Overall | 258th | 3.583⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 361th | 3.208⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 490th | 2.917⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 177th | 3.792⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 63th | 4.458⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 119th | 3.522⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 194th | 3.625⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 8🗳️ | 7🗨️ |
Otherwise nice concept and method for potentially telling a story about Becky, and I also liked the art a lot. This was also featured in my first video Showcase for Ludum Dare 38!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxb8N-An7GY
Overall it's a cute game with a nice feel going for it.
I liked the cute artstyle and the progressive challenge of completing each task in a short amount of time. Noticed an issue where overtime the music got progressively slower in tempo and distorted, but aside from that it was a good typing game to play!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsPMHfWvIkU
Trust me. I've worked in the public sector for five (5) years. I know realism when I see it.
great graphics, simple silly gameplay. I wonder if you could have different levels as you progress career, I just want to see the manager version, space to harass underlings. Good job
The music and art really fits nicely together.
@larrychupacabra Thanks for the idea. :) Maybe need to change them up over time in the future.
@thecritterscove I should make the tasks visible on the screen then. There are a certain number you need to complete before the time runs out, then the timer resets. That's why in the game over screen there's a "level" indicator. The typing tasks just need to be "completed". You get a lot of points if you type it right though.
@gamepopper That's odd. Thanks for letting me know.
@jordgubben SHHH don't tell them. ;)
@automatonvx I wanted to put replacing the paper in the printer but I couldn't figure out a good way to do it during the jam, so stapling it is. Manager version sounds interesting :)
@dev-dennis The tasks do increase overtime while the time stays *about* the same. I probably need to balance this better.
I had the same issue as @gamepopper had with the music going all strange before disappearing.
And here is the score where I stopped at :
Really good job on this entry ! :thumbsup:
You set such a great mood.
The gameplay, of course, is extremely limited, though I guess that's somewhat the point. Only other complaint was that eventually the music just... stopped. (WebGL, for reference).
Some criticisms:
- I feel like it should choose one of the two stations the player isn't currently standing at to keep them moving; getting three coffee breaks in a row can kind of kill the frantic aspect.
- The timer seems a bit too forgiving: I got bored at around 10k, but still had about 15s to spare and just let it run out. It probably would have been a bit more engaging if playing against the timer was a bit tougher.
- I also ran into the music bug in the web version reported by a few others (I actually thought it was intentional up until the game ended and the music didn't come back! It does a good job of highlighting the dreariness of it all.)
I enjoyed the typing the most, but would have liked backspace or delete to work - it felt a bit frustrating that you couldn't correct yourself. I feel like the challenge should be how quick you can get it right, so mistakes are punished by needing extra time to backspace etc. I like how some of the sentences started the same but were different, I thought I had learnt them and then you tricked me with a new one!
The coffee and stapler weren't so much of a challenge, I thought I had to be careful with coffee not to spill it actually. That could have been fun, so you held down space to pour and released it to stop pouring, and you had to fill it up without over-filling. Anyway just some random ideas from me :smile: Overall a good entry, well done!