LudumData

Pocket World by BtheDestroyer

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CNWVanVZuY

Screenshot

A short "walking simulator" style game with the graphical limitations of the original Gameboy. 4 colors, 160x144 resolution. The world starts small, but there's not much to do on this tiny screen so expand it!

Reminder that everything in the game is fictional and has no connection to anyone in reality (living or otherwise).

If you "get stuck," restarting the game will refresh all of the resources. This is entirely intended (I may make a post or video talking about the message of the game in the future).

Default controls:

  • Left - A
  • Right - D
  • Jump - Space
  • Action - W
  • World Map - E
  • Inventory - B

Itch.io Download (Windows EXE, Source, and cutscene modding information): https://bthedestroyer.itch.io/pocket-world

(It may say that the files were posted on Monday. I discovered a game breaking bug in one of the text files the day after posting and wanted to fix it on the off chance someone's game were to lock up.)

Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/38/pocket-worlds

Ratings

Overall 273th 3.316⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 400th 2.789⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 410th 2.684⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 315th 3.263⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 156th 3.737⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 296th 2.778⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Humor 197th 2.842⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 201th 3.278⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Given 0🗳️ 7🗨️

Feedback

AVAVT
25. Apr 2017 · 12:23 UTC
The idea of the game is pretty cool! Feels like Minecraft plus Legend of Mana to me. The command instructions are quite helpful, but the texts are a bit hard on the eye IMO, maybe you should add a 1px or so padding away from the edge?

Unfortunately I'm stuck quite soon into the game because of (lack of) resource management. Will try again tonight and comment more :)
Hackschnitzel
28. Apr 2017 · 22:56 UTC
I guess you deleted the screenshot and added a video instead? You should (again) include one picture at least or your game looks kind of broken on Feedback Friends. http://feedback.ld.intricati.com/?event=9405&query=&sorting=coolness

BTW. Really nice to see a gameboy styled game in the Jam.
Random-storykeeper
30. Apr 2017 · 00:37 UTC
Not bad. I like the idea of collecting resources so that you can add new areas. However, I found resource collecting to be very slow and tedious. The art is pretty neat looking and the music, while fitting, is irritating to listen to after a while (with a longer loop with more variation, it could be less annoying). I like how the game saves info after resetting the resources, and being able to meet new characters with each area I unlock. I also found that I had to click so many times to collect certain resources such as sand and stone, and that got pretty frustrating over time.
Kosmo
01. May 2017 · 15:48 UTC
Interesting game -- I like the concept of growing the world but it (at least in the beginning) didn't seem like you really had much of a choice in how it grew (the order). That and it overall was taking a long time to really accomplish much.

The graphical style was very impressive though -- I loved the original gameboy green/scanline thing you have going on here!
arch-a-type
13. May 2017 · 16:58 UTC
I love the game boy effect, quite well done. I enjoyed the resource collecting and game play. Your game is very polished and nice. The artwork and sprites are great, I loved this aspect of the game and it was very well done.

I would of liked for there to have been different music, but I understand limitations and such. Also, repeatedly clicking the mouse to harvest items proved tedious after a while. It would of been nice to hold the mouse and have the player auto-harvest.

Good job!
Snowdrama
13. May 2017 · 20:20 UTC
I accidently soft locked myself from progressing, didn't have enough wood for ANYTHING and i couldn't get too far, restarted knowing that, and made it through fine. Interesting concept, agreed with others that being able to hold the button and farm would have been much better.
blobo
13. May 2017 · 21:47 UTC
Really well done, though i found it a little unsettling that it datamined my name, rather than a retro "Type your name" popup box.
luthwyhn
19. May 2017 · 04:22 UTC
Surprising ending! I... want to know what happens if I choose to walk the other way, but I don't want to go through the whole game again. Very neat idea, but super tedious execution. The music was nice except I had to mute my speakers after about 8 minutes of it :<
Manax
19. May 2017 · 15:52 UTC
@luthwyhn The save file is in %USER%\AppData\Roaming\PocketWorlds\save.ini, easy to edit. Figured that out when I wanted to see the other ending. :)
jondalnas
19. May 2017 · 22:20 UTC
Nice game. It was a little slow and tedious in the beginning.

Nice Gameboy-like graphics and music.

Thanks for the experience.
OccultOne
20. May 2017 · 06:42 UTC
As a child of the 90's, I very much enjoyed the experience.

Music was extremely repetitive, I might recommend adding one other track to break it up a little.

The control scheme was very tiring, I hated clicking on things over and over. I'm not sure how you could fix that off the top of my head. Also, it is possible to soft lock yourself due to poor resource management and I had to restart.
SpaceWizardJ
20. May 2017 · 08:10 UTC
I liked the premise and core design a lot. I ended up getting stuck because I traded all my wood for rocks and couldn't figure out how to get wood back. (Do Trees Grow Back?) The aesthetic of "Game Boy" is done well. I did have to mute the music after a while. Music is very hard to do in a Jam. I really liked the writing!
terryg
20. May 2017 · 08:59 UTC
This is great! I loved the retro feel. I couldn't figure out how to get more wood for the lady or a smooth stone so I was stuck, but very sophisticated dialog. Nicely done