Schroedinger's Daughter by xarona

[raw]
made by xarona for Ludum Dare 46 (JAM)

Screenshot from 2020-04-20 22-55-22.png

Ruth, the daughter of renowned physicist Erwin Schrödinger discovers something disturbing about his research. He say the quantum effect could influence the whole world. And he wants to test his theory on the cats ... only you can help her save those lovely animals!

Features:

  • Homebrew cat sounds - guess which two sounds came from the same person!
  • Historical accuracy!
  • Learning effect - experience experimental physics in your comfy chair.
  • Up to 16 worlds - try and keep it together!
  • A great variety of cats!
  • Cuteness!!!

Ruth: I‘m worried about father. And about our cats.
     He told me about this new experiment he is working on.
     Father says he is constructing a box with those Quantums in it.
     And if he puts a cat in it and closes the lid there would be two different worlds:
     One with the cat alive and on where it has died.
     I don‘t want our cats to die in any world.
     I have to stop him!
     Maybe I can distract the cats, so he can‘t put them in his box.
     I could call them.
     Or, I could pick up a can of cat food in the kitchen and place it somewhere far away from father.
     Oh no, father has left his laboratory.
     I have to hurry!

How to play:

  • move with WASD or arrow keys
  • pick up food with E
  • call the cats with F
  • try to keep the world alive

Ratings

Overall 1772th 3.25⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Fun 2392th 2.523⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 35th 4.273⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Theme 426th 4.045⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1643th 3.295⭐ 24🧑‍⚖️
Audio 1171th 3.1⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 358th 3.667⭐ 23🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1536th 3.211⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 12🗳️ 7🗨️

Feedback

Fuchsi
20. Apr 2020 · 21:33 UTC
I like the result - but a lot of polish is missing because we had to go into quarantine and had other stuff on our minds because of it... Hope you all like the result anyways =)
🎤 xarona
20. Apr 2020 · 22:02 UTC
lalalal
radow
21. Apr 2020 · 01:21 UTC
Congratulations on the submit! :D
kfischer-okarin
22. Apr 2020 · 03:02 UTC
Wow I really really like this.... The world's structure being more and more ripped apart by different parallel universes being created... It becomes quite hard to play naturally after a while... but it's still amazing...

The split screen design is a little hommage to Rick and Morty I guess ? ;)
🎤 xarona
23. Apr 2020 · 18:18 UTC
Hahaha yeah it is ;)
Catalyyst
23. Apr 2020 · 18:52 UTC
Very interesting concept !
The snowball effect is pretty naughty as your attention is focused on a single world ^^
Not very polished but still enjoyable.
(love the cat sounds :p)
Weine
23. Apr 2020 · 19:11 UTC
Intereseting and unique idea, although maybe missing a way to win? Maybe I'm just bad at the game, though? =)
Fuchsi
23. Apr 2020 · 19:24 UTC
No you are right @weine , there is no way to actually win it ^^ We considered it - or at least adding a highscore list, but didn't get around to it :(
Shigor
23. Apr 2020 · 19:37 UTC
I was all 'meh' before the first cat got in the box, then I reconsidered. Great idea with splitting the screen, I really liked it.
Inventivum Games
24. Apr 2020 · 23:43 UTC
very clever idea, however, became difficult to keep track of after a few splits.
Westmave
05. May 2020 · 10:18 UTC
I really like your Interpretation of the Theme. This is Amazing :D. Just for the Title you get full points in the Humor-Section :D. And the splitting Screen is amazing and just onpoint with Schrödinger and the quantum effect, I guess. I found the charactermovement a little slow and had some difficulties figuring out where the food is and what to do. Great Game, well Done, Thank You for the laughter
Barnox
10. May 2020 · 22:08 UTC
Great, original idea. I wasn't sure what the food was, but got by just calling the cats around.
gustavo.christino
10. May 2020 · 23:42 UTC
![Gato.png](///raw/bc7/6/z/33f73.png)

![GAto2.png](///raw/bc7/6/z/33f74.png)
gustavo.christino
10. May 2020 · 23:56 UTC
Análise...

1 - Mecânicas, Aprendizado e Fluxo:
Gostei muito do conceito de mecânica. A divisão em diversas realidades. Todas elas acontecendo ao mesmo tempo (só que com apenas um observador real, o jogador).
O objetivo do jogo não ficou claro (considerando apenas o jogo). Então fica como sugestão aumentar o feedback de ações e formas de interação, ou mesmo colocar um explicativo no menu do jogo, ou mesmo fazer um estágio tutorial.
Creio que essa mecânica possa ser entregue aos poucos, com objetivos menores e mecânicas variadas. Acredito que pode dar origem a um novo nicho de jogos (desconheço outros que façam da mesma forma).
O aprendizado foi muito complicado para mim, navegar pelo lugar eu entendi bem. Vi os gatos, o pai da personagem e tudo mais. Mas não havia retorno visual quando algo poderia ser feito ou mesmo quando algo tinha dado certo ou errado.
O fluxo de jogo ficou confuso para mim, eu não entendia o porquê de estar perdendo (com quase três minutos de jogo, múltiplas telas e "chiado/interferência").
Ou seja, eu acredito que muito disso pode ser polido em caso de continuidade do projeto.
Quando voltei, li o que havia no site da Ludum Dare, e joguei de novo, eu pude ter interações melhores. Ainda assim não consegui notar avanços claramente. Vi o pai carregando gatos.

2 - Gráficos, Áudio e Narrativa:
Gostei muito dos gráficos para o tempo de evento.
O áudio ficou bacana também (apesar de virar uma barulheira em algum ponto, mas foi engraçado).
A narrativa fica em segundo plano considerando apenas o jogo, mas se torna mais rica quando se lê a página. Creio que valeria a pena transmitir ela em alguma forma simples e direta dentro de uma cutscene no jogo.

3 - Cultura:
O jogo tem potencial para estabelecer novas mecânicas em jogos do tipo, possibilitando ser ponto de partida para novos jogos e para muitas variações de jogabilidade (ao meu ver).
O jogo (também) conversa com a história (em especial a Ciência, em voga hoje). Creio ser um ponto de alívio cômico em relação a toda essa questão de importância da Ciência nos dias de hoje (que eu creio ser um tópico válido e sério).

4 - Monetização:
Creio que uma vez o jogo polido, corrigido e tendo explicações (de narrativa e jogabilidade) dentro. Possa-se pensar em extensão do conteúdo e, consequentemente, venda. Acredito que seria algo para vender no itch.io ou (em caso de continuidade do projeto) até mesmo no Steam.
gustavo.christino
10. May 2020 · 23:57 UTC
Analysis...

1 - Mechanics, Learning and Flow:
I really liked the concept of mechanics. The division into several realities. All of them happening at the same time (only with one real observer, the player).
The objective of the game was not clear (considering only the game). So it is a suggestion to increase the feedback of actions and forms of interaction, or even put an explanatory in the game menu, or even do a tutorial stage.
I believe that this mechanics can be delivered little by little, with smaller goals and varied mechanics. I believe it can give rise to a new gaming niche (I don't know of others who do the same).
Learning was very complicated for me, navigating the place I understood well. I saw the cats, the character's father and everything. But there was no visual feedback when something could be done or even when something had gone right or wrong.
The game flow was confusing for me, I didn't understand why I was losing (with almost three minutes of play, multiple screens and "hiss / interference").
In other words, I believe that much of this can be polished if the project continues.
When I came back, I read what was on the Ludum Dare website, and played it again, I was able to have better interactions. Still, I couldn't clearly see progress. I saw the father carrying cats.

2 - Graphics, Audio and Narrative:
I really liked the graphics for the event time.
The audio was nice too (although it became a noise at some point, but it was funny).
The narrative is in the background considering only the game, but becomes richer when reading the page. I think it would be worth transmitting it in some simple and direct way within a cutscene in the game.

3 - Culture:
The game has the potential to establish new mechanics in games of the type, making it possible to be a starting point for new games and for many variations of gameplay (in my view).
The game (also) talks to history (especially Science, in vogue today). I think it is a comic relief point in relation to all this issue of importance of Science today (which I believe to be a valid and serious topic).

4 - Monetization:
I believe that once the game was polished, corrected and had explanations (of narrative and gameplay) inside. One can think about the extension of the content and, consequently, sale. I believe it would be something to sell on itch.io or (in case of project continuity) even on Steam.
grandtheftmarmot
11. May 2020 · 00:14 UTC
Holy shit. This is probably the most innovative game jam game I've ever played. With a little more polish and player feedback, just sell this on Steam as is lol. This was a really fantastic experience. Wow!
Quinn_Patrick
11. May 2020 · 00:38 UTC
A highly unique experience, although I think it needs to be workshopped a little more before it becomes a really viable product. First of all, you're supposed to keep the cats alive, but I found it way more fun to let him grab them and watch the world split. And at that point, when you're trying to keep track of multiple timelines of the game, it becomes really hard to coordinate any real strategy. It also looked like it wasn't actually capable of splitting into more than four timelines, once it went deeper than that, it would just start creating identical windows. A bug maybe?

I find it really impressive that you managed to realize such a unique and innovative idea in such a short time, good job overall.
GameOverMexico
11. May 2020 · 02:20 UTC
I kill all the cats!!!
![gatos.jpg](///raw/aa6/03/z/33f7b.jpg)
Papaver
12. May 2020 · 17:22 UTC
Wow, really cool those split screens!

However, I didn't really understand what I could do. After a few tries a finally found the kitchen where I could get food. When Mr. Schroedinger got hold of a cat, I wanted to do something about it, but it seemed like nothing worked. Also, I could not see what the differences (or similarities) were between the two splits. Was there a cat alife in one section and not in the other?

I enjoyed the cat sounds! I survived for 3 minutes 45 seconds on my last try.