Dolen Days by James Clark
This is a game we created for the Ludum Dare 47 game jam. The theme is "Stuck in a loop".
You play Dolen. A young man who has started a new job and moved into a new apartment. The game shines a spotlight on the issue of balancing work life and personal life. Having less energy from work lowers our motivation to do things for ourselves which can ultimately affect our personal lives but work lives as well.
Guide:
D - The 'D' at the bottom of the screen is your Dirty meter. This grows when Dolen doesn't clean his apartment. If you show up to work too dirty, you will lose points from your 'J' (job) meter.
J - The "J" meter at the bottom of the screen is your Job meter. This grows when you perform well at your job and show up to work clean. This is subtracted from when you show up dirty. Each 10 points, you receive a small pay rise.
E - The "E" meter at the bottom of the screen shows your energy. Don't overdo it and lose all your energy or you won't be able to work harder or do things for yourself at home.
Move the mouse over objects on screen and click to interact with them. Dolen must go to work each day and decide how hard he wants to work. You have a choice between 'Slack', 'Work' and 'Super Work'. The harder you work, the more energy you consume. When you arrive home, it's up to you to cook for yourself or get take out. Cooking for yourself creates dishes which you'll need to clean but that consumes energy. In the morning you can choose to shower and put away dirty clothes which consumes energy too. Not cleaning will make Dolens dirty meter grow. The dirtier Dolen gets, the less Job meter you will grow and can even go down.
Credits:
Blaise Guy - Programming and Design James Clark - Art and Design Michael Ware - Background Music
Everything made with Godot Engine and Aseprite.
Ratings
| Overall | 945th | 3.398⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1484th | 2.593⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1196th | 2.953⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 289th | 4.057⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 632th | 3.75⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 486th | 3.534⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 1039th | 2.333⭐ | 38🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 431th | 3.727⭐ | 46🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 22🗳️ | 29🗨️ |
https://jamesc89.itch.io/dolen-days
well done tho :)
Good entry! :smiley:
But overall I thought this was a great approach to the theme !
This almost made me cry, so good job guys(angry!)
Seriously: great job, only thing to mention is that light in his romm and transition between screens are not "pixelish" and are out of style. Apart from that: great entry!
Although I did find it very funny that making the bed in the morning costs twice as much energy as working all day :laughing: Must be why I never make the bed!
Good job!
It's the classical usage of the theme yet so well performed.
Musics help a lot to set the tone and as audio wasn't opt out, I'm assuming you guys made it - amazing.
Cant find how to restore energy - aside from sleeping.
Overall, good work!
Feeling very elevated about real life all of a sudden. Surely noone will notice if I don't make my bed today, right?
Haha good entry, but now I feel a bit depressed.