Alice had it easy by DraKlaW

[raw]
made by DraKlaW for LD34 (JAM)
Update: We just added a Windows 32bit version. We hope it works but did not try on a 32 bits windows. Feedback welcome !

===

So... remember that girl, Alice, who went to wonderland ? She had a blast, right ? Sure, she almost got beheaded, she became huge and really tiny, she got lost in the woods and a couple other misadventures but, all in all, it was a marvelous trip.

You don't get to play as Alice. You play as Beth, and she's not so lucky. Her wonderland is a twisted, horrible version of Alice's, and she has no clue what she's getting into. Her pet dog is dead, her white rabbit is straight out of a Monthy Python movie, and the only thing they have in common is a red queen that's after their head. Except Beth's one isn't going to bother with a pretend trial first.

So. Our heroine is through the looking glass, but fortunately, she managed to bunker up into a small house. Her only problem is food... oh, and water too.

It's not that she doesn't have any. She's got plenty of both. The problem is that food here makes you grow larger, and water makes you tinier. And the law of physics are not going to allow stuff like a 10-meter-large girl, much less one that's smaller than an ant. She needs to become a very picky eater, very fast.

That's where you come in. You get to choose what Beth eats and drinks. Press the left/right arrow keys to eat/drink the closest foodstuffs, or double tap the buttons to skip them and get to the next one. Try not to get crushed inside your house, vanish into nothingness, or simply starve to death. You're allowed to overeat, but since your stomach will be full, you'll then have to wait for a while before you can eat something again. Remember that salty foods will make you thirsty, and you can't really live on seawater.

Oh and... did I mention the mushrooms ? Because there's gonna be mushrooms. You don't want to pick the wrong ones.

===

The game "ends" after day 10 (you'll know when it happens, the journal entries run out). Each day lasts less than a minute, so it shouldn't be too long to complete. If you die early, well... try again ! There's a couple gotchas (which you can avoid if you're careful), but it shouldn't be too hard once you've figured them out.

Good luck !

Ratings

Coolness 69% 3
Overall(Jam) 2.91 864
Audio(Jam) 2.70 620
Fun(Jam) 2.35 1016
Graphics(Jam) 3.39 550
Humor(Jam) 2.88 383
Innovation(Jam) 3.28 415
Mood(Jam) 2.69 849
Theme(Jam) 3.80 389

Feedback

MadmenProductions
15. Dec 2015 · 16:57 UTC
The game is in serious need of some balancing. Neat idea, but needs some reworking.
UntitledQ
15. Dec 2015 · 21:43 UTC
Really like the setting and art!
intXparts
15. Dec 2015 · 22:20 UTC
Awesome game! The artwork and music are great! I Shrank into nothingness on the 5th day of the week, just like a normal Friday.
VladRusu
16. Dec 2015 · 14:15 UTC
My, oh, my, the cover!
lucentbeam
17. Dec 2015 · 00:11 UTC
Interesting challenge! I got to day 12. The double taps were a nice take on expanding the controls, though I found that I frequently messed up my intended action, particularly when things started moving fast. Though that's to be expected to some extent.

Anyway, great work! Looking forward to the DLC.
doos
17. Dec 2015 · 00:52 UTC
I got small, freaked out and panic ate mushrooms till I died.. 10/10
nihilaleph
17. Dec 2015 · 01:37 UTC
God, took me I think one hour, but I finally beat it!
Pro:
+ Very interesting concept and idea
+ Neat art style (specially the title screen) and music
Con:
- Way too cryptic to find out the effects of each food/drink (I actually cheated and looked at the source to understand what was going on)
- Some balance issues (like, thirst decreases faster, so you drink a lot, and shrink a lot, but only a mushroom is able to counter the constantly shrinking)
Obs:
o With the scaling of the sprite sometimes it would become blurred

Nice entry, although very difficult!
Hot Box Games
18. Dec 2015 · 19:51 UTC
I starved :( Seemed to get quite hard at day 5. Good take on the theme. Kind of confused as to what water is what, and what food is salty, this could have been better explained. Overall a good entry, keep up the good work!
lawendt
18. Dec 2015 · 20:54 UTC
The game breaks when I try to run it.
MrJoshuaMcLean
18. Dec 2015 · 21:04 UTC
Interesting premise. Text could be a bit larger, and it would be nice to see the scene change more than Alice growing to reflect the meters on the left and right. But it's a cool concept for two-button growing and shrinking! Cool art and a catchy tune, too.
OrangeeZ
18. Dec 2015 · 21:04 UTC
Very Good Art!
PanKamil
18. Dec 2015 · 22:37 UTC
That's a very original gameplay for a plot driven game :D.
RedBricksStudio
18. Dec 2015 · 23:08 UTC
The text was too small, it was difficult to read the story. The game could be further improved if it had more backgrounds to acompany the story.
MorganLeFay
18. Dec 2015 · 23:55 UTC
Unfortunately I can't run your game since it's not compatible with my Windows Version (Windows 7, 32bit)
🎤 DraKlaW
19. Dec 2015 · 02:02 UTC
Thanks for the feedback ! I've just uploaded a 32bits version. Maybe it will fix some of the problems people encountered.

If you try the game and it crash, can you please send us the log file so we can try to fix it ?
OberynMartell
19. Dec 2015 · 22:39 UTC
Nice game! I really liked the way you approache the theme! Congrats! Well done!
Must Play Studio
19. Dec 2015 · 23:14 UTC
nice work :)
hyperscope
20. Dec 2015 · 00:41 UTC
I rather enjoyed the art, good work there!