Stuck in a Soup Loop by Doot
Play the game in your browser by clicking here!
🍜🥣🍲 Will you stay stuck cooking soup your whole life? 🍲🥣🍜
As one of the most talented soup chefs, you are hired again and again by the best kitchens in the world - to cook soup, and nothing else!
But at times, you get bored with the job, you feel mindless and you feel like time goes by twice as fast. Other times, your memory wanders and you forget which ingredients you should be putting in your pot...
But it doesn't matter: it is your destiny to cook soup and you can't avoid it!
So roll up your sleeves and get ready... to enter the Soup Loop!
Controls 🕹
Use the mouse to drag & drop ingredients into the cooking pot, stir the soup, and serve it!
A game developed by 👾
Aimy Sassoletti (Art)
Dorian Signargout (Dev) -> dodoot.itch.io
Doriane Randria (Art) -> instagram.com/blibloop
Matthieu Pereira (Art)
Maxime Sazadaly (Dev)
Myriam Benzarti (Dev & Sound design) -> motherfugu.bandcamp.com
Stéphane Kaufmann (Art) -> thekingbarry.wordpress.com
Credits 🙌
Sounds by Edsward, Eric Matyas, Zapsplat.com
Music by Mother Fugu
Font: Adam warren pro, from Press Gang Studios
Ratings
| Overall | 226th | 3.961⭐ | 142🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 230th | 3.876⭐ | 143🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 883th | 3.268⭐ | 140🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 847th | 3.586⭐ | 141🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 155th | 4.311⭐ | 142🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 133th | 4.021⭐ | 142🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 77th | 4.091⭐ | 140🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 222th | 3.953⭐ | 140🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 143🗳️ | 185🗨️ |
Really well done!
And now I'm leaving to make soup.
I had so much fun making soups, thanks! :)
Every item is easy to grab, has big collider, thaks very nice.
Art and sound are awesome and fit the game well.
Keep it up!
I don't think the "In Soup" bar works though.
Nice music and cute art!
The characters are cute and the music and sound effects are really fitting.
The gameplay is getting really hard in the later stages. Remembering multiple recipes while going as fast as I can was nearly impossible for me :D
Unfortunately, I once needed to make a soup without a recipe which I haven't made in the round before, so I didn't know the amount of each ingredient. Additionally, changing the side of ingredients between levels made it harder to remember the recipes, as I sometimes associated a recipe with "2 ingredients from the left, 2 from the right", or similar.
Nevertheless, the hectic gameplay was really fun, it really reminded me of Overcooked. Great work!
It could have used more feedbacks on clicks, or when dropping stuff in the soup etc. imo.
@lexi @fishmasterino @kornel @dexort @ryzy27 @xsoodx @simone @spyranteros @mrscythe @don-fouts @wormius @karin-g Thank you very much 💕
@sashamils @isha Thank you! The lack of feedback during a recipe (either what's in the soup or what's left to add) is definitely missing, but we didn't prioritize it as much as other game defining features, so we did not manage to do it in time!
@elpadlos Thank you! The difficulty is indeed a bit crazy very fast ☠ Soup business is not an easy life path.
@khadia Thanks a lot! Characters are by @dodidouda. They like you too.
@jatdev Thanks for the detailed feedback! As said, the difficulty is indeed too hard, and we could have made it easier to remember the recipe (similar placement of food containers between levels, not too much variety in soup, specific miniature image in recipe for each soup, etc...)
Thanks for pointing out the mystery recipe, we'll try to kick it out if we do a post jam version!
@yorsh Thank you! The audio feedbacks on clicks are either missing or late, and I agree, it doesn't go well with the frantic gameplay. Might fix this someday in a post jam update!
Have fun playing other games everyone, and take care 👨🍳👩🍳
Art music is great, the tutorial is short and clear, gameplay is solid. Also, great name!
I think you have a really solid foundation if you'd like to add a couple more features and release this game :)
Congratulations!
I knew I recognized the aesthetics from somewhere! I looked up your other games on Itch and saw that you made Flippy Fish from the previous Ludum Dare!
That game was one of my favorites and it inspired me very much to keep going and get better at game development!
Thank you!
The only thing that didn't work for me is when ingredients switched places in level 2 compared to level 1.
I can finally become the best soop cook ever!
I ended up screwing up quite a bit by the time I had to remember the recipes of restaurant 3, my memory just isn't good enough :sweat_smile:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/763143712
its funny
very nice sprites
and music is awesome
@thegreenworm @nillard @ommadawn @julienlussiez @jvdwijk @arthur-mairs @gungnir @mumaitron @sarafilipa @joeshanahan @tad @jajakeim @mrschlag2 @djayne @twohands @spacestrawberriesstudio Thank you so much 💕
@marcusnystrand Thank you! this is the best comment I've ever read, thank you so much. I really liked your game too, especially the overall aesthetic, you are very good!
@blind-lemon-games @josephdevelops @shortbread @coda-highland Thank you! We might do a mobile release if we find the energy and time to work on it again. Touchpad controls would be less tiring than mouse I believe.
@meek-bits Thank you! Sorry for the ingredients moving places, it seems evident now but we didn't catch it during playtests...
@cakii23 Thank you! We cut a lot of gameplay ideas we had because we wanted to focus on the core components.
@justcamh @josephdevelops thank you for streaming that was really fun!
Level progression was really good and the scoreboard at the end of each level was a really nice touch. It didn't get too difficult too quickly but I also didn't find it too easy. You really did well with balancing it! Overall, a really great game! Would have to say it's one of the better ones I've played so far so well done!
- Sounds - music is fine, nice background for chill gameplay. Sounds - very vell put, they are adding to the mood.
- Gameplay - Simple, yet addictive. I was sucked in, even completed the game.
Some notes: Spinning spoon in a soup was very satisfying. I guess, you should add more of those immersive elements if you ever continue development. Cutting vegetables, firing on stove, serving plate.
I really believe you can make it in mobile game. Hell, you can just port current build and put it out as a "demo" in android store, to get motivated and work on project more.
Overall - amazing entry. Wish you all luck and hope you will find energy in yourself.
Fun gameplay, nice art and the music really fits the gameplay.
Love the full blown tutorial, the theme, the characters and the ideas.
Well done!
Art is very cute, I liked it a lot, good job!
Tip of the hat for the web version, as always :)
But overall I really liked the game! Great Job! ♥
With that said, I do feel that game would have been more exciting gameplay wise if you had multiple customers at the same time where you have to micromanage who you serve first based on their wait time and recipe difficulty. Most cooking games I have played without any micromanagement mechanics tends to get boring a lot more quickly.
@naali @pierrens @krammetje @domin77 @danielblanco3d @blooobird @necauqua @tricky-fat-cat @mog13 @euix Thank you so much 💕
@teto Thank you! We realized the issue of not knowing how many turns when watching streamers and people play the final versions, we think we have a few smart solutions to patch this, we'll include them in a post jam version if we do one! Thanks for pointing it out.
@teto @laurari The color change depending to the ingredient is also something we want to try, but it is not easy to find the right colors that match with all the other in the game (reusing ingredients colors could work most of the time but not always).
@vlandemart Thank you! Thank you for pointing out the satisfying part of turning the spoon, we'll keep it in mind if we think about new elements to add!
@gale-swift Thank you! Making the direction of stirring relevant was in the initial design of the game, but we cut it due to not knowing how to convey it efficiently to the player and to keep things as straightforward as possible for the jam game. We'll think about adding it in a future version maybe!
@tom-a @fupi Thank you! We might do a mobile release if we find the energy and time to work on it again. Touchpad controls would be less tiring and more natural than mouse I believe.
@convg sorry, being blind is not recommended to make good soup.
@mariana-mattevi no pause in the soup cooking life! (sorry, didn't add it to the game in time!)
@laurari Thank you! We will definitely fix the "In Soup" sometime ⌨ We thought we could have it before the deadline, but we didn't, and we did not even find time to remove the UI!
@mike09123 Thanks a lot for the idea! That is indeed a classic in most cooking games. We will remember it!
🐸
I love the title and theming of this game. I'm gonna guess I won't see any other soup loop games this reviewing period. The gameplay definitely gets hectic later on, though I never had trouble with the memorization portion personally. I really liked the idea of it though, it's very clever and not an often used mechanic.
I can't believe you guys (or maybe just @doot) only started doing game dev a year ago. The amount of polish and sense of fun is so apparent. You gotta let me in on the secret. Great job!
I liked how polished everything is. It's great that there is a tutorial in the beginning. The music and the endless rounds of cooking soup fit the theme very well, and thematically I liked the multiple loops the character is stuck in: from job to job, from day to day, from round to round, from soup to soup.
What I would do differently: not much. The UI could give a bit more feedback when you interact with things, it doesn't feel really "tactile", but then again not sure it needs to. Again, well done everybody!
Well done !
Really clean entry!
@lohreck @sirkovitch @coding4rtist @eugenik @peace-of-cake-games @adil @preda @acaral @batovski @mcovert Thank you so much 💕
@peachtreeoath Ok this means so much to me thank you thank you.
We found it quite funny too that the idea we had for this jam was very similar in style than the idea our previous jam group had, but it was not intended!
This time, out of the 7 girls and guys who participated at least a bit to the project, this was a second for 3 of us, and a first for the 4 other! We had a lot of fun.
I believe the secret is actually a lot of luck. I hope it stays! Thanks again for the feedback.
@udo Thank you! The game would definitely a bit more or better feedbacks. I think the lack of "tactility" comes from the sound effects being a bit late and a lack of animations in some places. Maybe we will fix this sometime!
Didn't really seem like it really mattered how well (or badly in my case) I did, the progress was the same.
The tutorial was nice, clear and concise! It was straight to the point, with no need for huge walls of texts, telling exactly what is needed and when it is needed! Loved it! :heart: Game started off easy, maybe eve too easy. But then on the second and third days it really started picking up. And the last ones weren't really that much harder really, it was just way too many ingredients to throw in. The time just wasn't enough to manage to do but a few soups. And the recipes were not even really balanced. On same level there were 8 ingredient ones and 5 ingredient ones. Dunno if these were in random order though. Having them be fixed would obviously be better for balancing reasons but random would offer more replayability. Oh the choices!
Is it even possible to do the full ten soups on the last day in the lotted 40 seconds? I think they were mainly 8 ingredient ones, then the stir and serve. So ten steps per soup and ten soups meaning 0.4 second per step. Sounds like a tough one. :thinking:
All screens aren't 16:9 and the game didn't really support anything else.
Made the results screen look even more awkward with the clipping text. Of course this wasn't so bad in this case and playing ended up being better in a smaller window anyway because the movement distances were shorter. :laughing:
Could have introduced other elements to make the recipes harder rather than just making them longer. Sure, they needed to get a bit lengthier from the start but by the end it was just too much an repetitive. Something easy to add like changing the stirring direction or having to do the ingredients in some specific order would have really spiced it up. Then it could even go to the Papers Please route and add new stuff every new day to make it more complex. Something like maybe controlling the temperature of the soup or maybe showing the basic recipe but the customer would have an allergy to some ingredient. So broaden the complexity, not lengthen it.
Anyways, I think that's all I have to say about it. Well done, good game! :thumbsup:
@super-hadoken @arron-fowler @imod Thank you so much 💕
@antti-haavikko Thank you so much for the lengthy feedback!
- Simple animations to the stories and in game were planned, but we did not manage to do them in time (I really am a beginner in Unity 🙇♂️)
- The progression is indeed quite the same for everyone, except that at each level end, you can either get fired if you do bad or quit if you do good. This was intended, so there is no punition for doing "poorly" and you can enjoy the game anyway. After seeing many players play, we understand that it might not be perfect, since some don't really understand if they should really continue or not. We are currently trying to think about a better way to convey "overall feedback" to the player without giving up on the "you are doing good anyway, continue if you want" feeling.
- Game balance is clearly off. Round 2 of last level is indeed the hardest, but I just saw someone doing a 100% perfect run of the game first try just an hour ago, so it is definitely doable. First level is indeed quite boring, and I really get that adding drudgery without new mechanics in the last two level is not a good thing. Recipes are fixed for easier game balance.
- Thanks for the ideas for adding depth. We thought of all of them except the allergy one, and didn't add them to keep the game as simple as possible, but also doable with our beginner skills and limited time. If we wanted to update the game by adding content, I definitely think that we should think again about some of those. Currently, we are mostly thinking about fixing bugs, small balance patch and maybe cutting a level before a mobile release.
- Screen sizes support wasn't thought well for the jam version. Sorry if that was not convenient!
I loved this angrycutesuperconfident character :rofl:
His design fits him peerfectly~~
At first, making soups was a bit repetitive but later it became more and more competitive~
Also, it's amazing how consistent the art is with so many artists.. Congratulations guys! Great job~!
It was also very nice to have an entry be pretty self-explanatory for once :'D
What a nice game :3
Did the soup direction end up coming into it at all? I think all the soups I made ended up being CCW. Was the `in the soup` label at the bottom supposed to show what you've already added? I'm guessing that got cut for time?
EDIT: after @Doot 's advice I retried on mobile and it feels a lot more intuitive! Really Great fun on Android!
The premise is quite simple but was kept interesting by adding new mechanics. The visuals and audio are really nice and work well together. I would like to give you some advice on what to do better but I can't really find anything that wrong with the game. I had some problems playing it with my laptop's trackpad but that's entirely on me.
Extremely well done and polished!
- Add any gameplay variation other than "just" add more ingredients.
- The music stops for a while before starting again.
Other than that I loved the mood of the game. Good job!
Gameplay is not my cup of tea - I liked the part where you needed to remember the recipes though (would be even better without the ingredient icons). The whole game feels polished and I bet that it will satisfy fans of this kind of genre :smile: So I say - good work!
@msiddeek @trexxak @noam-blei @captainproton42 @flying-dog-fish Thank you so much 💕
@virimine, Thank you! Yes, the artists did a wonderful job, they are awesome 🌈
@mathemagician Thank you!
The lack of variety comes from a wish to keep it as simple as possible, plus the lack of skill and time! I am quite happy that we kept it that simple, but we would definitely need to add some mechanics if we wanted the game to feel a bit less repetitive so quick.
The soup direction, for example, doesn't count. Everything in the code is ready for it, but we didn't have time to think of how to implement it in the game design and how to make the player understand.
"In Soup" was not done in time, so it's just a blank space in game! Maybe in a post jam release!
@archie-evans Thank you! The controls do feel bad on mouse. On mobile, it's way better, and we also thought of how to make it playable on keyboard but did not found a good solution.
@island-jam-2-group-3 Thank you! I totally agree with you on the need for gameplay variety, and sorry for the bad music looping!
@fabula-rasa Thank you so much! The gameplay has some flaws, I agree with you, yet we are really happy of how the game turned out!
@peterfonts Thank you! Some feedback are indeed missing. For example, when you add an ingredient the feedback is only audio, and when you stir and the soup is ready it's only visuals. It's incredible how many feedbacks you need to make the game feel good, and we are not quite at it here you are right!
The difficulty is well balanced through the levels. It would have been fun if there was a finale level with every recipe thrown in. But obviously that's rough to do with the time constraints.
Fantastic job all around!
I actually immensely enjoyed this entry. The premise was simple and easy to grasp, the difficulty curve felt just right, the artwork was super charming and cute, and the gameplay itself to my knowledge was almost completely bug free!
This is a super impressive jam game, awesome job!