[M]achine [L]earning by Sakurina
In the far future, society finds itself at the cusp of technological revolution.
But before it can achieve it, that society finds itself under the watchful gaze of intergalactic enforcers known as The Outer Federation
The Outer Federation is tasked with analyzing budding civilizations and determining their worth.
And so, The Outer Federation places an impossible task unto you:
Raise the GIVER to its full potential to determine the fate of your planet.
If successful, your planet may be extended an invite to The Outer Federation.
..If you fail, your planet will suffer complete annhilation.
Can you keep your planet alive?
Inspired by Tamagotchis and the Princess Maker series, this game functions as a life simulation for raising an Alien known as the GIVER to adulthood.
In this game, you choose a schedule for your GIVER on a monthly basis and watch it execute!
Choose what jobs your GIVER will take and what your GIVER will do with the money.
Don't forget to let your GIVER rest from time to time!
As the game progresses, you will unravel more lore behind the world the story takes place in..
And even a little bit about the special GIVER unit assigned to you.
Can you see all 7 endings?
PROTIP: Hit ESC to skip story scenes if you've already read them!
Changelog
v1.0.1: Bugfix update that fixes a typo in a variable name that made the salaryman ending crash v1.0.2: Bugfix update that fixes a math error that made the chef ending inaccessible, fixed some typos in the script, packaging update for macOS that prevents it being reported as damaged on newer OSes
| Youtube | https://github.com/Sakurina/ld46 |
| Youtube | https://woofycakes.itch.io/machine-learning |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/machine-learning |
Ratings
| Overall | 472th | 3.826⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 1116th | 3.37⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1370th | 3.217⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 995th | 3.761⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 311th | 4.271⭐ | 26🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 303th | 3.848⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 595th | 3.409⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 131th | 4.174⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 2🗳️ | 0🗨️ |
Are they based on maxed out stat, or is there ending for balanced all-arounder?
The graphics are good and it really makes me want to keep trying different schedules to raise the Giver. All I wish though is that I could go back to the menu every time I get to an ending, rather than having to leave the game and get back into it every time I want to restart.
Anyways, really well done!
@Sigod: Yeah, my first test play through of the whole thing from end to end (2 hours before submission) took roughly 45 minutes, which meant I only got to test two endings before we had to submit. Earlier builds of the game had a line of text show up for every day, not just when a stat growth was critical like it is now.
@Rednaxelus: Good suggestion!
@EOShadows: I agree, and I would have loved to add that but for uninteresting technical reasons, there was a risk of other gameplay things breaking if I patched it in at the last minute before submission, and I didn't want to make the game wildly unstable because I promised the rest of the team it would be more reliable than the Guilty Gear Strive lobbies and I think I nailed it on that front tbh (sorry arcsys I love you)
[APPLE]
An impressive execution of the 'Princess Maker' genre that I wouldn't have expected from a game jam
Too bad I didn't have time for a whole playthrough (wish there was a save option), but definitely going to give it a second try when I get some more time.
Loved writing, music, and visuals. The story was cute. Impressive work for three days.
I hope you will add more story branching or that lifestyle choice feature someday.
Aw, that was nice. I got the Alchemist end - cute reference with the cart, haha.
As my girl tended to get less and less stress from her daily activities, I filled her whole months with one activity. I wish there was a button for it, or a way to repeat the previous month at least!
I liked the writing. I would've liked more events, as they were (perhaps unsurprisingly) my favourite part, but I understand development time is limited and and there is quite a lot content as is!
[M]ACHINE [L]EARNING TEAM, YOU HAVE GIVEN ME ENJOYMENT. YOUR GAME WILL BE RATED. EXPECT RESULTS IN 11D 07H 35M.
(I read the other endings on Github, and the True End, while heartwarming, seems to not be in line with *any* of the other endings? Especially e.g. the Pirate/Salaryman endings make quite clear that the Outer Federation exists.)
@tobiasw Thanks for the kind words! As for your question, there is only one "canon" ending which is the True End where it's revealed that the Outer Federation doesn't exist--it's simply her sending emails to you. There are a number of small hints that suggest this earlier on, fidgeting behind her back and immediately receiving emails, emails telling you to "administer" her favorite food, stopping to look at the royal family crest--also, if you think about it, what kind of super advanced aliens would send you emails anyway? The rest of the endings play as if the Outer Federation is real to keep up a sort of meta ruse so that anyone who managed to get the True End got a nice little surprise. :)
@godsh0t Ah, gotcha! I can respect that - I didn't consider that the others might not be canon. Thanks for the answer!