i dont know where to start. i had the most fun with this game. so meany features! how did you do it in so little time. i think i wanna be lala too now.
the interacting chat gives an amazing feeling of participation in the story. also 5/5 for humor.
ps i think i hurt too many innocents sorry cat
congratulations and good luck

Wonderfull game, as usual! Got my full attention until the end! The Happy Lala reminds me o Hakura on Yakuza 5 :)

That's exactly why I followed you after I found your game in the last LD. Your games justs amazes me, thanks for this beautiful submission S2

No, seriously, I love you guys S2

Oh my god, that was so good! You did such a good job with the details and making the game have a really strong vibe to it.

I did have one issue where my game became stuck at this point.  Mousing over the dialogue options changed the cursor, but clicking them did nothing. This happened after tabbing away and then back, for some reason. Second playthrough went smoothly.

@const-arch Thank you for the report! I've seen that one before while testing, I'll have to track it down.

What a cute game! Awesome as always. I really like the dichotomy between the lack of a beat to work to when soul harvesting compared to Happy Lala- It makes the latter feel so much more natural and fun for the reaper- even if they were both just as fun for me.

Your games are what's inspired me to join in the jam myself. I can't thank you enough. Well done, and good luck in the rankings. You deserve it.

Very cute game! Amazing polish graphics and music. I also got stuck here

I've put in an attempted fix for the issue that @const-arch and @ab0303 were experiencing but since it was an inconsistent bug I'm not 100% sure whether it's gone -- please let me know if you happen to see this again!

If you do, peeking at and pasting any errors in your browser's console log would also be greatly appreciated.

​oh wow, dare i say... this is the best game i've played in quite a few months? sooo impressive that it was made in a jam! nearly teared up a few times, lol. the way happy lala was tied into the ending was absolutely lovely, too. now i need to take a 5 break from life to think about this. lovely game, brilliant collaboration. wow!

I love the graphic style! the way you did the grim reaper thing was very neat too. It was fun :)

Love the game style and how you keep it simple focusing on the story

Oh, wow. First game I played this LD and I have to say quite an impressive start that is! Very well crafted game where everything just fits together perfectly. The story reminded me of Pratchett's Reaper Man, but I don't think it's possible to make a game about Death without some echoes of Discworld :sweat_smile:

I'm not sure if there was any actual gameplay in Happy Lala, though. Didn't seem like pressing the button changed anything.

5 stars. TAKE ALL MY STARS. HOLY SHIT THIS GAME HAD ME HOOKED THROUGHOUT! REALLY AMAZING JOB! ITS SUPRISING THAT YOU GUYS COULD PUT UP SO MUCH CONTENT IN JUST 72 HOURS!! IM GENIUNELY IMPRESSED

I loved this so much! I really did not expect a rhythm game with this theme, but you really made it work extremely well. I loved your previous Ludum Dare games as well, and this one did not dissapoint either. The art was super pretty and the music amazing. The best of all was the story though. It was super unexpected and I was really laughing out loud at the reveal. Stellar job! And extremely impressive for a game made in 72 hours :D

using the red line on the paper as an in-game indicator was a stroke of genius. also the music slaps

Impressive little setup. I feel bad for all the innocence I killed as they got in the way. Guess I need an easy mode and two red lines.

This game is great for a jam game! I liked how the hearts and notes follow the music rhythm (though I didn't understand if pressing any key mattered for Lala parts), how red strip on the paper aligns as a guide for the harvest, style, animations, story... I enjoyed playing it to the end.

Absolutely insane amount of content and polish for a 2 person jam game!
The contrast between the traditional soul harvest and the phone game is perfectly executed too

One nitpick? I read dialogs fast and I would have like a way to click trough them a bit faster

I didn't expect that ending. You got a nice narrative in there. I may have annoyed my little cat friend on purpose a few times because making it angry amused me. Great work.

So cute and funny - great amount of stuff for a Jam game! the art is great and the pink outfit.... :laughing: Well done!

What an adorable game! Loved the humor, graphics, music and pretty much everything! Very polished and complete game. This game made me smile and chuckle :slight_smile:

Playthrough left me wondering if the dialogue choices would have changed things, it was great being the lala :)

Only grievance is that it went laggy at some points where there were lots of items on screen. Especially the final music scene became a lagfest and that took little bit away from the enjoyment. I'm not sure though if it was just my computer or a problem in coding as I've had lags before in HTML-builded games.

The two of you always make such wonderful games! <3
I really like the multiple forms of gameplay you put in there, and especially how they contrast with each other. Audio and visuals are also fantastic as usual, but the story takes the cake here! Great writing, touching (yet humorously presented) subjects and a beautiful resolution, it really gave me all kinds of feelings.
Thank you for this lovely experience :)

PS: I have been following you for quite a few years and through many LDs (I think the first one I played was Ripple Runner way back when) and continue to be amazed by your creations. Have you ever thought about bundling some of them up and releasing them as a collection on Steam etc.? I think you could have a lot of success with something like that (and the marketing for games like yours could easily go viral on TikTok and the likes...).

Would love to see (and replay) something like this and for you to get all the more widespread acclaim and success you deserve <3

Wow, this is by far my favourite game of the jam now. I loved it, so cute and characterful!

AAAA The ghost cat, ICANTEVEN! Another masterpiece, gg guys!

Very kawaii game and story, thank you! <3

this game was absolutely wonderful, the parents were my favorite, especially their theme song! i turned it up every time they came on. happy la la forever!

Once I saw BOTH the wave and hidden mods I was like yep........the name is DDRKirby for a reason :)

I'm so happy the narrative wrapped up the way it did. I think an issue with a lot of jam games is that they tend to be designed with the pacing of a normal game in mind. Where it feels like there are some lingering threads even when the game ends. But you wrapped this game up with a BOW. A perfect jam experience.

Actions were all super satisfying. A big part of that is the sound design, followed by the animations. The final area is of course, the best because everything's building up to that moment and it's fantastic watching the crowd slowly change over to your side.

Ending on a high note is always great. And during the credits it reminded me how much effort you put into the whole game, like the different characters, and the texting system itself. Really well thought out game that was finely executed.

Wow. I can't believe you managed to create something that's so funny, yet so poignant all at the same time! I loved the narrative parallel between the souls getting burned out and Death himself getting burned out, as well as how it all came full circle right at the end (and nearly brought me to tears, which doesn't happen that often when playing video games!). Bravo. I'll be amazed if this doesn't get at least one medal.

EDIT: OH MY GOD THE SYMBOLISM OF HIM BEING INTERRUPTED BY HIS PARENTS DURING THE FIRST HAPPY LALA LEVEL, THAT'S GENIUS

Such a fun game! The story and music worked together really well! Great game as always!

One of my favorite entry ! I love the art and the story, remind me a little bit of the comic "La petite mort" by Davy Mourier !

Oh wow this is fantastic! Love the story / writing and the cute art. The characters are great. Really fantastic especially considering it was made in 72 hours. My only critique might be that it would be cool to have more of a rhythm aspect to the soul-harvesting part, since the rhythm game part of the game was kind of my favorite part. But overall wow this is really polished, well done!

Wow, this was amazing!! I loved the story and dialogs, and the ending was awesome. Art and music were great and gameplay was fun. Thank you for making this awesome game!!!

My only (super minor) issue - I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to do during the Happy Lala section. I think I eventually got it (just press when the hearts reach the character) but it wasn't very clear.

As always it was soooo cute and relaxing! I didn't expected a rythm game with this theme but it was very fun to play, the story is strong, and it's amazing that you managed to make so much content in so less time, you must have superpowers or something :sweat_smile:
Very well done and good job!

This is very, very cool! I love the writing, and the art is top-notch. Alternating between dialogue and the different game loops really kept things fresh and fun the whole time. Sound effects and music is perfectly-suited for this game, too. Amazing work for a weekend jam!

I didn't participate in the jam this time so I can't leave a rating, but I just wanted to say this game has a lot of quality. I really liked the concept and the execution. It manages to be funny and thought-provoking at the same time!

Super cute game! I loved the art, music, and sound effects, they really all worked well together. I liked the message of the game. The dialog system was a great way to deliver the story. I didn't realize that Happy Lala was a rhythm game the first time around and was pretty confused, but I should have been able to guess. I liked that you added new mechanics into the general soul harvesting segments to keep it interesting. I could see you expanding on different mechanics. Great job!

I hope to be able to make such a good game one day.

For me, it's a 5/5 game. One of the bests on LD52.

I'm really impressed.

Congrats!

This is REALLY good and such a good format for this Jam. Essentially you got two games and a lot of character dialogue in between and you even got a good overarching story. I agree with others above that this is top notch. Fantastic Art. Fantastic music. Fantastic character design. Fantastic writing. 5 / 5 :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Fantastic! Amazing amount of polish

*Oh my freaking goodness*, that was great. I'm tempted to say that was literally the best jam game I've played *period*; and while this is only my fourth, know that you are beating out over 150 games that I personally have played through. Everything about this game is wonderfully done, the *ART*, the *MUSIC*, the *WRITING*, the *CHARACTERS*, the *GAMEPLAY*, all of it's fantastic and you both should be proud of what you were able to accomplish in 72 hours. Even while most of it is relatively simple, and really isn't too unbelievable as a LD submission, somehow it all comes together to make a super impressive entry and an overly charming game!

I killed 3 or 4 people by accident, but that's the only regret I have coming out of this; 5/5 stars, great job! :clap: :clap: :clap:

Beautiful! Such a wonderful and heartwarming game! I loved it sooooo much :-) Thanks, this was something special. The cuteness, and the twists! I wonder if the game changes based on the dialogue choices... but it doesn't matter! One thing I would ask, is a stronger sound feedback when you press a key, but that is really personal preference when it comes to rhythm games...

Thanks again for making this!

yes, yesssss, YESSSS! Cocoamoss is back baby! And what return this has been, this must be my favorite game of your so far, the art is better then ever, the music fantastic as always and game is so fun, charming and heartwarming. When my cat yelled at me cause I started spamming my space made laugh so hard I almost fall down from my chair. Not spoiling anything but the ending made me so happy, with widest smile possible present on my face the whole time.

ALL 5 STARS! this was perfect!

Can't believe you did that in 72 hours.

This is my favorite game I played this jam, by far.

I loved the art -really nice design and very polished! Really liked how it carried the story along with the phone and the game play was simple but fun! The music was excellent too! Really amazing job on this!!! :D

That's the best jam game I've played for this LD. Really impressive, I loved the story, graphics, music everything!

Good grief this was so much more than I expected it to be at first contact.

During the first culling I interrupted my wife's reading to hand her my headphones and say, "check this out - this crew is SO good at the music and the art and how it comes together." She was appropriately impressed and I thought wow charming little one-screen game here.

Then it was cutscene. Then it was game within game as I entered the phone, and it continued to unfurl from there.

The parents and the pushing from a place of well-meaning that still bristles and the rebellion and the transformation. It all felt like Truth in Art despite manifesting in such a surreal setting.

Really great job.

And did I mention the art and music are amazing?

My favorite LD52 game <3 incredible sound & music! You should be extremely proud, congratulations!

Aww! Great art and music, and one of the few LD games where I enjoyed the story. The gameplay was simple, but you found ways to sneak some creative twists in there. Nice job!

Yup there it is, my perfect game of the jam! :heart: I dont know if this is against the rules to say, and i hope it isnt... But this is my perfect 5 of a game. I love anything and everything about it, its simply a masterpiece! Did i even stutter saying it?!? Trust me not stuttering and saying all this is complicated for the Swedish Chef but i really mean, perfect 5/5 on all accounts, love the game, love you, thank you for making my day better! :heart:

Spectacular work! Everything about it just worked. The art style was lovely, the music fit perfectly, sound design was on point, the whole thing had a wonderful layer of sheen and polish to it. The gameplay was simple but very engaging. No negatives at all, you crushed it!

Wonderful art style and music!

Awesome game, narrative, art and gameplay!
I wonder if any different dialogue choices could have affected the outcome of the game...

This is without question my absolute favourite game of this year and it might stay that way. The art was so adorable magical girl transformations are best~ But even aside of the mind blowing art the content of the game was so much, it is really impressive and I aspire to produce such a massive amount of polished and fun content for a game jam one day!
I loved the dialogue and gameplay as well there really is nothing I could think to complain about. La la forever~!

I love a DDRKirby and Xellaya entry. Great music + art as always and this one was really funny... Bai and Hei are sooooo relatable and funny. I feel so bad for these corporate slaves whose souls are flying away. The ending was so cute and made it one of my favorite entries all time T_T

The presentation is next level, just feels so polished, crisp and pleasant. I really appreciate the smaller things thta make have such a high impact though, like a nice font and a background that has a bit of a structure. Music and sounds i also enjoyed a lot. It's a personal preference, but i'm not a big fan of dialogue heavy games, my focus is on the gameplay. The challenge of the harvesting was greatly balanced. The hit could connect a bit nicer, because sometimes the scythe very cleanly went through the soul, but didn't cut it. I know it has to be tight to be challenging, but ideally the visuals match closely with the function (so maybe faster swing, or less wide). I didn't see a reason for the coins, and if it mattered in any way if i was good or bad at the minigames. So for someone who is more focussed on gameplay, it couldn't keep up with the amazing presentation. But it's a very impressive and complete game, one of the best entries for sure!

That was incredible! Your games are all great but this might be your best ever. (And the best I've seen this jam as well.) The art and music are excellent and the story was so well conveyed, I'm super impressed. I even got a little emotional at the end. Loved the contrast between the soul harvesting and the rhythm gameplay and how that tied into the story, it's so cool to see that sort of thematic connection in any game let alone a jam game. Just an excellent experience all around, I'm so happy I got around to playing this. Amazing work!!

Amazing game. Awesome artwork, great story. Stuck to the theme. Well done in a short time.

My only critiques are the hit detection on the line (I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be OVER the red line or in front of or what), I missed a couple of hits early because of that. But also.. I don't think any of it actually made a difference, right? it's just there. The other thing is.. I wish I could hit to instantly deliver the next line of dialogue, it does take a long time to deliver it

Otherwise, really enjoyed it, enjoyed the story, graphics are gorgeous, music is cool, I loved transforming. The phone game was the best part, really enjoyed it. Also I confessed my love. Although I wish that went somewhere haha, I felt like I'd found a secret dialogue option or something

Nicely done as usual

Wow, this is incredible! It's amazing that you guys made this in 72 hours. The music and graphics are so cute :)

A beautiful game. Loved the art style and music, and humour in the phone conversations. Excellent work!

This was so depressingly hilarious, loved it!

H-HOW DID YOU DO THIS IN SUCH A SHORT TIME??? This was amazing. The artstyle was amazing, the music was an absolute jam and the humour was on point. Great job!

I liked this game

Besides the horror [granny](https://granny9.com) game, this game is one of the favorit games I like