LudumData

Harvestigator: An IRS Tax Auditing Game by LDJam user 245646

[raw]
made by LDJam user 245646 for Ludum Dare 52 (JAM)

Harvest season has just ended! While you won't be gathering wheat in this game, you'll surely be raking in dough at your cushy tax auditing desk job.

File through documents, highlight details, and harvest the incomes of farmers in this relaxing IRS auditing game. You'll encounter a diverse range of farmers all across the county. Remember to audit accurately and efficiently for better pay! It's commission after all.

Controls: * Left click - Interact with objects and drag papers * F - Toggle fullscreen

Notes:

Firefox and Edge throw a fit when running the game embeded on the Ludum Dare site. Try the alternative links instead!

(Update 1/10/23) - Changed some wording to be more accessible to non-native English speakers!

taxScreenshot1.png

taxScreenshot3.png

taxScreenshot2.png

Credits: * Khoi (@crow-seeds) - Programming, Lead, Various Miscellaneous Art * Said (@popper) - Character art and design, playtesting * Labib (@la-bread) - Music, bug voice, monkey voice, playtesting * Lauren - Boss woman voice * Ajay - Stick figure voice * Faaiz - Strong man voice * Emmanuel - Alien voice

On My Website https://crowseeds.com/harvest/
Newgrounds https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/870196
itch.io https://crow-seeds.itch.io/harvestigator
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/52/harvestigator-an-irs-tax-auditing-game

Ratings

Overall 7th 4.426⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Fun 16th 4.278⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 114th 3.792⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Theme 145th 4.12⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 131th 4.222⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Audio 7th 4.472⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Humor 1th 4.731⭐ 56🧑‍⚖️
Mood 29th 4.274⭐ 55🧑‍⚖️
Given 34🗳️ 79🗨️

Feedback

Aruspice
09. Jan 2023 · 22:01 UTC
This game is really well written, funny and has some great characters. I love Scott the Alien (whose bank account is thoroughly uninteresting)
Constantine Pallas
09. Jan 2023 · 22:27 UTC
This game was fantastic! The graphics, music, and voiceovers stood out to me as excellent. I could easily see this releasing on Steam if you added more days with additional fun characters. For a jam game, it's really something special. Great work!
🎤 LDJam user 245646
09. Jan 2023 · 22:33 UTC
Thanks for the reviews!!! @constantine-pallas @aruspice
anoushcat
09. Jan 2023 · 22:50 UTC
Very funny game, nice concept and art!

At first I wanted to save farmers from IRS troubles but honestly the fact that they couldn't stop talking while I was working made me more motivated to do the audits right...

Voice overs were a nice addition!
amarokczukay
09. Jan 2023 · 23:17 UTC
wow, just wow!
i loved the _papers, please_ touch! all these voices were really good. Not a big fan of the art, but it's personal. Overall, it's a great entry!

I really hope i never have to do this job for real tho hahaha
omphh
09. Jan 2023 · 23:17 UTC
Never knew how much I need a farmers version of paper please until now. Great work! From voice lines to the visuals, really solid entry!
DominoDelusions
09. Jan 2023 · 23:39 UTC
I really liked what ya'll did with this. Its really cool! great work!
thejan14
09. Jan 2023 · 23:40 UTC
Tried to run the game (embedded) in firefox and edge but both were not loading. Finally got it running on your page (https://crowseeds.com/harvest/).

I had so many laughs while playing the game. Absolutely amazing! Loved the voice acting, writing, polish, everything! Awesome!
🎤 LDJam user 245646
10. Jan 2023 · 00:01 UTC
@thejan14 Yea for some reason the game throws a fit when not running on Chrome for the Ludum Dare site, glad you were able to play using other means!

@amarokczukay @omphh Papers Please was a big inspiration to the game, glad you guys noticed!!
CaperCube
10. Jan 2023 · 00:36 UTC
I loved the voice acting and art! Awesome job!
pazzi
10. Jan 2023 · 04:15 UTC
I couldn't do my job- how can I!? These folks out here are only doing honest work! >,>
Honestly, this is my favorite game so far- the voice acting is absolutely hilarious and endearing haha xD
I can't think of anything to improve - Amazing game!
LeoAtopos
10. Jan 2023 · 04:33 UTC
Speechless. Did I just heared rap?
Fedora
10. Jan 2023 · 06:21 UTC
Wow, this was amazing! Really gives Papers Please vibes, but also manages to distinguish itself from it. The voice acting was great, and the characters were really funny. It felt great to understand the rules on the last day and do it super quickly without having to keep looking at the instructions.
No feedback on what to improve on this one, it was just perfect!
jamdong15
10. Jan 2023 · 06:23 UTC
the voice acting 😭 i can tell that this game was a work of passion :,) hilarious voice acting / writing aside, i thought the game design was pretty solid and enjoyable. thank u for this amazing entry. would appreciate your feedback on our game as well :)
Rincs
10. Jan 2023 · 06:37 UTC
I love what you guys have done here and I hope that you polish it to completion. Loved everything about it, and OMG the humor is just SPOT ON.
GunDestiny
10. Jan 2023 · 07:49 UTC
Humour was on point! And once I got the flow of moving the sheets around and knowing where to look, I really stepped into the shoes of a friendly neighbourhood IRS-man. Bravo, extremely solid game!
KlinsmannHengles
10. Jan 2023 · 09:10 UTC
I love this game! All the voice work is amazing, and the humor is really funny. It is a very good game. Did I mention the voicework is amazing? The voice work is amazing! And the art is well done too. And the voice work is amazing!
Minakorii
10. Jan 2023 · 18:29 UTC
That was hilarious
And omg SAID, nice cow
Great humour and voicelines ! (special reward for the monkey)
Matank
10. Jan 2023 · 18:30 UTC
Such an awesome game! I loved everything about it - art / humor / voice acting. Would have played 5 more hours of this :)
Steelfeathers
10. Jan 2023 · 18:31 UTC
Amazing job! This was legit fun to play, and the voiceovers were so funny
syudzius
10. Jan 2023 · 19:16 UTC
Very fun game! I also liked the art and voice acting :D Characters were funny too.
Great job!
GhastlyMicrowave
10. Jan 2023 · 19:31 UTC
VERY COOL ! Loved the dialogue and voice acting, fantastic job!
LDJam user 246128
10. Jan 2023 · 19:41 UTC
Oh god, the taxes!

What a piece of art!

You managed to surprise, land a perfect hit on a theme and create great experience!

Great job!!

P.S. Still can't believe you even snuck a rap there :laughing: Blew my expectations away.
xk_the_name
10. Jan 2023 · 20:23 UTC
Nice job! Making IRS audit fun is quiet a challenge!
Aurel300
11. Jan 2023 · 00:23 UTC
Fun little "Papers-like". The voiceovers and the variety of characters were very fun and increasingly absurd. I was a little disappointed that purposefully failing the audits did not make the farmers happy, so there was no ethical dilemma :D
🎤 LDJam user 245646
11. Jan 2023 · 00:36 UTC
@aurel300 Try not highlighting anything after opening the folder :^)
anstabo
11. Jan 2023 · 10:56 UTC
Hot damn that was FUN!
Homemade voice acting is an automatic 5/5 on all aspects in my book and it was well done + super funny.
The tutorial incorporated to the narration was a good move and it felt very flowy.
That second farmer jesse got me scared to audit accurately
AntonioTheReis
13. Jan 2023 · 01:12 UTC
A joy to play, definitely reminiscent of Papers Please. It would be interesting if what the characters said had to be taken into account in the gameplay rather than just admittedly fun lines to hear in the background. Definitely something I would love to see more of, congrats to everyone who worked on this!
ferelily
13. Jan 2023 · 03:23 UTC
Hats off! This was a joy to play, and with great voice acting to boot!
MistaGiggles
13. Jan 2023 · 11:38 UTC
Great entry. Enjoyed the voice lines and the humour, and gameplay was satisfying too.
Endless mode is pretty addictive too!
Local Minimum
13. Jan 2023 · 13:25 UTC
Well written and with voice lines! that's something one doesn't see often i LD games. I can't say I understood all of the instructions, but at least I got a star, and almost reached the second. But it does feel within the lore of the game that investigating the tax returns should be somewhat confusing and that one shouldn't be able to ace it at first attempt. Well made!
JormaRysky
13. Jan 2023 · 18:09 UTC
Great idea that menu already is teaching you of controls. Surprisingly decent voice acting and smooth controls. Played it enough to get the idea, which was pretty fast considering how much there is text, so I don't know how much basic formula is going to get twisted. Not much into these games, but I see there is some good humour. All in all, well executed, well written game with good voice acting and good enough graphics.
Fromage
13. Jan 2023 · 23:25 UTC
Very funny, voice work was actually decent, and the game was papers pleasey but very well done to be sure.
Ethan Hair
14. Jan 2023 · 03:37 UTC
This was amazing! Great job
LDJam user 279867
14. Jan 2023 · 03:40 UTC
This game is phenomenal! I had so much fun playing it. You really captured the paperwork experience and made it fun!

The writing for the characters was so well done and witty. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this game.

One piece of feedback I do have is to maybe use a pop-filter when recording. Some of the monkey's noises were really boomy and airy.

One more thing that you guys get a star for is the replayability! I've played this a few times on story mode and the audits were different each time. That in itself is quite the herculean feat, and you all should be proud of yourselves. 👏👏👏👏👏
Roroto Sic
14. Jan 2023 · 17:53 UTC
It was a very fun experience! The Ape made me laugh out loud ^^ Visuals are very gorgeous, and dilogue (acting and text) were very great!


![Capture d’écran 2023-01-14 185035.png](///raw/d93/94/z/566ed.png)
Yorsh
14. Jan 2023 · 17:54 UTC
Fun idea ! Great audio and amazing voice acting ! Gameplay is uhh, probably close to the sort of thing I should be doing right now but I hate doing ?
Lomby
15. Jan 2023 · 04:37 UTC
Thanks for submitting your game on the stream!
Here’s the start of your game if you wanted to re-watch initial thoughts youtu.be/gfUiPVIkyL0?t=6977

Loved the voice acting and the dialogue was so funny! Congrats on the amazing entry!
Rob6566
19. Jan 2023 · 01:39 UTC
Awesome game! Loved the characters, dialogue and voice acting! The dialogue while I was trying to audit them was a nice touch.

I got all the stars. Maybe I'm in the wrong career - apparently I'm good at callous bureaucratic meticulousness (the practice in Arstotzka probably helped).
LDJam user 252856
20. Jan 2023 · 04:38 UTC
Super fun and endearing game! I like the perspective on the harvest theme, it's refreshing to have a different role in these games. The art and voice acting is amazing and by far the funniest part of the game. And having humor land in a game jam is super impressive! The gameplay was smooth and no jankiness that ruined my immersion. Thanks for the submission!
chompdev
21. Jan 2023 · 20:34 UTC
This one is so good! Funny writing, great characters, and interesting puzzles to solve. The great dialogue and "papers peas" joke definitely earned 5 stars for humor. I really like the immersion of manually opening the folder and organizing the forms in any order, with the smart limitation of not quite having enough screen space to see everything at once. Having the characters with different demeanors trying to plead with/threaten you during the audit is fantastic, and I think that could be expanded into a pretty deep mechanic in a post-jam version. You guys really did an incredible job for a weekend jam, and should be very proud of the final product!
robobarbie
23. Jan 2023 · 00:09 UTC
oh i love this this was so fucking funny LMFAOOFDSJKHHJFDSJH -- really nice job with the visuals and the game flow. i liked how it felt like some interesting combo between the ui of 7 billion humans, the gameplay of papers please, and an overall dash of death and taxes. also, the people talking at me while i was trying to audit had me wheezing. nice job
cat chef
24. Jan 2023 · 04:32 UTC
Wow what a banger of a game!!!! I can't believe I managed to die.....
Love that there are happy/sad reactions from the various auditees, and that they bluster while you go through their paperwork... You guys really went the extra mile with this game and it pays off big time! In addition to the writing, music, art, and humor being excellent, I also found the infinite audit mode to be just an enjoyable game to speed through! Amazing work all around, thanks so much for making the funniest game I've played this jam!!!!!! Cheers <3<3<3
alexrose
26. Jan 2023 · 01:23 UTC
Fun game, funny dialogue, good difficulty curve. I was surprised how much I enjoyed playing as an IRS worker. Endless mode especially was more fun than I expected after completed the main game, the main game is almost just like the tutorial
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