This had a really charming artstyle and sound design, juxtaposed with an emotional storyline. The minute to minute gameplay was satisfying without feeling overwhelmingly hectic. It's a really great entry

Reminds me of my first ludum dare game, which was also about store management although different :slight_smile:

I like how (seemingly at least) new tasks were introduced one at a time

Pretty cool game and even playable on mobile! If it was an app so the progress could be saved, I would most definitely download and play! Im curious what how the storyline continues!

This game had way more depth than I was expecting, the most hilarious part was when one of the customers made a mess, and then another immediately comes in and says the shop is dirty :P

@dxk2294 thank you so much! Very kind words.

@ayced no idea is unique, right? 😉 There is some randomness, but the idea was to introduce the tasks slowly. I'm glad it worked.

@ithebreather thanks! Pico8 makes it so easy to make games that run almost anywhere. The storyline isn't that long currently, so I would encourage you to play it to the end 😁

@ogelgames hahaha, people are mean! Thanks for the review.

Even though it's pretty short it really tells a story and makes you feel for this character! Music, graphics, sound effects were good! Customers rude, very accurate. It was challenging, but I never felt like it was impossible to handle everything, it was super fun to play.

I love it! Played three times to select different choices and see how the story would unfold. Balancing everything, and strategising about crate placement and stocking shelves was really fun. Great work!! Also, Pico8 <3

Oh man that's life, isn't it. This game is so realistic. I love realistic games since I can experience another life which I hadn't had a chance in the real world. Running a corner shop, raising a child, putting food on the table... Yeah that's the world of adults. It's so busy that I wish I could have the teleport magic.

Thank you for bring this piece to me! I love both the arts and the sounds. They are so nice.

Awesome work, really enjoyed this one.

Awesome work! I feel like it must've been a lot of fun making this:D

@payaosito Rude customers was the mood we were going for :wink: thanks for the kind words, I spent a while tweaking the balance so I'm glad you enjoyed!

@jmad Woah, three times is a lot! Thanks so much <3 I also recognised your avatar and remembered you left a simiarly lovely review on our LD46 game Bonsai - great to see you back!

@wizcas I'm so glad you enjoyed the realism! We really wanted you to empathise and get in the shoes of the character, so I'm glad you got into that mindset. Thank you!

@budda Thanks!

@cyberfrank haha thanks! there were definitely fun bits like coding grumpy customers and making all the different items :smile:

Wow, what a great game!
I had so much fun playing this. I love that you start basically with an empty shot so I could arrange things just the way I wanted. The customers were super realistic in their behavior (if you want them even more real, they could even move items in the shop around and/or ask where specific item is, when it is right next to them XD). The way you told a story was also super charming.
I first thought I had a thief coming to my shop first, but then my heart melted when it was my kid needing a help with their homework!
I did not bring my parents (yet) to UK but I got my citizenship and was able to help my kid :)

I like how you balanced between super funny and super serious as this game would have easily become extra depressing story, but it was not! Great graphics and sound effects helped a lot to lighten the mood :D
This was probably my best game experience in ludum dare this time around. Thank you for that!


wow, very nice game :) I feel like you really had a well-defined scope and you did a good job on balancing it!

very polished game. Loved playing it

Great storyline, the struggle is real

I was gonna post an ending image but did not for fear of spoilers. It had a bittersweet ending, not a perfectly happy one but there is always hope and everyone stayed on course in the end. I wonder how things will turn out if I choose a little differently next time around.

Very nice game ^^ I didn't understand we had to stay below the tables to stock so at first I didn't know what to do at all x) The little story is engaging and customers being... customers, it's quite realistic X) GG ^^

I think this is my candidate to winning Ludum Dare 51.
It's very fun to play, easy to understand. Controls are good, it has a (simple but) compeling background history.
Some thoughts:
- Congratulation on your game
- I had a bad time until I realized you can only unpack the boxes if you are below the table sprite (or maybe there are shelves?)
- Maybe a hint on what a box contains, and you have to sort by type of product or the clients thinks the store is a mess (for version 2.0)
- Strong 'Papers, Please' vibes on the post-day choices

This is a really neat entry! Graphics are cute and cheerful. Sound effects are good, gameplay was challanging but rewarding! Perfect jam submission. Well done !

Very cute, the sound is great, and the story telling through gameplay is excellent. The inclusion of the theme worked so well for the game it took me a while to realize customers came in every ten seconds. Excellent submission.

Loved the atmosphere of this game, charmed the hell out of me. Having to help your kid with homework was a REALLY cute touch, and while it took me a while to figure out how to actually play (ended up checking out the gif on this page, thanks for putting that there!), I ended up getting really into the flow

@boclow thanks so much for your review! We were a bit unsure if you should start with some items in the shop or not so I'm glad you enjoyed organising it from scratch 🙂 customers asking where things were was a feature that got scrapped, sadly! Thanks for your very kind words and good job on your score 😁

@substain somehow we came up with the idea very quickly and it all fell into place! Balancing was tricky so I'm happy you think it's done well.

@oozer thank you!

@trusty definitely - so many decisions to make!

@twowolf thanks for not posting spoilers! I wonder which ending you got - there are 8 in total!

@rinkuji ahah yes, I wished we had time to add some in game instructions. The tables are supposed to be shelves which is why you can only stock from in front. I know that's not particularly clear though! Glad you figured it out. Thanks!

@gonzalol that is such high praise, thank you so much! Yes they're supposed to be shelves, I wished we made that clearer. We wanted to add customers who complain if the shop isn't organised - sadly it had to be cut 😅 papers please was definitely a strong influence (though I'm sure you got that from the title 😁). Thanks again!

@dannyk1994 thank you! Challenging and rewarding gameplay is always hard to hit in a jam so I'm glad it worked for you 🙂

@bangkerpow thank you for the kind words! I am shocked at how well the theme worked for us as well, considering we all hated it at the start 😅

@caladrius thank you! Helping your kid was a feature we really prioritised and I think it really adds a lot. An in game tutorial or some kind of explanation would be next on my list, but I'm glad you figured it out!

great game! And yes it depicts a reseller's pretty easily with "no this thing?"

The mechanics move stuff arount it well done.

:thumbsup:

Sweet! there's no 10 seconds timer her but obviously player can see what happens every 10 seconds.
I'm such a bad clerk at first but I'll do better next time! :smile:

I appreciate pico-8 - the game is pleasant, I really enjoyed the fact that I can't even breathe for a moment. Good work

Good twist on the "original PLease" game. Took me a second to realize how to stock groceries - maybe some indication for that would help? Otherwise, UI was intuitive, and the whole was quit fun. The "8-bit" graphics and audio really tie it together nicely.

Very sweet and touching! Had way more elements than I was initially expecting.

For other people who haven't figured out how to open a crate! I did not realize that to unpack a box I had to be on the SOUTH side of a counter and then hold X. I played the game for about 3 minutes, never figured this out, came back here to leave a comment but then saw everybody else was happily talking about serving customers and unexpected surprises so I figured I must be missing something. Went back to the game and figured it out. Leaving this note here for anybody else who is having trouble!

Really charming entry. I enjoyed the story and the gameplay was very fun. I love how rage inducing the customers can be. I had a customer walk in, spill a drink, and immediately get mad I wasn't at the counter while I was cleaning it up.

https://youtu.be/Xty0TvPfvGA?t=6524

Thanks for submitting your game to stream! Obviously we goofed around with the game quite a bit despite the serious tone, but I actually really enjoyed what y'all made here. :slight_smile: Solid visuals, audio, and gameplay all-around. Nice job!

Games made on Pico 8 are always cool. Everything is very good - graphics, music, and gameplay. I really liked the stories between the days and that I have to make a choice.
Super.
The only thing I did not immediately realize was that the goods on the shelf can only be laid out on one side.

Only recently I saw something similar in advertising in mobile applications! However, you did it mentally :) Good job! Are you planning to release it?

Short game with amazing atmosphere. Love everything about it. The story is touching for me. Thank you for making it. Good job guys :)

I like that the game does not allow you to relax :) Nice and cute graphics. Also enjoys the presence of the story, in addition to the main gameplay. It is clear that the project worked well and tried to make everything complete and balanced.

A really great game with a surprising amount of depth, both in terms of mechanics and in terms of meaning. The PICO-8 medium worked amazingly for the concept and the execution was great overall. Really amazing work, well done!

Working within the limitations of PICO-8, you've created a very enjoyable and relatable little shop game, with nice visuals, audio, and story elements. Props for the polish and managing to balance the gameplay loop within the silly 10-second timer of the theme!

I think I only wish some inputs felt a litte bit more responsive, and everything was a bit less 'retro' (which would necessarily mean ditching PICO-8 for something else, a choice I can't make for anyone!), because I believe you could have made it shine that much brighter if it wasn't for the limitations :smile:


[Stream vod here!](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1623146465?t=02h02m04s)

I was really surprised about the story part of the game. Though I am not really sure my decisions affected how the story went. At first I thought the game is too hard, but of course this should reflect the story and does a great job at it! Also it gets easier once you managed to place some items down. Cool entry!

Nice entry! I like the retro aesthetics and the novel idea. Well done!

Unbelievable that this is a Pico-8 game. With so many harsh restrictions, I didn't expect such a polished, deep and well-crafted game to be on the other side when loading it. Amazing job, and definitely one of my favourites this Jam!