Cursed Hotel by mvasko2

[raw]
made by mvasko2 for Ludum Dare 51 (COMPO)

reception.png

This is your first day at your new job - managing the Cursed Hotel. You're not sure why someone would call it Cursed, but you assume it's just bad marketing.

Nobody ever told you why the previous guy left, but at your new desk, you find a letter. Curious, you open it:

Hello, new guy or gal.

I wish you good luck. You should know that the name is not the only cursed thing about this place. The walls crack roughly every 10 seconds around here! I'm not kidding.

Send your team to fix it when that happens - the customers don't like it. And when customers are not satisfied, that's bad for business. You might get fired for it.

Also find a therapist. This place can drive you nuts.

Best regards,

The previous guy.

You pause for a moment after reading. Is this a prank? Surely it isn't that bad! Let's find out!

Controls

  • Left mouse button - Select an employee and send him somewhere
  • Mouse wheel - Zoom in/out
  • Right or middle mouse button - Pan the camera

Software used

  • Godot - game engine
  • Inkscape - painting
  • LMMS - music
  • Kakoune - quick text edits

Gameplay tips

  • When an employee is currently fixing something, he can't move. However, you can tell him what to fix after he's finished.
  • While an employee is moving towards his target, you can still tell him to go somewhere else.
  • Don't forget to buy new employees when you get the chance, you will need them.

Ratings

Given 19🗳️ 39🗨️

Feedback

Josh Roby
02. Oct 2022 · 22:41 UTC
I love whack-a-mole stuff like this! :D
indigo
02. Oct 2022 · 22:47 UTC
Shoehorned theme, here we go! :laughing:

I enjoy the music a lot. The game itself is a little slow to get started, it could have done with some re-balancing. Also, the UI is a little bland and could use some - redecorating. :smile:
fnelix
03. Oct 2022 · 11:58 UTC
Cool little game, something else! I really like/am very much annoyed by the music ;)
Rework the visuals a bit and i would like to see more of the game
greenphox
03. Oct 2022 · 12:13 UTC
Nice and simple game, I like the controls both of the camera and of the employees. Nice music as well.
Well done!
LDJam user 300360
03. Oct 2022 · 12:42 UTC
That was very enjoyable, great job :D I survived 15 minutes 46 :p
Steffo
03. Oct 2022 · 18:38 UTC
Ooo, a management game!

Pretty nice, but once you have 3 employees you start outpacing the walls cracking, and the game becomes only a matter of clicking in the right places...
LDJam user 234567
03. Oct 2022 · 20:21 UTC
This hotel is weird :open_mouth:

I placed the emplyees to cover as much of the floor as possible. Reducing walking time is the key.
Jacob Diaz
04. Oct 2022 · 02:06 UTC
The stickman animations reminded me of some of the flash games I used to play, great game!
yulotomorrow
04. Oct 2022 · 04:15 UTC
The idea and the back story of the game is interesting! I think adding some different types of haunted damages would be more interesting. Overall good job!
Jackaljk
04. Oct 2022 · 08:55 UTC
"You assume it's just bad marketing" haha best line ever! Wish you had more to do and that you made money quicker to have more employees, but I really liked this!
zoglu
04. Oct 2022 · 19:18 UTC
Nice idea! Looks like the walls start cracking even more and more frequently after a while ?
🎤 mvasko2
04. Oct 2022 · 19:39 UTC
@josh-roby Thanks for playing!

@indigo Yep, balancing is tricky in this one. It could have used a bit more playtests with a few more people.

You're also right about the UI. Every LD I promise myself to polish the UI, but I fail to do that every time. Maybe next time! :wink:

@fnelix I hope you liked it more than you were annoyed :wink: The visuals are always a struggle with me :slight_smile: Thanks for playing!

@greenphox Thanks for playing!

@rinkuji Thanks for playing, and congrats for surviving that long! I think I mostly managed to survive for about 11 minutes during playtesting.

@steffo Interesting, may I ask how long you were playing? It should get harder progressively. That said, I agree the game needs a bit more tweaks regarding the difficulty.

@fifut Nice, you cracked the code (pun intended)! I ended up playing similarly to you :slight_smile:

@jacob-diaz Thanks for playing!

@yulotomorrow Good idea! I actually thought about it for a while, but I got afraid that the game would get too confusing. Not to mention it would take more time to implement :sweat_smile: Still, it might be worth a shot in a post-LD version of some sort. Thanks for playing!

@jackaljk I wanted employees to be pretty rare since they help a lot. Of course there's always more things to add, maybe in a post-LD version. Thanks for playing!

@zoglu Yep, the game should get progressively harder as you play :slight_smile:
LDJam user 280624
04. Oct 2022 · 19:51 UTC
Such a great time killer!
Pincushion
04. Oct 2022 · 21:49 UTC
This was pretty fun. Controls were great. Cute intro. I didn't notice that I could hire more employees until the % was sinking. I should have read your tips first. It could use another element, like another type of employee, different type of cracks, etc. Maybe a sanity meter so the player can hire a therapist :)
LDJam user 261036
04. Oct 2022 · 23:16 UTC
this is surprisingly fun. i ended up lasting 8:21 minutes before succumbing to fatal disintegration, i did not even attempt to optimize the employees' walking time lol ; the music is basic but i think it fits the game
ditam
04. Oct 2022 · 23:29 UTC
\- Bob, head up to the 4th floor!
\- Why, is something broken there boss?
\- No, but by the time you get there, it will be!

A cute little entry. It features my pet peeve control scheme of "left click to select, left click again to issue command", but I still had fun with it.
lustdante
05. Oct 2022 · 05:03 UTC
Haha, I love the management sim entry for game jam. Path optimization as a gameplay triggered my love of this genre.
cogcomp
05. Oct 2022 · 05:03 UTC
Interesting take on the theme, I like the idea. I think I couple more different kinds of hotel disasters and you'd have a nice management sim.
Lukas-IP
05. Oct 2022 · 06:19 UTC
It's fairly simple and unchallenging, but I really liked the "curse" of the hotel. Good humor, good job on making some lore and on the spot with the theme!
cassowary
05. Oct 2022 · 06:27 UTC
With more stuff happening it'd be cool! I like the zoomable camera. I think it should get harder a bit faster, if you're paying attention it's pretty easy for a long while just by positioning the employees properly and it gets a little monotonous.
Matt Green
05. Oct 2022 · 20:37 UTC
I really liked the core concept, and I appreciate some of the polish. What I felt was missing was either a sense of progression or rising stakes. Maybe if there was another task the employees could be doing when they werent fixing things. Once I got to 4 employees, I pretty much had the whole place covered and the income wasn't increasing.

The music was nice but got a bit grating after a few loops.

Really great bones here. This concept certainly has a lot of potential. Solid entry!
Faust_Mi
06. Oct 2022 · 05:19 UTC
Great idea for the distribution of workers! It was fun and exciting to play. good job!
Starlight Glimmer is best poney
11. Oct 2022 · 19:05 UTC
Good job, though at some point it definitely stops being every 10 seconds. I gave up at 15 minutes ![hotel.png](///raw/f90/1/z/530bc.png)
esenti
16. Oct 2022 · 13:30 UTC
Nice game! I agree the music gets quite repetitive relatively quickly. Also, I feel maybe the game is too easy for the amount of gameplay - now it's possible to survive long enough that the mechanic starts getting a bit boring.
MisterJBro
18. Oct 2022 · 15:12 UTC
What a weird hotel, but cool game! With a bit more content I could see this as a potential smartphone game to pass some time with
LDJam user 298496
18. Oct 2022 · 15:21 UTC
Interesting idea, would be great to have other things to do with employees rather than just fixing cracks. An increased difficulty would be nice too. Great job!