Lab Job! (Play In-Browser) by Smitner

[raw]
made by Smitner for Ludum Dare 54 (JAM)

Lab Job!

🎮 Play now 🎮

short-anim.gif

You've found yourself with the s**t end of the stick, the authorities are on their way.

Quickly, clean up the lab and load everything into the truck - But consider the very limited space.


The game contains 5 levels, increasing in difficulty. If you would like, comment your scores (they will be printed at the end of the game)

Thanks for playing and your feedback!

## 🎮 Play now 🎮

Controls

Keyboard:

  • WASD: Movement
  • R: RESET

Gamepad:

  • DPAD: Movement
  • X: RESET

Lab 04 | Lab 02 :-------------------------:|:-------------------------: screen-2.PNG | screen-3.PNG

Thanks to:

  • joeBaxterWebb for "The Imposter" ( CC BY 4.0 )
  • Godot Engine contributors
  • Asesprite

Ratings

Overall 408th 3.735⭐ 68🧑‍⚖️
Fun 285th 3.78⭐ 68🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 762th 3.121⭐ 68🧑‍⚖️
Theme 420th 3.846⭐ 67🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 647th 3.477⭐ 68🧑‍⚖️
Humor 425th 3.195⭐ 66🧑‍⚖️
Mood 659th 3.431⭐ 67🧑‍⚖️
Given 33🗳️ 65🗨️

Feedback

Alpie
02. Oct 2023 · 21:55 UTC
Ohhh, the idea that moving things can interact between each other is very cool.
It took me quite some time until I found out about putting things into acid(?)
Would love to play something like this on the steam deck
Arran
02. Oct 2023 · 22:07 UTC
Test
🎤 Smitner
02. Oct 2023 · 22:08 UTC
@alpie Thanks for playing! Will have to try on the deck too
Killnaprimer
02. Oct 2023 · 22:12 UTC
Great idea! Loved melting corpses, and clarity of what to do in each level. Mechanics flow together nicely, great puzzle design overall.
Tristan Doell
02. Oct 2023 · 22:12 UTC
Nice puzzle game thanks for sharing.
Zeke
02. Oct 2023 · 22:14 UTC
Very very fun! As a fan of sokobon style games, this was very satisfying. The interactions are all very discoverable, and funny to see occur. It's a pretty flushed out genre, so it's hard to be innovating in it, but I had a fun time!
Javid Ladhani
02. Oct 2023 · 22:15 UTC
Fun puzzle game! It took me a while to find out that I could throw bodies in the acid. Makes sense though
Jamjamem
02. Oct 2023 · 22:21 UTC
Simple but interesting concept, loved the interacting between acid nd the bodies, really fun to just play for hrs, great game!
extar
02. Oct 2023 · 22:48 UTC
A sokoban game is a clever spin on the limited space theme. I liked the graphics and especially the music--very cool and atmospheric. :)
TheLastSlowpoke
02. Oct 2023 · 23:22 UTC
Loved it! The vibe is really nice and the puzzles are designed well. I like how it goes straight to action. However, this goes to bookmarks for later for I am too exhausted to think xd
Timo5034
02. Oct 2023 · 23:32 UTC
Awesome idea, the levels are actually really difficult :D Also it's very polished. Good job!
TeamLDM
03. Oct 2023 · 01:37 UTC
Tried and true mechanic. Love the lab job theme. Took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out I could put the bodies in the vats of acid.

Awesome work. Keep at it. Love u 💖
Daniel Grinshpon
03. Oct 2023 · 03:55 UTC
Reminds me of sokoban but with a funny setting, and I like how you have to cleanup and move the stuff onto pallets
Daniel Grinshpon
03. Oct 2023 · 03:55 UTC
Reminds me of sokoban but with a funny setting, and I like how you have to cleanup and move the stuff onto pallets
RMHeuer
03. Oct 2023 · 04:20 UTC
The way you can combine the bodies and the acid is quite an interesting game mechanic! I like how you have to plan out your moves so you don't trap yourself or one of the tiles. I kind of wish there was an undo move button but besides that this was a cool experience :)
Pierre-Marie
03. Oct 2023 · 07:44 UTC
The theme is great, the atmosphere is nice, I had a good time, well done!
Bauke Regnerus
03. Oct 2023 · 10:40 UTC
The background story of hiding/destroying illegal stuff in the lab is quite funny. The graphics are clean and readable. The puzzles where quite challenging by times, but maybe that's just me. Awesome job.
Henrik Ganard
03. Oct 2023 · 10:48 UTC
Good level design, nice graphics and very good music. Nice done.
rongon
03. Oct 2023 · 11:05 UTC
A creepy take on Sokoban - covering up the chemical incident with a limited space in the truck seems comical.
Good job on making multiple levels, it's really playable game.
braktheman
03. Oct 2023 · 22:24 UTC
Really like the idea of combining items in a Sokoban-like game. Feels good and some fun puzzle design. Great job!
Veridis
04. Oct 2023 · 02:42 UTC
I like the combinatorial aspect to it! Makes the difficulty ramp really smoothly
fusionnist
04. Oct 2023 · 02:44 UTC
Sweet game! Somewhat easy, but the step counter is a good way of adding some challenge. Overall well made, I liked it! Cheers :)
LDJam user 259037
04. Oct 2023 · 12:25 UTC
again, fantastic work aaron

https://youtu.be/1gG_N_n6Rkw
🎤 Smitner
04. Oct 2023 · 12:58 UTC
Ayy @jerem-watts - What a fantastic stream! Thank for playing and your feedback.
LDJam user 206001
05. Oct 2023 · 06:12 UTC
Great idea, completely on topic. I reached the third stage and hesitated, leaving the tube on the wall. Cool the bodies in the acid. music and sounds fit together well. cool puzzle
Panfil Alexandrina
05. Oct 2023 · 10:42 UTC
Very fun game, great idea. Was a bit difficult to me, but I enjoy playing it!
vlad-r
05. Oct 2023 · 10:50 UTC
Loved the puzzles! Great graphics.

I found the throwing-bodies-in-acid mechanic really funny. I did not expect that.

I enjoyed playing, good job!
kasmilus
05. Oct 2023 · 11:33 UTC
Had a lot of fun with this one. Some very clever ideas here. Amazing atmosphere (5/5 for mood from me), nice puzzles (though I wish you introduced new ideas in separation, on the last level I went through the whole thing just to realize there's more things to pack than space on the truck, only then I understood... Would be better to have a quick level before that with just 3 things in it so the realisation would be quicker). An undo button would be useful as well, few times I accidentally moved a block into a wrong spot, having to restart was annoying there. Otherwise it's really a brilliant game, good stuff!

An absolutely horrible score, I imagine...
![ss.PNG](///raw/acf/a5/z/5fbd5.png)
🎤 Smitner
05. Oct 2023 · 14:10 UTC
@vlad-r @lincolnsalles @jamjamem @zeke @killnaprimer The bodies into the acid was a last minute, frantic decision - I'm so happy it's a favorite feature! :laughing: Thank you for the feedback!
🎤 Smitner
05. Oct 2023 · 14:13 UTC
@kasmilus @rmheuer Totally agree, would love to add a limited undo feature (say 3x per level attempt) I wouldn't want it to be limitless as it would remove the challenge, but I certainly want to remove the frustration element!

Cheers for playing and the feedback!
🎤 Smitner
05. Oct 2023 · 14:15 UTC
@kasmilus Thanks for sharing your score! It's actually pretty good, I'm going to try beat it and will share my score soon.

Agree on the level design, having a new combination in the last level without an introduction is suboptimal.
🎤 Smitner
05. Oct 2023 · 14:43 UTC
@kasmilus ![Screenshot from 2023-10-05 16-41-31.png](///raw/5f4/b5/z/5fc21.png)
GoBigRedFan
05. Oct 2023 · 15:46 UTC
Love a good Sokoban game. The step counter is a great touch. As was already discussed, I'm just begging for an undo button.
![labjob.png](///raw/457/b5/z/5fc4e.png)
stevenjmiller
05. Oct 2023 · 17:09 UTC
Fun game, and a great presentation! I loved the mechanics and the way they were introduced. My only minor nitpicks are that I'd like to see an undo button (though I found the level geometry to not be too punishing as far as irreversible moves are concerned, so it wasn't a huge deal) and I wish the truck drove a little faster between levels (or there was a button to skip the animation). I also would've been interesting in seeing puzzles where the truck plays a bigger role, like a level where you have to push one of the acid containers partway into the truck to make room to push a pallet into position and then bring the acid back out to combine them. This was my score, though it was far from optimal:

![score.png](///raw/39/z/5fc86.png)
kasmilus
05. Oct 2023 · 21:19 UTC
Tried again! I see some worthy challengers appeared above, but looks like I'm still the best on level 3. I'll take it :laughing:

![challenge.PNG](///raw/acf/a5/z/5fd0d.png)
🎤 Smitner
06. Oct 2023 · 08:27 UTC
@stevenjmiller Great feedback, thank you for sharing! That's a great idea, to use the truck as playable space - I'll experiment with this
GameDevJeroen
06. Oct 2023 · 13:34 UTC
Fun game! Those were some great brainteasers.

![Picture2.png](///raw/72d/a5/z/5fdf3.png)
woona
08. Oct 2023 · 11:13 UTC
I liked the crime theme a lot. I was surprised by having to dissolve bodies in acid.

The puzzles weren't very challenging, they increased in size but not in difficulty. I wish the levels were smaller, but harder.

Despite that, I had a lot of fun playing the game! Thanks for making it!
Constance
08. Oct 2023 · 13:08 UTC
Man, the setting of the crime scene was really good! I really like those little additions to the original sokoban mechanics like dissolving bodies with acid, diluting the acid with water (I don't know what exactly they are, but they do look like water for me), or putting stuff on the pallets first before loading them on the truck. The pixel art is really good and detailed, I like the little fluid animation of the acid, very cool. The audio is nice too, from the fizzing sound to the truck's engine, really made the game more enjoyable.

But I noticed one thing that when I packed all the stuff and the truck started leaving, then I accidentally pressed "R" and the whole level restarted, and that was the last level too. I suggest that you should add a condition check to prevent pressing "R" once the truck starts leaving.

But other than that little thing, I had a wonderful experience playing it! You did an amazing job!
zimny11
08. Oct 2023 · 20:42 UTC
Nice sound effects :D The only think missing for me is Undo Last Move Button. Besides that really nice puzzle game, cool art style and music too! Great job, with the game
🎤 Smitner
08. Oct 2023 · 20:53 UTC
@constance Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Great catch regarding the restart bug, I'll fix that in the next release :D
QYQ
09. Oct 2023 · 16:51 UTC
Level is so interesting,although I feel like I go a long way to dispose of these corpse-like things.That's so good!!!
eeperdeheap
09. Oct 2023 · 17:03 UTC
Interesting take on sokoban. Clean graphics. It wasn't always obvious what the best move was, so sometimes I resetted the level and just tried it again. So definitely a keeper.
epic_zeta
09. Oct 2023 · 18:30 UTC
Decent entry with a unique game idea, there is limited resemblance with the theme, or im just dumb. The puzzle aspect is really good, and has a good learning curve. The sfx are also nice!
Togis
09. Oct 2023 · 18:37 UTC
![Screenshot 2023-10-09 203706.png](///raw/403/3/z/60169.png)
LDJam user 276593
09. Oct 2023 · 19:00 UTC
[I AM THE KING OF SOKOBAN!](https://i.imgur.com/uTtsv8d.png)

Excellent entry!
LDJam user 276121
09. Oct 2023 · 21:17 UTC
As mentioned on stream, excellent art and puzzle design (and some fun little quirks to exploit :smile: )
burchyn
10. Oct 2023 · 18:57 UTC
Murder Sokoban on Mondays :bathtub: :battery:
Skel3ton
11. Oct 2023 · 19:16 UTC
funny and entertaining.. i laughed a lot with the sound effect. best sound effects ever :)
farouchelark
11. Oct 2023 · 23:50 UTC
This was so well done. Super clean and fun and atmospheric. I didn't know it was counting moves or I would have made better decisions and I do think some of the middle puzzles were much harder than the last. Overall, awesome entry
saralizzieb
12. Oct 2023 · 22:53 UTC
Very impressive entry especially considering the time limits. Fun puzzles and sick sound effects
HelloImBenjamin
13. Oct 2023 · 21:30 UTC
Great Job! I love the puzzles used and it was a lot of fun to play :)
digital bacon
13. Oct 2023 · 21:50 UTC
Great little game. Love the graphics and gameplay, simple to pickup. The hiss when you dump a body in the chemicals is very satisfying! Excellent work!
🎤 Smitner
31. Jan 2024 · 19:23 UTC
We have a Steam page!! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2692620/Hazard_Pay/