Cardboard Delivery Service by skale
Fullscreen is available on Itch
Updated game with tutorial on Newgrounds
(tutorial is considered as a new feature, rate original version)
About Cardboard Delivery Service
You work in a Cardboard Delivery Service. And no, you don't deliver cardboard, your job is far more important — you deliver handshake packets between towers of your area network.
The towers can emit and receive signals, but they cannot establish connections on their own. That’s where you come in.
Be careful: the signal cannot pass through objects. While this is not a problem for large network towers, it becomes a serious challenge for your small van and hub towers. Keep an eye on your signal indicator — if you drive too fast or too far, you might lose connection entirely.
Controls
| Action | Key | |---------------------------------|--------| | Move | WASD | | Connect/Disconnect Van | E | | Shutdown tower (stop receiving) | R |
Gameplay
The goal of the game is to connect signals between the large towers and build a working network.
Large towers are marked on your screen, making them easier to locate.
Each tower can act as an Emitter and/or a Receiver.
A tower becomes an Emitter once it receives a signal from another tower. Once you turn all receiver towers into emitter towers - you win. (Icons will guide you what's left to connect)To successfully connect distant towers, you should use hub towers (the smaller ones). They help you route the signal around obstacles and carry it from one large tower to another. Hub towers also have smaller markers on the screen.
If an obstacle appears between the signal source and your van, the connection is lost. That’s why hub towers are essential for maintaining the signal.
Once you connect a signal to a large tower, the hub towers used in that connection become available again, and the signal is then transmitted directly between the large towers.
Monitor your signal strength. If you move too fast, you may lose your connection.
Post-Jam Changelog
(v1.0.1) * Fixed an issue where hub tower marker UI was not being properly destroyed. * Fixed overlapping UI
(v1.0.2) * Changed web build settings to display game in web correctly
(v1.0.3) * Radio Wave Particles: Resolved an issue where signal particles would pause at long distances by setting the Particle System culling to "Always Simulate."
World Bounds: Removed an invisible wall to allow for southward driving.
Signal Softlock: Fixed a potential softlock by adding an additional Hub Tower, because one specific tower was unable to relay signals if selected as the source by random.
UI Cleanup: Fixed a bug where UI markers persisted after abandoning a shift, ensuring tower widgets are properly cleared for subsequent sessions.
Connection Logic: Patched an exploit that allowed players to create cyclic connection chains through Hub Towers, enforcing intended network constraints.
Collision: Fixed bad collision on the ramps
(v.1.05) * It is not uploaded here on LD page or on Itch page. This version exists only on Newgrounds. It received a tutorial, but I think it is and should be considered as a new feature, so please, rate original version, but you can try update on newgrounds.
Tools Used
- Unity
- Blender
- Photoshop
- Audacity
- Nano Banana (cover image assistance)
Developer Note
- Assets: All assets were created by me, except for the soundtrack. I did not opt out of the Audio category because I created all of the sound effects. Please take this into account when rating the Audio category. If you feel it’s not fair, you are free to skip this category or rate it with 1 star.
- Use of AI: The only place AI art was used is the cover image (the logo uses the same image), and even that is a derivative work based on AI, but not entirely generated by it. I'm already working on the new hand-drawn version.
| Source code | https://github.com/SkaLe3/LD59-Entry |
| Itch.io page | https://skal3.itch.io/cardboard-delivery-service |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/cardboard-delivery-service |
Ratings
| Overall | 65th | 3.794⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 79th | 3.625⭐ | 54🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 110th | 3.529⭐ | 54🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 24th | 4.321⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 25th | 4.236⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 83th | 3.588⭐ | 53🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 84th | 3.011⭐ | 48🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 77th | 3.76⭐ | 54🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 44🗳️ | 70🗨️ |
I'm a bit bummed you felt the need to use AI just for the cover photo/logo. You did so much by yourself! I would have loved to see what you made for the soundtrack as well. You seem like you have a knack for sound design.
Also, I want to mention (as I noted in the description) that AI was used for the soundtrack. However, I didn’t opt out of the Audio category because I created all the sound effects myself(recorded and/or edited). I hope it's fair.
@helslo Glad you enjoyed! Valid point about confusion in the beginning. By the way, the first source tower is selected by random
The controls for the van were a little finicky especially near the ramps. I kept hitting an invisible wall to the south is that intended?
Oh man just read that you did not make the music yourself that is a pity... but you did a good job in selecting it to fit your setting.
@fabelay I'm glad the video helped :sweat_smile:
@kyanoss It means a lot, I spent half of the first day just to make models and textures
@jpat I'm sure you are not that bad :). Appreciate your feedback!
There is no visual wall to the south, so the invisible one is there to prevent the player from seeing that there’s nothing beyond it. I realize now I could have easily fixed that; I must have just missed it in the rush.
I’m also sorry to disappoint you regarding the music. I'm not much of a composer, but I definitely would have tried to write something original if I’d had more time. I was actually worried the game wouldn't have any sound at all! The audio was a last-hour addition. I managed to create all the SFX in an hour, but for me, a full track requires much more than that.
Unfortunately I was not able to complete it, the tower on top of the ramp bested me :( but I had a lot of fun driving around!
I may have missed it, but are the controls explained anywhere? took me a minute or two to figure out how to drive (or even that I was supposed to drive)
Solid entry, well done
@slowline Good catch on that ramp bug. Player controller is so fragile, I was afraid to break anything else trying to fix behavior on the incline surfaces. I'll definitely check the physics on the ramp after the jam results.
Struggled alot to find the first tower with connection ability, and went past it multiple times before the collider/trigger area noticed the car and prompted the "E to connect". Maybe increasing the radius might help.
I felt the game is not sure does it want to be more puzzle game or more platformer-game; understanding when an approach was not working due to: my driving skills vs wrong approach was difficult to understand.
Camera showed too small area which lead to unnecessary collisions and frustration often.
Theme interpretation was really nice and the environment!
@head-priestess-ari You are right, everything looks similar, I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the feedback.
@max-corke I'm glad you liked it! To be honest I decided to do cardboard before the theme was revealed. I saw cardboard 3d graphics in a youtube video about unpickable lock the night before the start, and it stuck with me. But when "signal" was revealed it naturally blended with cardboard for me, I figured out the idea in 10 minutes. I guess you are right, everything might seem obvious for me, but new player needs a hint to figure out what to do without frustration.
I think some short levels in the beginning to get used to the gameplay would be great. Even if it only would be that you have to connect three towers on a small level would have helped to get some kind of a tutorial. But in a COMPO you do not have a lot of time for creating levels.
The driving felt intuitive and I had a lot of fun driving the van. The sound effects are good and it was nice to drive fast and just pass obstacles in a high speed. Great work! :)
@lllarso That's a great idea! It wouldn't have taken more than 30 minutes to create a tutorial, and I definitely should have done that. I’ll keep this in mind for the next jam
@mahalis To give you some closure, here are the core mechanics: you can connect or disconnect your van from towers, but you'll lose the signal if you move too fast away from the source or drive behind obstacles. The goal is to route the signal from a large tower through hub towers to a receiver, which then becomes a new emitter once the connection is established. Hub towers become free again once you reach a large tower.
Overall, a very interesting idea and a solid entry
@guyunger nice to see you here, you will definitely hear from me :sweat_smile:
@avhatar I tried to mix driving at full speed (because you can do that when you are driving towards the tower) and being careful. But I can see how this appears to be counterintuitive. I'm going to think about what I can do to make this more logical
@rend That is an interesting idea, I like it, I will explore future game mechanics in that direction, thank you!
@tinykidtoo Glad you liked the van, I put a lot of work into modelling and scripting movement and visuals. Thank you for the feedback!
I really love the gameplay loop idea. Connecting the tower signals works so well for the theme.
I had a little trouble understanding I needed to find the main hub to start with, (I kept trying to connect to any tower at first) but it clicked as soon as I found that one.
My other minor point of feedback was the camera felt pretty bouncy when stopping. The follow cam overall felt SO nice, but something where you are starting/stopping a lot, it got a little motion-sicky for me. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: (And took away from the nice controls a bit).
It also took me a sec to realize I needed to connect to the towers twice with 'E'. One time to connect the signal, and another time back to my van. A lot of times, I thought I was connected and drove off to the next one, only to realize I hadn't connected twice. That part was a little confusing.
I also got my van stuck in a few spots where I couldn't get out or move. (Which, for a jam game is totally understandable) :laughing: . But I wish I had a reset van option instead of abandon. I had to restart the whole game when that happened and lose all my towers connected. Which made it more painful. And I just kind of quit the second time that happened.
Your points are totally right. A few others also mentioned the camera issues with motion sickness, and the confusion with the towers (double press E). I’m going to fix those and add a van reset in the post-jam updates. Thanks for playing!
i agree with the previous comments. at first, it was unclear how to play. i tried to connect the towers together and only later realized there was a hub x)
Very well done :thumbsup:
Even if I had difficulties with some hitboxes and the perspective, the aesthetics, sound design and gameplay work really well together!
Good job!
Really well done and funny entry! EVERYTHING is made up of cardboard.
The car movement is satisfyingly chonky and reactive, like a real delivery driver. Only needs some good tire squeaking :D
My thoughts are shared in the VOD. Hope we see you back for LD60. ✌
It reminded me of something, maybe micro machines v3 breakfast a tifanys level with the ice cream vans, with a bit of little big plannet.
I did manage to get stuck in a corner and have to restart but i hadnt got anywhere so it was ok.
Random achievements would make this awesome, i could see it being a bit of a hidden object type thing aswell.
