Burnout Without Paradise by luvjungle

[raw]
made by luvjungle for Ludum Dare 48 (JAM)

Before we start speaking about the game, we need to explain “Why do we make game about depression?” and “How we came to this idea?”. First of all, Depression is Illness. If you feel depression, ask help from doctors and your close relatives. Second, theme of Compo and Jam was “Deeper and Deeper” , and of course we started to think from “exploration cave/deep sea/deep space” , “spelunky style” , “philosophic strange game”. But after hours of brainstorming I was exhausted , feel burnout, and said to myself “Eureka!”. Burnout and depression have fallen into effect , yes , Deeper and Deeper fall into depression hole. So ,yeah, we decided to make a game about falling into depression.

You play as an office worker, and need to make your “very important” tasks. When you do it well your depression meter goes down , when you make it bad it goes up. Simple concept. Interesting things happen when your depression is level up , so try a different style! I Hope our game is at least interesting and a little bit fun !

Controls: Point and click on objects with LMB to interact // Go back with RMB // ESC for exit

Change log: v. 1.1 - Fixed game finish and restart

Ratings

Overall 1015th 3.463⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1403th 3⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 605th 3.481⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1172th 3.444⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 770th 3.796⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Audio 871th 3.241⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Humor 784th 2.827⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Mood 883th 3.519⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Given 19🗳️ 31🗨️

Feedback

TheGrandpa
26. Apr 2021 · 22:47 UTC
I really love the 3D work! Not sure if it was intentional but at some point every email I clicked on said spam and I couldn't progress any further. Couldn't tell you how to reproduce because I was spamming on everything lol
🎤 luvjungle
27. Apr 2021 · 08:11 UTC
@thegrandpa thank's for playing! Well, letters are a bit random, so.. I guess it's just a bad day at work =)
Elektroney
27. Apr 2021 · 12:30 UTC
Nice Game!
Stejkrobot
27. Apr 2021 · 12:36 UTC
Really interesting! Love the concept, had a hard time seeing the difrence between brown and orange but maybe thats the point heh. Over all very pleasing to look at and listen to.
Rongefilet
27. Apr 2021 · 12:40 UTC
I'm sad now, well done! At several points I did not had enough paper of the right color to finish the task, don't know if it is on purpose.
jk5000
27. Apr 2021 · 12:59 UTC
Overall and interesting and fun little game. Well done.
Camille_000
27. Apr 2021 · 13:01 UTC
I really like this kind of game. Great job :)
GreyChertZ
27. Apr 2021 · 13:28 UTC
@stejkrobot I really understand your feelings! But if depression level high, player blindness(because of depression of course) not so strong and you clearly can chose right color!
GreyChertZ
27. Apr 2021 · 13:29 UTC
@jk5000 thanks ! its so glad hear this!
Jordan Benureau
27. Apr 2021 · 13:29 UTC
Really fun, it's incredible how you manage to make player experience frustration of the character ! Just lack of controls tutorial
GreyChertZ
27. Apr 2021 · 13:30 UTC
@camille-000 Thanks to play and have fun!
GreyChertZ
27. Apr 2021 · 13:32 UTC
@jordan-benureau thanks for good comment! frustration my middle name!
Alina Baybulatova
28. Apr 2021 · 17:28 UTC
Interesting idea and cool atmosphere) Good job! Really like graphic)
Theg
28. Apr 2021 · 19:42 UTC
Nice looking game! A few points I was confused about what I was doing wrong but that was probably intended so good job.
TeamDungeon
29. Apr 2021 · 08:58 UTC
Super neat idea, was a bit confusing at times but I really liked the vibe!
Joshuc
29. Apr 2021 · 09:01 UTC
I like the game, it's a fun little jam game with really beautiful 3d graphics. Though, I think that the theme needed to be accentuated a little bit more. I had no idea what this game had to do with the theme until I read the above text again. Also, adding a couple more tasks other than drawing on paper would have been cool, but I understand the time restraignt is really tough. Good work!
Substain
29. Apr 2021 · 09:13 UTC
Funny idea. Wish there were a bit more progress within the game
LDJam user 242054
29. Apr 2021 · 09:21 UTC
haha

hate mouse sensivity
xpoho
29. Apr 2021 · 11:27 UTC
О, эта офисная работа. Как же она убивает.
Кстати, я выбрал похожу тему для своей игры!
Спасибо за депрессивный офис ^_^
🎤 luvjungle
29. Apr 2021 · 12:47 UTC
@joshuc thanks for your time. Yeah, the time limit was the main reason why we cut a lot of stuff.
🎤 luvjungle
29. Apr 2021 · 12:48 UTC
@handsomeshan haha say thanks to this guy -> @greychertz
GameDevTraum
29. Apr 2021 · 14:46 UTC
Took me three attempts to complete the day :D
Very nice models and mood.
When you are signing papers it would be nice to switch papers with the arrows, that would be a bit less stressful xD
Congratulations for completing your project :)
Deepak kr
01. May 2021 · 14:03 UTC
Nice ,simple and casual game. Mouse sensitivity is low other than that its good.
🎤 luvjungle
01. May 2021 · 16:39 UTC
@deepak-kr thanks for playing! Mouse sensitivity goes down when your depression level goes up.
JRevel
06. May 2021 · 15:36 UTC
Pretty cool concept, and well executed, especially the 3D graphics ! Talking about serious subjects is quite hard to do right, but I think you got it right ! I like the idea of having the cursor go slow and the colors that disappear when you are depressed, but I find the "depression meter" a bit strange , it reduces depression to a score, which I find that it lacks subtlety.
I treated the same kind of subject in my game in a totally different way, it's cool to see the take of someone else on this subject :)
Thinh
06. May 2021 · 16:00 UTC
Pros: The 3D work for the desk and all the office supplies are really nice. On top of that, the mechanics of having random notes, emails, spams, and tasks that interact with the supplies on the desk is a nice feature. The rain in the background also adds a nice enclosure feeling that effects the mood greatly.

Cons: Although it was in the itch.io description, I found the controls a little difficult to figure at first but eventually got the hang of. On top of that, although it's partially my fault, I didn't realize how you could change pages when it came to signing so I got stuck with figuring out how to cycle different pages.

Overall, it's a nice game made within the given time span and it has room for improvement when it comes to the UI elements and informing the player on how to play the game. It would be nice to have more of an end game goal, but at the same time, I understand how the gameplay loop works with the theme of constantly going deeper and deeper into depression. Good job!
🎤 luvjungle
06. May 2021 · 20:28 UTC
@jrevel thank you for playing! Yeah, meter corresponds for health, classic style, and you are right. if I think about it now, I don't know why I did it :)
🎤 luvjungle
06. May 2021 · 20:29 UTC
@thinh thank you very much for such big review!
joe40001
12. May 2021 · 08:04 UTC
Cool idea, but a bit easy for a depression simulator. I made a game about depression a few LDs back and pretty much everybody was convinced it was unwinnable lol. For the record it was winnable, but yeah, I think there should be a mode that makes it really really difficult. Or like it tells you to sign the documents but they are all grey.

I did like the mood and the general direction you were going for, but I kinda wish it was more frustrating and "unfair" feeling. It was actuaally relatively easy to succeed at a task or two and then play with the desk toy, you could even avoid the emails you'd know to be spam.

Sorry if I sound critical. I really did like what you were going for and the mood/ideas behind what was created here.
🎤 luvjungle
12. May 2021 · 14:51 UTC
@joe40001 thanks for the review! Yeah, it was a bit difficult to balance it, because of time limit. I guess we didn't balance it at all.
I wonder how you avoided e-mails, because boss supposed to yell at you if you have something unread in your inbox.