Bleeding Edge Software by HitchH1k3r
You play an average programmer pondering life's choices, "How did I get here?" you think. Each day feels the same as the last, flowing from one to another, week to week, month to month. Each emergency blending into the next until they all seem trivial.
If only there were some greater purpose to the unstable Bleeding Edge Software you are working on. Each day you find yourself ...
Drinking Coffee 
Answering Emails 
Talking to coworkers 
Meditating 
...to reach a calmness in this Unstable job.
Controls
- Select Card - Mouse
Tips and Tricks
- Watch the resources to see how you're doing. If the resources get too low you might loose the game.
- The text of the cards will give you clues about how the card will impact the resources.
Known Bugs
- None so far (Oct. 4, 2021)
Version History
Oct. 4, 2021 :: v1.0 - Jam release
Oct. 13, 2021 :: v1.1-PostJam - Added an animation when selecting a card - Added four new cards. - Connected existing parts of the game, to make new (originally cut for time) content (this is a large change, accounting for at least half of the game's playtime).
Nov. 12, 2022 :: v1.2-PostJam
- Replaced all textures with new ones generated by AI (Midjourney).
- Some other minor changes.
Karma Questions
Answer questions in the comments to get hearts (this is a temporary measure, to get better quality comments, while the site improves)!
We have 2 hearts to promise
- Question 1 (½ :heart:) Was the game's narrative too light, too dark, or just right?
- Question 2 (½ :heart:) Would the game be better if it was more challenging to keep your resources above 0?
- Question 3 (½ :heart:) We tried to use the theme in every aspect of the game. In what way do you think it came across the strongest?
- Question 4 (1 :heart:) What rating category needed the most improvement, and how could it have been improved?
- Question 5 (½ :heart:) What was the most surprising part of the game?
| Itch.io (Windows x64) | https://hitchh1k3r.itch.io/bleeding-edge-software |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/bleeding-edge-software |
Ratings
| Overall | 51th | 4.224⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 433th | 3.69⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 31th | 4.241⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 12th | 4.603⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 450th | 3.914⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 536th | 3.278⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 20th | 4.483⭐ | 31🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 29🗳️ | 37🗨️ |
Question answers:
1. I honestly thought it was just gonna be a variation on Reigns about being a programmer, I didn't know the minigames were coming.
2. 5 stars for Mood. Definitely drew me in, more like a good art exhibit than a game at times.
3. Probably Humour since although there is some dark humour to the concept, I think the seriousness of some of the themes kindof drowns it out. But not everything has to be a joke :)
Question 1: After the first Snakegame, another snakegame but with the cards I had the desire to read, but could not, because I was to busy keeping the snake alive.
Question 2: Cant answer this question. I can say, the Theme came across the least through music.
Question 3: Not at all. 5 Stars in every category. Best game I have played so far.
Great Job!
A very interesting spin on the interpretation of "unstable"! It definitely hit the mark on all aspects (story, visuals, music, etc).
I felt it's a bit over the top in some places but in any case it's a unique experience.
1. I was genuinely surprised when I encountered the effect of glitch card for the first time. And the murder cards was suddenly funny.
2. Mental health probably. But it was too sudden imo. I didn't quite feel the proper development. Like I just pressed a few cards with normal actions and the stuff went too crazy too quickly.
3. I'd say fun. Because the snake part wasn't fun for me )
The mood, theme and innovation are top tier though.
What I also could complain is probably that you don't have time to actually read the text on cards in snake. So it is probably some part of why I missed the development.
Regarding your questions:
1. the entire combination of gameplay elements together with how deep and expressive the ideas are
2. emergent combination of gameplay, story and theme (both game-wise (programmer life) and jam-wise (unstable))
3. honestly don't even know. Probably music, a little bit, in intense moments.
1. I was very surprised when the game changed from a card based stat balancing game, I didn't expect it coming at all.
2. I think that the gameplay was the best use of the theme, because I had to figure out what to do and the goals kept changing.
3. I really enjoyed the game, but I would say that fun could use a bit of improvement in the middle section. I got stuck on the snake game for a very long time because it is too hard.
This game was really exceptional, I think it was the best use of the "unstable" theme I have seen so far and really excelled in almost every aspect. As I said above I had problems with the snake game, and I think making an option to turn off the shaky-blurry cam would be good, as it was hard for me to see and kind of gave me a headache. Otherwise the game excelled in all categories. Great job!
1) For me, the most surprising part of the game was how existential it got. I'm not really one for that kind of content or storytelling (especially without much setup) but it did make for some interesting imagery and cool moments.
2) The writing describing someone completely losing their sense of self does fit the theme well, but overall the way the game presents itself, especially through the wildly changing games/mechanics sells the unstable theme the best.
3) If you count humor (which I rated the lowest) then I would say peppering your existential dread with some similarly existential jokes could do some good. But since I don't think that was exactly the point, my next lowest rating would be "fun," and I will not lie, it is entirely because of the Snake portion. The controls felt clunky and weird and I found myself somewhat frustrated at it. It also didn't contribute as much to the overall theme as obviously as things like the top-down segment, so overall it felt pretty out of place.
This is a really cool experience, made even cooler with the knowledge that it was only made by 2 people in under 72 hours. Great work!
I am amazed by all of the minigames and music.
It switched from the card game in the beginning really quick and all of the minigames were used to an extent that made them interesting
Love it very much
Would even cosider paying for a full game of this style
I think the theme came across best with replacing labels with unlocalized keys. It was the first thing that was like "ah, I see where this is going". Also I'm not sure if it's intended but unity has definitely trained me to see that magenta as a missing texture bug as well.
Most surprising is just from the screenshots how I've just been trained to assume a reigns UI instead of just clicking on cards.
I feel like this is one of those games where you made the game you wanted to make and it fits together in it's own way. I had a lot of trouble seeing the text on the cards I was selecting after the snake game, so things got a bit random for me there.
Meta bug report: There's a typo in your description. "Loose the game" instead of lose.
Questions:
1. The narrative was just right until the end where I feel like it just jumped up a few notches.
2. Probably - I went through the entire game without really paying attention to the resources.
3. The surprise aspect - you never knew what you were going to get next after each card choice or minigame.
4. Probably mood - I wasn't sure if I should be fearful of the game and its themes or find them funny.
5. The minigames. I just expected a sort-of choose your own adventure game with the cards, I was pleasantly surprised to find the minigames in there.
- The narrative was a little darker than I expected clearly but I liked it anyway.
- Tbh I didn't care much about the ressources so I'd say no.
- For me it was visualy, in the design of the cards and the fx
- The humor maybe ? I smilled at the "murder" part but i didn't felle like the humor was a core part of the game
- The sudden minigames ._. didn't expected that...
Let's talk about your questions:
1. Narrative is just right for me :D
2. I didn't really find the joy in keeping resources up since I liked all minigames :D
3. Fun, for sure! I enjoyed playing every single minigame, maybe apart from memorizing once, they were all kind of the same (basically)
4. I'd say humor probably.
//I wrote audio and just noticed that you didn't participate in it:
Audio. Definitely lacks some music during these minigames.//
5. Minigames, of course!
Thanks for this creation! Good luck in your future games :)
and consider going to psychologist XDDDDDDDD
1. I felt like the narrative was fine, I just feel like it ended a bit abruptly. But it's a jam entry, so that sort of thing happens!
2. I never really focused on the resources in the game to be honest. Would it be more challenging? Yes. Would it make the game more enjoyable? I don't think so. The tarot card resource management of Reigns was a core mechanic in that game, but that doesn't really happen here. It's more about the narrative. So I'd say leave out the resource management if you want to make this a full release. Or if you want to keep resource management, figure out how to tie it into the narrative?
3. I think the sudden swap from a Reigns type game to other minigames really made the whole game feel unstable. I love these sort of meta-games like Undertale or Pony Island, so having that as a surprise in the game sold the theme for me.
4. Fun, to be honest. I didn't really enjoy the snake game mixed with the cards, it got a bit challenging and I couldn't read the flavour text.
5. Like I said earlier, the fact that the game has a sort of meta narrative and the fact that it wasn't just Reigns with a programmer skin.
Overall I enjoyed it, nice work!