LudumData

A Stable Life by baconharemthug

[raw]
made by baconharemthug for Ludum Dare 49 (JAM)

Screenshot (150).png Screenshot (149).png

Content warning: this game contains references to suicide, murder, and sexual violence. Discretion is advised.

A 3D first person mystery game about a man whose life spiraled out of control after being laid off from his stable job.

NOTE: the web version has some issues on Chrome and possibly other browsers which causes the UI elements to be misaligned. It's recommended you play the game in Firefox. If you really want to use Chrome, then note that you may need to click slightly above or below some buttons to trigger them.

The Mac/Linux builds are currently untested; if someone could test them and tell me if they work that would be much appreciated.

EDIT: I hopefully fixed the issue with the cursor not locking on the web app. Unity screen coordinates are terribly designed so the game may have issues running in fullscreen mode on monitors that aren't 1920x1080 resolution.

Controls:

Left mouse: interact

Left control: crouch (Edit: changed to left shift on the web/linux version due to shortcut issues)

Escape: pause

Credit for fonts goes to KineticPlasma (Mechanical) and Robert Leuschke (Are You Serious)

Everything else was made by me during the jam.

Link https://mega.nz/file/P45wRKDY#zSvCMbatSZM_zS-gofVDTLFccvmQEE6zB_mImumaHi0
Link https://mega.nz/file/6kpyCSYJ#dgt5yzxXTIXRTkKTFGbxNyHtAJOXaXegcHlcsWh8eqE
Link https://baconharemthug.itch.io/a-stable-life
Link https://mega.nz/file/W1YVUSSY#Zk2LqoeTSx6iCoouXx_judyDcAZic1dGqpe2XKMv-FY
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/a-stable-life

Ratings

Overall 1098th 3.241⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1208th 2.964⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 982th 3.096⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1275th 2.893⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1113th 3.161⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Audio 630th 3.321⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 288th 3.852⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Given 18🗳️ 33🗨️

Feedback

cireneikual222464
05. Oct 2021 · 02:05 UTC
I wanted to try the web version (I'm on Linux), but unfortunately it says the page could now be found.
zerocomms
05. Oct 2021 · 02:12 UTC
Tried the web version, cant find it.
🎤 baconharemthug
05. Oct 2021 · 02:15 UTC
@cireneikual222464 @zerocomms Oops, I had forgotten to set the game to public! It should be playable now.
LDJam user 263516
05. Oct 2021 · 02:22 UTC
Great mood.
tinykidtoo
05. Oct 2021 · 02:29 UTC
Tried the web build, it runs alright. Left control to crouch did cause me to crash the game a few times when pressed with w or s. I explored the apartment, nothing happened. So I tried to leave, but the menu for leaving does not function. Interesting setup, but I am really interested in some answers for the mystery. Great job with the art, it tells quite a bit about the events that may have transpired.
Bhughes
05. Oct 2021 · 02:31 UTC
Web version camera kept getting stuck, but really cool atmosphere!
ZeppelinGames
05. Oct 2021 · 02:32 UTC
(Played Web version) Pretty good. A few issues with controls. Mouse wasnt locked so it would exit the window. Crouching and moving (ctrl+w) causes the tab to close (Chrome). Other than that, great job.
Jaker
05. Oct 2021 · 02:32 UTC
Web version works for me (I'm using Chrome on Windows). One minor thing I noticed is no indicator to advance the text. A simple blinking cursor would help signal to the player that they are in control of the advancement of the text. You also might want to reconsider using left control for crouch. I tried crouching and moving forward, and it closed the tab (Ctrl+W hotkey), as well as triggering other hotkeys.

As for the game itself, it was a great little narrative! I got a little more than half the clues correct by my estimate, but that's probably due to me being a poor detective :laughing:
Mateu
05. Oct 2021 · 02:33 UTC
Woah, this is a really good game. I like all the subtle touches and clues. The visuals were pretty good, the music was great, and the story was also great. I wish the controls were better. I felt really slow. Also, the sensitivity was waaaaay to high. I had to turn my mouse down to the lowest setting just to make it playable. Other than that, I liked this game a lot
🎤 baconharemthug
05. Oct 2021 · 02:39 UTC
@tinykidtoo While exploring the apartment you should be able to left click on various objects (for instance, the gun on the couch) to investigate them for clues. Did this not work for you?
🎤 baconharemthug
05. Oct 2021 · 02:39 UTC
Thanks @ everyone who pointed out the issues with crouching on the web version. I changed the keybind to shift, which hopefully fixes the issue.
tinykidtoo
05. Oct 2021 · 02:41 UTC
@baconharemthug Yes, I was able to investigate everything, but unable to leave the apartment after finishing my investigation.
🎤 baconharemthug
05. Oct 2021 · 02:43 UTC
@mateu Thanks for the feedback! I really wanted to add settings for the sensitivity but unfortunately ran out of time. I set the sensitivity to a good level for my PC, but when I made the web port I had to readjust it so it probably varies a lot depending on the environment for some reason :/
🎤 baconharemthug
05. Oct 2021 · 02:50 UTC
@tinykidtoo Are you using chrome? I just tested on chrome and it seems the UI coordinates are messed up. Try clicking slightly below the exit button (or try the game in firefox where it should work fine).
tinykidtoo
05. Oct 2021 · 03:00 UTC
I am using firefox, 92.0.1.
cireneikual222464
05. Oct 2021 · 03:12 UTC
Came back for another try, now that the game is set to public. However, it isn't really playable for me yet, as the mouse doesn't lock in the web version (I'm on Linux so I cannot try the Windows version easily).
🎤 baconharemthug
05. Oct 2021 · 04:30 UTC
@cireneikual222464 Sorry it's not working, it locks for me so I have no idea why. I tried adding a Linux download version, hopefully that works.
🎤 baconharemthug
05. Oct 2021 · 04:31 UTC
@tinykidtoo That's the same version I'm using, so I have no idea why it works for me but not for you :/ Sorry, I wish I could help more.
potkirland
05. Oct 2021 · 05:39 UTC
i love the lamp is plugged on the wall!

nice touches of detail overall. and has mood gotten right!

you can add wrong endgames too like you cant solve the mystery.
Enya454
05. Oct 2021 · 05:50 UTC
Pretty fun game. I'm a big fan of murder mysteries and was excited to find one in Ludum Dare. It was quite fun but I found the apartment a bit too confined to explore. I also found myself stumbling through the last part when putting all the evidence together, but I think that's just my lack of paying attention. A nice recap of all the evidence I collected would have been cool but the game isn't worse without it. Great game, keep up the good work.
🎤 baconharemthug
05. Oct 2021 · 17:44 UTC
@potkirland Thanks! I originally planned to have multiple endings, but the extra content would have required much more time to get working.
🎤 baconharemthug
05. Oct 2021 · 17:48 UTC
@enya454 Thanks for the feedback. I intentionally designed the apartment to feel cramped to highlight the fact that they're not very well-off financially, but in retrospect I agree it's just a bit too hard to move around.
Transylvanian Blacksmiths
05. Oct 2021 · 19:16 UTC
The narrative is simply amazing, I also love the visuals and the overall game design, I like the idea that you can inspect almost every single thing in the game. One thing that happened to me in the web version is that the text goes off screen if in full screen mode. if I'm in windowed the mouse goes off screen.
shubart
05. Oct 2021 · 22:58 UTC
Nice mood. It was nevertheless very difficult to walk in the appartment probably due to too big collision box. Thank you for your game
🎤 baconharemthug
06. Oct 2021 · 05:38 UTC
@Jaker Thanks for the feedback! I tried to make it pretty hard to figure out all the details :)
🎤 baconharemthug
06. Oct 2021 · 05:43 UTC
@transylvanian-blacksmiths Thank you very much for the kind words! Sadly I couldn't figure out how to make the game work with different resolutions, so if your monitor isn't 1920x1080 then that's probably why the UI doesn't fit in fullscreen. I think I did manage to fix the mouse unlocking issue now though.
WetBurritoSupreme
06. Oct 2021 · 18:48 UTC
Solid mood and vibe, music helped out. The mystery was well developed, though perhaps more clues, or maybe I missed some. Worked great on Firefox, glad I was able to play this!
🎤 baconharemthug
06. Oct 2021 · 20:22 UTC
@wetburritosupreme Thanks for the feedback! It should be possible to figure everything out if you found all/most of the evidence, but it does require a fair bit of connecting the dots and some of the evidence can be easy to overlook. I tried to make it pretty hard to solve all the mysteries, so if you were able to crack open the general picture you did well.
hwaet
07. Oct 2021 · 00:58 UTC
Great environment work. I liked your textures. Lots of the clues were subtle, but stood out just enough to check out. If anything, it would be nice if the bounding boxes to click on evidence were bigger. I think I missed a few things, but I'm pretty sure I was clicking the right general area.
ilbini
07. Oct 2021 · 01:15 UTC
I enjoyed this game, made me read a lot in a clever way showing some suspense and engagement on the story step by step. If i knew all the text on that intro upfront, i am not sure if i was reading it hehe.
The story is solid, the ambience and the mood in general. Nice entry.

Maybe some things that could have worked better for me:

* Movement felt clunchy, i got stuck in some places near the bed and the crouch could have some "smooth" movement just to be more immersive
* Some more audio in the game, maybe when inspect, walk, find an important clue
* Highlight interactables when i am close (maybe makes the game too easy not sure) but i think its to consider to deal with "lazy" players

Overall nice game, really made me feel like a detective, the theme was subtle almost only in the title, but i can see there were good game design decisions in the lecture and ending of the game (not punishing the bad choices were a great decision for my perspective). Keep it up!
🎤 baconharemthug
07. Oct 2021 · 01:50 UTC
@hwaet Thanks for the feedback! I'll try to bear the comment about bounding boxes in mind in the future. I tried to match them pretty closely to the bounds on the object but maybe adding a bit of margin would have been better.
🎤 baconharemthug
07. Oct 2021 · 01:55 UTC
@ilbini Thanks for the feedback! I considered making interactables highlighted when you move your mouse nearby, but didn't really have time to code it in. The tie-in with the theme was supposed to be "losing your stable job". I tried to make it apparent by explicitly working the word "stable" into the text in several places, but it may have still been too subtle.
Annie Owl
07. Oct 2021 · 08:49 UTC
Interesting game! I loved the tunes that played in the background while I was going around the crime scene, made me feel like a true detective :smile: I only wish in the end the game would let you pick the wrong options, and get the wrong resolution (maybe with some hint that you failed the investigation). It would be more satisfying to get the correct ending, after going back to the room and investigating more clues. Nevertheless, good job!
Jon_Nova
07. Oct 2021 · 10:23 UTC
The mood was just right. In the moment i entered that apartment, i wanted to leave as soon as possible. Would be cool to see this as an expanded game with more cases, and i think would be fun if the game didn't tell if i really solved the case. Nice work!
Raph_Gi
07. Oct 2021 · 15:48 UTC
The music really help to get in the investigation's mood. It's a bit sad that some times I can't continue to write the report, on the web version, and that I need to reload the game. I like all the small details that we need to look at to understand what happened.
Rodrigo Sousa
07. Oct 2021 · 21:27 UTC
cool game I was scared when I saw the body in the room!
🎤 baconharemthug
08. Oct 2021 · 03:26 UTC
@raph-gi Would you mind elaborating a bit on what the issue you ran into was? What prevented you from continuing?
LDJam user 263763
08. Oct 2021 · 14:20 UTC
I like it! very good concept and well made, with more development can be a great game, detectives games are interesting
LDJam user 261284
08. Oct 2021 · 20:20 UTC
Atmospheric makes me feel like real detective. Even with such graphics and mouse sensitive ^_^
Cool!
Trexxak
09. Oct 2021 · 01:49 UTC
I liked collecting all the clues a lot and creating a mental image of what had happened in my head a lot! Soon I was very curious to understand what happened in the apartement! When I thought I've seen everything, I made my way to the door and... all of the things I thought happened didn't :'D

Now, this wasn't a problem, I'm simply a dumbass, but what I feel was unfortunate was how cheapened the gameplay became as soon as I gave the first wrong answer "oh, so I didn't have to pay attention in the first place?" was the first thought that came to mind after correctly clicking the right answer, because the other two were wrong :D
What I think would've been more fulfilling was to still let me choose my theory, and only at the very end tell me how wrong I am.

Other than my nitpicking though, grand execution for a delicate topic! Kudos!
Michelangelo
09. Oct 2021 · 11:03 UTC
Cool investigation game!
At first i didn't understand i had to exit from the apartment, so be sure to make it clear.
Also i think that even finding all clues, it's hard to guess the right choice at first try.
I agree with @annie-owl about picking the wrong choice. You could create different branches for the story, to encourage the player to play again and to find all endings.

The background music works well for me, it gets me right in to the mood. With high quality assets you can give us a true detective experience!

Last but not least, be sure the dialogue box to be centered on the left, it confused me while reading.

Good job, keep working on it!
Jonathan Lorenz
20. Oct 2021 · 11:21 UTC
I liked the idea of having to investigate, but since I'm kind of an ampatient gamer, I found myself just clicking everywhere in hope of triggering the right event (that's more or less how I play point'n'click games too). So, not a game for me, but I appreciated the mood and the minimalistic 3D models.