Sauce of Life by Haoyun Zhang

[raw]
made by Haoyun Zhang for Ludum Dare 50 (JAM)

GAME DESCRIPTION

The game is about making a game, or, to be more specific, it is about dealing with everything that accompanies making a game— pressure from the work you do, the family you have, relationship, others’ words, everything that might make a person on edge.

You will play as a programmer in a game company who tries to balance work and life by taking on and dropping off pressures, and by grasping the tiniest hygge possible in life. If you fail to take on the pressure and let them fall into your sea of mind, the sea will rise and finally engulf you.

The creed is: toughen up, and please do not collapse.

INSTRUCTION:

Buttons: [Green] Run Game ; [Yellow] Backstory ; [Red] Exit

MOVEMENT [←][→] OR [A][D]
SACRIFICE your Hair to DELAY the Inevitable pressure [Space]

Try to DELAY the Inevitable resignation as Many Weeks as possible

SHOULDER THE BURDEN OR LEAVE THEM ALONE

about the name of the game: Life has its flavors. It can be bitter, sweet, spicy..., well, probably it remains bitter most of the time. Either way, you have to allow in the right amount of sauce.

Shoulder the burden or leave them alone (Note: Stacked burdens can be erased by hygge of the same color) Tip: you may delay burden and hygge from taking effect at the cost of your hair

GameNarrative.png

GameScreenShot.png

CrashthemAll.png

HairShootingScreenShot.png

GameOver.png

In order to have better experience, we recommend you to play our game on full screen or download the game. Relax, there will be no virus.

Ratings

Overall 953th 3.325⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Fun 862th 3.225⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 827th 3.175⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Theme 691th 3.65⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1020th 3.2⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Audio 689th 3.15⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Humor 337th 3.6⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Mood 913th 3.275⭐ 22🧑‍⚖️
Given 39🗳️ 1🗨️

Feedback

blobo
05. Apr 2022 · 04:22 UTC
Ha! I love how you sacrifice your hair to stay afloat a little longer. The visual change with losing all your hair is hilarious. Great job!
LandoSystems
06. Apr 2022 · 07:00 UTC
Really great game! It took a playthrough before the mechanic clicked, having the 'story' text play automatically at least once could be a good adjustment. The art was well done and tie everything together thematically. The gameplay mechanics were engaging and allowed for a bit of strategy. It fit the jam theme very well and even snuck in some psychological analysis. Nice work!
LDJam user 97711
08. Apr 2022 · 03:21 UTC
I loved the hair losing mechanic and the general chaotic vibe of the experience, haha. Visually it took some time to understand what was going on, though maybe that is also part of the point ;) Nice entry!
Dandala88
08. Apr 2022 · 04:36 UTC
Quirky and a great commentary on, not just game dev, but working in general. I love how the different symbols were used for the different aspects of the modern human. Work, get money, eat, fall in love, break up, atta-boy's. I feel like you could have given the guy a little bit more hair though don't you think? :wink: Thanks for the entry. Very cool!
GreenPig
16. Apr 2022 · 22:41 UTC
I had a mild depression playing this game, knowing its a possible outcome of our lifes, but beside that it was fun. Good job!
4ahizon
16. Apr 2022 · 22:45 UTC
It a simple game mechanics that is comical chaotic.
guzzungo
16. Apr 2022 · 23:47 UTC
I don't know why but i find this game depressive. I like it
🎤 Haoyun Zhang
18. Apr 2022 · 05:34 UTC
@100th-coin Thank you so mcuh!! I like this idea too.
Lighty_the_Light
18. Apr 2022 · 06:41 UTC
Nice little game! Getting confused at beginning but after I got the hang of it, it became quite fun.

Getting hard after received too much pressure, since it's much easier to receive pressure and have less time to find the corresponding conter.

Well done!
Zitao YE
18. Apr 2022 · 11:04 UTC
really cool metaphor of the life pressure and balance with the take and espace the pressure,the losing hair mechanics is a bit useless, I can't really get it,and either the failure condition,
🎤 Haoyun Zhang
18. Apr 2022 · 16:39 UTC
@zitao-ye really useful comment,I find it's hard to use hair mechanics when you are too busy dealing with all those icons from sky.
zimny11
18. Apr 2022 · 18:21 UTC
Nice game! It was fun to try it out. Nice music too. As others pointed out, the hair mechanic is funny, but not that useful. Anyway, good job with the game!
m.dam
18. Apr 2022 · 18:54 UTC
I was definitely bald at the end
lpettler
18. Apr 2022 · 20:11 UTC
The comic-chaos of this game is very well developed with dramatic music, fun mechanics, a depressing topic, and the inevitable decline of life. As mentioned by others, it is not immediately intuitive but it is easy enough to figure out in repetitive plays. Really liked the artistic approach and the use of hair as a mechanic. Overall, a great blend of all the things that make life. Great job.
YukimiItsuka
20. Apr 2022 · 06:37 UTC
Great work. Congratulations!

At the beginning, when I was playing around, I always died very quickly, but gradually I discovered some tricks, such as always ensuring that there are only two kinds of pressure on my head, strategically giving up the other two kinds of pressure, and lying down for year-end bonuses, from which I can feel to the philosophy this game brought me, teaching me to better face the stress in real life :D

Btw, the hair-shooting design is funny but doesn't seem useful, and I don't know how high the water goes when I'm going to die 0-0.

Here is my highscore.

![hair.png](///raw/62d/32/z/4e360.png)
🎤 Haoyun Zhang
21. Apr 2022 · 03:42 UTC
@yukimiitsuka Congratulations! You find exacly what we want to express by the stradegy of this game. One more note, if you concrete on dealing with the presssure from work (wich is the blue folders) and abandon love/relationship (which is the red broken heart), you might survive even longer. PS:one of our developer jiqishu is also from Tsinghua University, who currently in USC Interactive Media & Game Division program with me. Nice to mee you!!!