LudumData

Midnight Game Child by MistaGiggles

[raw]
made by MistaGiggles for Ludum Dare 51 (JAM)

Midnight Game Child

MidnightGameChild<em>Screenshot</em>3.png

"Grandpa says it's time to go to bed, but I don't wanna go to bed! I wanna play my new, awesome Game Child game!

All my friends will be talking about it tomorrow at school, and they'll think I'm super lame if I haven't finished it.

Maybe I can just play it in bed? I'm sure grandpa won't notice!"

MidnightGameChild<em>Screenshot</em>2.png

Midnight Game Child is all about a kid wanting to finish his new game, even though he's supposed to be going to sleep. Once grandpa has said goodnight, you can whip your Game Child out and play the latest generic, non-copyright infringing platformer. Make sure grandpa doesn't catch you though; he's a bit of a stick in the mud, and has nothing better to do than check up on you every 10 seconds to make sure you're going to sleep. Sometimes he might be listening out for you, other times he might open the door a bit to see that you're not doing anything you aren't supposed to.

Three difficulty modes are available, each with more challenging inputs for not getting caught. The Game Child game features 3 levels and a final boss. Try to complete them all without getting caught too many times!

MidnightGameChild<em>Screenshot</em>1.png

HEADPHONES RECOMMENDED!

Assets used:

Sprites:
Link https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/midnight-game-child
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/midnight-game-child

Ratings

Overall 149th 3.968⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Fun 202th 3.839⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 229th 3.742⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Theme 471th 3.774⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 597th 3.613⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Humor 55th 4.145⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Mood 175th 3.935⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Given 23🗳️ 60🗨️

Feedback

Skitak
03. Oct 2022 · 22:16 UTC
So fun Good job m8
frogwizardhat
03. Oct 2022 · 22:19 UTC
A bit hard to figure out the controls, but a very cute and nostalgic concept. Great work!
c4ris
03. Oct 2022 · 22:20 UTC
Addicting game! Once I got the hang of what I was doing I couldn't stop playing. Funny concept too! If you wanted to continue working on the idea maybe consider an alert notification before the space ship turns back into the unicorn. There were a few times in my game where I thought I was firing the space ship but I was really sending the unicorn up into outer space really fast. Very fun game and I loved the unique twist on two more classic ideas. Hope you had a fun game jam.
Jonas Michael
03. Oct 2022 · 22:25 UTC
What a game! it took me some time to understand the game, but it was so much fun afterwards. I am bad with jump and run games, so I didn't get far, but I enjoyed the adrenaline that you get when hiding like that, nonetheless. Well done!
Boodle
03. Oct 2022 · 22:26 UTC
Impressive how real that felt to me. Love the setting and ambience. The lie down button seemed a bit unnecessary though, and in general my second run the grandpa seemed a lot more lenient on the timing, or maybe I just got better at putting the gamekid away.

The controls in the gamekid game could maybe be a bit tighter but for the purpose I think a very simple game like this works!
BugByte14
03. Oct 2022 · 22:26 UTC
I love this idea so much, so clever to have a game-in-a-game. Really brings me back to sneakily playing gameboy in bed lol. Great job! :)
tylerstraub
03. Oct 2022 · 22:33 UTC
This is really awesome, especially the voice acting haha. The only complaint I really have is the platforming could be a little tighter + the final boss moved a little too slow, but overall one of my fav entries so far
ClickClickBoom
03. Oct 2022 · 23:58 UTC
10/10 a lot of fun for running 2 games at once shall we say. Really appreciate the voice acting, very entertaining.
TheseusInABottle
04. Oct 2022 · 04:33 UTC
Very very nice. Reminded me a little of games like pixel rift 1989 and a couple other games that have this same sort of "playing a game about playing a game" type of aesthetic. I very much liked this.
🎤 MistaGiggles
04. Oct 2022 · 09:32 UTC
@boodle Thanks for you feedback. You are right, the lying down is redundant in this version. We had hoped to include more variations of the checks he makes but ran short on time. We had voice lines, but no logic in place.
thegamearchitect
04. Oct 2022 · 10:40 UTC
This brings back memories, the GBA was such a gamechanger with the built in backlight. Very cool idea, well made, fun to play and very humorous.
VenFola
04. Oct 2022 · 11:45 UTC
Loved the grandpa voice acting! Cool idea and well made overall.

Just wished the Gameboy screen was a less dark (even if that's how it really was) and the platformer character is a bit slippery. Also the music loop is maybe a bit too short so it can be annoying.
OtterFaeLure
04. Oct 2022 · 11:49 UTC
That was awesome haha.
Also - how does anybody in that house sleep? Sir, 10 seconds is too often to check on a child, the kid needs their sleep. :laughing:

It was pretty awesome being a kid again, though - thanks for that.

The only critique I kinda have is that I think I found a bug. I would be laying down in the dark and he would yell at me anyways (through the door). After awhile he stopped doing this and I think that's how the gameplay is "supposed" to go? Not sure.

Regardless, dear old grandpa let us all be a kid again, and if I was any good at platformers, I would have stuck out the entire game but alas, I am completely defeated by them and adding a stealth aspect just demolished me. I am proud to say that I hit the first checkpoint though!

Very well done. :D
ZL17
04. Oct 2022 · 13:33 UTC
nostalgia
voxar
04. Oct 2022 · 20:32 UTC
Loved it!
Tommo120
05. Oct 2022 · 16:05 UTC
Thank you so much for all the kind words and feedback, everyone! :smile: I'm glad people are enjoying my daft voice acting :joy: To address some of the feedback; the platformer was primarily my area of focus and I'd never made one before. I definitely agree that it could have controlled better, and the difficulty might be a bit too much at times. A little note though, the second and third level have some shortcuts in them by design, so once you've learnt the levels a bit you can skip some of it. Second level shortcut is kinda difficult though. I wanted the boss to be a bit more interesting but we really didn't have time to design an interesting fight, and a last minute change was to slow him down to try and keep the tension up with hiding from grandpa, but in hindsight it's just too slow now.
Urggann
05. Oct 2022 · 19:49 UTC
like the others.. So fun! Perfect humour with the theme. A very smart creation. Well done
Vetche Studio
06. Oct 2022 · 16:46 UTC
Hahaha this game is hilarious! It's so relatable and I love that you turned a nostalgic thing we all experienced as children into a game. Great use of the theme and cool design :D
real_flamingicecubegames
06. Oct 2022 · 17:06 UTC
Once I wrapped my head around the controls, this game was awesome. Really reminded me of Game & Wario. I don't actually have any complaints for this one.
StudioCherno
06. Oct 2022 · 19:31 UTC
This was a really interesting game, with an interesting spin on the theme, good job! The sprite + audio combo when you get caught for the final time was actually hilarious, although I think the game almost suffered from being limited to the 10 seconds, it would've been really fun if the grandpa could come a go at random-ish intervals, instead of a fixed 10 seconds, but I think you did a good job with the theme regardless!

The control scheme was a bit difficult to get used to, so maybe it would've benefited from having some different controls.

But overall you did a good job! -Peter