Game Genie: Crunch Time by LandoSystems

made by LandoSystems for Ludum Dare 53 (JAM)

🧞‍♂️ Game, Genie! It's Crunch Time 🧞‍♂️

I can show you the world... of game development!

Making a game shining, shimmering, splendid is a lot easier when you've got a genie doing the work for you.

Collect colorful items and use your special abilities to fend off enemies in a billiards-style bounce-fest.

Use your abilities to get each type of item into its respective genie's goal as you playtest the game you're developing over the game jam weekend.

- * HTML5/WebGL * - * Desktop/Java * - * Source *

Enjoy this magic code-pet ride from Lando Systems.

# Controls:

WASD/Arrow keys: Move around the board

1, 2, 3, 4: Choose / use your special abilities

Left-click or Spacebar : Use your active ability

# About the Team:

LandoSystems is a group of jammers from Madison, Wisconsin that varies in size from 2 to 12 people. This is the team's 27th Ludum Dare game!! :grinning:

# Team Members:

Code: - Doug Graham dsgraham :elephant: dsgraham on mastodon - Brian Ploeckelman PalpatinesSmile :elephant: brian on mastodon - Jeffrey Hwang :elephant: jeffreyhwang on mastodon

Art: - Matt Neumann

Music, Audio, and a bunch of other stuff: - Pete Valeo

Link	https://github.com/bploeckelman/LudumDare53
Desktop	https://lando.systems/games/ld53-gamegenie/ld53-gamegenie.jar
Link	https://lando.systems/games/ld53-gamegenie
Original URL	https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/game-genie-crunch-time

Ratings

Overall	376^th	3.768⭐	30🧑‍⚖️
Fun	321^th	3.714⭐	30🧑‍⚖️
Innovation	138^th	3.929⭐	30🧑‍⚖️
Theme	865^th	3.593⭐	29🧑‍⚖️
Graphics	450^th	3.911⭐	30🧑‍⚖️
Audio	156^th	3.963⭐	29🧑‍⚖️
Humor	70^th	4.148⭐	29🧑‍⚖️
Mood	168^th	4.056⭐	29🧑‍⚖️
Given		21🗳️	42🗨️

Feedback

JumboDS64

02. May 2023 · 05:41 UTC

A neat idea, but... holy crap everything was a confusing clusterfuck and I couldn't tell what the fuck was happening?!?? I do like that it went from 1 genie to 2 genies to 4 genies, but too many other things were being introduced at the same time. Also, I didn't really have an incentive to use the abilities other than the bomb, and the lifted graphics - while charming - are a little cheap, no? Not transformative usage of said graphics, in my opinion. The in-between level dialogue was pretty funny, though, and I love the use of the Game Genie logotype here (I'd say the recontextualization is transformative and feels more like a reference, while the in-game graphics just feel like reuse - a LttP bomb is just a bomb...).

GreenwoodDrive

02. May 2023 · 05:46 UTC

A little bit confusing at first but thats quite the charm actually, the look and feel reminds me of the games we used to play back in the 90s from Klik and Play and the Game Factory. The music is AMAZING ! Great work and solid entry <3

Eric Nguyen

02. May 2023 · 05:51 UTC

Chaos! I was laughing hard when the blue dudes started stealing my stuff. It was pretty fun though. Figuring out all of the power ups was engaging but maybe having more tools to manage the chaos would have helped. Nice work!

breadstick

02. May 2023 · 05:52 UTC

The movement and bouncing around was a little bit frustrating, but the overall package--the visuals, the art, the sound, and the off-the-wall storyline--all combine to make an "experience." One of the more memorable games of LD53 for me; the videogame equivalent of being locked in a coffin filled with glitter and a disco ball, shaken until you almost throw up... *but in a good way.*

hammerfrenzy

02. May 2023 · 05:55 UTC

Well that was wild. I think the Golden Axe thieves might have scored more goals than I did lol. Nice little bgm track & the game genies gave me a big dose of nostalgia.

Daveybb

02. May 2023 · 06:08 UTC

What a fever dream.

After reading the tutorial and playing it a couple of times, I feel as though figuring out what to actually do leans more in this game's favor rather than having a traditional tutorial, IMO. Although with how much stuff is actually going on, maybe I'm wrong about that.

Love it. Keep it up.

poboy

02. May 2023 · 06:24 UTC

Fun game! "Clusterfuck" is definitely the operative word. Though I think I managed to get lucky and beat it without too much difficulty.

The powerup system seems like it'd be interesting, but there was so much going on that I couldn't make out when to use them (and found that they weren't necessary).

A friend and I were debating whether this was an allegory for AI generation? And also where that turtle sprite came from, cause we were sure we had seen it before.

Thanks and great work!

a333

02. May 2023 · 13:41 UTC

Holy 90s gaming, Batman. Seeing the old man from the Golden Axe was the last thing I expected.
It's charming, if a bit chaotic and hard to control at times. Awesome music, too!

LDJam user 257438

02. May 2023 · 15:08 UTC

Terrifying game made man!!
Just one major thing, PLS REDUCE THE NO OF ELEMENTS IN THE GAME! It is even slow down my PC!!
Yet Playable and enemies themselves did most of the job!

Great story, good gameplay and of course I loved the art style and animation at intro of the game!
Also, Thx for playing my game!

Ismael Rodriguez

02. May 2023 · 16:06 UTC

Fun entry. The visual "hodgepodge" actually works better than it should lol. Gameplay is simple but fun (a few slowdowns with a lot of stuff happening, no big deal). Dialog is entertaining. Great job yall!

chesschaser

02. May 2023 · 16:08 UTC

CHAOTIC GAMEPLAY! LOVE IT!!!!!!!

5huNo.3

03. May 2023 · 11:03 UTC

A colourful and chaotic game, quite quirky I have to say. I enjoyed playing it. Great work!

Patrick Abernathy

03. May 2023 · 18:29 UTC

The difficulty ramps up quick. That was a cool idea. Fun to play.

AdamLenglen

03. May 2023 · 18:39 UTC

really awesome and unique art I love it. the title screen reallly coool too.

Nathaniel Kaplan

03. May 2023 · 18:43 UTC

Complete chaos! I agree that it definitely works in the game's favor and learning how to manage all the nonsense is part of the charm. Very fun!

Rabbert

03. May 2023 · 18:45 UTC

Very unique art and interesting game mechanics. I appreciate the tutorial but it was still very overwhelming with so many enemies right from the start. However I enjoyed exploring and understanding what the enemies did and how to defeat them. Great job!

twobitadder

03. May 2023 · 18:47 UTC

Boy howdy did the game get a bit mind-flooding by level 3, but I feel like that was part of its aesthetic, and so I appreciated that as a choice. It did end up being a bit to its detriment at times because I think two out of the four goals were filled up on 3 before I even realized that it could happen accidentally without my input, but overall I think there is the groundwork there for a person to be skillful in playing the game itself. Also, I really only used the bomb as far as powerups were concerned, but it was very satisfying to blow up a whole mess of enemies and give yourself some breathing room to have more control over the board. Well done!

Majadroid

03. May 2023 · 18:53 UTC

Ehm ... interesting ;-) You absolutly stand out with your style and gameplay. As written by other players, everything was bit confusing and chaotic. But maybe this is it what makes the game charming.

LDJam user 338038

03. May 2023 · 19:02 UTC

Good work team :-) This kind of chaos is not my style of game, but still I can see the craftmanship that went into it!

StrangerYann

04. May 2023 · 17:13 UTC

woah this is intense --- i'd say it's a total clusterf@ck --- but not in a bad way --- like it's busy there's a _**lot**_ going on --- it reminds me of an old windows 3.1 game, hyper ball or whatever it was called --- though not as fast thank god ^^# --- clearly you guys did really well time management-wise, it's well-polished --- I just sorta feel there's a bit... too much going on --- for my taste, that is --- cause you gotta 1) move the balls to the goals 2) avoid or kill the NPCs that spawn constantly 3) juggle between your 5 unique powers --- _wait a minute **THIS IS 3 GAMES IN A TRENCHCOAT**_ :o --- ^^# no but in all seriousness that's fun & fresh, thanks for the experience :-) :sparkles:

Paul Avallone

05. May 2023 · 01:32 UTC

Man I can't believe you fit so much into this game. Amazing vibe with the outstanding visuals and catchy music. I love how retro everything was. It was a little weird you had no health but but I'm glad because the game would a have been really hard. Maybe regenerating health would have been cool. Dialog was funny and the tutorial(that you actually had time for) was great. Loved the 5th element reference Big Bada Boom. Fantastic job!

peterfiftyfour

09. May 2023 · 11:40 UTC

I have no idea what just happened :joy: