Mouse Mail by Mateu

[raw]
made by Mateu for Ludum Dare 53 (JAM)

Deliver letters, have conversations, and possibly rekindle old friendships.

Use WASD/Arrow Keys to move, E to interact, and 1 and 2 to make choices.

Programming by Mateuu, art and music by Jonathan Vinesar.

Screenshot 2023-05-01 140434.png

Screenshot 2023-05-01 140606.png

Screenshot 2023-05-01 140641.png

Screenshot 2023-05-01 141155.png

Ratings

Overall 395th 3.741⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Fun 801th 3.204⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 800th 3.093⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Theme 198th 4.278⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 279th 4.148⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Audio 183th 3.904⭐ 28🧑‍⚖️
Humor 374th 3.444⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Mood 358th 3.796⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Given 18🗳️ 36🗨️

Feedback

ShamanTramp
01. May 2023 · 22:19 UTC
Very mice delivery game indeed ! :)
I loved the music and graphics ! Good job
BagHz
01. May 2023 · 22:23 UTC
I wish Lazarus will return stronger... I'll beat his ass out !
theArtifacts
01. May 2023 · 22:23 UTC
Good work! I only played through once and ran into a bug (nice error handling by the way!), but it gives me the feeling the story branches which is nice. To give some constructive feedback:

- When selecting a dialog option there are two options, 1 or 2, but then you say "press e to continue". I would stay consistent with the options, even if 1 and 2 do the same thing, stick to those buttons so the interface is consistent.

- The cats are kind of far apart and since much of the game is walking, they could be closer together.

- It doesn't seem like memorizing which cat is which is very important... so to make it easier on the player, consider naming the cats based on the part of the map their in. IE: South = Salim, East = Erik

Looking forward to your next game!

![caterror.PNG](///raw/529/6/z/5961f.png)
theArtifacts
01. May 2023 · 22:23 UTC
Good work! I only played through once and ran into a bug (nice error handling by the way!), but it gives me the feeling the story branches which is nice. To give some constructive feedback:

- When selecting a dialog option there are two options, 1 or 2, but then you say "press e to continue". I would stay consistent with the options, even if 1 and 2 do the same thing, stick to those buttons so the interface is consistent.

- The cats are kind of far apart and since much of the game is walking, they could be closer together.

- It doesn't seem like memorizing which cat is which is very important... so to make it easier on the player, consider naming the cats based on the part of the map their in. IE: South = Salim, East = Erik

Looking forward to your next game!

![caterror.PNG](///raw/529/6/z/5961f.png)
🎤 Mateu
01. May 2023 · 22:56 UTC
@theartifacts Thanks so much for playing and for the great feedback! It actually appears that you beat the game, but I forgot to re-enable an important gameobject so that's why the error is there. I've re-uploaded new builds that fix the bug! Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Jonathan Vinesar
01. May 2023 · 23:12 UTC
@shamantramp Haha, love the pun. Thank you so much, and thanks for playing!
Jack Sims
02. May 2023 · 00:04 UTC
Catdalf was the coolest cat. I want him on a t-shirt
QuentinVerlhac
02. May 2023 · 00:04 UTC
The cat has a weird tail.
![Screenshot 2023-05-02 at 01.06.32.png](///raw/e2d/f3/z/59aeb.png)
JumboDS64
02. May 2023 · 00:11 UTC
Very cozy game about kitties... I like this a lot. I do think it could benefit from something to make the running around a little less monotonous, though.
Helen
02. May 2023 · 11:02 UTC
Nice game with cute graphics and matching music.
I like that one can choose between answers, but sometimes the answers seem to be exactly the same.
You could have hidden the answer panels when only reading without answer options.
polinnich
02. May 2023 · 16:41 UTC
such a wholesome game! i loved it!
the animations and graphics are also great:)
Lenan
02. May 2023 · 23:04 UTC
Nice game, short but sweet
Naive Games
03. May 2023 · 14:28 UTC
Great graphics and animations
Dan Allison
03. May 2023 · 21:12 UTC
I'm an absolute sucker for isometric pixel art and this game is damn beautiful! It's such an amazing art style, I love it so much. Was fun exploring and having a look around to map while delivering (Music really helped here) despite quite an intense story going on in the background. Was a big fan of the writing as well, wish we had a narative category to vote on as well. Played it through a few times to see the different branches, really impressive how you had a few different branches in place. Great game, very much my kind of game but still great, my favourite of the jam so far!
Jonathan Vinesar
03. May 2023 · 22:05 UTC
@dan-allison You're too kind! I'm glad you could enjoy it!!
Sebastiaan Wouters
04. May 2023 · 13:17 UTC
Great game, super sweet graphics!
Aloya
04. May 2023 · 13:21 UTC
Man, I like this design but there isn't sound. I think some calm music won't get in the way.
🎤 Mateu
04. May 2023 · 13:26 UTC
@aloya theres definitely music and sound. Nobody else has seemed to have a problem with it, so it’s probably something on your computer. If not, check the volume sliders on the main menu?
LDJam user 338234
04. May 2023 · 23:13 UTC
it's wild to have a mouse be a courier to cats, but i'm all here for it! plus points for the cats' funky designs as well.
the distance you need to traverse between cats is reasonable and it's nice that you can spend some of that time reading the letters.
i liked that you get some important choices near the end as well. the one thing i'd suggest is making the choices in the beginning feel like they matter (even if they don't? not sure) by having the options be more different from each other. i would also try to show the "click "e" to continue" message only once instead of double (maybe you could just delete the second choice box when there are no choices to make).
nice work, i had a fun time and the ending i got made me happy!
gamescodedogs
05. May 2023 · 10:48 UTC
Very mice game )))
Follett12
05. May 2023 · 10:55 UTC
This was absolutely incredible. Art was amazing, and the music and sounds really topped it off for me. I love the little pitter patter of the feet when running. Its actually a really amazing concept too, a mouse doing letter delivery for cats.

I would have been great to see more obstacles in the way when running between the different cats, maybe a river to jump as I would have love to have seen more of the amazing art, but understandably this is a game jam so you need to draw the line somewhere. Amazing work guys.
Icerider007
05. May 2023 · 10:58 UTC
This game was very fun to play, despite how minimal it is in terms of gameplay. The music is fitting and the art is pleasing to look at. The story is simple but ended up playing the game twice since I was curious. Replaying it does get a bit tedious though, since you can't fast-forward dialogue
LDJam user 338042
05. May 2023 · 11:03 UTC
Sweet, Short and Simple. A nice little game with cozy art and music. Maybe a smaller map and more dialogue options would have been nice but overall it was pleasant. Also for some reason, my original prompt to read the letter never left so i don't know if it's intended. Good job!
Slightly Ajar
05. May 2023 · 18:12 UTC
This was a fun game to play, and an interesting concept. I do agree with some that it was a little monotonous, but instead of making the map smaller, maybe adding some kind of obstacles or (mouse)traps to avoid would have given it a little more. I do understand the time limit, so overall, good job!
PonyGirlLuna
05. May 2023 · 18:16 UTC
What good are the cats if *I'm* the one making all the decisions here? *I* should be ruling the kingdom, to be honest.

Jokes aside, this was a really cute game! The mouse was adorable and I just couldn't get over the little running sound effect—it was so perfect. The art style and music in general was just so... *cozy*.

A couple things stood out to me while playing. I'd really like to be able to continue dialogue without waiting for the "press e to continue" text to appear. I think it was fine when making decisions for the text to take some time, but when waiting to see what else some cat had to say, it did feel a bit too slow.

And I know this is a game jam and content is difficult to create, but it seemed several/many of the options led to the same outcomes in very similar (or exactly the same) ways. I liked the flavor, but it did end up highlighting when I didn't have choices to make.

Overall, though, I had a really good time running around ~~opening~~delivering everyone's letters!
aweelex
05. May 2023 · 18:32 UTC
The idea is really funny. "Gameplay" is relaxing because of the graphics, music, and all those little details you added. Nice job, guys.
Wolfier
06. May 2023 · 20:40 UTC
I think you did a good job overall, though there was a part where i was reading what the character's were saying and thought "oh that's not gonna work" and then it did. It felt like avoiding the war seemed a bit to easy?
Gog
07. May 2023 · 09:52 UTC
Very nice story and art. King George really had me in the feels :)
Wouter52
07. May 2023 · 14:32 UTC
![Screenshot 2023-05-07 163105.png](///raw/fd4/43/z/5b89c.png) yay :-)

Fun little game! I love the visuals and calming music. The story is well done, great job!
Purrseus
10. May 2023 · 16:34 UTC
Cozy little game! I definitely did not expect a visual novel kind of experience! I really like the atmosphere you created with all the little particle effects and the very, very soothing soundtrack enhancing the story immensely!
Buumiii
12. May 2023 · 08:18 UTC
very pleasant game! feeling cozy and experiencing the purrr joy of that game loved the music and visuals. Overall a really nice and finished game for the Jam!
SenseiMori
17. May 2023 · 18:17 UTC
I think it was a brilliant idea to make a mouse a courier for cats. The kingdom in which Tom defeated Jerry. A cozy little game that's just nice to be in