LudumData

Age of Mail by Swordfish

[raw]
made by Swordfish for Ludum Dare 53 (COMPO)

Screenshot 2023-04-30 220527.png

Age of Mail is a Caribbean mail delivery simulator set during the "Age of Sail" (couldn't pass up that pun).

Gameplay this time around is fairly simple, I focused more on polish for this jam. The game consists of sailing around some islands that vaguely resemble the Caribbean, collecting mail from each port and delivering it to another. The compensation for each delivery depends on how long you take to deliver the post.

Larger towns are marked with a spiked circle while smaller locations have a diamond marker. The larger towns generate mail faster so they're a good place to start looking.

Ultimately I'm happy with how it turned out but I would have liked to add a few more features to flesh out the gameplay more. I spent a lot of time on the art on this one and I think it's some of my best work as someone who doesn't consider themselves an artist. I would have liked to get some sound effects in, but I did add a music track for a bit of ambiance.

Looks like Godot 4's web export won't work here (needs SharedArrayBuffer support I think), but it's working over on itch. I've also got the exe uploaded here if you happen to like it that much.

Itch.io Page (webplayer) https://swordfish-itch.itch.io/age-of-mail
Link https://github.com/FRadford/LDJam53
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/age-of-mail

Ratings

Overall 309th 3.143⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Fun 377th 2.557⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 351th 2.8⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Theme 75th 4.2⭐ 37🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 109th 3.889⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Audio 186th 3.347⭐ 38🧑‍⚖️
Humor 312th 2.183⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Mood 193th 3.338⭐ 36🧑‍⚖️
Given 25🗳️ 39🗨️

Feedback

NaNixDev
01. May 2023 · 03:02 UTC
This game looks great. The focus on the polish shows. I enjoyed sailing around and dropping off mail. I do wish there was more of a game loop. Maybe something to buy with the gold you collect. (Sorry if there was and I just missed it) Very well done though!
LightPotato
01. May 2023 · 06:50 UTC
I liked the graphics here, it gives a unique atmosphere of sailing inside a map. I hope that there were some kind of minimap, it would make those cities easier to find and make players rely less on memorization. Nice job overall :)
🎤 Swordfish
01. May 2023 · 16:59 UTC
@nanixdev Thanks, yeah I was hoping to get some upgrades in to speed and inventory size maybe but that would have a been a fairly involved ui so unfortunately I didn't have time.

@lightpotato Thanks, that's what I was going for! I thought it was an interesting style (and it was easier to draw :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:). A minimap would be a must if the map was much larger, I figured at this scale it works okay without.
Steven Garberg
01. May 2023 · 18:01 UTC
Neat game. I agree with NaNixDev that it could have used a little more in the game loop, but it's still very well polished for what it is. Absolutely love the background song btw. It has a very dreamy feel to it.
kiguel182
01. May 2023 · 18:04 UTC
Great visuals and a very polished game. I thought the inventory UI was really well done and sailing and trying to find the right islands. It as a nice ramp up how at first the challenge is trying to find the city to deliver the mail but, as the game progresses, it's more about getting several packages at once and finding the ideal routes.

Song was great as well.
adam-gould
01. May 2023 · 20:37 UTC
Hey that was cool! I really liked the artstyle (the map-view feel was really nice) and the core gameplay loop was interesting. I definitely think you could have done with a minimap (or just a map that you can pull up to see where everything is), but I understand the restrictions of the 48 hours. Well done!
The Hat Guy
01. May 2023 · 20:38 UTC
Music was great, gameplay was simple and enjoyable and the graphics were pretty good but i felt that the sea image was a bit hard on the eyes. Nice job!
seurimas
01. May 2023 · 20:45 UTC
When thinking of polish, don't forget the mechanical polish, as well! The edges of islands can be very sticky, making certain straits difficult to navigate. If you could have added some sort of reaction to hitting walls (screen shake, bounce off them, whatever seemed appropriate), in addition to pushing those walls back a forgiving distances, it could have made the boat feel more like a boat. Great work, though!
Bit Flipz
01. May 2023 · 20:48 UTC
Highlight: The music

Lowlight: The lack of purpose

All in all a great entry. I was jamming along to the tune of the music as I navigated the seas; the tune perfectly suits the sea sailing theme. It was missing some purpose to the game loop however. If there was a cost for rations/supplies that gave a reason to deliver mail and optimize your route, I think I would have found it more engaging.
🎤 Swordfish
01. May 2023 · 23:15 UTC
@adam-gould yeah a minimap is definitely going on the list of improvements lol.

@the-hat-guy I was worried it might be a bit busy, probably reducing the contrast on that would help.

@seurimas thanks, I was planning on coming back to adjust the hitboxes on the tiles but never got around to it. Couldn't find a way to adjust them numerically in Godot so they don't line up perfectly between tiles. I like that rebound idea, I didn't put much thought into making it feel like sailing honestly.

@bit-flipz I like that rations idea, would give another dimension to it. I had planned on adding pirates to deal with inbetween towns to make it more interesting, but of course, ran out of time.
Cobear25
02. May 2023 · 02:59 UTC
Great game. I like the visuals and the vibe a lot. The way everything works together with cities generating mail and with timers on each one is really cool. My one complaint is that after a little while I didn't feel motivated to keep playing since there's not really an end goal or negative consequences for delivering slowly as far as I can tell. I do like that it's chill though, a lot of these delivery games are very samey and are just a bit stressful, but I would still like some sort of goal to reach.

I'm sure you have plenty ideas in mind and just didn't have time to get them all in.
🎤 Swordfish
02. May 2023 · 20:37 UTC
@cobear25 the only consequence for delivering slowly is that you get less money, but with nothing to do with the money its not much of a problem lol.
LDJam user 202408
04. May 2023 · 16:18 UTC
I like the art style and audio of this game, it's impressive that you found the time to polish a compo game, the gameplay is fairly simple but not bad at all, collision is a bit tricky between islands I think, but this is a great entry for a compo, impressive polish too!
SpaceyLake
04. May 2023 · 21:15 UTC
Simple game but the art was realy good and the music was also nice. Over all a nice mood about the game.
highskies
05. May 2023 · 17:10 UTC
very nice art and an enjoyable experience
LDJam user 235915
05. May 2023 · 17:19 UTC
I really liked the style!)
🎤 Swordfish
06. May 2023 · 01:02 UTC
@0x-void-x0 @spaceylake @highskies @bassilij Thanks for playing! I'm glad everybody seems to have enjoyed the game for the most part (even if its a bit simple gameplay wise). Honestly I'm surprised no one has run into any major bugs so far! I usually expect a few gamebreaking things lol, but this time around everything seems to be pretty smooth (aside from the collision issues).
milq
06. May 2023 · 15:02 UTC
The setting looks fantastic! The use of music and art and the theme chosen like this medieval make it a unique and original game, congratulations! Maybe the music happens to you like in my game, it's a bit repetitive, but it's normal, being in a compo gives very little time to walk. I can only tell you what a great game, congrats!
Richard Baltrusch
06. May 2023 · 19:15 UTC
Really liked the light art style and the mellow music fit the vibe very well! Unfortunately could not figure out how to drop packages off :(
shimmerscale
06. May 2023 · 23:20 UTC
The art looks really nice, like an old map! It was fun to roam around and try to remember where each town was. Simple but nicely polished!
Roroto Sic
07. May 2023 · 19:32 UTC
It was a pleasure to navigate these seas! I played up to 1000 gold coins to see if the game had an end but it seems not. Gameplay is fun, and i like that we manage to remember little by little the map, art and music are great !

![Capture d’écran 2023-05-07 212923.png](///raw/d93/94/z/5b8f3.png)
🎤 Swordfish
08. May 2023 · 00:36 UTC
@richard-baltrusch Thanks! That's a shame, I maybe could have made it clearer how to actually deliver packages? When within range of a town, press space to dock and any packages that have that town as their destination will disappear when moved to the drop-off slot. If the package is bound for a different town, it won't disappear when placed in the drop-off slot (and it'll be highlighted in red). That might be the issue you ran into?

@shimmerscale Thanks for playing! I'm glad the effort I put in to polish shows through.

@roroto-sic Wow you must have played it for quite a while to get up to a thousand! Yeah there's no win or lose conditions to speak of, just a chill experience until you get bored. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
katamary
11. May 2023 · 10:12 UTC
Nice game for the short compo-format! But I was confused first time when I trying to figure out how the delivery works. And especially I didn't understand why the counter on a letter or a package is counting down! Nobody reads the manual! However it's a nice work!
LDJam user 259103
13. May 2023 · 06:48 UTC
Very well-polished. I had to look at the page to figure out how the game loop worked; a bit of an in-game tutorial might be nice (though of course those aren't to be expected in game jams). I played up to 1000 coins, and had a pretty good time. I agree that there should be some way to spend the money---maybe to upgrade your ship? There are also no hazards or even much pressure to deliver quickly, since there is always new mail generating.
JHax
15. May 2023 · 18:41 UTC
The art is really nice, the focus on that's definitely paid off, I especially like when you get to the edges and it shows that the whole thing's like a map on a table - great framing!
NoNiMad
18. May 2023 · 00:35 UTC
Beautiful game with great execution and features! Obviously it would benefit from having a progression of sort, but it's already quite cool as is! Well done!