LudumData

They Took Our Jobs! by Bit Flipz

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

they-took-our-jobs.png

Description

The CEO Beff Jezos of a nondescript warehouse has just fired a department full of employees to be replaced by an autonomous robot. In this game you will take on the role of the AI powering the robot and attempt to do the work meant for multiple employees. Are you able to keep up in the fast pace environment of the warehouse or will you burnout just as the humans did? There are a total of 4 levels (high difficulty). Try to make it to the end (or find the secret ending).

Created by Bit Flipz

Controls

Keyboard

[WASD] to move

[Space] to interact with packages

[Arrow Keys] to teleport to front of conveyor belts (not unlocked at start)

[Shift] to overclock; slowing down time relative to the robot (not unlocked at start)

[Enter] to continue to the next level

Gamepad

Easier to play with keyboard, but option exists

[Left Stick] to move

[A/X] to interact with packages

[D-Pad or Right Stick] to teleport to front of conveyor belts (not unlocked at start)

[X/S] to overclock; slowing down time relative to the robot (not unlocked at start)

[Start] to continue to the next level

Notes

Music uploaded to soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/x27Yw

Yes, the title is a reference to South Park

itch.io https://bit-flipz.itch.io/they-took-our-jobs
Original URL https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/they-took-our-jobs

Ratings

Overall 454th 3.7⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Fun 476th 3.552⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 598th 3.328⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Theme 187th 4.293⭐ 31🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 691th 3.55⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Audio 375th 3.554⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Humor 294th 3.589⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Mood 577th 3.554⭐ 30🧑‍⚖️
Given 24🗳️ 37🗨️

Feedback

AdamLenglen
30. Apr 2023 · 19:06 UTC
Pretty cool !
LDJam user 299757
01. May 2023 · 02:24 UTC
Was this a south park reference. Jokes aside, great game!
🎤 Bit Flipz
01. May 2023 · 02:47 UTC
@triangle-point Haha yes it is. Glad you noticed that reference :)
k-s-raj
01. May 2023 · 06:41 UTC
nice game
Tom Cumpsty
01. May 2023 · 08:54 UTC
good entry, love the title
unkilledshadow135_Alex
01. May 2023 · 21:37 UTC
WOW!!! Honestly, I enjoyed this gameplay SO much!!!
Also, this web browser screen is really cool! It's hard to play after the beginning but i gues that's skill issue :)
August1413
01. May 2023 · 22:54 UTC
Great game, really like the graphics :)
🎤 Bit Flipz
01. May 2023 · 23:06 UTC
@unkilledshadow135-alex I'm really glad you liked the gameplay and the post-processing effects! I apologize somewhat for the difficulty, but I did intend for it to have a sharp difficulty curve since there are only 4 levels. The first level was meant to be more of a tutorial than anything else. Maybe you'll feel up to giving it another go sometime and try to get to the next level (there's a hint in the game over text that might help your strategy).
Sadka8
01. May 2023 · 23:25 UTC
I love how frantic it gets later on in the game, it made me become a bit hectic in my inputs because of how fast-paced it became, I loved that it kept you on your toes!
🎤 Bit Flipz
01. May 2023 · 23:56 UTC
@sadka8 haha that was exactly the intention so I am glad that was your experience. Thanks for your comment!
BezedH
02. May 2023 · 01:10 UTC
It is a nice game ! GG doing that solo handing both code Art, simple art is not bad art at all ! Nice title too, it bring me here directly :D
Brandon Campbell
02. May 2023 · 05:13 UTC
This is really solid game and a cool idea! My only complaint is how hard it is.
BagHz
02. May 2023 · 07:34 UTC
Nice game ! Really would have loved to find the secret ending, but since second level ; was too hard for my casual skills ^^ The kind of "sad" 8-bits main music theme fits well with the name of your game though :)
PronomicalArtist
02. May 2023 · 10:30 UTC
Solid game! Very challenging, but the gameplay was easy to understand. Good entry overall.
jdah
02. May 2023 · 11:52 UTC
Well executed simple concept! with more polish I feel like a speed boost bonus (maybe as as a small reward for dropping off packages?) or the ability to carry multiple packages would help tension in the game. not that it needs a lot more tension/stress though :)

Other things:
* it could be a little clearer how the return mechanic works, I was a little confused in the start
* music is perfectly stressful
Space_Games
02. May 2023 · 16:36 UTC
I like the idea behind it!
Drafy
02. May 2023 · 16:43 UTC
simple but great graphics , it was pretty dificult at level 3 but fun :D
LDJam user 268300
02. May 2023 · 17:14 UTC
Such a great entry! Funnest game of the jam so far and I loved the humor in it. Really well done
🎤 Bit Flipz
02. May 2023 · 20:21 UTC
@bezedh Thanks, I appreciate it! I typically do the programming work when on a team, so the graphics and audio work was new territory for me. In the end I am really happy with what I made and I learned a lot of new skills.
🎤 Bit Flipz
02. May 2023 · 20:24 UTC
@baghz I'm glad you liked the music and I appreciate you giving the game a try. The levels definitely are difficult until you learn the strategies to beat them. What if I told you that the secret ending is possible to achieve on any level? Maybe you might want to give it another go and figure it out :wink:
🎤 Bit Flipz
02. May 2023 · 20:31 UTC
@jdah Glad you liked the game and thanks for sharing your ideas and criticisms. Both of your ideas sound good. The carrying multiple boxes one I probably wouldn't want to implement for the first levels, but I add an additional feature each level after level 2 so I could see this being one of those "upgrades" to the robot if I ever made more levels.
🎤 Bit Flipz
02. May 2023 · 20:34 UTC
@drafy Hey congratulations for making it to level 3! By the sounds of some of the comments, not everyone is making it that far. It does make me slightly regret choosing the high difficulty since most of you are only really able to review my game for the first half of it rather than the whole thing. Level 3 is honestly my favorite because you unlock the teleportation ability and you can really get into the rhythm of it.
🎤 Bit Flipz
02. May 2023 · 20:36 UTC
@arachnid56 Wow! Thank you for such a high praise! Hopefully this isn't the first game you have reviewed :laughing: Did you manage to complete the game?
ScalphaMission
02. May 2023 · 21:18 UTC
it felt a bit like the back and forth with the packages wasn't nearly responsive enough to keep up with the multiple inbound packages at once. check out my live review at https://www.twitch.tv/scalphamission
Patrick Abernathy
02. May 2023 · 21:29 UTC
I died very quickly learning the controls. It was fun to play and I couldn't help but laugh though.
cireneikual222464
02. May 2023 · 21:33 UTC
Cool game, I am really bad at it though - the inbound packages get crazy quickly! I sometimes picked up and put down a package accidentally immediately again a few times. Perhaps a slight delay for that belt would help, or maybe I just need to git gud.
🎤 Bit Flipz
02. May 2023 · 22:00 UTC
@cireneikual222464 Haha glad you liked it. I did wonder about putting in a very tiny cooldown on picking up/putting down packages to avoid accidents like that. Thanks for the feedback!
big-cow
02. May 2023 · 23:33 UTC
I love the dystopian, near-future very plausible reality presented in a humorous way. It was surprisingly cathartic playing as a robot worker. i like the pixel art and audio too.
Wevel
03. May 2023 · 15:21 UTC
Great game. The first level made me think it would be easy, and then the second level showed me otherwise :)
Real_Human_1000
04. May 2023 · 21:15 UTC
I like the postprocessing effects on the intro and gameover screens. Difficulty definitely ramps up. There were definitely situations that I thought were unwinnable, when two or three boxes all fell off the conveyor belt at the same time. I found that you could slow it down a little bit by completely ignoring one of the trucks in the second level, but eventually it would go off on its own and return with packages. Did you make the music? It sounds great!
dusho
05. May 2023 · 19:08 UTC
cool package handler game.. reminds me of some old 8-bit games.. nice idea with the counters.. the speed change from level 1 to 2 was a bit drastic.. overall really good game !
aile
05. May 2023 · 21:41 UTC
So clever idea! I understand the gameplay was meant to be a little more challenging, but it didnt really bother me. One reason is that the goal of the game was very clear - you HAVE to perform well if you don't want to get terminated.

Possibly, the downside to high difficulty is that the players miss out on interesting content, aka the upgrades. Maybe give them easier, so that the player has all the tools, then release the hounds so to speak haha.

I got overwhelmed on the second level but might be due to my lazyness to follow any strategy. Loved the business-minded texts between the levels, they were spot on! Same with the music!

Saw in the info that there is a secret ending, which is definitely motivating for replay :)
🎤 Bit Flipz
06. May 2023 · 03:53 UTC
@real-human-1000 I did make the music and it was the first time I have ever done that kind of work (I typically do the programming work and have teammates to do the artistic stuff) so I am thrilled that you liked it! You are on the right track for coming up with the strategy to beat the levels. It does involve managing when the trucks go out so that you only deal with 1 or 2 belts at a time, but they have a schedule to keep and you will get a strike if they are forced to leave before they get all their packages (the light signals how much time they have left). Maybe you can figure out the strategy with these hints.
🎤 Bit Flipz
06. May 2023 · 03:58 UTC
@aile I really appreciate your comments and that you understood what I was going for, thank you. I agree that the downside to making it difficult was that people miss out on being able to experience and review my entire game. I will definitely learn from this and in the future always include an "easy" mode option if I make another difficult game so that people can experience all the work that went into it even if it isn't the "intended" way to play the game.
Jackaljk
08. May 2023 · 12:48 UTC
The gameplay is fun and the concept and setting are really cool! I love that you have to deal with the returning packages. Difficulty spikes a lot on the second level, in particular the returning packages tend to arrive simultaneously on different tracks and I am physically unable to take both and I lose. Am I missing something? Anyway I realize you only had a few levels but this sharp difficulty means most of us fellow jammers won't be able to play all of the game and experience all of the mechanics. I'd suggest you always keep it easy in jams and rump it up in post jam versions.
SleepyStudios
13. May 2023 · 15:34 UTC
Simple gameplay but it works well! Figuring out the rules for the strikes took me some time, but that's probably because I read through the rules at the beginning too quickly..
amarokczukay
19. May 2023 · 00:26 UTC
i love how the game goes to "ok this is easy, just put some package here" to "fqhsfijsh here no heeeere left right right right no no no"!

this is a really addictive game but i wasn't even able to unlock the 2nd upgrade, i got overwhelmed with the arrow keys haha
🎤 Bit Flipz
20. May 2023 · 00:28 UTC
@amarokczukay haha yes the feeling of chaos and panic is exactly what I was going for. I'm just thrilled to hear that you were able to get enough of a hang of the game to get to the third level! Thanks for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed it :)