The Newspaper Deliver by jk5000

[raw]
made by jk5000 for Ludum Dare 53 (COMPO)

You are the new newsboy. So your task is to ensure that everyone gets their newspapers. Remember you must do everything in the world to avoid smashing the customers' new windows when you throw the newspaper in to them.

You can always see who your customers are because they always have a newspaper sign lying in the garden.

Controls:

  • A and D to move left and right.

  • Left and right arrow to throw the newspaper to the left or right. Alternatively, the J and K keys can also be used. (Hold down the key to gain power, but don't give it too much power because then you risk to smash some windows).

  • Escape to quit the game.

  • R to restart the game.

Important rules to know: - You start the game with 6 life's. When you have no more life's left you loose the game. - There is 3 ways to loose a life: 1) If you don't deliver a paper to a customer. 2) If you smash a window. 3) If drive into a car. - You do also lose the game if you run out fuel. - You earn and looses money in the game, and the goal to earn as much as you can. - The way to earn and lose money is: 1) Deliver a paper gives $2.00. 2) Smash a window costs $8.00. 3) Not delivering paper to a customer costs $0.50. - The bike is slow in the beginning, but it gets faster and faster over time.

Good luck and have fun

Skærmbillede.JPG

The game is made with:

  • Unreal Engine 5.1
  • LMMS
  • Blender
  • Inkscape
  • Gimp
  • Audacity

Ratings

Overall 275th 3.286⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Fun 263th 3.155⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 352th 2.798⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Theme 124th 4.06⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 259th 3.357⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Audio 154th 3.464⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Humor 78th 3.595⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Mood 246th 3.107⭐ 44🧑‍⚖️
Given 99🗳️ 112🗨️

Feedback

aushijo
01. May 2023 · 07:02 UTC
nostalgic
kgurniak91
01. May 2023 · 07:06 UTC
Endless runner where you have to do many things at once and be careful not to run out of resources (health, papers, fuel). Pretty cool but a little unfair at times, I literally got 0 fuel pickups during one of the runs and lost pretty quickly even though I played perfectly. I'd tinker with game variables more - throw power should fill up less quickly and the bike should be faster to drive and turn, but overall I liked it.
Tom Cumpsty
01. May 2023 · 07:09 UTC
Good entry but felt a little slow. Might have been better to increase the speed of the bike.
🎤 jk5000
01. May 2023 · 07:35 UTC
@kgurniak91 @tom-cumpsty Thank you for playing the game. The bike gets faster and faster over time, and yes I know it starts very slow, but there is also a lot things to do when you are new to the game. The turning is a bit slow, because if I made it much faster the game gets way too easy. And yes the randomness can make it difficult to get very far, but in my testing its mostly an issue in the first part of the game.
khaotom
01. May 2023 · 07:56 UTC
Love the irate customer audio :lollipop:
Rakowu
01. May 2023 · 14:12 UTC
Solid game. I find the UI gameover animation very successful. The music is also appropriate. If there was anything I could suggest for improvement, it would be to adjust the lighting a little. Either with street lanterns or with the bloom effect. You can get a lot out of that. But I also understand that you have to concentrate on the most necessary things in such a short time. And for that I think the game is more than successful. I also find the controls very pleasant.
fnelix
01. May 2023 · 14:38 UTC
Hey I know that game ;) Very nice, I really liked the customer voices. Could use some more lighting, cool entry!
Roboolet
01. May 2023 · 14:55 UTC
Nice and fun game with charming audio and visuals, not the first game of it's kind but i think it's executed well nonetheless. Controls feel a bit sluggish (especially throwing the newspapers), and the random generation is a bit unbalanced (ranging from impossible to peaceful).
Other than that though, good game overall
Fabian Denter
01. May 2023 · 16:23 UTC
Classic endless runner experience that works really well and fits the theme. I think it could get faster a little, well, faster ;) The audio was a nice personal touch and overall this is a very solid entry, well done!
taran95
02. May 2023 · 10:53 UTC
nice and fun game. love the concept. fits the theme well. adding more lights would make it feel more lively. well done 👍
nekowei
02. May 2023 · 12:40 UTC
The audio is relly funny ;) To get the proper power throwing papers is a bit challenging. It might be better if the bike can speed up.
Scorpion
02. May 2023 · 19:05 UTC
I made a similar game. At first I was going to make the same exact game inspired by Paperboy (1985) but then the fan of my laptop's gpu broke due to which I had to change the theme but I still manage to finish in time
Alec Viera
03. May 2023 · 03:56 UTC
Loved the voice over, it adds a fun personality to it :)
I think I'll have to agree with other comments that it felt a bit sluggish, but there was quite a bit of fun to be had in trying to nail a delivery right before the green hedges appeared. Nice job.
🎤 jk5000
03. May 2023 · 06:03 UTC
@alec-viera I believe most of sluggishness comes from the fact it take a bit of time to learn to understand the controls and how it works. But there might also be an issue if you run it on a pc that have issues running the game.
Rezioz
03. May 2023 · 14:06 UTC
Love the voice dub :laughing: that's my opinion but I think the gameplay could have been a little more nervous in order to keep us entertained longer :)
milano23
04. May 2023 · 15:29 UTC
Nice simple game. I made it to 88.50. Nice graphics and sound. Controls were easy to use and they worked. Good job getting it down in 48 hours.
kiguel182
04. May 2023 · 16:33 UTC
Nice, simple game. Well executed, especially the throw mechanic.

I'm not sure what I was doing wrong but despite making money in the end the customers were not getting the newspaper and it said "0 delivered". It might have been a bug.

The only thing I would change is maybe it could start a bit faster. Everything else was great and the sound effects were very funny!
🎤 jk5000
04. May 2023 · 17:36 UTC
@kiguel182 I believe the number you see as delivered, is the number of newspapers you have left. When you have no left you can't deliver more papers, and you need to collect some more papers. There is no way to see how many papers you have delivered. The goal in the game is to earn as many money as possible, so you played the game the right way.
Kilthorne
05. May 2023 · 04:53 UTC
"Didn't I pay for a Newspaper?"
Couldn't stop playing it
AffinityChris
05. May 2023 · 05:03 UTC
"Why did you break my window?" I love it
arron-fowler
05. May 2023 · 15:14 UTC
Great voice work. I genuinely had a good time playing this game. The simple game loop was satisfying and not too safe. The power for the throw was nicely balanced. If I had to ask for improvement maybe the bike could have moved with a bit more fluidity. Minor thing. Really solid entry
megalukes
06. May 2023 · 14:56 UTC
I found the voices really fun, that was great. Overall, great entry for the Unreal Engine community. I liked the graphics as well. Great!
Alexsandro
06. May 2023 · 15:31 UTC
Great game! I really liked it, the only thing I would like to change in the gameplay is related to the sensitivity of the power bar to throw the newspapers, in my opinion it takes a long time compared to the speed of the player on the road. But congratulations excellent game.
someone
06. May 2023 · 15:59 UTC
That was really good. The voices were a great addition.
I scored 167, the speed was starting to get tricky.
Firespike33
07. May 2023 · 06:03 UTC
I liked this a lot more than I expected to. The throw mechanic is pretty dang fun. Also lol at the voice clips
Praccen
07. May 2023 · 15:20 UTC
I like it, nice that there were a couple different things to keep track of! I felt like the game could have been a bit brighter!
MacDoom
08. May 2023 · 01:53 UTC
Fun game. Took some tries to get the driving feel. Had lots of fun playin it. Loved the audio details. Good JOb!
MacDoom
08. May 2023 · 01:53 UTC
Fun game. Took some tries to get the driving feel. Had lots of fun playin it. Loved the audio details. Good JOb!
MacDoom
08. May 2023 · 02:09 UTC
Loved paperboy as a kid. Nice adaptation, loved the tune and the voiceacting. Good job!
LDJam user 263763
08. May 2023 · 21:12 UTC
I really liked! I like de simple and clean UI and art, nice music and sounds, like the mechanics to, I think could be nice some variations in the house and car models, also de curve of dificulty was a little hard but I made more than u$ 70, I have fun, cool entry!
Rodrigo Denúbila
09. May 2023 · 04:17 UTC
The voice acting is the icing on the cake! Good job!
Kreshi
13. May 2023 · 09:49 UTC
Great concept, great gameplay and great audio! Well done :).
Petronus
14. May 2023 · 08:56 UTC
Nice graphics and voice over, unfortunately the music is a little bit slow and maybe distracts from the other sounds. I like the pickups and the idea of fuel (although I had the problem that I did not find too much fuel on the road like some testers before, even if you play good). Its the kind of idea I had in my mind also for my game, but could implement by far less, just very basics. So your approach, also with the marked houses to deliver too, is really nice.

Overall: Good match to the theme, fun endlessrunner, with a little bit more speedy music would even encourage more :smile: Good job on this contribution to the LD!
JakobTheQuizGuy
14. May 2023 · 17:19 UTC
Nice game yet again! The controls are intuitive and the gameplay is varied enough to be engaging. Funny voice-overs is definitely your style and it's very welcome in this entry as well. Like others have mentioned, the music left a bit to be desired but the sound effects are good. I like your accent, min danska granne.
fabula_rasa
14. May 2023 · 17:29 UTC
Simple yet fun! The voice sound effects are great, and the music is repetitive but fitting, and it adds a rhythm to the whole experience.

The growing pace of the game is well-implemented and it holds interest. Although the bike feels a bit too sluggish at the start. I found myself replaying a bit - so the whole gameplay is engaging. I think it would be nice if there was a way to cancel the charged throw. Lacking that function, I learned to aim at trees when I charged the arrow too much :grin:, to avoid breaking a window.

I think the graphics could use more light, life, vividness - however you want to call it. The sparse lighting and muted colors with little contrast create this gloomy atmosphere that goes contrary to the music and the theme. At least, in my opinion.

Overall, a very nice jam entry!

![Screenshot_5.jpg](///raw/732/a2/z/5bc21.jpg)
island-jam-2-group-3
15. May 2023 · 21:53 UTC
The bike is maybe too slow :-P but I liked the game, specially the graphics / sound / mood. Congrats!
ScrapMetal
17. May 2023 · 11:58 UTC
No matter how I did, it said I didn't deliver a newspaper to a customer. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

It took me a sec to figure out that I needed to throw newspapers to the newspapers. (And I'm still not sure that's right, but at least I made money, instead of negative dollars on my first few tries. lol).

The voiceover audio is so great!! Sometimes I deliberately smashed windows just to hear the reaction. :joy:

The biggest points of feedback I would have would be:

1) The speed of the steering on the bike. The overall speed forward was fine. Any faster and the game wouldn't be as fun. But the speed side to side just made things feel sluggish overall. Snapping that up a bit would make this feel nice.

2) I loved the throw mechanic, but I think it would've felt more fun if that bar filled faster. I just wanted to sort of flick newspapers. And it felt like I had to wait a full 5 sec or something for a full meter. Once the bike sped up, I couldn't throw fast enough and it just got too frustrating. If that filled faster, it would be this fun little mini-game trying to get it in that sweet spot in time.

There were some great things here that made for a fun experience.
- Trying to dodge cars
- Throw newspapers at the right speed
- Deliver newspapers to the right houses
- Pickup more papers
- Pickup more fuel? :thinking: Oh, I guess I was on a moped! :rofl:
- All while not hitting cars! :open_mouth:

That was a lot to think about and balance as a player that made me try multiple times. I think with a little tuning on some of those, this would be a great little game.

Was a nice nod to the classic. :newspaper2:
🎤 jk5000
20. May 2023 · 19:36 UTC
@aushijo, @kgurniak91, @tom-cumpsty, @khaotom, @fnelix, @roboolet, @fabian-denter, @taran95, @nekowei, @scorpion, @alec-viera, @rezioz, @milano23, @kiguel182, @kilthorne, @arron-fowler, @megalukes, @alexsandro, @someone, @firespike33, @praccen, @macdoom, @dreamerflow, @rodrigo-denubila, @kreshi, @petronus, @jakobthequizguy, @fabula-rasa, @island-jam-2-group-3, @scrapmetal

Thank you all for playing, rating and given feedback to my game.

So what do I think about my LD 53 game. I think the idea is pretty boring, but I felt like making something that felt like a game. I'm use to make a lot of games that don't really feels or looks like games, so I wanted to make something a bit more normal. The controls is something I am okay with, it takes a bit time to get use to, but I actually think it's okay. The games speed is perhaps a bit slow, but there is also a lot to do, and in the beginning where you have to learn to master the controls, I actually think it's okay that it's pretty slow. But I know when you are in a rush to play a lot of jam games, it maybe feels a bit too slow. The visuals is something I overall like, and darkness is part of the way I want the game to look like.The music is bad!!! The voice over idea is okay, but I could done it a bit better.

Overall I am okay with the game, and I like playing it, but I wish that I have gotten a better and more interesting idea.

I hope to see all of you in the next LD.
ScrapMetal
20. May 2023 · 21:32 UTC
@jk5000 That’s a pretty interesting evaluation. And I kind of felt that way when I was brainstorming. I had other ideas that felt more unique or original, but ultimately went with the one I thought would be most fun to work on or make.