STOP BURYING ME ALIVE, BEAUTIFUL! by robobarbie

You wake up to your girlfriend burying you alive, and she won't be convinced that you aren't actually dead- one of several problems, it turns out, as you find yourself dealing with rats trying to take a few early bites out of you! And just who is the girl talking to you from underground?

CONTENT WARNINGS:
This game deals with actively being buried alive, as well as a great deal of rats- played mostly comedically, but there all the same.

HOW TO PLAY:
Switch between the screens to manage conversations with Karina and Remie as well as deal with your rodent foes (and friend?).
TEAM:
angela he - art, ost, sfx
robobarbie - programming
destini islands - writing
allie vera - writing, editing

KNOWN BUGS:
- Some of those transitions are pretty jarring
- Some SFX won't play if another SFX is playing (didn't set up enough audio channels..............................................)
- Rollback at ur own risk, that breaks things if u go too far!!!
- If u return to someone who doesn't want you at the end, it acts a bit funny

| Link | https://zephyo.itch.io/buried-alive |
| Link | https://zephyo.itch.io/buried-alive |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/54/stop-burying-me-alive-beautiful |
Ratings
| Overall | 49th | 4.238⭐ | 44🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 536th | 3.488⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 311th | 3.663⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 211th | 4.155⭐ | 44🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 3th | 4.791⭐ | 45🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 46th | 4.188⭐ | 42🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 229th | 3.628⭐ | 41🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 5th | 4.583⭐ | 44🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 27🗳️ | 39🗨️ |
Soothing to find a peaceful cave to play puerile card games after being buried "alive".
!>Guessing I was grasping at any straws i could find to survive. Was playing both sides not in my favor?
At first i felt like I was a hostage trying to convince one of my perpetrators to let me live and manipulate other to save me. But after a while i felt like I was in a dating simulator trying to attract anyone who would save me.
Great entry, enthralling story and beautiful art!
That's all, thanks and congrats for this amazing game
I loved the story and artwork so much, this is so good what the hell
How can something so beautiful and so creepy at the same time be made in a 3 day jam!!! It's genius!
Astonishing work!
Conversations-- I need to go through again a few more times to fully explore both sides but I loved the conversations weaving a back and forth. (First pass I got the ending with Karina welcoming me back. I wish I could have said goodbye to Remie though XD)
Gameplay-- Punching rats was a bit distracting but I liked the idea of bouncing between different conversations with the distraction of the rats. I'm not sure how much the rats affected health (or at least the blood drops on the side is what I assumed it would affect but it never went down even when I ignored them). They definitely contributed to the time pressure of rushing through the conversation (I feel like Remie had some reactivity to if I left mid-conversation to punch a rat but my friend playing at the same time with me felt like the conversation jumped directly back into wherever it was, so am not sure.)
I feel like the card game is, narratively, not meant to be understood XD I got as far as understanding we want to match on either suit, art, or number, but was not sure how to predict the next card (or if we were supposed to be able to) and was not sure if it affected anything.
Finally, I initially thought there was going to be a reference to Bury Me, My Love (the game) or to one of the many songs called Bury Me Alive XD Not needed of course, and if there was, I missed it anyways XD
Also like so many people have mentioned, I'm absolutely floored you made this as a game jam game. A hearty congratulations blessed by the faerie Rat Queen for you all! :mouse: <3
Good job !
But too much distractions with rats who tries to bite you. Don`t know about other people but i really couldn`t stand because of their amount. It distract you when you try to speak with the girls( Maybe it`s just for me.
p.s. gave you the highest score, good luck and thank you!
Speaking of the rats, I've mostly ignored them during the conversations/card games and didn't experience any penalties. If there is a penalty for taking too many rat bites, it takes a while to incur it. I saw on the itch page there were different plans for the card game, but they weren't implemented before the jam deadline. Was the card game going to be a gauge on how well Remie favors you? Early in the game you two don't match often, but as the game progresses you match more often if you're on track for her ending. If so, that would've been cool. If not, what was the plan for the card game?
I don't see anyone else mentioning this, so I guess either incredibly obvious or I'm way off track: I see this as an allegory for a relationship on the rocks. Karina being convinced you're dead is her giving up on it, and the burial is her deciding how to end things. Remie is someone you're having an emotional affair with, with the card game representing spending quality time with her and (if I'm correct about the original function of the card game) connecting with her in a way you can't with Karina. And the rats represent, uh, I don't know. Work/responsibilities? Okay, my interpretation might be falling apart here. But I feel like this game is you deciding whether to save your failing relationship or to just start a new one.
This is easily my favorite game I've played so far this Ludum Dare. I'm definitely following on itch. And I'm not even into visual novels.
I do think that after attaining an ending with one of the girls it would be neat if you could skip the card game/mice, as the prospect of redoing the gameplay bits not related to the dialogue prevented me from seeking out Karina's ending.
The production value for something made as a jam game is just so high it's mind-blowing. Will definitely be returning if just to look at the beautiful art.
I was confused by the rats in the middle --I did always click them to ward them away since the animation and squeak was funny, but I didn't actually realize I was intended to ward them off that way. Also, is the sparkly winged rat the Rat God? If so, I remember getting dialogue along the lines of "The Rat God is real after all" with Remie prior to seeing that rat.
Thanks a lot for this and huge congrats to the team 💖
As I had thought, the art itself is beautiful; the story was also great, but the card game felt like just a cute random pastime. Now I'm downloading the latest version because I want to replay it to see the other endings, and to see what changes were made to the card game :)