First Day Working at Freedomsoft Ltd. by kirsybuu

[raw]
made by kirsybuu for Ludum Dare 54 (JAM)

Cover Image displaying the game title, the main character, and a flag

A short office humor platformer. You're a new hire at Freedomsoft Ltd. and your new boss loves his country and his strangely-shaped office building. It's his private property, so different spaces of the office are limited by silly rules and enforced by an army of security guards! Will you reach the top floor without breaking any rules, will you disregard the rules and get your paycheck cut, or will you sneak around the guards to violate the rules out-of-sight?

Please enjoy my programmer art, simple music, and witty dialog.

Controls: - Move with WASD or Arrow keys. - Interact with people and items with Space.

Notes: - Due to time constraints, the game ends at a broken elevator.

Bugfixes (Oct 17th 23): - The in-game music volume control now works correctly. - The character Lin now has a portrait in the dialog box.

Acknowledgements: - Godot (engine) - Game Jam Template 4 (base code) - Inkscape (drawing) - BeepBox (music) - Pixel Prophecy & community (gamedev inspiration)

Ratings

Overall 891th 3.184⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 760th 3.184⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 355th 3.605⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 1040th 2.789⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 830th 3.105⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 650th 2.737⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 186th 3.711⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Mood 670th 3.421⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 25🗳️ 14🗨️

Feedback

JackOfCups
03. Oct 2023 · 01:21 UTC
REALLY like the concept for this game, and found the stick figure art charming. The way the cops sort of spaz between fall and walk as the descend a ramp is neat. I played through it twice cause I forgot to talk to all the people with space, and found the dialogue amusing. Obviously any future releases need to implement unicycles.

Nice job!
NicolasJL9
03. Oct 2023 · 01:36 UTC
Love this!
raassh23
03. Oct 2023 · 01:55 UTC
I didn't realize that you can actually talk to people before i saw @jackofcups's comment, I was so confused what I am supposed to do lol. You should add some kind of indicator for things that the character can interact with next time. Other than that, it was pretty nice
FireSlash
03. Oct 2023 · 05:19 UTC
I wasn't expecting the depth of mechanics here when I opened this up. It's pretty neat!

Stick art is disarmingly cute. I also didn't notice you could talk to people, a quick tutorial would have been nice to just warm the player up to what's going on.

Overall pretty cool entry.
Tudvari
03. Oct 2023 · 08:44 UTC
Loved the little, detailed, silly conversations, made the game feel funny and immersive. The difficulty curve was good, nearly reached the broken elevator with 7 dollars. :| I was hoping for a grand meeting with the boss, with a big puncline or something. Maybe you could do a part II? :D Cool entry, I didn't find any glitches too, so keep up the good work! :)
Jiri Hysek
03. Oct 2023 · 19:34 UTC
Those absurd rules and security all over the place was hilarious :smiley: Also dialogues were great fit, it was a funny little game. Btw. does it have end? I reached the top level (at least I think so) and didn't know what to do next... anyway, today I'm paying boss to work here :)
🎤 kirsybuu
03. Oct 2023 · 21:43 UTC
Thanks for the feedback so far! I agree there should have been indicators and/or tutorials for interactions, sorry for anyone who didn't chat with the characters on their first playthrough! The broken elevator is the end, sadly I ran out of time to make a boss encounter. I would definitely address both of these in a potential expanded post-jam version.
INCD021
05. Oct 2023 · 18:51 UTC
Was that a Fallout 4 reference?
Nice take on the theme, fun interactions :smile: Music is driving me nuts, but that's OK..
The out of service elevator was a surprise.
Great job. :thumbsup:
commanderstitch
09. Oct 2023 · 04:53 UTC
I felt like I was flying through an art book made by very overactive artists haha. :D
Frank Gevaerts
09. Oct 2023 · 22:00 UTC
Found my way to the broken elevator with $1, I'm rich! :)

Very neat idea! It all works pretty well, Welcome to Ludum Dare!
BangKerpow
10. Oct 2023 · 02:10 UTC
The art has a charm to it I kind of like actually. I appreciate that there's animation. Tables having collision and water coolers not having collision was a little confusing because there was no visual difference to indicate it. At least, I didn't notice an indication. I really like the odd rules per level. That's a really cool touch to a stealth game. Welcome to LD!

My playthrough was cropped...oddly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPasKSixWwU
🎤 kirsybuu
10. Oct 2023 · 02:49 UTC
Thanks for playing everyone and glad to hear your enjoyment!

@bangkerpow I appreciate the playthrough, and sorry the tables weren't graphically different. I didn't see you chat with the characters either; it should have been clear in-game that it is possible. If you haven't yet, consider replaying and interacting with everyone!
Frank Gevaerts
11. Oct 2023 · 10:38 UTC
@kirsybuu (not trying to be arrogant, I just know it's your first LD and these things are not always obvious :) ) based on the metrics, I'd recommend trying to comment more on games, you get karma for comments people like, which will push your game up in the smart balance list. (and similar, if you like good feedback, it will help out the people who commented)
Tiseno
14. Oct 2023 · 08:24 UTC
Didn't understand how to finish the level with the elevator under construction :thinking:
LDJam user 301711
15. Oct 2023 · 00:56 UTC
Neat idea for a platformer, its a pretty saturated genre so seeing something like this with a cool spin on the mechanics is nice. Well done.
MrTroy
16. Oct 2023 · 01:25 UTC
I made it to the broken elevator with $1 left. When I was in the gauntlet of guards I didn't think to just ignore them and take the pay cut to get where I needed to. Congrats on your first Ludum Dare. I hope to see you around for more!
fabula_rasa
16. Oct 2023 · 15:12 UTC
What I really like here is the concept. The idea of different areas of the office having different limitations is great. Allowing the player to choose her own path (whether you want to sneakily break the rules or damn the consequences and just bull-rush through) is also neat. You set up some interesting mini-stories withing the game, which compel the player to explore the levels and talk to people.

There really should be some indication that the game has ended. Anything would do: write "the end" on the elevator under construction, pop up any kind of end screen, just exit out of the game a few seconds after we reach that elevator, or even write on LD page that the game end when you reach that elevator. Right now, you leave the player "in limbo" - there is no more game to be had, but the player does not know that, and can still move around. So it just leads to confusion and pondering, what to do and where to go, and what did I do wrong. Not a very strong note to end the game on :wink:

Congratulations on successfully finishing your first LD entry! And hope to see you next jam :smile:
🎤 kirsybuu
17. Oct 2023 · 18:47 UTC
Thanks for the continued feedback! I have added a note to the description about the abrupt ending for future players.