Infernal Refreshments by MissingPixel

[raw]
made by MissingPixel for Ludum Dare 55 (COMPO)

Screenshot (75).png

"Help, my soul's trapped in a vending machine!" A common phrase among the demons of the world. Ever since Exorcists discovered vending machines produced powerful vessels, demons the world over have been trapped. It's your job as a summoner, to release these creatures, and allow them to run amok once more.

A challenging point & click puzzle game where you must figure out what order and combination of drinks is required to release your fiendish associates.

Infernal Gif.gif

/game/img?e=LD55&gid=93404&u=/game/img?e=LD55&gid=93404&u=//Change-log:

April 16 2024: Fixed a few typos.

Ratings

Overall 163th 3.544⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Fun 208th 3.261⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 81th 3.761⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Theme 192th 3.511⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 37th 4.185⭐ 48🧑‍⚖️
Audio 64th 3.744⭐ 47🧑‍⚖️
Humor 133th 3.105⭐ 45🧑‍⚖️
Mood 169th 3.352⭐ 46🧑‍⚖️
Given 32🗳️ 74🗨️

Feedback

nickCherns
15. Apr 2024 · 04:42 UTC
I really enjoyed your visuals and the mechanics. Something refreshing and challenging!
ZeroByter
15. Apr 2024 · 04:44 UTC
Cool graphics! :)
🎤 MissingPixel
15. Apr 2024 · 06:41 UTC
@zerobyter, @nickcherns
Thanks for the feedback! :)
OadT
15. Apr 2024 · 07:45 UTC
That was quite challenging :smile: I would have preferred if the effects were displayed as a table all the time, because I always noticed patterns leading to the solution (like e.g "only these turn red odd" etc) but it was a bit difficult for me to utilize it because I always had to recheck which bottle was which effect. But overall pretty nice puzzle mechanic.

Also great work on the graphics and music! Only one thing there: The tutorial font is uneasy to read because of the white one pixel border. Making the border thicker probably would solve the issue. Cool entry!
🎤 MissingPixel
15. Apr 2024 · 08:41 UTC
@oadt Thanks for playing! I was on the fence about adding a table thinking it might trivialize the game, but given how tough later levels got, I probably should've added it. Good to keep in mind for next time I guess! :laughing:
LDJam user 4886
15. Apr 2024 · 09:35 UTC
That table idea is a good one! I spend a lot of time reading which beberage makes what :D Fun little puzzle game, well done!
asatrain
15. Apr 2024 · 16:44 UTC
A very good game and good graphics. I would suggest, as an improvement, to show the parameters of objects near the object itself, so that the player does not have to constantly run his eyes left and right. Also, you may figure out how to beautifully and conveniently display these parameters on each item always, without hovering. You can also add an explosion effect when you click on an object. Good luck!
alanbrook
15. Apr 2024 · 19:43 UTC
Wow - this is probably the most difficult game I have yet played in this compo. Fun; I am going to come back to it. Embarrassingly I got stuck only on level 3 or 4. It feels exactly like a sega genesis game!
PieRo_PBeS_studio
15. Apr 2024 · 21:39 UTC
yeah graphics, sound and all the feedback for the player are really cool. The puzzle is really puzzling !
🎤 MissingPixel
16. Apr 2024 · 01:51 UTC
@notnasiul
Thanks for playing! Glad you enjoyed it!

@asatrain
Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely look into other ways to display the parameters in the future.

@paprigames
Thanks! The can detail was actually what inspired the idea.

@alanbrook
Haha thanks, I realized after making it that level 3 would be a difficulty spike, given more time I would've liked to ramp it up more smoothly.

@piero-pbes-studio
**"The puzzle is really puzzling"** is the funniest feedback I've received yet. :laughing:
LDJam user 382819
16. Apr 2024 · 03:12 UTC
Oh man, what you've pulled off by yourself is just mind-blowing, my friend! Your game is seriously impressive and so polished. These puzzles are wicked smart – hard to believe they were dreamed up in such a short time. I'm already tearing my hair out – my brain is on fire!
🎤 MissingPixel
16. Apr 2024 · 03:26 UTC
@drgcandle Haha thanks a lot. I lost a lot of sleep working on this, glad you enjoyed it!
Uzz2z
16. Apr 2024 · 03:59 UTC
The font in the beginner's tutorial makes it difficult for me to recognize,but I dig the art style and the puzzles—they really get my noggin spinning!
LDJam user 372150
16. Apr 2024 · 05:00 UTC
This was a really fun play! The puzzles are so interesting! And it's all so well polished so I am very impressed.
🎤 MissingPixel
16. Apr 2024 · 05:12 UTC
@uzz2z, @vegeo Thanks for playing! :smile:
koro.games
16. Apr 2024 · 06:55 UTC
Game is lit! Idea + clever power-ups = fun times. Recomend to try it!
Rob6566
16. Apr 2024 · 07:12 UTC
Fun game! I loved the music and art. The font in the tutorial was a little hard to read. It would also have been nice to see the effects of all cans at once, without having to hover and remember them. Nice work putting together such a cool puzzle game so quickly.
bentglasstube
16. Apr 2024 · 07:33 UTC
Very nice puzzle game. I really enjoyed the art and music. Once I got to the second level with purple cans I got stuck and had to go to bed. Great game to finish the night with.
khaotom
16. Apr 2024 · 07:37 UTC
Very clever balancing act having to take into account minimum and maximum values. You used that to good effect in the puzzles. And adding in the half dollar was a truly diabolical move. Excellent!
🎤 MissingPixel
16. Apr 2024 · 08:08 UTC
@rob6566
Thanks for playing! I've got a lot of feedback on the font so I'll probably fix it in the future :laughing:

@bentglasstube
Glad you enjoyed it! That happened to be both the last and hardest level so it's completely fair to get stuck on it.

@khaotom
Yeah, making use of the minimum and maximum was something I actually figured out half-way through development. After realizing it I knew I just had to hone in on it. Glad you had a great time!
LDJam user 298496
16. Apr 2024 · 09:51 UTC
An interesting idea really nicely presented, but a little too difficult for me!
Pigeonescu
16. Apr 2024 · 10:03 UTC
Cool idea, summoning a demon from a vending machine. It took me a bit to understand the mechanic but it was really fun.
JHax
16. Apr 2024 · 10:11 UTC
Very solid concept and well put together - I think my brain's still a bit too fried from finishing the jam to get too far into it. But I'd like to come back to it when I'm feeling a bit fresher! Definitely a game to be played with a pencil and paper to really puzzle it out XD
Whismirk
16. Apr 2024 · 13:11 UTC
Looks and feels extremely polished, well done ! Pretty funny premise, and having to balance the different values is an interesting mechanic to boot, even though it quickly gets pretty challenging. Impressive job !
dvdagames
16. Apr 2024 · 13:20 UTC
This sound track is :fire:.
semenov
16. Apr 2024 · 15:14 UTC
The drink vending machine summons demons. Great. I got it done the 3rd time.
OldDog
16. Apr 2024 · 15:31 UTC
love this game art style . the pixels are so good, game playing is a little hard,wish for more content
LightningST
16. Apr 2024 · 17:29 UTC
Great game!

I wish that the stats were somehow visible on the item instead of having to hover over.

The art was pretty great though!
Impalpable
16. Apr 2024 · 17:36 UTC
The puzzles were really well balanced/thought out, the music is in my head now! A smart game!
ColeSlaughter
16. Apr 2024 · 22:52 UTC
Ack, so much to keep track of!!

This one really hurt my brain trying not only to get the numbers to add up properly, but also to get them to add up in the proper order! :sweat_smile: I like how you take advantage of the fact that you have a maximum (or minimum) amount of energy that can't be exceeded, so you can factor that into whatever you decide to purchase next in order to solve the puzzle.

I do kind of wish the info was a bit more consolidated though. Maybe having the juice stats displayed at all times on their vending machine slot would help? That way I could get a better sense of the values I have to work with on a macro level, which would make it easier for me to chart my course through the cursed vending machine.

All that being said though, this is a really unique idea, and pretty impressive especially for a compo game! Well done!
LDJam user 236545
17. Apr 2024 · 01:24 UTC
This was great! A really good amount of polish for a compo entry. The art style and UI are very consistent, and the game is easy to understand and start playing right away.

My only gripe is that I had to keep hovering over the cans again and again in order to try to memorize their values, which made the levels get more frustrating the more difficult they got. I'm not sure how you'd be able to display all that information at once without being overwhelming, maybe making the can's color palettes have some correlation to the RGB values?

Good job!
🎤 MissingPixel
17. Apr 2024 · 01:26 UTC
@jhax, @whismirk, @semenov, @olddog, @lightningst

Glad you enjoyed it!

@dvdagames, @impalpable

I'm not very confident in music myself, but it's cool to see people enjoyed it, Thanks for playing!

@coleslaughter

Thanks! Glad you had a good time. I'd love to update the game once rating ends and add some kind of table or list for all the drink values. :smile:
🎤 MissingPixel
17. Apr 2024 · 01:30 UTC
@andrewkennedy Thanks for playing! I was originally intending to have all the cans colors represent their values, but as I was designing levels after finishing the can art, I eventually ran out of time to change them. :sweat_smile:
kuggenhoffen
17. Apr 2024 · 09:27 UTC
Great game for compo! Font could be different, a bit difficul to read at times. Couldn't wrap my brain around it so didn't get too many puzzles solved but quite fun regardless! Good job!
ollie_d
17. Apr 2024 · 16:13 UTC
Nicely executed! The art is very nice and the puzzles are well designed.
LDJam user 3808
17. Apr 2024 · 19:11 UTC
Nice entry.

Tutorial text was a little hard to read with animations. Gameplay was solid with nice puzzles.
ugly_robot
17. Apr 2024 · 19:30 UTC
So cute! Love the assets. You are a very talented pixel artist, and the game exudes charm - from the flying cans, to the little thankful phantasmal demon after each level.
Only had time for a few levels, as each took me a long time between checking the cans and doing out the math, but it was a very cool little puzzler with an adorable theme!
Linky439
17. Apr 2024 · 19:32 UTC
Very clever! It is very hard, how many levels are there? I got stuck as soon as the machine was completely filled with cans xD

It is a truly effective game idea. My brain aches from trying to match the exact numbers ^^
The graphics are really good and clear, except the tutorial text which is a bit hard to read. The audio does the job nicely, and the game is very fun. I'm just not very good at it :D

Congrats!
Flying Dog Fish
17. Apr 2024 · 19:51 UTC
Great idea for a game. It's well executed too. It seems easy but gets hard quickly. The only problem I had was hard to read text and numbers.
Life_Lich
18. Apr 2024 · 01:44 UTC
I had a great time playing the game, I kind of want to add it as a mini game to one of my own games, I would have loved to try playing it on my phone, all that it would needed is a ui buttons for enter and reset. this is a very good entry
🎤 MissingPixel
18. Apr 2024 · 11:51 UTC
@ugly-robot
Thanks! I've been doing daily pixel art everyday for over a year now. Glad you found the art so charming! :smile:

@linky439
Thanks for playing! That's actually the last level. I would've liked to have the difficulty ramp more smoothly, but only had so much time. :sweat_smile:

@life-lich
Glad you enjoyed it! A mini game sounds like a cool idea. Would love to see the game expanded further.
ugly_robot
18. Apr 2024 · 18:21 UTC
@missingpixel Every day? Wow! Good for you - no wonder you're so skilled! I did a blender proj every day for a year (in 2021?) and it was a wonderful but taxing experiment. You post your daily's anywhere? Keep up the great art!
Imbajoe
19. Apr 2024 · 17:12 UTC
Good idea. Figuring out you can use the levels not going above/below the limits, so order matters for some puzzles was a nice realization. Got really hard 5~ levels in.
LDJam user 372231
19. Apr 2024 · 17:35 UTC
Nice game, I personally am not a fan of puzzles and math in games, but overall great job. Maybe add retry button?
ellaris
19. Apr 2024 · 17:48 UTC
- Pretty cool game, enjoyed the puzzles
- Sometimes the hovering didn't work properly, when I moved the mouse too fast?
- It was a little weird that the game was played with mouse but you had to click enter and r at times, maybe could have buttons for those too
LDJam user 280707
20. Apr 2024 · 01:44 UTC
This is incredibly cool! However; I have a single brain cell, and it is not working today xD
Super cool entry! Way too hard for me!
martonel
21. Apr 2024 · 05:58 UTC
It's a nice little game. I like the main idea, how to summon the demons
ahistyap
21. Apr 2024 · 10:10 UTC
Wow you weren't kidding when you said challenging. I can imagine myself spending hours trying to solve the puzzle (I'm bad at puzzle games lmao) but fortunately I didn't. I love the concept, summoning demons with vending machine!
kanity
28. Apr 2024 · 22:45 UTC
I am not good enough at mathematics to get through the game, but I played a few levels and the concept feels really unusual and unique! I think it's a cool take on a puzzle game, and the visuals are also fantastic. The story behind the summoning part is funny as well :)