My First Day at the Summoning Agency by Tru7th

[raw]
made by Tru7th for Ludum Dare 55 (JAM)

My First Day at the Summoning Agency

a game of deduction under pressure

agency-ingame-screenshot.png

Controls

  • You can click and drap the occult reference manual as you please
  • Flip throught the book's pages by clicking left or right side of it
  • Select objects to spawn by clicking the middle of the page (careful not to turn the page..)
  • With an object page selected you can spawn it to fill the order by clicking on the Spawn Page button

The Narrative

All around the world, and for centuries, people have been making occult summonings. This, you should all know by now. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for you) we're seeing a huge spike in orders this weekend, for some reason. So please make good use of the free coffee machines and head to your desk; we have a lot to do. Welcome to the Summoning Agency.

In Summoning Agency, you play the role of a newly promoted desk agent at the shadowy Summoning Agency. Your job consists of filling the clients' orders assigned to you by figuring out which object the client is trying to summon. To do so, the order usually contains a snapshot of the client's summoning context: things like the ritual steps and ingredients that were used and the last few words heard before the summoning steps were completed by the client.

With the information you have, and your deduction skills, you then have to find the right object in the occult reference book. There you will find descriptions of different ritual steps and their use as well as a bunch of items you currently have access to and their unique summon steps. Unfortunately, each occult reference book copy is linked by blood to a single unique agent and thus you will have to build the missing knowledge just like your colleagues had to do on their first day. Feel free to use the supplied post-its in your drawer.

Once you feel confident you have the expected object under your finger, you can spawn it on your desk and it will immediatly be summoned to the client and complete the order. If it's the first time spawning this object, its page will automagically update with the missing information.

The Team

Art assets made by Maeva

Code by Christelle and JP

Game Design by JP and everyone

Music by Max

Thanks for playing!

Ratings

Overall 1090th 3⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1157th 2.605⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 1045th 2.816⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Theme 762th 3.447⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 1025th 2.711⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Audio 701th 2.842⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Humor 728th 2.778⭐ 20🧑‍⚖️
Mood 1071th 2.921⭐ 21🧑‍⚖️
Given 14🗳️ 18🗨️

Feedback

Master-YEET
16. Apr 2024 · 15:58 UTC
A bit hard to read that font and at some point, pages stop coming out and nothing happens.
But cool and funny idea!
Salanyel
16. Apr 2024 · 17:59 UTC
I had some problem with the font. I am unsure if you can change item after you clicked one page.
Fun idea to extrapolate the needs based on context
Joshua Miller-Pio
18. Apr 2024 · 16:56 UTC
Other than im partially illiterate when it comes to cursive it was super cool loved the graphics
LDJam user 276121
18. Apr 2024 · 18:31 UTC
As mentioned, the font is very difficult to make sense of. I was unable to spawn objects as described in the instructions. The art and concept are nice though.
RRADU
21. Apr 2024 · 21:52 UTC
unfortunately sometimes a game can be ruined by one singular flaw and it can be frustrating for the developer. I tried to make sense of the writing but it's just more effort than it is worth I'm afraid. I hope you won't get discouraged by this experience and instead use it to learn and improve. good luck going forward!
mircudx
22. Apr 2024 · 07:21 UTC
At first, the text is a bit difficult to read, but then you get used to it. It's not clear why the countdown timer is needed, and at the end of the page, they just stopped coming.

I would like a bit more story and to break the game into days, perhaps add some economy, like in Papers Please! Overall, the concept is understandable.
SlavTurtle
22. Apr 2024 · 16:37 UTC
Not to repeat everybody before me but the font is really difficult to read sometimes. Art is very nice though and the concept is pleasant to explore. Great submission.
Klemen
02. May 2024 · 10:05 UTC
I love the concept, I have called the signature expert to actually read the text for me instead of doing it myself but the game overall is nice good job, I think you can still fix the font bug and upload the fixed version here, since its a functionality bug, the text being hard to read