Money Maker 2025 by yancharkin

[raw]
made by yancharkin for Ludum Dare 57 (JAM)

Just raise the tariffs - it's that simple! No depth to this whole 'economy' thing, right? And hey, I don't even have to use my gun.

It’s just a silly, satirical little game - but just in case, here’s a disclaimer: I have no intention of offending anyone, and my opinion isn’t necessarily reflected in what the game might imply. Things are rarely one-dimensional or even two-dimensional and often have some depth. And sometimes, they don’t. Which is which? I don’t know.

  • Controls: Arrow keys.
  • The game was made with Pyxel, a retro game engine for Python.
  • The HTML5 version doesn’t run all that smoothly (as you might expect). It takes quite a while to load for some reason, and during that time, it might seem like nothing’s happening. Seems to run a bit better on Itch. For me, it runs best in Firefox - almost perfectly after the first few seconds.
  • It’s fairly easy to run from source, but you’ll need to have Python and Pyxel installed.
  • While the scope of the game is quite small and I’ve implemented almost everything I wanted, it’s not 100% complete - it still needs some bug fixes and polish. So, chances are there will be an updated post-jam version. And in the unlikely case you're curious about the fate of the Unknown Hero, stay tuned!

Ratings

Overall 791th 2.913⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Fun 698th 2.938⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 848th 2.304⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Theme 774th 2.792⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 520th 3.479⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Audio 373th 3.37⭐ 25🧑‍⚖️
Humor 105th 3.792⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Mood 822th 2.667⭐ 26🧑‍⚖️
Given 19🗳️ 24🗨️

Feedback

gifarre
08. Apr 2025 · 13:26 UTC
-Pressed start
-Tried to avoid particles
-Noticed int's not the particles I should avoid
-Noticed the hair sway animation, chuckled
-Noticed I had a gun and men with gun are floating up
-Tried to go back to the description to see if I missed a control
-Died
This is very fun, there are improvements to be made but great for a game jam, love the music and animations. 5/7 would play again
Willby
08. Apr 2025 · 13:50 UTC
I got 26, and then died. The movement left and right is very slow but I eventually adapted to that.
Deruitda
08. Apr 2025 · 13:59 UTC
The graphics and music are great!
D0vid
08. Apr 2025 · 14:02 UTC
Nice music and crisp pixel art :D loading was smooth for me on itch.io using firefox, fyi !
BatTheCat
08. Apr 2025 · 14:07 UTC
love the reference of the classic balloon fight... but i love more the music: chorando se foi quem um dia só me fez chorar
Bismark
08. Apr 2025 · 14:08 UTC
Funny ! Earned amount is in dollars ? millions of dollars ? ... or cents ?
Ricesteam
08. Apr 2025 · 14:49 UTC
The chiptune music got me rolling! GL!
duckmaniac
08. Apr 2025 · 14:58 UTC
Oh, fun game! I also thought at first that you have to dodge particles and that you can shoot with a gun :) Would be a cool addition to the mechanics by the way!
🎤 yancharkin
08. Apr 2025 · 16:05 UTC
@bismark Good old gold. Maybe we’ll be using it again soon enough 😄

@duckmaniac I was planning to add it - just didn’t have the time. I’ll likely include it in the post-jam version.
🎤 yancharkin
09. Apr 2025 · 00:29 UTC
@batthecat Heck yeah, amigo! 😄
GameDevTraum
09. Apr 2025 · 02:07 UTC
baloon fight with trump is hilarious :laughing: the music is exquisite
neowhoru
11. Apr 2025 · 05:01 UTC
interesting game concept but i expected to use the guns :D
🎤 yancharkin
11. Apr 2025 · 20:53 UTC
@neowhoru Yeah, that was the plan — just didn’t have enough time to get it in.
silkworm_sweatshop
11. Apr 2025 · 21:54 UTC
Cute little game, even if it's not that deep, I wanted to pop the other's balloons though :sweat_smile:. Lambada music made me smile.
jtap
12. Apr 2025 · 03:44 UTC
Very funny game, beautiful art, thank you, it was fun
JamesGames1000
12. Apr 2025 · 03:52 UTC
Interesting game...
SvenErik
13. Apr 2025 · 12:08 UTC
Wonderful art style, game-play was solid for what it is, although would have liked some additional mechanic mayhaps, solid work!
muriel
13. Apr 2025 · 13:12 UTC
Hehe I always have a hard time making the games work directly in the LD website, thanks god that you added also a ich io entry.

Haha by reading the description I knew what I would encounter but the starting music made me laugh xD

I hope that the global economy doesn't end like this:

![Screenshot 2025-04-13 151103.png](///raw/98c/1/z/6c208.png)

Also interesting choice of tech I've never seen this pyxel library/engine I'll investigate it.

Good entry!
outstar
14. Apr 2025 · 09:57 UTC
The chiptune music was great, but I noticed it was all choppy in fullscreen for some reason - probably the engine's fault, given it had more browser issues! Overall good fun, but I seemed to have a gun and no button worked to shoot (I mashed all my keyboard buttons and only managed to turn the music off), and I'm not sure how it fits the theme outside of going down to the depths of recession... Alright, I guess that fits :)
MoD_Wiz
18. Apr 2025 · 12:24 UTC
Why people don't post their scores? Mine is 156 and i think it's HUGE, probably the best score.
Main character looks familiar, remind me of that actor with small role in a home alone 2. Probably just a coincidence.


This is the best game ever. It’s tremendous. Absolutely tremendous. I asked one of my friends, great guy by the way, and he said that he never seen game that good in his whole career. And everyone in the room agrees. Everyone in the whole country. Believe me.
The sacks of money? Beautiful. The best sacks. They're HUGE, folks. Really big.
And the graphics? Let me tell you, they’re fantastic. The best graphics. I mean, look at those money floating around!
And you play as a handsome guy with beautiful balloons. Most handsome guy with the most beautiful balloons.
Do yourself a favor play Money Maker 2025. Play it. Win! Be a champion! It’s going to be HUGE. Believe me.
![Снимок экрана 2025-04-18 в 15.05.59.png](///raw/b63/46/z/6c4d9.png)
🎤 yancharkin
19. Apr 2025 · 10:12 UTC
@mod-wiz Ha-ha-ha, nice one! I confirm that everything you said is 100% correct.
LDJam user 258850
19. Apr 2025 · 19:16 UTC
at first i thought i had to doge the embers :face_palm: i love the style and audio, but i cant get more than like 32 ToT haha great game!
rbbhn
22. Apr 2025 · 19:48 UTC
Man, I don't even want to get into the chaos this game is parodying, but it's a very well made game. Very impressive work!