Play Game Boy game
Today's a Bad Day (Game Boy)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Secondary Theme Interpretation | #9 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Quirkiness | #12 | 4.040 | 4.040 |
| Overall | #41 | 3.607 | 3.607 |
| Gameboy Soul | #42 | 3.880 | 3.880 |
| Soundtrack/SFX | #42 | 3.600 | 3.600 |
| Gameplay | #77 | 2.920 | 2.920 |
| Graphics | #99 | 3.200 | 3.200 |
Ranked from 25 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game meet GBJam's theme?
Play as an imp whose job it is to spread bad luck.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
The game starts off great, but then it's kinda hard to figure out what to do. Cool idea though. ig with a bit more work to clarify everything the game has some great potential.
What did you have trouble with specifically? I've noticed a few puzzles lead to some difficulty, though I have to be careful with what I communicate since I don't want to just give away the puzzles, so it's a fine balance there. If you're having trouble, there's a doc on the game page with hints and answers, though I'd be interested to know where you got stuck.
Also, I really appreciate all of the effort put into the animation for when you press "Other" on the home screen. I hope more people check it out lol
My masterpiece. The only part of the game that truly matters, in the end.
Yeah, this game is amazing. I'm a huge fan of how it interprets the secondary theme! Some quests were a bit confusing, but I feel like that's fair when considering that this game is a puzzle game, so a lot of the fun is finding how to do them.
Thanks! Glad you liked it. Definitely had to adjust a few puzzles in the last few days before submission, and will probably need to adjust a few more afterwards.
The game is great, it’s like a hidden object game with an adventure style — really awesome!
Thanks! That's mostly what I was going for, so I'm glad it was on-target.
cool idea. i managed to scare the kid and get the balloon, but other than that I had no idea what to do I'm afraid.
Still, I think the hand cursor scrolling, and the inventory select/use was well implemented, and was intuitive to use.
intro was funny, and the characters were funky. nice work
Thanks! Glad it all made sense from a controls perspective.
The puzzles can be tough. Experimenting with stuff is the best way to approach it, but if worst comes to worst, I have a guide in the game page as well.
Cute game, it was fun and had nice lore. I wasn't sure what a lot of the environment was for but it was still a good time!
There are a few red herrings in the environment, and some stuff that generally helps the look of a city. But most of it should relate to the puzzles in some way. Glad you had fun with it!
My favourite so far. Fun, Interesting puzzles, nice implementation. Love the menu music. Very well done overall.
Thats very high praise, thank you very much!
Wow that was really cool! I thought it strange at first but I love the implementation, a great game that I had a lot of fun with.
Thank you very much! I'm happy to hear that, I very much try to go for weird experiences, so I'm glad that I succeeded there.
Super cool easter egg having Dies irae as music to the intro, it really sets the stage for music nerds. (But the intro gets too long for an impatient soul like myself)
It's fun to get to be the cause of bad luck for all those people
Dies irae is a certified Heck classic. If you haven't heard it, my personal favorite iteration is the one in Sam & Max (Fugue and Dies Irae).
I knew I was making the first cutscene too long, but my overflowing gluttony wouldn't let me cut anything. It was a malicious and pre-meditated decision.
Sometimes you have to give in to your gluttony, and it’s your game so you get to do what you want.
I had totally forgotten about that track. Thanks for the reminder. I even have a signed Sam and Max poster in my studio so I feel I should have remembered that one 😂
Cool premise.
I think it could benefit from some quality-of-life edits to really help players avoid frustrations from missing specific events when they're off the screen. Things like a timeline or clock for each run-through of the day would help players figure out when they're supposed to be at what spot. Super extra effort types of things would be markers on the timeline if players had witnessed an event on a previous run-through or little icons on the edge of the screen that hint at "something is happening over this way" to help players shift their focus if they're paying attention, but that's likely getting into the weeds of extras and might take too much away from the intended difficulty.
Great work!
It makes for an interesting thought experiment. It may be difficult in the current version, because I completely hit the sprite limit in the city.
But if I switch to color only mode, I get way more sprites. Also might be possible to do an overlay at the top and use the text system to show a timer or progress bar. Though it'd also be fun to have the palette change over the course of the day, like it's going into the evening.
Might even be able to pause the timer and jump the camera to a hotspot if the player is out of range.
The Game Boy is very harsh with its limitations, but it's surprising how much you can do in it.
Very cool. I like the idea (obviously). The art style and the cutscene are cool. The only thing that’s a bit awkward is the control of the cursor via the d-pad, due to the GB restrictions. Maybe make Jonko walk around, more platformer like. Nevertheless, well done.
Hmm, it's possible that it's due to the lag in the city scene. Was it difficult to aim items, or do you think just the way the cursor moved in general?
the cursor mechanics is good (maybe a tad too slow), but I think that in general, a cursor controlled by a d-pad (or joystick) is always a bit awkward. so I try to avoid it when developing for GB and try to find an alternative solution, eg:
Loved the intro, it sets up a fun little story with some cool art. I like this style of a small but dense game, I'm looking forward to going back to find everything later. It can feel kind of obtuse but it does ad depth and replayability. The soundtrack is super good too!
Thanks! Yeah, it's difficult to ride the line between discovering an answer in a satisfying way, versus not making it so confusing that the player quits out of frustration. It definitely varies from player to player, but my suspicion based on playtests is that Rubber Jumpscare will cause the most grief.
Oh, I love these kinds of games! The art is charming, the soundtrack is fantastic, and the interactions are funny and intuitive—the only thing I couldn't figure out on my own was how to apply the bird to things. Also, Jonko is cute!
That "other" menu effect is really cool!
Fantastic! Great work!
Thank you very much! The "other" menu transition was my pride and joy, everything else was just a means to an end.
The cutscenes were great. A lot of really fun animations that make you want to keep playing until you've seen everything!
Thanks!
I looooooved this concept. To me, you truly understood the theme and I gave you full points for that. The game is just so quirky too. The humor was fun too, and the game looked cute. I also love that it's a real Game Boy game. Overall, great work here!
Thank you! I still need to try yours, it looks very unique.
I’d really appreciate it if you could!
This was such a cool game, We love the focus of just one main scene.
Thank you! I'm a big fan of small, polished experiences.
Really unique idea!
It made me remember that PacMan game that you do stuff to him!
Would love to see this expanded!
ey yo, you talkin' 'bout, Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures!? We love that game.
Thanks! Still gotta play that one, it looks like one I'd enjoy.
really interesting XD
there are so many chain of effects combinations and seeking their combinations are really fun XD
Thank you! One of my goals was to help the world feel very interconnected, so I'm glad that came through.