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A jam submission

Backseat DriverView game page

DRIVING SIM, but you can't DRIVE
Submitted by WORLDENDDISK (@WORLDENDDISK), cellez27, Jian_Zen — 2 hours, 41 minutes before the deadline
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Backseat Driver's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Design#304.4124.412

Ranked from 34 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

INCREDIBLE idea, and almost-as-incredible execution. One of my faves in the jam as well - it's simple, to the point, and a great apotheosis of what the theme is about.

The aesthetics, comedic timing and music are all nothing short of incredible - I would call it absolutely flawless if it weren't for the font, which, while obviously used for comedic purposes, kind of foregoes useability and readability. There were ways of making the font silly/stupid ironically without actually looking like it was a silly decision unironically.

I can't stress how great the comedy was enough - I laughed really hard when he flipped me off and when I cried - impeccable SFX!

When it comes to the design, the micro decisions of game design (IE stuff like waypoint system, and lack of quality of life changes such as the text staying there if I say it to the dashboard instead of the driver) are indeed lacking, but the macro idea (and execution) are just goddamn amazing. It's a real beauty, too, that this is such a great core gameplay loop that you're allowed to formulate different strategies - even when only inside the car (As in, for instance, a possible strategy is to stop yourself on the sidewalk and plan your every move carefully, another possible strategy is to input the commands on the fly and react quickly - and here's another one, planning them out and timing them properly. Or maybe all of these!), and the commands are just robust enough that I rarely felt like it wasn't my fault.

Rarely. Here's when I DID indeed feel like it wasn't my fault, and that it was unfair: When I had to look behind me, or to my left, and I couldn't. Or, even more to the point, when I didn't really properly know where to go besides a vague idea through the waypoint system. When I tried tabbing then pressing enter quickly and it read as me talking to the dashboard - therefore making the driver not listen to me. That's what I meant by micro game design lacking - it's these details that make all the difference sometimes between an amazingly feeling game and an unfair-feeling one.

HOWEVER, these moments were... maybe not few or far between, but definetly didn't mar the experience. The idea REALLY shined through and I could easily see this becoming a fully fledged game with a few more tweaks and better level design. Congrats!

Developer(+1)

Wow, thanks for the in depth advice! Some of this was definitely on the 'would do with more time' list, but a lot of this is stuff that people haven't mentioned much yet. Really happy you liked the idea :)

Submitted

It is a very good parody where the comic effects of the gameplay succeed to be very funny ! With a easier difficulty, it could even offer an interesting challenge as it as some nice idea like the fact that you see in front of you and give and order in the same time or that you have to write quickly some words to avoid an accident. As it is, the game is may be too difficult to let the player fully enjoy this features but they are still very interesting !

Good job !

Developer

Thank you! Yeah, the difficulty is a bit weird, depending on your understanding of the timing and a bit of luck it's either really easy or really hard, but we didn't have a huge amount of time to test for something like that...

Submitted(+1)

Really funny game; enjoyed it.

(+1)

really funny,  and challenging. Definitely love the idea and art too, my only real complaint is that there isn't some kind of goal or objective to get to? Or maybe I just wasn't good enough to get to that point xD

Developer

There is actually an end point that my not-very-helpful waypoint marker pointed towards, but tbh I rarely manage to reach it myself...

Submitted(+1)

It's the little things that make a game really fun, and for this one, it's the fact that you can't tell the driver what to do unless you're looking at him, and that one little detail MADE this game. It is so much fun with that creeping panic as you have to multitask and plan your actions ahead of time. At first it was really hard, but I ended up getting into a certain rhythm, typing before looking at him and then looking at just the right time, and I managed to do pretty well! (Though I'm American, so the fact that you had to be in the left lane tripped me up at first XD) Overall, this was pretty clever, and I loved it :)

Developer (1 edit)

We had that idea at the very beginning, but never really thought much about it. We then very quickly found it was both extremely annoying, and extremely funny, so it stayed in to the end!

This is SO clever, and I love the MS-Paint art style (though the UI could use some polishing)!

Submitted

ohmygoditssohard but seeing the car crash slowly approching is a lot of fun :D

It’s funny and hard. I drifted...

Developer

thanks mum :)

Submitted (1 edit) (+2)

This is SO GOOD! It's like a mixture of old adventure games(kings quest) and a driving game. Plus the driver's sound effects are golden! The bastard gave me the finger in the worst situations!:D

Developer(+1)

The next step is to code it so that it can tell in advance which movements are necessary for your survival, and then jacks up the chance of him ignoring you just for the heck of it...

uh maybe my design intentions aren't the best...

Submitted

I like how it wouldn't always listen to me! It makes things more interesting.

Submitted(+1)

GOTY right here

Submitted(+1)

this is stupid in a beautiful way

Developer

:D

(+1)

This is stupid hard. I love it.

Submitted(+1)

Came for the driving, stayed for the indignation.

Developer

i'm not sure why we never changed the name of that mechanic, but it just kinda... stuck... somehow

Submitted(+1)

5 stars, would crash again

Developer

tbh i can't really beat it either most times

Submitted(+2)

This is infuriating. Excellent job.

Developer(+1)

*evil face* *evil smile*

Really goofy idea! I love it!

Developer

Thank you!!! It was so much fun to make!

(+1)

Top tier art and voice acting fam lmao

Submitted

What a fantastic voice acting

Developer(+1)

We've already won like 12 BAFTAs for it, hopefully we can get another for our emotional performance in the cry command...

Is one Too Difficult but also Much Good

Developer

Haha, there are a few tricks to make it easier, and depending on your moral code the pavements can be used as well...