itch.io

Hey!

I am also a game designer/developer, and I’d like to team up with you! I am a programmer, and I know both Unity and Godot. I am also capable of making music, and a little art if we need it.

Sent you a friend request on discord, I’m sabifiedsab!

Hi, we’re currently 4 people, if you’d like to join and/or haven’t found a team yet, add me on discord: sabifiedsab

Hi, I'm looking for an artist, sound designer, and/or a music composer. I'm currently in a team with one other, and we'll be using the Godot game engine. Everyone is welcome to team up, and I hope we'll be able to create something fantastic! 

Feel free to reach out on discord if you're interested: SabifiedSab

Thank you so much! Love that we stood out to you :)

I'm really happy you enjoyed the good mix of gameplay, visuals and audio. I went for a relaxing, almost children-y soundtrack, and I think it worked out well. Thanks for playing!

I'm glad you liked the background music, I put some effort into the atmosphere of it ^^ I get your point on that the player is able to spam to find the differences, but how are we going to moderate how the player wants to play the game? If they want to cheat and just spam the canvas without finding them, that's on them! Thanks for playing!

Thanks! I hope it wasn't too challenging to find the differences. Glad you enjoyed it

Thanks for playing! The tutorial was next on our list ;)

Yep, some bugs did slip through the cracks. And the project didn't get finished to the point we wanted to, but I think we are expanding it to a fuller project

Thanks! The tutorial would be the next priority

Of course! I thought the video was pretty funny, and I adore your editing style! Good job

That is what game jams are for :) Figuring out what works, and what doesn't. What you need to work on, and what you're good at. Managing time, and working effectively; creating your own workflow. 

The money won't go in your pocket before the end of the day. You will get a paycheck up on the screen summarizing your day, and how much money you've made. I'm sorry there is nothing to explain how the game works or anything, because we just got a "minimum viable product" (meaning a version without any juice/extra details you'd normally see in finished games). Would've loved to come to the "tutorial" part of our task list, but unfortunately because of time and our lack of experience in tycoon games, we didn't get to it in time. Glad you played our game though!

Thanks for playing. Nothing is buggy, the washer increases a hidden stat called "quality", and makes the eggs not lose any worth at the end of the process (eg. if they had a bad quality level, they wouldn't make as much money). I've said this in other comments, but a tutorial was next on our list. I'm bummed we didn't have time for it though. 

Thank you so much for playing! I know the mechanics aren't explained that great (if you could even say we explained anything). A tutorial was the next thing on our list, and there was so much more we wanted to do, but didn't have time for (because this tycoon type of game was new to all of us programmers). I know it does "work" to wind them up with spamming, but it won't be as effective. 

Of course. Because of our planning and lack of experience in making tycoon games, we didn't have much time to expand on our minimum viable product, meaning no time for tutorials. And I feel kind of dirty if I'm going to modify the game after the deadline, so it will have to be like this at least for the remainder of the voting. Again, it isn't your fault if the game is hard to understand/enjoy, that is on us. 

HI! Thanks for playing. No, it doesn't mean you don't have a brain, it just means us developers didn't make a good enough job at explaining our mechanics! I totally understand that you think the gameplay is boring, because there's not a lot to do when actually maintaining your machines. If you hover over the machines, there is a gear, and if you hold down Left Mouse Button on that gear, you wind up the machine. If it goes all the way down, the machine starts wasting eggs, so keep the winder above 0 at all times!

To set the scene: I played for roughly half an hour, and managed to make it to day 5. 

Firstly some bugs:

If I open a menu (let's say the illegal shop) and hit escape, it unlocks my mouse and brings me to the pause menu. From there, if I exit the pause menu, my mouse is locked again but I still have the shop window open. 

Again, with the pause menu, if you pause the game, and click "Exit", it takes two escape presses before the menu comes up again. I'm guessing it has to be because of some "pauseMenuActive" variable not being toggled by the button. 

You can interact with most things through colliders. This made it really easy to accidentally try to pick up an item in a purchased box instead of the actual box. Bonus! You can turn on/off the radio through the refrigerator. 

There is also a method to duplicate hot dogs. If you line up two buns so you can drop a wiener perfectly so it hits both buns at the same time, it makes two hot dogs. This way you can focus mostly on buns, and don't need to purchase any hot dogs until the first purchased box of buns is all used up. 

I don't know if this was a bug or not, but I got taxed $0, and never met the guy again. 

Guiding the player

At first it took me a while to understand that all of your wieners and buns start out moldy, and there's nothing you could do about it (at least, that's what I'm guessing, because putting stuff in the sink gets blocked by an invisible collider). While the sausages were easy to see when they were done cooking, the buns were a different story. Either you can't see it, or it's a pretty small difference from the uncooked to the cooked (if there even is one, or if it's a huge troll cooking the buns). And from experience, it seems like the buns gets burnt much faster than the wieners. 

The first time I played the game, I didn't know that there was a shop (even though it becomes pretty obvious when you exit the truck), and again with the moldy stuff I think even a small tutorial would enhance the player experience, so most people don't have to figure out the mechanics of the game they chose to play, and get frustrated. (At least, if you're not expecting everyone to come from the video). 

I also think the difficulty scaling is a bit steep, because I can't see myself ever acquiring the Dirty Accountant upgrade, as you'd have to sweat pretty hard the early days before rent becomes $80+

And one last thing from my playthrough, I actually never got over 3 stars. I made loads of money (getting up to $130 the first day), but never got a higher rating that 3.

Playtesting is pretty crucial to creating good or even great games. And I've said this several times, but a friend, family member, or a dedicated game development discord server are all great options for just another perspective. Because as a game designer, it can be difficult sometimes imagining a beginner play your game, and get in their shoes without seeing anyone else than you play it. 

Good luck on future games, and I hope the video is received well!

Hi, I'm a coder first, however I can also compose music when needed and work with sound effects (again, when needed). Although I'm not incredibly good with pixel art, I'm able to clean up or modify assets, and even create original work. 

I use the Unity game engine along with VSCode and Git/Github for version control, but I'm open to trying Godot too!

I have participated in quite a few jams now (11 to be exact, but it's not really important), and I hope to figure out something fun together as a team!

Feel free to reach out on discord if you're interested: SabifiedSab

Hi! My team and I was looking for a sound design/music composer for this jam, and would love to have someone as experienced as you! Sent you a friend request if you haven't already gotten a team yet! SabifiedSab on discord :)

Hi, I'm also a coder, but do a lot of other stuff as well as sound design, music composing, a little bit of an artist (although I don't have to worry about that for this jam), and I currently have one other teammate! Sent you a friend request on discord: SabifiedSab

Hi! I love it when music isn't rushed, but you can hear that it took time to compose it. I'd love to work with you. I'm hoping for a team with 3+? I mostly code, but sometimes do the music aswell, and I KNOW it sounds better when its taken time to cook up. Looking forward to working with you, hit me up on discord: SabifiedSab

Hi! I'm a game developer/programmer/music composer/a little bit of an artist. I'd love to team up for this short jam, because the more people on varied things, the better! And writing is something that often gets overlooked in games, especially jams. I hope my page is enough is convincing enough to work with me. Hit me up on discord: SabifiedSab

and someone beat it..

Thanks for playing! I know the difficulty curve is kind of steep, but you know what happened to Muck when people complained it was too hard.. haha exponential difficulty curve go brrRRRRRRR

Alright, I finished the game. I'll go through two standpoints. The player, and a fellow developer. 

As a player, I think the first few levels are really great, and I think the idea of getting a new nerf every time you go through the level, is great. However, the last challenges, like rusted shell and steering wheel inversed really set me as a player back because of such abrupt changes. As a player, I think the hitbox of the vehicle is really unfair, and should be shrunk so I'm allowed to slightly intersect with the obstacles. And for the last challenge (inverse steering), which also was the one I used most attempts on, was such a big of a change to the point where I just stopped using the horizontal keys all together. The scoops also feel really required, and like you can't miss them. Since you're using them as collectibles, I recommend making a more broad level so you have to go out of your way to get them (still, some scoops had this trait, but it was quite few)

Now from a developer standpoint. You got a game! Now what? What can be improved without really adding much or anything related to functionality? Juice, polish, whatever you want to call it! This is great for making your game stand out. Particles for when the shots hit a wall, particles for when a wall is destroyed, particles for when a scoop is collected, a lot can be done with particles. And after that, what can be improved about them? Directional particles! It gives the player much more feedback that something happened, and gives them a greater sense of control. But particles isn't the only thing you can add, what about post processing? What about some animations when you collect the scoops (eg. it slides to its display, grows into its display)? Then you have covered one of our senses, sight. You also have another sense, hearing. What's so great about this game, is that it already covers most of the basic sounds you could expect! Shooting, collecting scoops, hitting a wall, but there is more you could handle. Some subtle sounds. What about some sounds that fades with the players velocity, some whooshes? What about when the wall is destroyed? What about an ending jingle instead of a sound effect? All these things will accomplish what juice is for, making your game stand out. 

Another thing I'd like to point out, the importance of playtesting. Anyone! A friend, family member, some stranger on a game development discord server, a teammate, anyone will work! And make sure you get a few points on what they liked and disliked. We aren't looking for the typical glazing like "It was good!" or "The mechanics were fun!" but moreso "I think it was good because.." and "This mechanic was fun and well implemented, while this one weren't so much (because..)". Even just playing through it with a blank mindset can help understand some players' viewpoints.

Now, I hope you can understand where I'm getting from. I hope you can see my points, reflect on them, and not take them as "what you made was bad, here is why, and here is how it can be better". Understand that what you made is really good from the get-go, and that we only got three days to work on it. I wouldn't expect you to implement everything I just listed in such small time-frame, because with the time pressure finding and fixing these small if even relevant flaws is difficult, even for an experienced developer. 

TL;DR I enjoyed it, but the hitboxes were a little unfair, and reverse controls with the instadeath upon hit was really unfair. 

Thanks! Even though it might be a little steep and unbalanced at times, I'm glad you still could enjoy it!

Yeah, I agree that the difficulty curve is a little steep, where it's really easy in the beginning but difficult in the end. Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks!

Got to day 6, and the quick time event got so bad it didn't take my inputs a lot of the time. I think it scales too much, and the fixing feels kind of scripted. I also never got any money for my work, just like 6,5k score (I spammed enter in the ice cream machine, and skipped the credits). But I really enjoyed the artistic touches on the game, the art and the audio was really great at creating an atmosphere!

This was actually the first idea I got when brainstorming for the jam, fun to see someone execute it nicely! 

I think that the timers for the people are too long, and they should get angry if they stood in line forever. The fixing segments (in my playthrough) weren't spaced out that great, and sometimes I did two repairs and could wait a whole 30 or 40 seconds before doing another one. Space them out equally so there's a good mix between serving and fixing. 

I enjoyed playing this one, good job!

I'd love to! I'll get to your game as soon as possible! https://llama-with-ak47.itch.io/robots-dl-ice-cream this is mine ;)

That's so wholesome. Wishing you the best of luck on your journey!

Hi, I would work with you, but how are you planning on communicating? Not having a discord makes it kind of difficult with trading ideas and posting updates to each other. Maybe one of your parents could help you set up a discord account in their name, and you could borrow it? I'd also like to point out that Itch's own Terms of Service states that you must be 13 to be a user (purchase, download, or play games), and you need consent from a guardian if you're publishing games. 

Hi, I am a programmer and I'm most familiar in the editor. I can also make good enough music for a 3 day jam, and I'm mostly looking for another artist or coder! Hit me up on discord: SabifiedSab

Hi, I'm Sabified and I'm a game developer. This summer I'd like to compete in several game jams, this one included. I'm looking to team up with up to 3 other people because I think it will be really fun, and a good experience for everyone on the team. Personally, I am good in the editor and with writing code. However, any other game designers, composers, 2d/3d artists are welcome to join me!

Looking forward to this jam, and to be working with you! Contact me with SabifiedSab on Discord! ^^

You are correct in that some portals may require powerups to get, but on the hop of my head I only can count 3. Appreciate you playing!

Thank you so much for playing! To explain a little bit more how the "generation" actually works (since I saw that question got brought up on stream):

There are three handmade levels, each with unique sets of spikes and spawn locations for the goals. The further you progress, the more spikes will spawn, and less helath will spawn. I will say though, that the jam version of the game is really hard, and I will balance it after the jam ends. 

So it's not actually that impressive, but I hoped it would be enough to make the "illusion" of freshness every time. (Would've made more levels if I had time though!)

Each of the three (subject to change) levels can be seen in the background of this page (if you zoom out a little, it's easier to see them). One with SAB in the middle and a snail on the wall, one with the space invader in the top left, and one with a cow head, Madeline (from celeste), and a crying soul (from fnaf) :)

I highly doubt you actually went through the same experience as us players did. I'm saying this because progression is really difficult, and the extreme gear needs really much attention because it dies in 10 seconds. Since the healing takes so long, the gameplay loop becomes really tedious. A clear goal for the game is great, because most people doesn't want to stick around for more than a few minutes. And if people don't think they've experienced it all, or feels like they missed a crusial point, they may rate it worse than it actually is. 

Loved the effort you put into the UI for the items though, looks super duper smooth!