Ludum Dare #21compo

Escaping the Rat Race

by machinescreen

Overall★★★★★★★★★★2.81

Fun★★★★★★★★★★2.19

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.67

Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.43

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★2.38

Audio★★★★★★★★★★2.35

Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.94

Community★★★★★★★★★★2.00

Do you have what it takes to save enough cash so you can escape the rat race, go solo and create a runaway-success indie game, setting yourself up for life in the process? Now you can find out...

This game was made in Scirra Construct Classic. This means that you will need DirectX 9c and the Visual C++ 2005 redistributable installed in order for it to work. Both can easily be found via a Google search if required.

The 'source' I have included is simply the Construct .cap file for anyone who's interested.

Comments12

Gornova22 Aug 2011, 19:07

I like both two games :D Nice idea!! The rat race is too slow, cause not so much fun, but I like overall idea! Well done!
p.s: music is a pain :(

mrbungleauthor22 Aug 2011, 21:22

Thanks for your kind words Gornova. Yeah, I actually made the rat race intentionally slow and frustrating with horrible, annoying music so it better represented the drudgery and maddening elements of going to work for someone else every day of your life.

tgijsola22 Aug 2011, 23:41

The transition from rat race to indie-dream world feels great. I want to spend more time in that world!

johnfn23 Aug 2011, 07:14

What an interesting game. I hate the rat-race part, but that's clearly the point. And the indie section is so much more enjoyable because the rat race is so painful. Really interesting idea and well executed.

Jhelle23 Aug 2011, 19:42

Interesting concept with the switching between games and all. Second time I got in the indie section the countdown bugged and I could get guaranteed success without much problem.

johanp24 Aug 2011, 10:48

Quite clever combination of games! As previous posters said you really hate the rat game, but with intended reason. My only gripe is that both the games could need some more polish. I would put up with the rat race more if the indie game was better.

localcoder27 Aug 2011, 11:46

that's well paid rat :)

Great concept, and the contrast between the rat race and the indie development is very powerful.

It's also great that indie development feels wonderful but you're also painfully aware of the money running out :)

I would like a little more air control or just somehow easier controls in the indie world to emphasise the difference even more.

Rudy28 Aug 2011, 14:36

I definitely like the idea, and could be taken much further. Not sure I'm a fan of the implementation though, and the maze is very tedious. I know it's intentionally annoying, but "intentionally annoying is still annoying" (Yahtzee). The contrast is great, but I would prefer it to be a contrast in atmosphere, not controls/tedium.

Shigor28 Aug 2011, 19:52

First impression was terrible, oh no, another blind maze... then I pressed escape... Very good and suprising idea, full points for innovation :)
Problem is that it's not much fun... rat race which is intentionaly annoying is still annoying, jumping is not very rewarding too.
But rating high for the idea alone :)

hamster_mk_430 Aug 2011, 00:53

The idea of developing a game within a game is fantastically meta. While Neither game mode was great independently, the contrast between the two makes for a great game.

dev_zero3 Sep 2011, 22:41

rat moved very slowly, and it wasn't particularly clear what the players goals were, except escape the rat race, I guess.

nilstastic4 Sep 2011, 15:05

This is my favourite so far. Very funny, and nice contrast between indie and ratrace =) Music was very apropriate.