Mallio Cart

by ava-skoog

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.31

Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.07

Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.33

Theme★★★★★★★★★★2.92

Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.93

Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.18

Humor★★★★★★★★★★3.70

Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.32

Christmas 🎄 shopping last minute on the very eve is never a good idea! And you're not the only one who has had said idea.

Grab your trolley 🛒 and your shopping list 📝! It's Christmas Eve and everyone's desperate to get the last remaining stock before closing time in just two minutes! ⏰

Controls 🎮

Steer with WAD, look with mouse and click wares to pick 'em up. Fill up your trolley and go pay!

Non-web build recommended!

Because the following audio distortion effects don't work on web which means you'll just have to listen to regular baby screams. 😭

Blog ✍️

* Mallio Cart tech: 👀 gfx & 👂 audio ḑi̶śto͝r̴t҉io̡ns̴ pt.1

Video 👀

Shows full gameplay!

Fixes 🛠

Some minor post-submission things that have been done in light of comments received:

* Fixed bugs in algorithm that determines whether player got the correct items.
* Changed the text on the start screen a little to make things clearer.
* Bugfix: slap button now only works when slap icon is opaque (when 'thief' icon is visible).
* Toggling shopping list is much faster.
* Made the shopping list clearer by turning off word wrapping and increasing line height.
* Thieves are less prone to get stuck when approaching from behind.
* Thieves are much faster.
* Time limit decreased from three to 2.5 minutes.
* UI element saying 'go pay' shows up when cart is full since this was unclear to some.
* Old people talking sound clip stops when they stop talking to each other.
* Web renders Arial weirdly, so changed the font on the keyboard key icons.
* Made the result screen clearer.

Comments30

Kyrv195 Dec 2017, 14:26

It's very hard to see your Shopping list + picking up stuff seems to be too hard ;) But still impressive graphics!

Josue5 Dec 2017, 14:29

lol loveddd the art style. That slap button really made me laugh. The entire thing was very well put together. Did you work on this alone?

Stadoblech5 Dec 2017, 14:38

haha :D very funny! i had little bit problems with picking right items but anyway i enjoyed it a lot :D

Carpin5 Dec 2017, 14:39

The market objects sprites could be improved to be more understandables, otherwise it's funny to play! Well done!

URNext76345 Dec 2017, 14:45

LOL, this is fun :) Felt surprisingly polished!

randomphantom5 Dec 2017, 14:47

Love love the toon styled graphics and the game mechanic is refreshing (although I fail to see connection with theme) Baby Mallio is cute (and graphically intensive), and slapping thieves is hilarious.
The controls were a bit wonky though - shopping list was a little slow to bring up, and the vehicle style movement was a little hard to manuveur. It also seems that you don't have to stick closely to the items though, as I haven't gotten any pears but still managed to receive a tick for it. Another time I played I missed out on a TV though. Its also hard to tell which item is what as well (aside from the Bubb lightyear toy?)

GabrielaTavora5 Dec 2017, 14:57

I love the concept for this !! I coudn't really slap anybody and had trouble with controlling the cart, but for so little time this is incredible work.

Camcam_S55 Dec 2017, 14:58

Good little game ! I enjoyed it ! :) I like the concept of crying babies and thieves ^^

Jason Lothamer5 Dec 2017, 16:07

Wanted to like this! Such charm! But, alas, not being able to invert the mouse look really made it hard to play. Q/R seemed to do be switched, and once I got the shopping list up, I couldn't put it away. (User error? Seems like hitting the same key would dismiss it.)

Nivbeth5 Dec 2017, 19:08

Such a sweet idea! Unique graphic style, but the music annoys me a little bit after a while.. but that's because of christmas songs every year, so nevermind ;D Enjoyable, refreshing gameplay! Good job

Zorg5 Dec 2017, 20:38

Very impressive execution. I wonder how the slap works, it did not work for me. And toggling the list takes ages. It would be cool if the list was updated with the gifts in the shopping cart (maybe too easy?). The babys are nightmare material. The christmas song gets annoying very fast, but i guess that's intentional. :D

Ava Skoogauthor6 Dec 2017, 06:16

Thanks, everyone!

StratosKakalis6 Dec 2017, 08:01

It was really fun to play! Keep it up!

Billeclipse6 Dec 2017, 08:01

Great game that i enjoyed a lot :D It was a little bit dizzy feeling, maybe needed a little bit smoother camera and graphics but other than that a really fun game to play :D Got all of my item list on second try (first try i didn't know you had go to the cashier so i didn't had enough time :P) but still a really challenging game :D !

Chubby Stick6 Dec 2017, 08:01

Not bad at all

Szekeres Szabolcs6 Dec 2017, 09:06

I hate christmas music. Sorry. Otherwise good game with a good idea. Good job

Yokimbo6 Dec 2017, 09:19

Fun game! I 100% understand where the inspiration for this game comes from :D

DraperDanMan6 Dec 2017, 10:23

So glad I finally got to have a shot at this after seeing you post about it on twitter throughout the jam! The thief mechanic was hilarious! Though they were pretty easy to avoid. Aesthetically, the game was cohesive and comfy! Having the non-interactable crosshair at all times was a bit annoying because it takes up so much screen real-estate. Having the other customers stop to chat with one another was a really awesome addition to selling the space (or maybe it was my imagination and they had just collided with each other?) Congratulations on finishing on time! Love it!

Ava Skoogauthor6 Dec 2017, 10:48

Thanks again

Bonelazy6 Dec 2017, 16:09

Great graphics and presentation, but gameplay and physics were a bit buggy and unpolished. Good game otherwise.

axoona6 Dec 2017, 22:36

it's really funny, nice thing you managed to add a seasonal theme to your game.
The graphics and the game idea are excellent.

Concerning the gameplay I actually found it easier to just randomly take articles without looking on the list (and that's how I won ;) )
so I think it would be easier if the game tracked what articles you have in the caddie (especially when thiefs pick your goods and you no longer know what you have).

I also sometimes wasn't able to take articles from the shelf (no green icon), I don't know what reason. And manouvering was a bit hard.

But apart from that it's an excellent entry, good job!

Ava Skoogauthor7 Dec 2017, 07:48

Thank you both! C:

@axoona: The algorithm checking if the player got the right items was actually borked. q_q Fixed now! Don't know about picking up items, works as intended for me. If it wasn't clear, you can't grab them with the cart facing them because you're too far away. You have to pick them up from the side, like you would IRL~

Some minor post-submission things that have been done in light of comments received:

* Fixed bugs in algorithm that determines whether player got the correct items.
* Changed the text on the start screen a little to make things clearer.
* Bugfix: slap button now only works when slap icon is opaque (when 'thief' icon is visible).
* Toggling shopping list is much faster.
* Made the shopping list clearer by turning off word wrapping and increasing line height.
* Thieves are less prone to get stuck when approaching from behind.
* Thieves are much faster.
* Time limit decreased from three to 2.5 minutes.
* UI element saying 'go pay' shows up when cart is full since this was unclear to some.
* Old people talking sound clip stops when they stop talking to each other.
* Web renders Arial weirdly, so changed the font on the keyboard key icons.
* Made the result screen clearer.

silkworm_sweatshop8 Dec 2017, 22:28

This game made me annoyed and frustrated.. which was the point of course. I got close so many times just for something to go wrong. Still, I couldn't put it down until I beat it. Looks and sounds good. Great use of the theme and quite fitting with the season :).

Ava Skoogauthor11 Dec 2017, 10:59

Thanks and hello to everyone! I don't have a proper internet connection right now (writing from mobile, having already used up most of my quota for this month) but hopefully I'll be able to play your games in a few days! 😥

sbarrio18 Dec 2017, 12:05

Interesting idea and well executed. Nice entry!

zenmumbler18 Dec 2017, 20:42

Argh, I didn't even make it the whole 2.5 minutes, and I tried twice! The babies and the thieves and the crowding and the incessant music and shopping and it was just a bit too real for me. So in that regard, great job, because this was terrible. I will never go out into the real world again, you have convinced me that it is better this way. I only need my wife anyway. Well, and food too I guess.

In all seriousness, the bombardment of annoyances in this game is amazing because I could feel myself stressing out, which doesn't happen very often. In the wise words of Joshua/WOPR: The only way to win is not to play. This is normally not a sign of success, but in this case I feel you succeeded. A+, Great mood, can never play again.

Ava Skoogauthor18 Dec 2017, 21:00

@zenmumbler: Haha, "10/10, would not play again"? c; Thanks for hanging in there!

Jordgubben19 Dec 2017, 08:48

It's always a treat to see what you come up with for every LD.

It's a bit depressing how realistic this game actually is. Complete with the obligatory store Christmas muzac, incomprehensible shopping list and (my worst dread in life) other IRL people. I can really feel the panic as the clock is quickly ticking down and I can barely remember what to buy. The rush against the clock remind me a lot of a certain *Arnold classic*.

Ohh, Embedded video? Nice!.

The only feature I'm missing is the a ability to slap parents who, for some reason, decided it was a good idea to bring their toddlers to the store.

GG.

OddballDave20 Dec 2017, 11:52

This game put me on edge. I hate Christmas shopping and this was like a nightmare shopping trip. I really struggled with the thieves, I wasn't able to prevent a them nicking my stuff no matter how much I tried to slap them. Not sure what I was doing wrong there. Everything else, graphics, sound, gameplay, etc, was spot on though. It's a great entry. Excellent stuff.

Naca25 Dec 2017, 19:52

Funny take on the theme :D It shows in a quite accurate manner the stress of Christmas shopping.

Just a couple of thoughts: I would like the list to get ticked when I grab a product instead of remembering what I've already picked. Things get tricky especially when someone steals you an item. Also, some trolley crash-race mechanic would be extremely fun, but that seems to be a lot of work (and a lot of playtesting for a weekend).

Anyway, well done!

Other games by @ava-skoog

★3.80