Toy workshop 2

Santa is busy again. Christmas day is aproaching and he needs to produce toys for the children of the world.
Command your elfs to produce different toys and help christmas come true.
Important notes:
-Unpack the archive! The game will not be able to access gfx inside the zip and not start
-You need a working Java8 JRE or JDK to run the game
Please have fun playing the game. I'd love to read your thoughts on it in the comments :)
If you like toy workshop 2, you may want to play the first game. You can find it under http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-31/?action=preview&uid=18894!

Genres: simulation
Comments13
gassasin5 Dec 2017, 19:45
I have java but game is not startinng on my pc dunno what im doing wrong:D

profan6 Dec 2017, 22:42
Haha, when I opened that PDF file and I was greeted with a production tree.. you definitely had ambition for your entry :D
Interesting idea, it could have been made a lot more intuitive by some kind of on-hover "requirements" window when you hover over a resource you're trying to produce, but you don't have the prerequisites (within which you could either have the whole subtree visible or just have that one piece it needs, which when you hover over it might show what that part needs, if anything)
Actually the first christmas themed game I've come across, nice :)
Interesting idea, it could have been made a lot more intuitive by some kind of on-hover "requirements" window when you hover over a resource you're trying to produce, but you don't have the prerequisites (within which you could either have the whole subtree visible or just have that one piece it needs, which when you hover over it might show what that part needs, if anything)
Actually the first christmas themed game I've come across, nice :)
GameQuester7 Dec 2017, 10:14
Nice game which brings a good christmas atmosphere. Some sounds or music would have supported this even more. If there would be a way to show the production tree in game it would be a bit more comfortable to play, but thats not too bad. Good work!
stmatn7 Dec 2017, 10:21
Thanks @profan and @GameQuester for your feedback! The points you mentioned are very true and were planned at some point, but scrapped due to the time limit... Its my classic LD-problem :D maybe I should learn to better adjust the scope to the time available.

RockhopperGames10 Dec 2017, 13:26
Congratulations on such an ambitious entry, and it's clear you put a lot of work into getting it working. The inability to cue orders definitely hurt the playability of the game though, and while that does fit with the theme, it gets a little frustrating. Also, the dialog window that popped up when the timer ran out was blank for me, and I needed to use task manager to close the game at that point. I'm curious how well you were able to do at your own game, though!
Shivur14 Dec 2017, 21:13
Cute christmas game.

HuvaaKoodia16 Dec 2017, 15:08
Played on Linux. It works, but the window popping up once the timer ran out didn't exactly do its job. It froze the program and the message was not readable. Probably an openjdk-8 problem, but it is not critical. Moving on.
Xmas themed gift crafting game, haven't seen many of those now that I think about it. The idea is solid, but the user interface leaves me cold.
UI issues:
1. The crafting recipes are not in the program, but relegated to the manual. You already have tooltips for the gift demanding elves, so adding these would not be a big deal codewise.
2. A worker who cannot build a gift will still go to the warehouse. Sure, it makes sense that they need to check the wares first, but that is not responsive design for the user. I thought that the elves were doing something productive, when in reality they were just going back and forth.
3. Cultivating the plants. This is nothing but extra clicking. If I command a worker to a plant then he should plant it, cultivate it and harvest it automatically without further clicks. *Say no to needless clicking!*
4. Audiovisual feedback on successful and unsuccessful actions. If a worker lacks resources to craft a gift there should be some kind of an effect or audio cue. Same goes for managing to build a gift.
The graphics are adequate, some sufficiently *wintery* music would elevate the mood.
Overall: *Average (3.0)*
Fun: *Bad (2.0)*
Innovation: *Above average (3.5)*
Theme: *Above average (3.5)*
Graphics: *Above average (3.5)*
Mood: *Bad (2.0)*
Xmas themed gift crafting game, haven't seen many of those now that I think about it. The idea is solid, but the user interface leaves me cold.
UI issues:
1. The crafting recipes are not in the program, but relegated to the manual. You already have tooltips for the gift demanding elves, so adding these would not be a big deal codewise.
2. A worker who cannot build a gift will still go to the warehouse. Sure, it makes sense that they need to check the wares first, but that is not responsive design for the user. I thought that the elves were doing something productive, when in reality they were just going back and forth.
3. Cultivating the plants. This is nothing but extra clicking. If I command a worker to a plant then he should plant it, cultivate it and harvest it automatically without further clicks. *Say no to needless clicking!*
4. Audiovisual feedback on successful and unsuccessful actions. If a worker lacks resources to craft a gift there should be some kind of an effect or audio cue. Same goes for managing to build a gift.
The graphics are adequate, some sufficiently *wintery* music would elevate the mood.
Overall: *Average (3.0)*
Fun: *Bad (2.0)*
Innovation: *Above average (3.5)*
Theme: *Above average (3.5)*
Graphics: *Above average (3.5)*
Mood: *Bad (2.0)*
stmatn17 Dec 2017, 14:24
Thank you @rockhoppergames and @shivur. Special thanks to @huvaakoodia for giving such detailed feedback! Its not very common to see such elaborated comments, but thats what keeps the learningprocess going and the comunity alive. Please keep on with it :)

Thorneto21 Dec 2017, 02:35
It took me quite awhile to figure out what to do but I actually managed to get one of the gifts delivered as I ran out of time. Interesting game though a little confusing. I'm surprised that its also the first Christmas game I've come across.

gustavo.christino24 Dec 2017, 22:00
Put more feedback, would be nice.



stmatn - please fix it.