Inflate Me to the Moon

co-authored: @xellaya
Overall★★★★★★★★★★4.19
Fun★★★★★★★★★★4.03
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.74
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.69
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.45
Audio★★★★★★★★★★4.54
Humor★★★★★★★★★★4.49
Mood★★★★★★★★★★4.08
Cocoa Moss presents: Inflate Me to the Moon


A really weird game.

Harness the power of inflation, to FLY TO THE MOON.

This game best played using a mouse. (Sorry trackpad users!)

Known issues:

- You need to move your mouse REALLY REALLY FAST to fan the flame on the 3rd level [Fixed in Post-Jam version]
- Cutscenes can occasionally drift out of sync (esp when losing focus)
- Sounds potentially cut out sometimes (too many being played) [Fixed in Post-Jam version]
- I know people want their cursor to be locked inside the game window, but it isn't quite yet possible. The hammer swing is based on relative movements not absolute position, so just swing your mouse up and down wildly :D [Works better in Post-Jam version]

Post-Jam version (v1.02): https://cocoamoss.com/inflate-me-to-the-moon/inflate-me-to-the-moon.html

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inflate-me-to-the-moon/id1462594167

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cocoamoss.inflatemetothemoon

Jam version (v0.03): https://ddrkirby.com/games/inflate-me-to-the-moon/compo-version/inflate-me-to-the-moon-compo.html

Soundtrack download: https://ddrkirbyisq.bandcamp.com/album/inflate-me-to-the-moon-original-soundtrack

Post-jam version mainly introduces a bunch of quality-of-life improvements, along with some very minor additions and fixes. Full changelog below for reference.

Programming, Audio, and Cutscenes by @ddrkirbyisq

Animation by @xellaya

Voiceover by @ddrkirbyisq

Additional credits:

- SNES instruments from Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Super Mario Kart, Illusion of Gaia, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, etc.
- "Fly Me to the Moon" original arrangement by Bart Howard
- References those styles along with To the Moon, Viva La Vida, Undertale, Ducktales, etc.
- Everything is derivative works (rearranged from scratch), so we're still OK to be rated in audio :)

Changelog:

```
v1.02 (Post-Jam)
- Update site lock code

v1.01
- Recompile to allow offline play via the itch.io app

v1.00
- First mobile release - added touch controls for hammering phase
- Redo difficulty curves for fanning the flame -- especially for level 3 which was way too hard before
- Made hammer and fan based on absolute mouse/touch position instead of relative movement
- Added skip functionality for all cutscenes (hold mouse button or touch to skip)
- Added new sfx/particles for end of flattening phase
- Make tutorial displays show for a bit longer (first 3 actions instead of 1)
- Significant performance improvements when there are many turtles to reduce FPS drops
- Added faster tempo intro fanfares for levels 2 and 3 to match the main music tempo
- Add some additional notes to the ending text
- Trim silence for sound effects to prevent exhausting sfx channels
- Very minor tweaks to some music files

v0.03 (Jam)
- Tried fixing cutscenes getting off sync when app loses focus (changed a single setting)

v0.02
- Made the application keep running even when in the background

v0.01
- First release!
```

screenshot
Tags: #funny, #weird
Tools: Unity

Comments21

sztobar
sztobar30 Apr 2019, 02:42
Haven't smiled at much in a long time, really great ideas put into one game. My only problem is lack of challenge and intro seemed too long and mundane but the mood, artstyle and music are worth it.
Erkberg
Erkberg30 Apr 2019, 16:24
Pretty awesome, slightly hectic, really funny game! The visuals and audio are both top notch, the gameplay is varied but a little to repetitive, would've loved to see something other than "more of everything" in the other rounds. The cursor leaving the window was a little problematic at the hammering part. The flying track sounds a bit too noisy for my taste, but otherwise the music is just amazing (as usual from you!). Overall, this was great fun!
PS: I felt really bad for those cute little turtles... :)
SecondDimension
SecondDimension30 Apr 2019, 19:52
I loved this, it was a perfect game jam entry. Loved the original Mario Kart vibe you had going on with the audio too.
T-Bo
T-Bo1 May 2019, 13:06
Fun game with nice music, nice voice and nice gameplay ! I love the fish-hammer ! :laughing: ( Poor turtles ! :cry: ).
Shuu2 May 2019, 07:18
Interesting game, but the intro was way too long and drawn out. Cute art style and nice music.
mcovert
mcovert2 May 2019, 07:20
Adorable! I'm not sure why we don't use turtle-coins already; they look amazing. Would like to see some more variation in the rounds, and the intro was a little long, but overall a really solid entry!
Purrseus
Purrseus2 May 2019, 08:55
Super cute artsytyle, amaaazing sound design (reciting all those sources is quite genius to set the mood!), hectic and fun Wario-Ware-esk gameplay, a goofy and cute story - what not to love? Again, a really strong contender! :)

Sadly I encountered a bug where I could not start the fire in the final round. The fanning worked fine, but flame and temperature did not increase :( Apparently noone else has encountered this bug so far, so I'll propably try out again later to see the ending.
DDRKirbyISQ
DDRKirbyISQauthor2 May 2019, 09:06
@purrseus: Thanks so much for playing! Sorry about that -- the final round's fire requires quite a bit to get going (the stone is very large). Move your mouse REALLY FAST back and forth =X
Purrseus
Purrseus2 May 2019, 09:25
This time it worked fine, I guess it really was some kind of bug.

And now I'm actually laughing because I played through mostly the whole game again to see THAT :laughing: Awesome. I'll keep the last song play for a while, I hope you'll put it on your website ;)
jjjjason
jjjjason3 May 2019, 02:10
This is the future that capitalists want!!

I came here knowing the music would be stellar but y'all really outdid yourselves this time. From the Mario-Kart esque startup tune, to the cheesy round 2 ending sax, to the oh my god they really did it cover at the end, it is a wonderful audio-visual experience that you have crafted. Let's not lie here: geese are abominable beings. You managed to make this one cute.

Feedback? Uhh...sure! The cut game is a little less fun than the other three! I wish the in-browser version captured my mouse cursor! That's all I got.
arcana3 May 2019, 03:12
That was rather beautiful. To be honest the gameplay wasn't that compelling, but the controls were super tight and really responsive and playing three rounds actually made me appreciate how good the response was overall. It felt like you were slamming coins.

I kept on playing as soon as I realized that the launch was the DuckTales Moon theme, because it was too fitting. All of the retro video game music references were great.
chriiis88
chriiis884 May 2019, 10:20
As is somewhat of a tradition by now, playing one of your games is a highlight of the jam. The story is as funny as it is stupid and the (minimal) gameplay is really satisfying. Well done.
alexrose
alexrose4 May 2019, 15:07
Easy 5 for audio. Love the Wario Ware vibes, and the song references. Looks beautiful. This is going to score very highly.
Goomboo4 May 2019, 16:10
I was really surprised to see the name DDRKirbyISQ in the credits ! I'm already a fan of your music, but I didn't know you were making LD games too

The game is amazing by the way, the art and audio are both top-notch and the mini-games are really fun to play. Definitely one of the funniest games I've played yet !
kyavi
kyavi4 May 2019, 18:28
what a beautiful, incredible, special experience! love every element of it!
PeachTreeOath
PeachTreeOath5 May 2019, 04:39
Totally great experience, even though it was linear it didn't matter, you crafted a super engaging game that kept pulling me along. This is one of the rare games, if not the ONLY jam game that has ever made me want to keep playing based on music alone, it's that good. I'm a huge fan of To the Moon and you evoked some of the same emotions from that game (along with every other music reference you had in there lol). Super polished experience and a little reminiscent of Gravity Bone in that it just leaves you with a smile on your face about the whole thing.
caranha
caranha5 May 2019, 06:01
Hah, this is so weird, I loved it! Loved the musical arrangements too :-)
CornetTheory
CornetTheory5 May 2019, 10:11
Good stuff, I dig everything about it.
LeReveur
LeReveur5 May 2019, 15:56
Your entries are always unexpected, and I still find this specific poetic touch. There is no challenge at all, but it's fun to play, and let me smile. Thank you!
foolmoron
foolmoron5 May 2019, 23:48
I love this take on the theme where the duck's life is currency. The minigames really felt like warioware, and the graphics and audio were super Yoshi's Island which I haven't seen in a jam game before. The best was the hammer game where you really get into a flow with the mouse and spacebar. I wish the game wasn't so scripted into 3 games and instead had an upgrade system where you tried round after round to get to the moon. It would've worked really well, being able to upgrade all 3 minigames separately and trying to balance them to optimize inflation. Still, the current presentation works really well.

Other games by @ddrkirbyisq

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