Economic Bubble

by room606
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.60
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.24
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.67
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.99
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.86
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.75
Humor★★★★★★★★★★4.21
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.65
How long can you keep Economic Bubble to be alive?

ld46_title_menu_screen.png
Hello, lad, you need to know that. The world is a cruel place. The stock market is most. Since the invention of money humanity has been raising a new economic bubble, one after another.
You know it, we know it.

Pumping Animation
It all starts the same, end the same. But would you dare for the risk and rule the market by inflating and deflating this brittle and whimsy bubble? How long can you keep this new Economic Bubble from final fatal burst?

Alright, gentlemen! This is simple (but risky, remember?) game with not so much controls: you only need 3 keyboard buttons and some luck.

```
[A] - use pump to inflate the bubble
[D] - use a needle to make a hole to deflate the bubble
[S] - apply medical patch to fix the hole just done. This will stop deflating but not for 100%.
```

Genres: simulation
Tools: Defold

Comments33

RomaRogov
RomaRogov21 Apr 2020, 12:42
Pretty fun, when you get used to process, but a little too simple :)
Nice frame-drawn graphics and piano sound sets funny mood to the game.
Good work!
room606
room606author21 Apr 2020, 12:53
@romarogov - Many thanks for playing my game, + thanks for high quality feedback (no sarcasm here, sir!).
Karas21 Apr 2020, 21:17
Nice little game. The concept is pretty fun and I like your drawing style ! The animations a pretty good
PineappleGladiator
PineappleGladiator21 Apr 2020, 21:36
Really creative! Set's the mind to really think on how the world is actually like a bubble, and everything can just blow up in a second! Good job on the mood. The audio os also very amusing :smile:
d1str4kt0r22 Apr 2020, 08:32
i love the art beiing drawn and the theme is very fitting. the invisible hand of the market is srong with this one
Artyom Volkov
Artyom Volkov22 Apr 2020, 08:34
I love the irony of this game. But I think the game needs some challange.
room606
room606author22 Apr 2020, 10:29
@artyom-volkov - Totally agree. Thanks for the feedback, there are a lot of stuff to balance, enhance and add, of course. I f_ed up with my scope and planning :koala: :laughing:
erebus22 Apr 2020, 10:31
Cool idea! Thanks for bringing it by the stream!
Rojola23 Apr 2020, 14:27
This is exactly my view on economics! Nice detail with The Shout :) I enjoyed greatly this game, not sure how far it is possible to get probably too far. The music was top notch! Not sure if random or genious, but it doesn't matter.
TheDouche23 Apr 2020, 17:01
Good work dude! didn't get all of it, but I had a fun time after all! :D
Rey23 Apr 2020, 17:13
Loved the art and music of the game, even though the gameplay is quite simple I spend quite some time playing!
jk5000
jk500023 Apr 2020, 17:17
I do not exactly understand all the gameplay, but I did like the humour.
TomW23 Apr 2020, 17:30
This baffled me but I loved it. I think the choice of simple colours and graphics - but with lots on the screen and everything wiggling - was great! The piano music is excellent too, though perhaps a bit repetitive on a long game. I also like that there's very little in the way of instructions (I died almost immediately on first play), but you can work it out if you try. Nice work!
The main thing I think you could improve is longevity / challenge e.g. you could add more news items, or some additional external effects over time to raise the stakes (e.g. you could temporarily go blind, and have to make decisions without seeing their consequences for the bubble). Or you could simply make the effect of each news item more significant over time.
CreamyBacon2
CreamyBacon223 Apr 2020, 17:56
Someone think of the economy! That was fun. a simple game yet comical and timely. I like animations as well.

The face of fear!
Great job!
room606
room606author24 Apr 2020, 10:20
@rojola @creamybacon2 @jk5000 @rey @tomw @thedouche Hi, thank you all for the feedback, for all these kind words and for valuable feedback! Thanks for playing, I'm really happy that my art and idea were met with lot of fun and joy, that is exactly how it was planned to act on player :)

So, yeah, I focused on visuals and fun more than on real juicy and challenging gameplay this time. This was not in my plans, but that's the real life, a more interesting and tricky thing than plans and estimations. :laughing:

And hey, @tomw , thank you comrade for such detailed and great feedback. Your suggestions on gameplay and balance enhancements really make sense and what should be done in one of the top priority TODOs. Maybe I'll find some few weekend evenings some day to polish it and make some post-ludum version. Thank you again and happy coding! :sunny:
room606
room606author24 Apr 2020, 10:24
@rojola Ha-ha-ha. I'm glad that you read my hidden reference to Edvard Munch's famous picture. Good job, comrade! :sunglasses: :thumbsup:
jelch24 Apr 2020, 20:00
The art and animation made me laugh. A little more game would have been nice but it works as is.
JetTheSimon
JetTheSimon24 Apr 2020, 22:57
Fun enough! Would like a timer for the knife and the band aid so I could time better. Otherwise fun enough, could use a bit more content but I'm not sure what. Good good!
Mickson24 Apr 2020, 23:32
I was pleasantly surprised by the art, and honestly, it kept me hooked. I kept going back to try to find different ones haha. Unique concept that totally fits the theme, and overall great submission!
Nick Rafalski24 Apr 2020, 23:51
This was really goofy in a good way. I love all the details like the stock ticker, and the balloon faces. Nice job!
WanS2425 Apr 2020, 13:16
Great little game. That was funny, I guess the game needs more events, effects and maybe extra challenge. Like the humor.
MrTroy
MrTroy25 Apr 2020, 20:44
I loved all the different hand drawn phases of the balloon, unfortunately I couldn't figure out the actual gameplay challenges. It was easy enough to keep the balloon from going pop, but nothing drastic enough happened where I needed to deflate quickly. A varying meter showing how long before something affected the market would probably be what I needed to balance things out.

The concept is great, topical, and unexpected. Excellent use of the theme.
Ithildin
Ithildin25 Apr 2020, 20:56
My bubble burst after 43 days. So much for capitalism! :sob:

Jokes aside, great take on the theme! Music was catchy and it fit well, and I liked the art references.

Not sure how the band-aid worked exactly and I didn't get to use the needle, but I had fun trying to balance temperature and pressure.

Nice job!
Ekilibr
Ekilibr25 Apr 2020, 21:47
Loved the humour there. It's on point, and you can feel the criticism from the game loop to the art style. It all fits together in a nicely executed, quick experience. Congrats for your entry :)
Ismael Rodriguez
Ismael Rodriguez27 Apr 2020, 21:12
Funny entry! I liked how the news effected the bubble at random, which allowed you to sneak in some jokes in the headlines and develop a narrative. I didn't like the random music, sorry to say. I do appreciate how it fits into the overall theme of random wonky-ness, but just isn't enjoyable to listen to (for me). Congrats on your entry!
Justin Toyo
Justin Toyo27 Apr 2020, 21:16
Great art direction and audio, game was a little hard to start playing properly (I didn't understand a lot of it), but once I got it it was pretty fun
Chief141
Chief14127 Apr 2020, 21:21
I really liked the art style and audio. If had to improve one thing I would probably add a proper tutorial at the beginning.
Overall the game was fun.
Teo Miklethun
Teo Miklethun27 Apr 2020, 21:34
Aesthetically great, albeit a bit simple on the gameplay front. Overall though, really nice entry.
Ausstein
Ausstein6 May 2020, 20:47
I liked the Hand drawn Artstyle, really makes this entry stand out.
I lasted for 47 days. And I think that is a good time because much longer and this would have become a little repetitive and boring. The little News Headlines are Hilarious as well.
Good Job overall!
ZerohBeat6 May 2020, 21:31
Really enjoyed playing it. The music and art and gameplay all really complement each other! Well done :D
Convg
Convg7 May 2020, 08:09
Awesome game! Really nice and original idea. I had a lot of fun, and not really any complaints. Nice work!
Thedancingyouth9 May 2020, 11:33
Finally got to that game. I really enjoyed it. Humor, concept and references are on a point. I like those sketchy graphics, I'd like to see them improved, for sure, but the idea of sketchy style itself is quite good. Additional point for the Edvard Munch's "The scream" face, adorable. :star:
Oh yeah, and the music, of course :star: :star: :star: :star: :star:

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