Parenting Crash Course

co-authored: @sushiy, @raytheonly
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.91
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.96
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.86
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.46
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.42
Humor★★★★★★★★★★4.04
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.68
Movies & TV 4_20_2020 10_47_40 PM (1).png
Do you still remember the outside world like it was before the deadly virus swept the streets clean? Neither do we!! We've been told it's heckin dangerous though, so we'd better come properly prepped! We've designed a handful of simple everyday situations for you stay-at-home people, to get you back into your outside groove! Shield a cute, little, itsy-bitsy baby from harm and train your post-corona survival skills.



Controls:

WASD - Walk, duh..

Space - Bouncing

Ctrl - To Pay Respects

Left-Click - Do Stuff with Stuff

Q & E - Rotate Stuff while Doing Stuff

Created by @hollowspecter, @rayvshimself, @viezensj and @KenneyNL (shh, he doesn't know)

(these are Twitter handles ;) )

​Music by:

Funkorama by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3788-funkorama

Frogs Legs Rag by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5761-frogs-legs-rag

Cheery Monday by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3495-cheery-monday

Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5759-blippy-trance

Feelin Good by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3744-feelin-good

Welcome to the Show by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4614-welcome-to-the-show

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/


screenshot
Tags: #ld46
Genres: puzzle
Tools: bitsy

Comments26

Pepperpwni
Pepperpwni21 Apr 2020, 03:24
This is a neat gem! Some of the little bits here and there, along with the outrageous scenarios, made for a humorous game. Some levels felt more frustrating than others, but you're encouraged to experiment until you figure it out - I guess that's just puzzle games. If you all had more time, of course even more interactable objects in each level would be great to see!
Kzerot21 Apr 2020, 19:31
Really nice idea :) like it.
Zalop21 Apr 2020, 19:40
Awesome idea, i love the overall game and was pretty fun with the scenarios! Great work!
TheCze21 Apr 2020, 20:01
solid game and great idea
Lukas Shiley21 Apr 2020, 20:32
I really liked this one. The wacky physics and scenarios made for a pretty funny game! Good job guys!
Dukebot21 Apr 2020, 22:37
Great game, very original and kinda fun. At first it was hard to figure out what to do, but after understanding the mechanics, then it became easier. That piano caugh me by surprise, did not see it the firsts time I played that level.
James Dunlap
James Dunlap21 Apr 2020, 22:54
I hope nobody parents that way. We would all be dead! I liked the concept, but I also felt that at times the forced camera angle before and after placing objects did not allow me to grasp the full situation. The level that seemed to be the worst culprit of this was the one with the piano. I couldn't even tell everything that was going on there, and for some reason, what I could see didn't seem consistent. Sometimes the car would go toward the piano and baby, and sometimes it wouldn't.

Overall, though, this was a neat idea that just needs more polish.
henrycgs
henrycgs22 Apr 2020, 00:12
This was actually really fun! This is my favourite so far. Really good idea, good execution, good levels, nice graphics! Great job!
BearDing822 Apr 2020, 12:11
Good idea and good execution. Simple but good graphics. Liked it!
raytheonly22 Apr 2020, 12:23
@james-dunlap thanks for the feedback! Yeah some of the camera placements were not ideal. we struggled a bit to have the franticness and also the baby in focus. If we do some after Jam polish, we will find a better overall solution for this! :)
PeaNud
PeaNud22 Apr 2020, 18:50
Nice Idea and lovely little Game :D
debuggerpls22 Apr 2020, 20:10
Loved playing it. I liked the style a lot!
Tomssuli
Tomssuli23 Apr 2020, 19:20
Funny game, reminds me of rekkaturvat or turbo dismount, but this time you try to avoid the accident. Good package overall. I couldn't finish the level with the piano and the one with battleships.
Necrofear24 Apr 2020, 07:18
This is a good little game, guys. Really enjoyed it! Couldn't quite figure out how to stop the piano (it was also pretty loud when it crashed) but overall very satisfying. Good fit for the theme too.
gauss224 Apr 2020, 09:36
really nice ideia!
sydream24 Apr 2020, 13:43
That was fun. it's a bit dramatic though if you got a baby. Innovative and well executed although sometime it's difficult to move and place the objects to defend the baby.
matsuya
matsuya24 Apr 2020, 14:28
This is the most fun I've had goofing around with physics, one of my favorites for this jam
Jin9310
Jin931024 Apr 2020, 14:33
Quite interesting approach to the theme however as already mentioned, might be bit dramatic for parents out there. I have ended in the piano scene, however it would be nice to have perhaps few different possibilities how to handle each scene. Your game is almost calling for some crazy solutions. Overall really nice entry, I had a fair share of laugh. Good job!
gustavo.christino
gustavo.christino24 Apr 2020, 15:58
Eu não consegui terminar, os desafios foram muito grandes para mim, e (por outro lado) eu tenho algum tipo de náusea quando jogo muitos jogos tridimensionais (creio que seja alguma questão de eu não estar me orientando de verdade, mas meu labirinto (ouvido) achar). Hahahahahahah.

I couldn't finish it, the challenges were too big for me, and (on the other hand) I have some kind of nausea when I play some three-dimensional games (I think it's a question of getting virtual orientation, but my labyrinth/ear thinking that is real). Hahahahahahah.
gustavo.christino
gustavo.christino24 Apr 2020, 16:05
Análise...

1 - Mecânicas, Aprendizado e Fluxo:
A mecânica é analisar a cena, encontrar objetos que podem ser movidos, movê-los e girá-los adequadamente para impedir que o bebê (alvo) seja atingido (suponho que o jogo seria uma variante de puzzle).
Aprender o que precisa ser feito (neste caso) é bem diferente de executar bem.
O aprendizado de como jogar foi entregue sem maiores dificuldades.
Alguns comandos são difíceis (girar o objeto e colocar o objeto pode dar algum problema de vez em quando, como não girar e depois ter girado muito, ou como pensar ter colocado e o objeto sair voando ou começar a cair).
O fluxo de jogo vai mais perto da ansiedade que do tédio, porque escala muito rápido (ao menos para mim).
Infelizmente o estilo visual não funciona muito bem para mim porque eu fico nauseado (creio que seja o estilo de câmera e algo no meu ouvido).

2 - Gráficos, Áudio, Narrativa e Polimento:
Os gráficos ficaram bons para o tempo de Ludum Dare, conseguem transmitir os conceitos necessários.
Senti falta de alguma metainformação para clarear que os objetos podem ser movidos (sei que ficam coloridos, mas creio que uma seta a mais meio transparente por cima facilitaria, ou quem sabe um minimapa).
O efeito de áudio em câmera lenta ficou bacana (ao meu ver).
A narrativa tem algum humor apelando para o humor com violência gratuita (não é a pior coisa do mundo, hahahah).

3 - Cultura:
Creio que seja uma obra para dar uma relaxada durante a pandemia, caso a pessoa tenha senso de humor compatível.

4 - Monetização:
Se o jogo for planejado para a dificuldade escalar mais devagar, creio que poderia ser vendido a algum valor no itch.io.
gustavo.christino
gustavo.christino24 Apr 2020, 16:06
Analysis...

1 - Mechanics, Learning and Flow:
The mechanics is to analyze the scene, find objects that can be moved, move and rotate them properly to prevent the baby (target) from being hit (I suppose the game would be a puzzle variant).
Learning what needs to be done (in this case) is quite different from doing well.
Learning how to play was delivered without major difficulties.
Some commands are difficult (rotating the object and placing the object can sometimes be a problem, such as not rotating and then having rotated too much, or thinking of having placed it and the object flying away or starting to fall).
The game flow is closer to anxiety than boredom, because it escalates very fast (at least for me).
Unfortunately the visual style doesn't work very well for me because I get sick (I think it's the camera style and something in my ear).

2 - Graphics, Audio, Narrative and Polishment:
The graphics were good for Ludum Dare's time, they manage to convey the necessary concepts.
I missed some meta-information to clarify that objects can be moved (I know they are colored, but I think an extra transparent arrow on top would make it easier, or maybe a minimap).
The slow motion audio effect was cool (as I see it).
The narrative has some humor appealing to humor with gratuitous violence (it's not the worst thing in the world, hahahah).

3 - Culture:
I believe it is a work to relax during the pandemic, if the person has a compatible sense of humor.

4 - Monetization:
If the game is planned for the difficulty to climb more slowly, I think it could be sold at some price on itch.io.
Gorypixels
Gorypixels24 Apr 2020, 20:36
Loved the "Bullet time" mechanic of trying to save that weirdly human baby from disasater, te physics worked pretty well also! Wel done!
Erkberg
Erkberg24 Apr 2020, 20:36
That was... different. :D
I really, really like the core mechanic of combining puzzling with whacky physics, and the split between the preparation phase and watching the (often unfortunate) events unfold. It has quite the appeal and was a lot of fun.

There are a few problems though:
There seems to be a bug with levels sometimes not resetting correctly.
Sometimes it is hard to gain on overview of the events happening when they unfold due to the fixed camera angle. I'd suggest making it moveable in that stage of the level, or show more of what's happening.
I gave up on the piano level, because it felt just too random. I could get the car to fly over the baby and bounce the piano away, but then it turned around... (which was actually quite the hilarious moment the first time, but not anymore on the fifth try ^^). If you have a hint on how to beat this level I'd gladly play the remaining levels. (kudos for having the progress be saved when you quit!)
I imagine a 'casual' mode could help, where you have all the time in the world to setup the objects, and after failure they don't reset again, so you can make those tiny adjustments that can make all the difference.
I didn't hear any of the linked music in the game, is that a bug or intentional? (you didn't opt out of the audio category, which would've probably been the way to go if you used music from external sources).
Anyway, all that criticism is just meant to be constructive, and I had a lot of fun with the game nonetheless!
Barbiche
Barbiche25 Apr 2020, 17:34
SO COOOOOOOL hahahaha send some times to see a baby die was so awesome haha
It was great, thank you for this game guys
spiralhalo
spiralhalo28 Apr 2020, 09:25
Dayum everyone hates that baby.. I can't even figured out what killed it on stage six because everything just aims at it. Really funny concept though! Great job! Would've appreciated an on-screen button prompts, otherwise it's a really intuitive gameplay.
hollowspecter
hollowspecterauthor1 May 2020, 21:11
Haha poor baby :D @spiralhalo Yeah it is a little fiddly, whatever the baby touches kills it in this version. The last level especially has some weird states since the baby is also already moving. If we ever get to polish that, we def have to work on making the physics there a little more deterministic.

Thanks for all the feedback :)

Other games by @hollowspecter

Found a bug?
Tell us on Discord