On the Phone (2020)

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.04
Fun★★★★★★★★★★1.93
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.58
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.70
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★3.46
Humor★★★★★★★★★★2.10
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.72
This game uses multiple real news feeds and real-time day/night cycle.


[You can preview the daynight cycle by pressing "P"]

screenshot

Comments24

Lestat
Lestat5 Oct 2020, 01:20
Well executed concept. Good job!
bereg
bereg5 Oct 2020, 07:47
I like the concept, it's thought provoking and deep. And I think it should be a mobile game. So you can play a game on your phone about how you read news on your phone.
ColeSlaughter
ColeSlaughter5 Oct 2020, 16:21
This is pretty neat! I love experimental entries like this. I can see this being kind of a neat live wallpaper or something. The ambiance and lighting are really nice.

I'ma try to come back to this one later in the day to see how things change. :slight_smile:
Linus Lindberg
Linus Lindbergauthor5 Oct 2020, 17:24
@coleslaughter Thank you! If you want to cheat and watch the day/night cycle you can press "P" and then it will play the cycle at something like 1000x the speed :)
Game_Coder28
Game_Coder285 Oct 2020, 17:41
Nice game! great concept and executed amazingly, keep up the good work!
BobParis755 Oct 2020, 17:43
the concept is incredible and the game is super beautiful. Bravo for the work
complexitydata5 Oct 2020, 17:48
Such a smart idea, and so well-executed. The day/night cycle is a great touch -- I immediately cheated to see the night visuals -- gorgeous!
Pincushion5 Oct 2020, 17:54
I wonder what's keeping him up? I second the call for this to be a live wallpaper.

The "press space" instruction was hidden until night. I needed to cheat and press "P" to find out.

I appreciate the unique entry. Well done.
Linus Lindberg
Linus Lindbergauthor5 Oct 2020, 17:58
@pincushion Yeah... in retrospect I should have given the text a backdrop or a drop-shadow or something so that it's always visible..
Thanks for the comment!
Rolly
Rolly5 Oct 2020, 18:28
Such an amazing take on the theme. You got me curious about the code behind it, I will definitely go check it to learn one thing or another!
Hadryel5 Oct 2020, 21:16
I like the concept! Got me wondering and clicking everywhere trying to figure it tho :laughing:
Dharby
Dharby6 Oct 2020, 02:58
Love the mood of this game. Great use of lighting. Nice work!
notsomecats
notsomecats6 Oct 2020, 05:01
I just wanted some video game news, man. Nice atmosphere and graphics style.
Amin_JK000
Amin_JK0006 Oct 2020, 09:01
Liked the graphics and atmosphere :v:
indigo
indigo6 Oct 2020, 17:23
Is there a game here? This stuff is too artsy for me. I mean, come on, it's a game jam, not a wallpiece jam.
Voidsay
Voidsay6 Oct 2020, 17:27
No Linux build? Hm and the sources only include the code. I need a little more to rebuild the game myself!
JudgeZedd
JudgeZedd7 Oct 2020, 14:52
Interesting little experience, and really impressive having it pulled together in a weekend. I like something like this that can play with interactivity and our expectations of a game to highlight some real world issues in a novel way. Very nice.
Dmitry Mozgin
Dmitry Mozgin7 Oct 2020, 19:25
It is not a game much, but rather an interactive experience. I always like then someone picks such concepts because I will be able see them in life. Thank you for choosing this theme of the game (social interaction via a phone) and finished the game. I was thinking of the similar one when I was coming one with an idea for my game, but discarded it for some reason. Overall, I like the visuals they make the right mood and not too personal. Good job!
Patchy8 Oct 2020, 11:22
Cool idea, fits the theme very well, very unique
Ramble House Games
Ramble House Games8 Oct 2020, 11:32
Interesting piece. I like that it pulls from real news sources.
squimmy
squimmy10 Oct 2020, 08:13
This hits uncomfortably close to home... :confused:
GeraldFIngBurke
GeraldFIngBurke11 Oct 2020, 01:59
Very interesting take here. I think it has some interesting things to say. I'm really interested in how you integrated the news feeds. Are you accessing an API somewhere, or are you pulling the RSS feeds that way?
Linus Lindberg
Linus Lindbergauthor12 Oct 2020, 07:32
@geraldfingburke I'm just reading the RSS xml files, and doing so very poorly, reloading the entire thing and repopulating the UI every time the phone opens instead of just checking for updates.

Had I had more time i would have wanted to pull from all three news sources at once and sort them by date, keeping that list and only adding new entries on opening the phone.
ruthiepee
ruthiepee16 Oct 2020, 18:10
I really appreciated this experience, like a more somber and introspective version of a virtual pet. I'm going to leave it open for a while and see what happens. Just one piece of design critique, the "press space" text is not readable against the background for me (at 2:00pm). Now I'm just wondering: what's outside the window?

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